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Testing the Spirits

^1 (C1)Beloved, do not believe every ^(C2)spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^(C3)many false prophets have gone out into the world.² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(C1)every spirit that ^(C2)confesses that ^(C3)Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;³ and every spirit that ^(C1)does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the ^(C2)antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and ^(C3)now it is already in the world.⁴ You are from God, ^(C1)little children, and ^(C2)have overcome them; because ^(C3)greater is He who is in you than ^(C4)he who is in the world.^5 (C1)They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.^6 (C1)We are from God. ^(C2)The one who knows God listens to us; ^(C3)the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ^(C4)the spirit of truth and ^(C5)the spirit of error.

God Is Love

^7 (C1)Beloved, let's ^(C2)love one another; for love is from God, and ^(C3)everyone who loves has been ^(C4)born of God and ^(C5)knows God.⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because ^(C1)God is love.⁹ By this the love of God was revealed ^(F1)(C1)in us, that ^(C2)God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.¹⁰ In this is love, ^(C1)not that we loved God, but that ^(C2)He loved us and sent His Son to be ^(C3)the ^(F1)propitiation for our sins.^11 (C1)Beloved, if God so loved us, ^(C2)we also ought to love one another.^12 (C1)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His ^(C2)love is perfected in us.^13 (C1)By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit.¹⁴ We have seen and ^(C1)testify that the Father has ^(C2)sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

^15 (C1)Whoever confesses that ^(C2)Jesus is the Son of God, God ^(C3)remains in him, and he in God.^16 (C1)We have come to know and have believed the love which God has ^(F1)(C2)for us. ^(C3)God is love, and the one who ^(C4)remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.¹⁷ By this, ^(C1)love is perfected with us, so that we may have ^(C2)confidence in ^(C3)the day of judgment; because ^(C4)as He is, we also are in this world.¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but ^(C1)perfect love drives out fear, because fear ^(F1)involves punishment, and the one who fears is not ^(C2)perfected in love.^19 (C1)We love, because He first loved us.^20 (C1)If someone says, "I love God," and yet he ^(C2)hates his brother or sister, he is a ^(C3)liar; for ^(C4)the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, ^(C5)cannot love God, whom he has not seen.²¹ And ^(C1)this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God ^(C2)must also love his brother and sister.