1 Beloved, do not put your trust in every spirit, but test the spirits to learn whether they are from God {Theos, Standard of Truth}, because many false prophets {pseudoprophetai: deceptive messengers} have gone out into the world.
2 By this you discern the Spirit of God {pneuma Theou, Discerning Presence}: every spirit that confesses {homologei: openly acknowledges loyalty} that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
3 And every spirit that does not confess Jesus {Iesous, Standard of Confession} is not from God {Theos, Origin of Spirit}; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.
4 You are from God {Theos, Source Of Victory}, little children, and you have overcome them, because greater is the One who is in you than the one who is in the world {kosmos: present earthly system}.
5 They are from the world; for that reason they speak from the world, and the world {kosmos: organized human realm} listens to them {auton: their own circle}.
6 We are from God {Theos, Source of Discernment}; the one who knows God listens to us, but the one who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth {pneuma aletheias, Guiding Holy Spirit} and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved {agapetoi: Dearly Cherished Ones}, let us love one another, because love is from God {theos, Fountain Of Love}, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love has not known God {Theos, Love Origin}, because God is love {agape: self-giving devotion}.
9 In this the love of God {Theos, Self-Giving Lover} was revealed among us, that God has sent His unique Son {monogenes: one and only} into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 Love is shown in this—not that we have loved God {Theos, Divine Initiator}, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atonement {hilasmon: sacrificial covering} for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God {Theos, Source of Love} loved us in this way, then we also ought to love one another {allēlous: mutual responsibility}.
12 No one has ever beheld God {Theos, Unseen One}. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is brought to fulfillment {teteleiomene: brought to maturity} in us.
13 By this we know that we remain in Him {Theos, Indwelling Father} and that He remains in us, for He has given us from His Spirit {pneuma: Abiding Witness}.
14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father {Pater, Sending Father} has sent the Son {huios, Given Son} as Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus {Iesous, Incarnate Son} is the Son of God, God {Theos, Indwelling Father} abides in him, and he abides in God.
16 And we have known and have believed {pisteuo: committed confidence} the love that God {Theos, Indwelling Love Source} has for us. God is love; and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
17 In this, love has been perfected with us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment {krisis: final assessment}, because just as He {Christos, Perfectly Righteous Example} is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment {kolasis: judicial penalty}, and the one who fears has not been perfected in love {agape: covenantal self-giving}.
19 We love {agapomen: responsive affection} because He {Theos, Initiating Love Giver} first loved us.
20 If someone declares “I love God {Theos, Standard of Love},” yet hates his brother, he is a liar {pseustes: false-hearted speaker}; for the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God {Theos, Commanding Father} should also love his brother {adelphos: fellow believer}.