| Chapter 4 |
1 | Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
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2 | Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
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3 | and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.
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4 | Ye are of God, [my] little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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5 | They are of the world: therefore speak they [as] of the world, and the world heareth them.
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6 | We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
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7 | Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.
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8 | He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
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9 | Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.
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10 | Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
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11 | Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
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12 | No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:
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13 | hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
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14 | And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world.
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15 | Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.
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16 | And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.
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17 | Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world.
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18 | There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love.
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19 | We love, because he first loved us.
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20 | If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.
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21 | And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
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