The Spirit Confirms the Incarnation
1 John 4Beloved, y’all must not believe every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to determine whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this y’all know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the AntiChrist, which y’all have heard is coming and now is in the world already. Y’all are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because greater is ʜᴇ who is in y’all than the one who is in the world. They are of the world and therefore speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God, and whoever knows God listens to us, but anyone who is not from God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God Is Love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent ʜɪꜱ only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that ʜᴇ loved us, and sent ʜɪꜱ Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this manner, then we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and ʜɪꜱ love has been brought to completion in us.
By this we know that we remain in ʜɪᴍ and ʜᴇ in us, because ʜᴇ has given us of ʜɪꜱ Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and that person in God. We have come to know and have believed the love God has for us. God is love, and anyone who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in them. In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love, because ʜᴇ first loved us. Anyone who says, “I love God,” but hates their sibling, is a liar. For whoever doesn’t love their sibling whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. This commandment we have from ʜɪᴍ, that anyone who loves God should also love their sibling.