1 John · chapter 4 of 5
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1 John 4 teaches us to test the spirits by whether they confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and declares that God is love. God's love was shown by sending his Son as the propitiation for our sins, and so we must love one another. Whoever abides in love abides in God, perfect love casts out fear, and whoever says he loves God but hates his brother is a liar.
John has spoken of love and truth, and in chapter 4 he joins the two themes: the truth about Christ and the love that comes from God. The chapter gives two tests for telling the genuine from the false, one doctrinal and one practical, and contains one of the shortest and deepest statements in the Bible: God is love.
John asks us not to believe every spirit but to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 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 but is the spirit of the antichrist. Believers are from God and have overcome those false teachers, for he who is in them is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world and the world listens to them, but whoever knows God listens to the apostles (vv. 1-6).
Let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows him. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God's love was made manifest by sending his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists not in our loving God but in his loving us and sending his Son as the propitiation for our sins. If God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us (vv. 7-12).
We know that we abide in him because he has given us of his Spirit. The apostles have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God abides in God. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God. Love is perfected in us so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar, for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother (vv. 13-21).
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
John asks us not to believe every spirit but to test them to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out. It is an invitation to examine what is taught by the truth about Christ.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. John does not say that love is God, but that love defines God's character and marks those who know him.
Love consists not in our loving God but in his loving us and sending his Son as the propitiation for our sins. Love began in God and was shown at the cross.
There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Someone who is sure of God's love stops living in dread of his judgment.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Test them to see whether they are from God. — 1 John 4:1
Answer: That Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. — 1 John 4:2
Answer: That God is love. — 1 John 4:8
Answer: By sending his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. — 1 John 4:9
Answer: Perfect love. — 1 John 4:18
Answer: Because he first loved us. — 1 John 4:19
1 John 4 asks for discernment and love at the same time. Not everything said in a spiritual voice comes from God, so we must compare what we hear with what the Bible says about Christ. But the chapter does not end in debate; it ends in love: truth without love is incomplete.
God's love is also a comfort for those who live afraid of not being enough. A group can talk about how life changes when we remember that God loved us first, and which brother or sister needs a concrete gesture of love from us today.
1 John 4 shows that the truth about Christ and the love of God cannot be separated. Chapter 5 closes the letter with the faith that overcomes the world, God's testimony about his Son and the assurance of eternal life.
It means that love is an essential part of his character and was shown supremely in the sending of his Son. It does not mean that God is only love and not just, since John also speaks of propitiation for sin. God's love was shown in that he himself provided the sacrifice.
John gives two signs: what is confessed about Jesus Christ, that he came in the flesh, and whether the teacher listens to the apostles, that is, whether the message is faithful to what Scripture teaches. Today they are tested by comparing what is said with the Bible and by seeing whether it leads to loving God and others.