Testing the Spirits 3 UDB But those who do not affirm that truth about Jesus are not teaching a message from God. They are teachers who oppose Christ. You have heard that people like that are coming among us. Even now they are already here. BSB BSB: and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.
4 UDB As for you who are very dear to me, you belong to God, and you have refused to believe what those people teach because God, who enables you to do what he wants, is greater. BSB BSB: You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
5 UDB As for those who are teaching what is false, they belong with all the people in the world who refuse to honor God. That is why what they say comes from those same people, and those same people listen to them. BSB BSB: They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them.
6 UDB As for us, we belong to God. Whoever knows God listens to what we teach, but whoever does not belong to God does not listen to what we teach. This is how we can distinguish between people who teach truth about God and those who deceive others. BSB BSB: We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
Love Comes from God 7 UDB Dear friends, we must love each other because God enables us to love each other and because those who love their fellow believers have become God's children and know him. BSB BSB: Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
10 UDB This is God's love for us: not that we loved God, but that God loved us. God sent his Son to pay the penalty for the sins we committed, sins that angered God and separated us from him. Now, because Christ suffered for our sins, we are at peace with God. BSB BSB: And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 UDB Dear friends, since God loves us like that, we certainly ought to love each other! BSB BSB: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 UDB No one has ever seen God. Nevertheless, if we love each other, it is clear that God lives within us and that we love others just like he intends us to do. BSB BSB: No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 UDB I will tell you how we can be sure that we are joined with God and that God is joined with us: He has put his Spirit within us. BSB BSB: By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.
14 UDB We apostles have seen God's Son, and we solemnly tell others that the Father sent him to save the people in the world from suffering eternally for their sins. BSB BSB: And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 UDB So God remains joined with those who say the truth about Jesus. They say, "He is the Son of God." And so they remain joined with God. BSB BSB: If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
17 UDB We should love others completely. And if we do that, when the time comes for God to judge us, we will be confident that he will not condemn us. We will be confident of that because we are living in this world joined to God, as Christ himself is joined to God. BSB BSB: In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.
18 UDB We will not be afraid of God if we truly love him, because those who love God completely cannot possibly be afraid of him. We would be afraid only if we thought that he would punish us. So those who are afraid of God certainly are not loving God completely. BSB BSB: There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.
19 UDB We love God and our fellow believers because God loved us first. BSB BSB: We love because He first loved us.
20 UDB So those who say "I love God" but hate fellow believers are lying. Those who do not love one of their fellow believers whom they have seen certainly cannot be loving God whom they have not seen. BSB BSB: If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 UDB Keep in mind that this is what God has commanded us: If we love him, we must also love our fellow believers. BSB BSB: And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.