Testing the Spirits 3 UST But those who do not affirm{ that} Jesus{ became a real human being} are not teaching a message from God. They are teachers who oppose the Messiah. You have heard that people like that will be 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 UST As for you who are as dear to me as though you were my own children, you belong to God, and you have rejected what those people teach. You have done this because God, who enables you to do what he wants, is more powerful than the devil, who motivates everyone who does not honor God. 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 UST As for those people who are teaching what is false, they think and live in ways that do not honor God. That is why what they say also does not honor God, and that is why other people who do not honor God believe what they say. BSB BSB: They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them.
6 UST As for us, God has sent us. Whoever truly knows God believes and obeys what we teach. Whoever does not belong to God does not believe or obey what we teach. By observing who believes us and who does not, we are able to distinguish between people who teach true messages from God’ s Spirit and people who teach false messages that are from the devil. 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 UST Dear friends, we must love each other. This is what God wants for us, and it is because he loves{ us} that we can love{ others}. Those who love{ their fellow believers} have become God’ s spiritual children and know God well. 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 UST I will tell you what loving{ someone} really means. Our efforts to love God do not define what it means to love{ someone}. No, God himself did that by loving us so much that he sent his Son to offer himself as a sacrifice in our place. When Jesus did that, God could forgive the sins of people who trust in Jesus instead of punishing them. 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 UST 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 UST No one has ever seen God. Nevertheless, when we love each other, we can see that God is working in us and that he is the one who enables us to love others, just as he intended for 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 UST This is how we can be sure that we are sharing life with God and that God is sharing life with us: He has given us his own Spirit. BSB BSB: By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.
14 UST We{ apostles} have seen God’ s Son{ Jesus on earth}, 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 UST So God continues to share life with those who say the truth about Jesus. They say,“Jesus is the Son of God.” And so they continue to share life with God. BSB BSB: If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
17 UST When we continue to share life with God, then God has achieved his purpose in loving us. As a result, when the time comes for God to judge us, we will be confident{ that he will not condemn us}. This is because we are{ loving others as we live} in this world just as Jesus is. 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 UST We will not be afraid{ of God} if we truly love him, because those who love{ God} completely cannot be afraid{ of him}. We would be afraid only if we thought that he would punish us. So those who are afraid{ of God} have not completely understood how much he loves them, and they 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 UST We love{ God and others} because God loved us first. BSB BSB: We love because He first loved us.
20 UST People are lying if they say that they love God but they also hate a fellow believer. After all, we can see our fellow believers. But we have not seen God. So those who do not love one of their fellow believers certainly cannot be loving God,{ because it is much easier to love someone whom you can see than someone whom you cannot see}. 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 UST 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.