1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but examine the spirits, whether they are of God, because many FALSE prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ having come in flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in flesh is not of God. And this is that of the antichrist, which ye have heard that it comes, and is now in the world already.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and ye have overcome them, because greater is he in you than he in the world.
5 They are of the world. Because of this they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, we should love each other. Because love is of God, and every man who loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.
8 He who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 By this the love of God was made known in us, because God sent his Son, the only begotten, into the world so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son, an atonement for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also are obligated to love each other.
12 No man has ever seen God. If we love each other, God abides in us, and his love is in us, having been fully perfected.
13 In this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us from his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son, a Savior of the world.
15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 And we know, and have believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this love has been fully perfected with us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because just as that man is, we also are in this world.
18 Fear is not in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear holds punishment, and he who is afraid has not been fully perfected in love.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
20 If any man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And we have this commandment from him, so that he who loves God will also love his brother.