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Text -- 1 John 4:1-21 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Testing the Spirits
4:1 Dear friends , do not believe every spirit , but test the spirits to determine if they are from God , because many false prophets have gone out into the world .
4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God : Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God ,
4:3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God , and this is the spirit of the antichrist , which you have heard is coming , and now is already in the world .
4:4 You are from God , little children , and have conquered them , because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world .
4:5 They are from the world ; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them .
4:6 We are from God ; the person who knows God listens to us , but whoever is not from God does not listen to us . By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit .
God is Love
4:7 Dear friends , let us love one another , because love is from God , and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God .
4:8 The person who does not love does not know God , because God is love .
4:9 By this the love of God is revealed in us : that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him .
4:10 In this is love : not that we have loved God , but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins .
4:11 Dear friends , if God so loved us , then we also ought to love one another .
4:12 No one has seen God at any time . If we love one another , God resides in us , and his love is perfected in us .
4:13 By this we know that we reside in God and he in us : in that he has given us of his Spirit .
4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world .
4:15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God , God resides in him and he in God .
4:16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us . God is love , and the one who resides in love resides in God , and God resides in him .
4:17 By this love is perfected with us , so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment , because just as Jesus is , so also are we in this world .
4:18 There is no fear in love , but perfect love drives out fear , because fear has to do with punishment . The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love .
4:19 We love because he loved us first .
4:20 If anyone says “I love God ” and yet hates his fellow Christian , he is a liar , because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen .
4:21 And the commandment we have from him is this : that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Church |
JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF, PART 1-3 |
Righteousness |
Love |
God |
JOHANNINE THEOLOGY, 2 |
Commandments |
GOD, 3 |
JOHANNINE THEOLOGY, 1 |
TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT |
SPIRITUAL GIFTS |
Jesus, The Christ |
Fellowship |
PAPYRUS |
Minister |
JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF, PART 4-9 |
SACRIFICE, IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, 2 |
GNOSTICISM |
JOHN, THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF |
Abide |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> 1Jo 4:1; 1Jo 4:1; 1Jo 4:1; 1Jo 4:1; 1Jo 4:1; 1Jo 4:2; 1Jo 4:2; 1Jo 4:2; 1Jo 4:3; 1Jo 4:3; 1Jo 4:3; 1Jo 4:3; 1Jo 4:4; 1Jo 4:6; 1Jo 4:6; 1Jo 4:6; 1Jo 4:7; 1Jo 4:7; 1Jo 4:7; 1Jo 4:7; 1Jo 4:8; 1Jo 4:9; 1Jo 4:9; 1Jo 4:9; 1Jo 4:9; 1Jo 4:10; 1Jo 4:10; 1Jo 4:10; 1Jo 4:10; 1Jo 4:11; 1Jo 4:11; 1Jo 4:11; 1Jo 4:12; 1Jo 4:12; 1Jo 4:12; 1Jo 4:13; 1Jo 4:13; 1Jo 4:13; 1Jo 4:13; 1Jo 4:14; 1Jo 4:15; 1Jo 4:15; 1Jo 4:16; 1Jo 4:16; 1Jo 4:16; 1Jo 4:17; 1Jo 4:17; 1Jo 4:17; 1Jo 4:17; 1Jo 4:18; 1Jo 4:18; 1Jo 4:18; 1Jo 4:19; 1Jo 4:20; 1Jo 4:20; 1Jo 4:20; 1Jo 4:20; 1Jo 4:20; 1Jo 4:21; 1Jo 4:21
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:2 This forms part of the author’s christological confession which serves as a test of the spirits. Many interpreters have speculated that the auth...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:4 Them refers to the secessionist opponents, called “false prophets” in 4:1 (compare 2:19).
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:6 Who or what is the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit in 1 John 4:6? (1) Some interpreters regard the “spirits” in 4:6 as human spir...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:7 The verb γεννάω (gennaw) in this context means to be fathered by God and thus a child of God. The imagery in 1 John is t...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:9 Although the word translated one and only (μονογενής, monogenhs) is often rendered “only begotten,...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:10 As explained at 2:2, inherent in the meaning of the word translated atoning sacrifice (ἱλασμός, Jilasmos) is the i...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:11 The author here assumes the reality of the protasis (the “if” clause), which his recipients, as believers, would also be expected to agree...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:13 The genitive of his Spirit here, like the phrase in 3:24, probably reflects a partitive nuance, so that the author portrays God as ‘apportioning...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:14 Because σωτῆρα (swthra) is the object complement of υἱόν (Juion) in a double accusative constructi...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:15 Here μένει (menei, from μένω [menw]) has been translated as “resides” because the confession ...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:16 Once again μένω (menw) in its three occurrences in 4:16 looks at the mutual state of believers and God. No change of status or pos...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:17 Grk “that one” (a reference to Jesus is indicated in the context). Once more the author uses the pronoun ἐκεῖν&...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:19 No object is supplied for the verb love (the author with his propensity for obscurity has left it to the readers to supply the object). The obvious ob...
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NET Notes: 1Jo 4:20 In 4:20 the author again describes the opponents, who claim to love God. Their failure to show love for their fellow Christians proves their claim to ...
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