1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.
2. By this know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
3. And every spirit which does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God; and this is the antichrist which you heard is coming, and now is already in the world.
4. Little children, you are of God and have overcome them, because He in you is greater 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; the one knowing God hears us. Whoever is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been generated from God, and knows God.
8. The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love.
9. By this the love of God was revealed in us, because His Son, the Only begotten, God has sent into the world 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 to be a propitiation relating to our sins.
11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love having been perfected is in us.
13. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because of His Spirit He has given to us.
14. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
15. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16. And we have known and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one abiding in love abides in God, and God in him.
17. By this, love has been perfected with us, that we have confidence in the day of judgment, that as He is, we are also in this world.
18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment; and the one fearing has not been perfected in love.
19. We love Him because He first loved us.
20. If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one not loving his brother whom he has seen, how is he able to love God whom he has not seen?
21. And we have this commandment from Him, that the one who loves God also loves his brother.