1 John 4 Cross References - Goodspeed

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every inspired utterance, but test the utterances to see whether they come from God, for many false prophets have come out into the world. ² You can tell the Spirit of God in this way: all inspiration that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in human form comes from God, ³ and any inspired utterance that does not acknowledge Jesus does not come from God; it is the inspiration of the Antichrist. You have heard that it was coming, and here it is already in the world. ⁴ You are children of God, dear children, and you have been victorious over these men, for he who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are children of the world; that is why they speak as the world directs, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are God's children. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not a child of God will not listen to us. In this way we can tell what is inspired by truth from what is inspired by error. ⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God's love for us has been revealed in this way—that God has sent his only Son into the world, to let us have life through him. ¹⁰ The love consists not in our having loved God, but in his loving us and sending his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God has loved us so, we ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; yet if we love one another, God keeps in union with us and love for him attains perfection in our hearts. ¹³ This is the way we know that we keep in union with him and he does with us—because he has given us some of his Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen and can testify that the Father has sent the Son to be Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God keeps in union with him and he with God. ¹⁶ So we know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love keeps in union with God, and God with him. ¹⁷ Love attains perfection in us, when we have perfect confidence about the Day of Judgment, because here in this world we are living as he lives. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. For fear suggests punishment and no one who feels fear has attained perfect love. ¹⁹ We love because he loved us first. ²⁰ If anyone says, "I love God," and yet hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ This is the command that we get from him, that whoever loves God must love his brother also.

⁴³ "You have heard that they were told, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

¹⁵ "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you disguised as sheep but are ravenous wolves underneath. ¹⁶ You can tell them by their fruit. Do people pick grapes off thorns, or figs off thistles?

¹⁵ I tell you, the land of Sodom and Gomorrah will fare better on the Day of Judgment than that town.

²⁵ A pupil should be satisfied to come to be like his teacher, or a slave, to come to be like his master. If men have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they give to the members of his household!

³² Therefore everyone who will acknowledge me before men I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven,

²² But I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will fare better on the Day of Judgment than you will!

²⁴ But I tell you that the land of Sodom will fare better on the Day of Judgment than you will!"

³⁶ But I tell you, for every careless word that men utter they will have to answer on the Day of Judgment.

³² Then his master called him in and said to him, 'You wicked slave! I canceled all that debt of yours when you entreated me. ³³ Ought you not to have taken pity on your fellow-slave, as I did on you?'

³⁷ And he said to him, " 'You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind.' ³⁸ That is the great, first command. ³⁹ There is a second like it: 'You must love your neighbor as you do yourself.'

⁴ Jesus answered, "Take care that no one misleads you about this. ⁵ For many will come under my name, and say, 'I am the Christ,' and many will be misled by them.

²³ "If anyone says to you at that time, 'Look! here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it, ²⁴ for false Christs and false prophets will appear, and they will show great signs and wonders to mislead God's chosen people if they can. ²⁵ Here I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ So if they say to you, 'There he is, in the desert!' do not go out there; 'Here he is, in a room in here!' do not believe it.

⁶ He still had one left to send, a dearly loved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'

²⁹ Jesus answered, "The first one is, 'Hear, Israel! The Lord our God is one lord, ³⁰ and you must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, and your whole strength.' ³¹ And this is the second: 'You must love your neighbor as you do yourself.' No other command is greater than these." ³² The scribe said to him, "Really, Master, you have finely said that he stands alone, and there is none but he, ³³ and to love him with one's whole heart, one's whole understanding, and one's whole strength, and to love one's neighbor as one's self is far more than all these burnt-offerings and sacrifices."

²¹ If anyone says to you at that time, 'Look! Here is the Christ!' or 'Look! There he is!' do not believe it.

⁷⁴ That we should be delivered from the hands of our enemies, ⁷⁵ And should serve him in holiness and uprightness, unafraid, In his own presence all our lives.

¹⁸ "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, For he has consecrated me to preach the good news to the poor, He has sent me to announce to the prisoners their release and to the blind the recovery of their sight, To set the down-trodden at liberty,

⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the man with little to be forgiven loves me but little."

²² Everything has been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, nor who the Father is but the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

³⁷ He said, "The man who took pity on him." Jesus said to him, "Go and do so yourself!"

⁸ I tell you, everyone who will acknowledge me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God,

⁵⁷ Why do you not decide what is right yourselves?

⁸ And his master praised the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are shrewder in their relation to their own age than the sons of the light.

⁸ And he said, "Take care not to be misled. For many will come under my name, and say, 'I am he,' and 'The time is at hand.' Do not follow them.

¹⁴ So the Word became flesh and blood and lived for a while among us, abounding in blessing and truth, and we saw the honor God had given him, such honor as an only son receives from his father.

¹⁴ So the Word became flesh and blood and lived for a while among us, abounding in blessing and truth, and we saw the honor God had given him, such honor as an only son receives from his father. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out—for it was he who said it—"He who was to come after me is now ahead of me, for he existed before me!") ¹⁶ For from his abundance we have all had a share, and received blessing after blessing. ¹⁷ For while the Law was given through Moses, blessing and truth came to us through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; it is the divine Only Son, who leans upon his Father's breast, that has made him known.

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; it is the divine Only Son, who leans upon his Father's breast, that has made him known.

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, "There is God's lamb, who is to remove the world's sin!

¹¹ I tell you, we know what we are talking about and we have seen the things we testify to, yet you all reject our testimony.

¹⁶ For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that no one who believes in him should be lost, but that they should all have eternal life.

¹⁶ For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that no one who believes in him should be lost, but that they should all have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to pass judgment upon the world, but that through him the world might be saved. ¹⁸ No one who believes in him has to come up for judgment. Anyone who does not believe stands condemned already, for not believing in God's only Son.

³¹ He who comes from above is above all others. A son of earth belongs to earth and speaks of earth. He who comes from heaven is above all others. ³² It is to what he has seen and heard that he gives testimony, and yet no one accepts his testimony.

³⁴ For he whom God has sent speaks God's words, for God gives him his Spirit without measure.

⁴² and they said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your statement that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he is really the Savior of the world."

²³ so that all men may honor the Son just as much as they honor the Father. Whoever refuses to honor the Son refuses to honor the Father who sent him.

³⁶ But I have higher testimony than John's, for the things that my Father has intrusted to me to accomplish, the very things that I am doing, are proof that my Father has sent me, ³⁷ and my Father who has sent me has thus borne witness to me. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,

³⁹ You pore over the Scriptures, for you think that you will find eternal life in them, and these very Scriptures testify to me,

²⁹ Jesus answered them, "The work God has for you is to believe in the messenger that he has sent to you."

⁵¹ I am this living bread that has come down out of heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the world's life is my own flesh!"

⁵⁷ Just as the living Father has sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who lives on me will live because of me.

⁶⁹ and we believe and are satisfied that you are the Holy One of God."

⁶ Then Jesus said to them, "It is not yet time for me to act, but any time is suitable for you. ⁷ It is impossible for the world to hate you, but it does hate me for testifying that its ways are wrong.

¹⁹ Then they said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You do not know either me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father too."

²³ He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not belong to this world.

²⁹ And he who has sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."

⁴² Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I have come from God. I have not come of my own accord, but he has sent me.

⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth you will not believe me. ⁴⁶ Who among you can prove me guilty of sin? But if I tell you the truth, why do you refuse to believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever is sprung from God listens to God's words. The reason you refuse to listen is that you are not sprung from God." ⁴⁸ The Jews answered, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed?" ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, "I am not possessed, but I have respect for my Father, and you have no respect for me. ⁵⁰ But I do not seek honor for myself; there is someone who seeks it for me, and is the judge of it.

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, "If I show special honor to myself, such honor counts for nothing. It is my Father who shows me honor. You say he is your God, ⁵⁵ yet you have never come to know him. But I know him. If I say I do not know him, I will be a liar like yourselves. No! I do know him, and I am faithful to his message.

¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come to let them have life, and to let them have it in abundance.

¹⁶ I have other sheep too that do not belong to this fold. I must lead them too, and they will obey my voice, and they will all become one flock, with one shepherd.

²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me, ²⁸ and I give them eternal life, and they shall never be lost, and no one shall tear them out of my hands. ²⁹ What my Father has intrusted to me is of more importance than everything else, and no one can tear anything out of the Father's hands. ³⁰ The Father and I are one."

³⁶ do you mean to say to me whom the Father has consecrated and made his messenger to the world, 'You are blasphemous,' because I said, 'I am God's Son'?

²⁵ Jesus said to her, "I myself am Resurrection and Life. He who believes in me will live on, even if he dies, ²⁶ and no one who is alive and believes in me will ever die. Do you believe that?"

³¹ The judgment of this world is now in progress. Its evil genius is now to be expelled,

⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and disregards them, it is not I that judge him, for I have not come to judge the world but to save the world.

²⁰ I assure you, whoever welcomes any messenger of mine welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes him who has sent me."

³⁴ I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must love one another.

³⁴ I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must love one another. ³⁵ By this they will all know that you are my disciples—by your love for one another."

⁶ Jesus said to him, "I am Way and Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

¹⁷ It is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot obtain that Spirit, because it does not see it or recognize it; you recognize it because it stays with you and is within you.

¹⁷ It is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot obtain that Spirit, because it does not see it or recognize it; you recognize it because it stays with you and is within you. ¹⁸ I am not going to leave you friendless. I am coming back to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will not see me any more, but you will still see me, because I shall live on, and you will live on too. ²⁰ When that day comes you will know that I am in union with my Father and you are with me and I am with you.

²⁰ When that day comes you will know that I am in union with my Father and you are with me and I am with you. ²¹ It is he who has my commands and observes them that really loves me, and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and show myself to him."

²¹ It is he who has my commands and observes them that really loves me, and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and show myself to him." ²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said to him, "Master, how does it happen that you are going to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said to him, "Master, how does it happen that you are going to show yourself to us and not to the world?" ²³ Jesus answered, "Anyone who loves me will observe my teaching, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and live with him.

²³ Jesus answered, "Anyone who loves me will observe my teaching, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and live with him. ²⁴ No one who does not love me will observe my teaching, and yet the teaching you are listening to is not mine but is that of him who has sent me. ²⁵ "I have told you this while I am still staying with you, ²⁶ but the Helper, the holy Spirit which the Father will send in my place, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you.

³⁰ I shall not talk much more with you, for the evil genius of the world is coming. He has nothing in common with me,

¹² The command that I give you is to love one another just as I have loved you.

¹² The command that I give you is to love one another just as I have loved you. ¹³ No one can show greater love than by giving up his life for his friends.

¹⁶ It was not you who chose me, it is I that have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that shall be lasting, so that the Father may grant you whatever you ask him for as my followers.

¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love what was its own. But it is because you do not belong to the world, but I have selected you from the world, that the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I said to you: No slave is greater than his master. If they have persecuted me they will persecute you too. If they have observed my teaching, they will observe yours too.

²⁰ Remember what I said to you: No slave is greater than his master. If they have persecuted me they will persecute you too. If they have observed my teaching, they will observe yours too.

²⁶ When the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father—that Spirit of Truth that comes from the Father—he will bear testimony to me,

²⁶ When the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father—that Spirit of Truth that comes from the Father—he will bear testimony to me, ²⁷ and you must bear testimony too, because you have been with me from the first.

¹¹ and about judgment, as shown by the condemnation of the evil genius of this world.

¹³ but when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth, for he will not speak for himself but will tell what he hears, and will announce to you the things that are to come.

¹³ but when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth, for he will not speak for himself but will tell what he hears, and will announce to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will do honor to me, for he will take what is mine and communicate it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has belongs to me. That is why I said that he will take what is mine and communicate it to you.

³ And eternal life means knowing you as the only true God, and knowing Jesus your messenger as Christ.

¹⁴ I have given them your message, and the world has come to hate them, for they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

¹⁶ They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

²³ I in union with them and you with me, so that they may be perfectly unified, and the world may recognize that you sent me and that you love them just as you loved me.

³⁷ Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "As you say, I am a king. It was for this that I was born and for this that I came to the world, to give testimony for truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice."

²¹ Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you! Just as my Father sent me forth so I now send you."

¹¹ The Jews there were more high-minded than those at Thessalonica, and received the message with great eagerness and studied the Scriptures every day, to find out whether it was true.

⁵ By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

²⁹ I know that after I am gone savage wolves will get in among you and will not spare the flock,

¹ Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle, set apart to declare God's good news,

²⁵ For God showed him publicly dying as a sacrifice of reconciliation to be taken advantage of through faith. This was to vindicate his own justice (for in his forbearance, God passed over men's former sins)— ²⁶ to vindicate his justice at the present time, and show that he is upright himself, and that he makes those who have faith in Jesus upright also.

⁸ But God proves his love for us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners. ⁹ So if we have already been made upright by his death, it is far more certain that through him we shall be saved from God's anger! ¹⁰ If, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, it is far more certain that now that we are reconciled we shall be saved through sharing in his life!

⁹ But you are not physical but spiritual, if God's Spirit has really taken possession of you; for unless a man has Christ's spirit, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in your hearts, though your bodies are dead in consequence of sin, your spirits have life in consequence of uprightness.

¹⁰ But if Christ is in your hearts, though your bodies are dead in consequence of sin, your spirits have life in consequence of uprightness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has taken possession of you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through his Spirit that has taken possession of you.

¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has taken possession of you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through his Spirit that has taken possession of you. ¹² So, brothers, we are under obligations, but not to the physical nature, to live under its control, ¹³ for if you live under the control of the physical you will die, but if, by means of the Spirit, you put the body's doings to death, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. ¹⁵ It is not a consciousness of servitude that has been imparted to you, to fill you with fear again, but the consciousness of adoption as sons, which makes us cry, "Abba!" that is, Father.

¹⁵ It is not a consciousness of servitude that has been imparted to you, to fill you with fear again, but the consciousness of adoption as sons, which makes us cry, "Abba!" that is, Father. ¹⁶ The Spirit itself testifies with our spirits that we are God's children, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also; heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ, if we really share his sufferings in order to share his glory too.

²⁹ For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;

²⁹ For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers; ³⁰ and those whom he has predestined he calls, and those whom he calls he makes upright, and those whom he makes upright he glorifies. ³¹ Then what shall we conclude from this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² Will not he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, with that gift give us everything?

³⁷ But in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.

⁹ For if with your lips you acknowledge the message that Jesus is Lord, and with your mind you believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

⁸ The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day."

⁹ Your love must be genuine. You must hate what is wrong, and hold to what is right. ¹⁰ Be affectionate in your love for the brotherhood, eager to show one another honor,

⁹ For the commandments, "You must not commit adultery, You must not murder, You must not steal, You must not covet," and any other commandments there are, are all summed up in one saying, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself." ¹⁰ Love never wrongs a neighbor, and so love fully satisfies the Law.

¹⁸ Such men are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own base passions, and with their plausible and flattering talk they deceive simple-minded people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard of your obedience, and I am very happy about you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and guileless about what is bad.

⁹ But, as the Scripture says, there are things "Which no eye ever saw and no ear ever heard, And never occurred to the human mind, Which God has provided for those who love him."

¹² But the Spirit we have received is not that of the world, but the Spirit that comes from God, which we have to make us realize the blessings God has given us.

¹² But the Spirit we have received is not that of the world, but the Spirit that comes from God, which we have to make us realize the blessings God has given us. ¹³ These disclosures we impart, not in the set phrases of human philosophy, but in words the Spirit teaches, giving spiritual truth a spiritual form. ¹⁴ A material man will not accept what the Spirit of God offers. It seems mere folly to him, and he cannot understand it, because it takes spiritual insight to see its true value.

¹⁶ Do you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit makes its home in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is sacred, and that is what you are.

¹³ It is true, food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for the food, but God will put an end to both of them. But the body is not meant for immorality, but for the service of the Lord, and the Lord is for the body to serve.

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit that is within you, which you have received from God? Besides, you are not your own;

³ Therefore, I must tell you that no one who is speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God ever says, "Curse Jesus!" and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord!" without being under the influence of the holy Spirit.

¹⁰ another, the working of wonders, another, inspiration in preaching, another, the power of distinguishing the true Spirit from false ones, another, various ecstatic utterances, and another, the ability to explain them.

¹³ So faith, hope, and love endure. These are the great three, and the greatest of them is love.

²⁹ And let two or three who are inspired to preach speak, while the rest weigh what is said;

³⁷ If anyone claims to be inspired to preach, or to have any other spiritual endowment, let him understand that what I am now writing you is a command from the Lord.

⁴ In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep the light of the good news of the glorious Christ, the likeness of God, from dawning upon them.

⁶ For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, that is on the face of Christ.

¹⁴ It is Christ's love that controls me, for I have become convinced that as one has died for all, all have died, ¹⁵ and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.

¹⁹ how God through Christ reconciled the world to himself, refusing to count men's offenses against them, and intrusted me with the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ It is for Christ, therefore, that I am an envoy, seeing that God makes his appeal through me. On Christ's behalf I beg you to be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made him who knew nothing of sin to be sin, for our sake, so that through union with him we might become God's uprightness.

¹⁶ What bargain can a temple of God make with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, And I will be their God and they will be my people."

⁸ I do not mean this as a command. I only want to test the genuineness of your love by the devotion of others. ⁹ You know how gracious the Lord Jesus Christ was. Though he was rich, he became poor for your sake, in order that by his poverty you might become rich.

⁷ You look at things externally. If anyone is sure he belongs to Christ, let him think again and understand that I belong to Christ just as much as he.

¹¹ Now brothers, goodbye! Be what you ought to be, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and God the source of love and peace will be with you.

⁹ but now that you know God, or rather have come to be known by him, how can you turn back to the old, crude notions, so poor and weak, and wish to become slaves to them again?

⁶ For in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the want of it counts for anything, but only faith acting through love.

¹⁴ For the whole Law is summed up in one saying: "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself."

²² But what the Spirit produces is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²² But what the Spirit produces is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. There is no law against such things! ²⁴ Those who belong to Jesus the Christ have crucified the physical nature with its propensities and cravings. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit.

² in the midst of which you once lived under the control of the present age of the world, and the master-spirit of the air, who is still at work among the disobedient. ³ We all lived among them once, indulging our physical cravings and obeying the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were doomed to God's wrath like other men. ⁴ But God is so rich in mercy that because of the great love he had for us,

⁴ But God is so rich in mercy that because of the great love he had for us, ⁵ he made us, dead as we were through our offenses, live again with the Christ. It is by his mercy that you have been saved.

²⁰ You are built upon the apostles and prophets as your foundation, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. ²¹ Through him every part of the building is closely united and grows into a temple sacred through its relation to the Lord, ²² and you are yourselves built up into a dwelling for God through the Spirit.

¹⁷ and through your faith to let Christ in his love make his home in your hearts. Your roots must be deep and your foundations strong,

³¹ You must give up all bitterness, rage, anger, and loud, abusive talk, and all spite.

¹⁰ Henceforth you must grow strong through union with the Lord and through his mighty strength.

¹² For we have to struggle, not with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the hierarchies, the authorities, the master-spirits of this dark world, the spirit-forces of evil on high. ¹³ So you must take God's armor, so that when the evil day comes you will be able to make a stand, and when it is all over to hold your ground.

¹¹ and everyone should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, and thus glorify God the Father.

³ For you have died, and your life now lies hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our true life, shall make his appearance, then you also will appear glorified with him.

¹³ You must bear with one another and forgive one another, if anyone has reason to be offended with anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.

⁹ You do not need to have anyone write to you about brotherly love, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another,

⁹ You do not need to have anyone write to you about brotherly love, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another, ¹⁰ and you are doing it to all the brothers all over Macedonia. But we do entreat you, brothers, to surpass yourselves

²¹ but test them all, retaining what is good

⁸ in a blaze of fire, and takes vengeance on the godless who will not listen to the good news of our Lord Jesus.

³ You must not let anyone deceive you at all. For that is not until the rebellion takes place and the embodiment of disobedience makes his appearance—he who is doomed to destruction, ⁴ the adversary of every being that is called a god or an object of worship, and so overbearing toward them as to enter God's sanctuary and take his seat there, proclaiming himself to be God— ⁵ do you not remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you this? ⁶ So now you know what it is that is holding him back from making his appearance before the appointed time arrives. ⁷ For disobedience is already secretly at work, but only until he who is now holding it in check is gotten out of the way. ⁸ Then the embodiment of disobedience will make his appearance, and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and annihilate him by his appearance and arrival. ⁹ The other's appearance, by the contrivance of Satan, will be full of power and pretended signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and full of wicked deception for men who are going to destruction, because they refused to love the truth and be saved. ¹¹ This is why God sends upon them a misleading influence, to make them believe what is false,

¹⁷ To the eternal King, immortal and invisible, the one God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.

¹⁶ No one can deny the profundity of the divine truth of our religion! "He was revealed in flesh, He was vindicated by the Spirit, He was seen by the angels, He was proclaimed among the heathen, He was believed in throughout the world, He was taken up into glory."

¹ The Spirit distinctly says that in later times some will turn away from the faith, and devote their attention to deceitful spirits and the things that demons teach

¹⁶ who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

⁷ For the Spirit God has given us is a spirit not of timidity but of power, love, and self-discipline.

¹³ and bad men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving others and deceived themselves.

³ For a time will come when they will not listen to wholesome instruction, but will overwhelm themselves with teachers to suit their whims and tickle their fancies,

³ For we ourselves were once without understanding, disobedient, deluded, enslaved to all kinds of passions and pleasures. Our minds were full of malice and envy. Men hated us and we hated one another. ⁴ But when the goodness and kindness of God our Savior were revealed, ⁵ he saved us, not for any upright actions we had performed, but from his own mercy, through the bath of regeneration and renewal by the holy Spirit,

⁵ For to what angel did God ever say, "You are my Son! I have today become your Father"? Or again, "I will become his Father, and he shall become my Son"?

²⁷ Faith made him leave Egypt, unafraid of the king's anger, for he persevered as though he saw him who is unseen.

² fixing our eyes upon Jesus, our leader and example in faith, who in place of the happiness that belonged to him, submitted to a cross, caring nothing for its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Think of the opposition that he encountered from those sinners against themselves, if you would not grow weary and faint-hearted.

²⁸ Let us, therefore, be thankful that the kingdom given to us cannot be shaken, and so please God by worshiping him with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

¹³ For the merciless will be mercilessly judged; but mercy will triumph over judgment.

¹⁹ Do you believe in one God? Very well! So do the demons, and they shudder.

²² You see that in his case faith and good deeds worked together; faith found its highest expression in good deeds,

⁸ You must love him, though you have not seen him, but since you believe in him though you do not now see him, rejoice with triumphant, unutterable joy

²² Now that by obeying the truth you have purified your souls for sincere love of the brotherhood, you must love one another intensely and heartily,

²⁴ He carried the burden of our sins in his own body on the cross, in order that we might die to sin and live for uprightness. By his wounds you have been healed.

⁸ Finally, you must all be harmonious, sympathizing, loving, tender-hearted, modest,

¹⁶ and keep your conscience clear, so that those who abuse your upright Christian conduct may be made ashamed of their slanders. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing right, if that should be God's will, than for doing wrong. ¹⁸ For Christ himself died once for all, for sin, an upright man for unrighteous men, to bring us to God, and was physically put to death, but he was made alive in the Spirit.

¹⁸ For Christ himself died once for all, for sin, an upright man for unrighteous men, to bring us to God, and was physically put to death, but he was made alive in the Spirit.

¹ Since Christ therefore has suffered in our physical nature, you must also arm yourselves with the same resolve. For he who suffers in his physical nature has done with sin, ² and no longer lives by what men desire, but for the rest of his earthly life by what God wills. ³ You have spent time enough in the past in doing as the heathen like to do, indulging in sensuality, passion, drunkenness, carousing, dissipation, and detestable idolatry.

⁸ Above all keep your love for one another strong, because love covers up a host of sins.

¹³ but be glad that you are in a measure sharing the sufferings of the Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may be triumphantly happy. ¹⁴ If you are being abused for the sake of Christ, you are blessed, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

¹² By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I think him, I have written you this short letter to encourage you and bear my testimony that this is what the true mercy of God means. Stand fast in it.

¹ There were false prophets too among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive sects and deny the Master who has bought them, thus bringing on themselves swift destruction. ² Many people will follow their immoral ways, and they will cause the true way to be maligned. ³ In their greed they will exploit you with pretended arguments. From of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not slumbered.

⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue God-fearing people from trial and to punish wrongdoers while they are being kept for the Day of Judgment,

² to remember the things foretold by the holy prophets, and the command of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

⁷ But by the same command the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, and are kept for the day when godless men are to be judged and destroyed.

¹ It is what existed from the beginning, that we announce; what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have beheld, and touched with our hands; it is the very message of life— ² for life has been revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and announce to you that eternal life that was with the Father and has been revealed to us— ³ it is what we have seen and heard that we announce to you also, so that you may share our fellowship, for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,

⁵ This is the message that we heard from him and announce to you: God is light; there is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ If we say, "We have fellowship with him," and yet live in darkness, we are lying and not living the truth.

¹ My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone does sin, we have in Jesus Christ one who is upright and will intercede for us with the Father. ² He is himself an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world.

² He is himself an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world.

⁴ Whoever says, "I know him," but does not obey his commands, is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart; ⁵ but whoever obeys his message really has the love of God in perfection in his heart. This is the way we can be sure that we are in union with him;

⁹ Whoever says, "I am in the light," and yet hates his brother, is still in darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother is always in the light and puts no hindrance in anyone's way. ¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and is living in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, for the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have been victorious over the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour. You have heard that Antichrist is coming, and many Antichrists have indeed appeared. So we may be sure that it is the last hour.

²² Who is such a liar as the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the real Antichrist—the man who disowns the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who disowns the Son can have the Father. Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too.

²⁸ Now, dear children, keep in union with him, so that if he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame when he comes. ²⁹ If you know that he is upright, you may be sure that everyone who acts uprightly is his child.

¹ Think what love the Father has had for us, in letting us be called God's children, for that is what we are. This is why the world does not know what we are—because it has never come to know him.

³ And everyone who possesses this hope in him tries to make himself as pure as he is.

⁶ No one who keeps in union with him sins. Anyone who sins has never seen him or come to know him.

⁹ No one who is a child of God commits sin, for God's nature remains in his heart, and he cannot sin, because he is a child of God. ¹⁰ This is how the children of God and those of the devil can be distinguished: No one who does not act uprightly or who does not love his brother is a child of God.

¹⁰ This is how the children of God and those of the devil can be distinguished: No one who does not act uprightly or who does not love his brother is a child of God. ¹¹ For the message you have heard from the beginning is this: We must love one another.

¹¹ For the message you have heard from the beginning is this: We must love one another. ¹² We must not be like Cain who was a child of the evil one, and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright. ¹³ You must not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you! ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love is still in death.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love is still in death. ¹⁵ Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer can have eternal life remain in his heart. ¹⁶ We know what love means from the fact that he laid down his life for us; so we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

¹⁶ We know what love means from the fact that he laid down his life for us; so we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

¹⁶ We know what love means from the fact that he laid down his life for us; so we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ But if someone who is rich sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can he have any love for God in his heart?

¹⁷ But if someone who is rich sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can he have any love for God in his heart?

¹⁷ But if someone who is rich sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can he have any love for God in his heart? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us love not with words or lips only but in reality and truth.

¹⁸ Dear children, let us love not with words or lips only but in reality and truth. ¹⁹ From that we can be sure that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight,

¹⁹ From that we can be sure that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight, ²⁰ if they condemn us for anything, for God is greater than our consciences, and he knows all.

²⁰ if they condemn us for anything, for God is greater than our consciences, and he knows all. ²¹ Dear friends, if our consciences do not condemn us, we approach God with confidence,

²¹ Dear friends, if our consciences do not condemn us, we approach God with confidence, ²² and we obtain from him whatever we ask for, because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him. ²³ His command is this—that we are to believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he has commanded us to do.

²³ His command is this—that we are to believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he has commanded us to do. ²⁴ All who obey his commands keep in union with him, and he does with them; and this is how we know that he keeps in union with us—by the Spirit which he has given us.

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every inspired utterance, but test the utterances to see whether they come from God, for many false prophets have come out into the world. ² You can tell the Spirit of God in this way: all inspiration that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in human form comes from God, ³ and any inspired utterance that does not acknowledge Jesus does not come from God; it is the inspiration of the Antichrist. You have heard that it was coming, and here it is already in the world. ⁴ You are children of God, dear children, and you have been victorious over these men, for he who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world.

⁶ We are God's children. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not a child of God will not listen to us. In this way we can tell what is inspired by truth from what is inspired by error. ⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God's love for us has been revealed in this way—that God has sent his only Son into the world, to let us have life through him.

⁹ God's love for us has been revealed in this way—that God has sent his only Son into the world, to let us have life through him. ¹⁰ The love consists not in our having loved God, but in his loving us and sending his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹⁰ The love consists not in our having loved God, but in his loving us and sending his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God has loved us so, we ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; yet if we love one another, God keeps in union with us and love for him attains perfection in our hearts.

¹² No one has ever seen God; yet if we love one another, God keeps in union with us and love for him attains perfection in our hearts. ¹³ This is the way we know that we keep in union with him and he does with us—because he has given us some of his Spirit.

¹³ This is the way we know that we keep in union with him and he does with us—because he has given us some of his Spirit.

¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God keeps in union with him and he with God. ¹⁶ So we know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love keeps in union with God, and God with him.

¹⁶ So we know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love keeps in union with God, and God with him. ¹⁷ Love attains perfection in us, when we have perfect confidence about the Day of Judgment, because here in this world we are living as he lives. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. For fear suggests punishment and no one who feels fear has attained perfect love. ¹⁹ We love because he loved us first. ²⁰ If anyone says, "I love God," and yet hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²⁰ If anyone says, "I love God," and yet hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves those who are his children.

⁴ for every child of God is victorious over the world. Our faith is the victory that has triumphed over the world. ⁵ For who is there that is victorious over the world except the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁹ If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger still; for the value of God's testimony lies in this, that he has testified to his Son.

¹¹ And that testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and that this life is found in his Son.

¹⁹ We know that we are children of God, while the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

⁷ For many impostors have gone out into the world—men who do not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in human form. That is the mark of the impostor and the Antichrist.

¹⁷ But you, dear friends, must remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

² I know what you have done; your hard work and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, and that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles when they were not, and have found them to be impostors.

⁹ So the great dragon, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.

¹¹ They have conquered him because of the Lamb's blood, and the message to which they bore testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.