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1 João 4

BLIVRE · Chapter 4/5

1Amados, não creiais em todo espírito, mas provai se os espíritos são da parte de Deus; porque muitos falsos profetas têm vindo ao mundo.

2Nisto conhecereis o Espírito de Deus: todo espírito que confessa que Jesus Cristo veio em carne é de Deus;

3e todo espírito que não confessa que Jesus Cristo veio em carne não é de Deus; e este é o do anticristo, do qual já ouvistes que virá, e que já agora está no mundo.

4Filhinhos, vós sois de Deus, e tendes vencido esses; pois maior é o que está em vós do que o que está no mundo.

5Eles são do mundo, por isso falam do mundo, e o mundo os ouve.

6Nós somos de Deus. Aquele que conhece Deus ouve-nos; aquele que não é de Deus não nos ouve. Nisto conhecemos o Espírito da verdade e o espírito do erro.

7Amados, nos amemos uns aos outros; porque o amor é de Deus, e todo aquele que ama é nascido de Deus e conhece a Deus.

8Aquele que não ama não conhece a Deus, porque Deus é amor.

9Nisto se manifestou o amor de Deus por nós: que Deus enviou o seu Filho unigênito ao mundo, para que por meio dele vivamos.

10Nisto está o amor, não que nós tenhamos amado a Deus, mas sim, que ele nos amou, e enviou seu Filho como sacrifício para perdão dos nossos pecados.

11Amados, se Deus assim nos amou, também nós devemos amar uns aos outros.

12Ninguém jamais viu Deus; se nos amamos uns aos outros, Deus está em nós, e o amor dele em nós é aperfeiçoado.

13Nisto sabemos que estamos nele, e ele em nós, porque ele nos deu do seu Espírito.

14E vimos e damos testemunho de que o Pai enviou o Filho [para ser] Salvador do mundo.

15Todo aquele que confessar que Jesus é o Filho de Deus, Deus está nele, e ele em Deus.

16E nós conhecemos e cremos no amor que Deus tem por nós. Deus é amor, e quem está no amor está em Deus, e Deus nele.

17Nisto o amor é aperfeiçoado em nós, para que no dia do juízo tenhamos confiança, pois, como ele é, assim somos nós neste mundo.

18No amor não há medo; pelo contrário, o perfeito amor expulsa o medo; pois o medo está relacionado ao castigo; e o que teme não está aperfeiçoado em amor.

19Nós o amamos, porque ele nos amou primeiro.

20Se alguém diz: “Eu amo a Deus”, e odeia seu irmão, é mentiroso. Pois quem não ama seu irmão, ao qual viu, como pode amar a Deus, a quem nunca viu?

21E dele temos este mandamento: quem ama a Deus, ame também seu irmão.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

John teaches believers to test the spirits, since not every spiritual teaching comes from God, and states that the central test is recognizing that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He declares that God is love, and that loving one another is proof that we know God, for no one has ever seen him, but his love is made complete in us when we love.

Explanation

The spiritual test John proposes—confessing that Jesus Christ came in the flesh—directly combats a teaching called docetism, which viewed matter as evil and therefore denied that Jesus had a real human body, claiming he only appeared to have flesh. The statement 'God is love' (4:8, 16) is one of the most concise and profound definitions in the whole Bible of God's nature, going beyond saying that God loves to affirming that love is his very essence. John argues that, since no one can see God directly, mutual love among Christians becomes the visible, tangible evidence of God's invisible presence in the world. Today's application is to remember that correct doctrine about Jesus must always go hand in hand with genuine love for others.

Fun facts

  • The statement 'God is love' (4:8 and 4:16) appears only in this letter in the whole Bible, making it one of the most quoted and translated phrases in all of Christian Scripture, in practically every language in the world.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 João 4:1The suggested test for “trying the spirits” — that is, evaluating teachings and prophets — is precisely whether a person confesses that “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” — denying this is called the spirit of antichrist, linking back to the theme already addressed in chapter 2.
  2. 1 João 4:2Gives the concrete test for “trying the spirits” mentioned in the previous verse: every teaching that acknowledges that Jesus Christ truly came in human flesh is of God.
  3. 1 João 4:3The reverse test: any teaching that denies this real humanity of Jesus is not of God — it is identified with the “spirit of antichrist,” already foretold and already present at that time.
  4. 1 João 4:4Reassures readers about these false teachings: they have already overcome these deceivers, because God, who is in them, is greater than any opposing spiritual force in the world.
  5. 1 João 4:5Explains why these false teachers succeed with some people: they belong to the world, speak the world’s language, and so the world listens to them easily.
  6. 1 João 4:6Contrasts with the previous verse: whoever truly knows God listens to the apostles (“us”), and this difference in audience helps distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of error.
  7. 1 João 4:7Introduces the central theme of the rest of the chapter: loving one another because love comes from God, and whoever truly loves shows that he is born of God and knows Him.
  8. 1 João 4:8The phrase “God is love” is not just one quality among others attributed to God, but practically a definition — the text uses this idea as the foundation for everything it says about loving one another in the verses that follow.
  9. 1 João 4:9Explains how God’s love became visible: He sent His only Son into the world, with the clear purpose of giving life through Him.
  10. 1 João 4:10Explaining that God’s love did not begin with human beings loving first, but with God sending the Son as the “propitiation” for sins, reverses the common logic that human love is the starting point — here, it is always a response.
  11. 1 João 4:11Draws a practical conclusion from God’s love described in the previous verses: since God loved so much, Christians also have an obligation to love one another.
  12. 1 João 4:12Saying that “no man hath seen God at any time,” but that He becomes visible when we love one another, proposes mutual love as a practical way of making God perceptible, since He cannot be seen directly.
  13. 1 João 4:13Gives another sign that God and the believer live in mutual abiding: the presence of God’s own Spirit given to each one.
  14. 1 João 4:14Returns to the eyewitness language from the letter’s opening: the apostles saw with their own eyes and testify that the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world.
  15. 1 João 4:15Repeats the test of faith already used before: publicly acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God is a sign of a mutual relationship between that person and God.
  16. 1 João 4:16Reinforces the chapter’s central definition, “God is love,” and connects living in love to living within a real relationship with God.
  17. 1 João 4:17Explains the practical effect of mature love: it gives confidence for the day of final judgment, because the believer already reflects Christ’s own character in the world.
  18. 1 João 4:18The idea that “perfect love casteth out fear” describes a relationship between confidence and fear: where there is certainty of God’s love, the text argues, there is no room left for fear of judgment, because fear and punishment are linked.
  19. 1 João 4:19Simply sums up the origin of Christian love: it is not a human initiative, it is always a response to the fact that God loved first.
  20. 1 João 4:20Makes love for God impossible to separate from love for one’s brother: it is contradictory — the text calls it being “a liar” — to say one loves God, whom one has not seen, while hating a brother, whom one sees every day.
  21. 1 João 4:21Closes the chapter by directly citing Jesus’ commandment: whoever loves God must, as a direct consequence, love his brother also.

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