Passage

1 John 4.2

Book: 1 John · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

"2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:"

"3. and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already. 4. Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

"2. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,"

"3. and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

"2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:"

"3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Beloved, every spirit believe not, but prove the spirits, if of God they are, because many false prophets have gone forth to the world;"

"2. in this know ye the Spirit of God; every spirit that doth confess Jesus Christ in the flesh having come, of God it is,"

"3. and every spirit that doth not confess Jesus Christ in the flesh having come, of God it is not; and this is that of the antichrist, which ye heard that it doth come, and now in the world it is already. 4. Ye, of God ye are, little children, and ye have overcome them; because greater is He who [is] in you, than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.