Passage Research
1 John 4 — Sermon Preparation
Believers are called to test the spirits by whether they confess that Jesus came in the flesh, and to abide in God who is love. Below is a research summary for 1 John 4, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 21
- verses
- 449 / 95
- Greek words / lemmas
- 28
- classic sermon excerpts
- 6
- preachers & commentators
1 John 4 in the Greek
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Greek | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | KJV renderings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀγαπάω | agapáō | G25 | 15 | love |
| ἀγάπη | agápē | G26 | 12 | charity, dear, love |
| κόσμος | kósmos | G2889 | 9 | adorning, world |
| πνεῦμα | pneûma | G4151 | 8 | ghost, life, spirit, mind |
| γινώσκω | ginṓskō | G1097 | 7 | allow, be aware, feel, know |
| μένω | ménō | G3306 | 6 | abide, continue, dwell, endure |
| ὁμολογέω | homologéō | G3670 | 3 | con- fess, confession is made, give thanks, promise |
How preachers through history handled this text
28 public-domain excerpts on 1 John 4, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“The Father sent the Son, he willed his coming into this world. The apostle attests this. And whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This confession includes faith in the heart as the foundation; makes acknowledgment with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in the life and conduct, against the flatteries and frowns of the world. There must be a day of universal judgment. Happy those who shall have holy boldness before the Judge at that day; …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on 1 John 4:14–25 (Public Domain)
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