World English Bible · Under Rome
1 John 4
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Beloved, don't every , but the spirits, whether they are of , because many false have gone out into the world. By this you know of : every who confesses that has come in is of , and every who doesn't that has come in is not of ; and this is of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. You are of , little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. We are of . He who knows listens to us. He who is not of doesn't listen to us. By this we know of truth, and of error. Beloved, let's love one another, for love is of ; and everyone who loves has been born of and knows . He who doesn't love doesn't know , for is love. By this love was in us, that has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved , but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning for our . Beloved, if loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen at any time. If we love one another, in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we in him and he in us, because he has given us of his . We have seen and testify that has sent the Son as the of the world. Whoever confesses that is the Son of , in him, and he in . We know and have the love which has for us. is love, and he who in love in , and in him. In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of , because as he is, even so we are in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man says, "I love ," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love whom he has not seen? This we have from him, that he who loves should also love his brother.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.