Testing the Spirits

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to see] whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this [you will] know[fn] the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses [that] Jesus Christ has come in [the] flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess [that] Jesus Christ has come in the flesh[fn] is not from God. This is the [spirit] of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and [which] is already in the world at this time.

4 You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who [is] in you than he who [is] in the world. 5 They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit[fn] of truth and the spirit of deception.