1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2
This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh[a] is from God.
3
But every spirit who does not confess Jesus[b] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.
4
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
5
They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.
6
We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.