1 John 4:2

Hereby know ye (en toutwi ginwskete). Either present active indicative or imperative. The test of "the Spirit of God" (to pneuma tou qeou) here alone in this Epistle, save verse 1 John 13 . With the clamour of voices then and now this is important. The test (en toutwi, as in 1 John 3:19 ) follows. That Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (Ihsoun Criston en sarki elhluqota). The correct text (perfect active participle predicate accusative), not the infinitive (elhluqenai, B Vg). The predicate participle (see John 9:22 for predicate accusative with omologew) describes Jesus as already come in the flesh (his actual humanity, not a phantom body as the Docetic Gnostics held). See this same idiom in 2 John 1:7 with ercomenon (coming). A like test is proposed by Paul for confessing the deity of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and for the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus in Romans 10:6-10 .