1 John 4:1-6

How to Recognize the Spirit of God

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 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

4 You are from God, little children, and 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} they speak from the world and the world listens to them.

6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "confesses Jesus [as] Christ who has come in the flesh" (see also 2 John 7)
• [b] Literally "because of this"