⁹ I wrote you in my earlier letter not to associate with those who sin sexually. ¹⁰ But I did not [^Lat all] mean you should not associate with those of this world who sin sexually, or with the greedy, or ·robbers [or swindlers], or those who worship idols. To get away from them you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ I am writing to tell you that you must not associate with those who call themselves ·believers in Christ [a brother or sister] but who sin sexually, or are greedy, or worship idols, or ·abuse others with words [slander], or get drunk, or ·cheat [swindle] people. Do not even eat with people like that.

It is not my business to judge those who are ·not part of the church [^Loutside]. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are ·part of the church [^Linside]. The Scripture says, “You must ·get rid of [expel; remove] the evil person among you [Deut. 17:7; 19:19; 22:21, 24; 24:7].”

Warning Against False Teachers

4 ·My dear friends [^LBeloved], many false prophets [Deut. 13:1–5; 18:14–22; Mark 13:22] have gone out into the world. So do not ·believe [trust] every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God [^Cthe false teachers evidently claimed that their teaching was from the Spirit; 1 Cor. 12:1–3; 14:29; 1 Thess. 5:19–21]. ² This is how you can ·know [recognize] God’s Spirit: Every spirit [^Ca teacher/prophet claiming inspiration from the Spirit] who ·confesses [acknowledges] that Jesus Christ came ·to earth as a human [^Lin the flesh] is from God. ³ And every spirit who ·refuses to say this about Jesus [^Ldoes not confess/acknowledge Jesus] is not from God [2 John 7]. It is the spirit of the ·enemy of Christ [^Lantichrist; 2:18, 22], which you have heard is coming, and now he is already in the world.

⁴ ·My dear children [2:1], you ·belong to [^Lare from] God and have ·defeated [conquered; overcome] them [^Cthe antichrists/false teachers]; because ·God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world [^Lthat which is in you is greater than that which is in the world]. ⁵ And they ·belong to [^Lare from] the world, so what they say is from the world, and the world ·listens to [hears; obeys] them. ⁶ But we ·belong to [are from] God, and those who know God ·listen to [hear; obey] us. But those who are not from God do not ·listen to [hear; obey] us. That is how we ·know [recognize] the Spirit that is true and the spirit that ·is false [deceives; errs].

Jesus Talks About the Spirit

³⁷ On the last and ·most important [^Lgreatest] day of the feast Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. [^CThe feast of Shelters/Tabernacles featured a water pouring ritual that may stand in the background of Jesus’ speech.] ³⁸ If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s ·heart [^Lbelly; gut], as the Scripture says [Is. 55:1; 58:11; Ezek. 47:1–12; Zech. 14:8, compare John 4:10–11; Rev. 7:17; 22:1].” ³⁹ Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been ·raised to glory [glorified]. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.

The People Argue About Jesus

⁴⁰ When the people heard Jesus’ words, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet [1:21; ^Cthe “prophet like Moses” of Deut. 18:15–18].”

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the ·Christ [Messiah].”

Still others said, “The ·Christ [Messiah] will not come from Galilee. ⁴² The Scripture says that the ·Christ [Messiah] will come from David’s ·family [offspring; ^Lseed; 2 Sam. 7:12–16; Ps. 89:3–4; Is. 9:7; 55:3] and from Bethlehem, the ·town [village] where David lived [Mic. 5:2].” ⁴³ So ·the people did not agree with each other [^Lthere was a division in the crowd] about Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to ·arrest [seize] him, but no one was able to ·touch [^Llay a hand on] him.

Some Leaders Won’t Believe

⁴⁵ [^LTherefore] The Temple ·guards [police; officers] went back to the ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the Pharisees, who asked, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”

⁴⁶ The ·guards [police; officers] answered, “·The words he says are greater than the words of any other person who has ever spoken [^LNo one has ever spoken like this]!”

⁴⁷ [^LTherefore] The Pharisees answered them, “So Jesus has ·fooled [deceived; led astray] you also! ⁴⁸ Have any of the ·leaders [rulers; authorities] or the Pharisees believed in him? No! ⁴⁹ But ·these people [^Lthis crowd], who know nothing about the law, are ·under God’s curse [accursed].”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to see Jesus before [see 3:1–21], was in that group. He said, ⁵¹ “·Our law does not [^LDoes our law…?] judge a person without hearing him and knowing what he has done.”

⁵² They answered, “Are you from Galilee, too? ·Study the Scriptures, and you will learn [^LSearch and see] that no prophet comes from Galilee.”