²² And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ.^[a] Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist.^[b]

⁷ I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came^[a] in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.

³ But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

Warning about Antichrists

¹⁸ Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come.

⁴ I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

²³ Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,^[a] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

⁴ If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.

⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

² You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. ³ So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.