Warning Against False Teachers

4 My dear friends, many false prophets are in the world now. So do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God. ² This is how you can know God’s Spirit: One spirit says, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ who came to earth and became a man.” That Spirit is from God. ³ Another spirit refuses to say this about Jesus. That spirit is not from God but is the spirit of the Enemy of Christ. You have heard that the Enemy of Christ is coming. And now he is already in the world.

⁴ My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. ⁵ And they belong to the world. What they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ But we are from God, and those who know God listen to us. But those who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.

Is It Right to Heal on the Sabbath?

14 On a Sabbath day, Jesus went to the home of a leading Pharisee to eat with him. The people there were all watching Jesus very closely. ² A man with dropsy^[a] was brought before Jesus. ³ Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “Is it right or wrong to heal on the Sabbath day?” ⁴ But they would not answer his question. So Jesus took the man, healed him, and sent him away. ⁵ Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “If your son^[b] or ox falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not pull him out quickly?” ⁶ And they could not answer him.

Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority

²³ Jesus went to the Temple. While he was teaching there, the leading priests and the elders of the people came to Jesus. They said to him, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question, too. If you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ²⁵ Tell me: When John baptized people, did that come from God or from man?”

The priests and the leaders argued about Jesus’ question. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe John?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘It was from man,’ we are afraid of what the people will do because they all believe that John was a prophet.”

²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then Jesus said, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things!