1 John 4:1-6

Christian Standard Bible

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits^(A) to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

² This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(B) is from God,^{(C) 3} but every spirit that does not confess Jesus^[a] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,^(D) which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

⁴ You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you^(E) is greater than the one who is in the world.^{(F) 5} They are from the world.^(G) Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us;^(H) anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.^(I)