¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^(A) And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^{(B) 17} If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,^(C) how can the love of God be in that person?^{(D) 18} Dear children,^(E) let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.^(F)

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends,^(G) if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God^{(H) 22} and receive from him anything we ask,^(I) because we keep his commands^(J) and do what pleases him.^{(K) 23} And this is his command: to believe^(L) in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,^(M) and to love one another as he commanded us.^{(N) 24} The one who keeps God’s commands^(O) lives in him,^(P) and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.^(Q)

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends,^(R) do not believe every spirit,^(S) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.^{(T) 2} This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(U) is from God,^{(V) 3} but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,^(W) which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.^(X)

⁴ You, dear children,^(Y) are from God and have overcome them,^(Z) because the one who is in you^(AA) is greater than the one who is in the world.^{(AB) 5} They are from the world^(AC) and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.^(AD) This is how we recognize the Spirit^[a] of truth^(AE) and the spirit of falsehood.^(AF)