⁴ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.^(A)

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants,^(A) tossed back and forth by the waves,^(B) and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.^(C)

⁷ I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ^(A) as coming in the flesh,^(B) have gone out into the world.^(C) Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.^(D)

On Denying the Incarnation

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

¹⁸ For such people are not serving our Lord Christ,^(A) but their own appetites.^(B) By smooth talk and flattery they deceive^(C) the minds of naive people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard^(D) about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.^(E)

²² For false messiahs and false prophets^(A) will appear and perform signs and wonders^(B) to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.^(A)

⁸ and will go out to deceive the nations^(A) in the four corners of the earth^(B)—Gog and Magog^(C)—and to gather them for battle.^(D) In number they are like the sand on the seashore.^(E)

Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good

¹⁰ For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk^(A) and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.^{(B) 11} They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households^(C) by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.