The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits(A) to determine 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 who confesses that Jesus Christ has(a) come in the flesh(B) is from God.(C) 3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus(b) is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist;(D) you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

Footnotes:

a. 1 John 4:2: Or confesses Jesus to be the Christ
b. 1 John 4:3: Other mss read confess that Jesus has come in the flesh

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