²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—

Test the Spirits

4 Beloved, ^(A)do not believe every spirit, but ^(B)test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for ^(C)many ^(D)false prophets ^(E)have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(F)every spirit that confesses that ^(G)Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit ^(H)that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and ^(I)now is in the world already.

^2 (A)“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but ^(B)have tested those ^(C)who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

^24 (A)He who calls you is faithful; ^(B)he will surely do it.