Warning Concerning Antichrists

18 Children, it is the ^tlast hour, and ^uas you have heard that ^vantichrist is coming, so ^wnow many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been ^xanointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.¹ 21 I write to you, ^ynot because you do not ^zknow the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that ^aJesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will ^babide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the ^cpromise that he made to us²—eternal life.

26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to ^ddeceive you.

Test the Spirits

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but ^mtest the spirits to see whether they are from God, for ⁿmany false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come ^oin the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the ^pantichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world ^qalready. 4 Little children, ^ryou are from God and ^shave overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 ^tThey are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. ^uWhoever ^vknows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the ^wSpirit of truth and the ^xspirit of error.