A Tree and Its Fruit

15 ^v“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous ^wwolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. ^xAre grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 ^yEvery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

I Never Knew You

21 ^z“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will ^aenter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who ^bdoes the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ^c‘I never knew you; ^ddepart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Paul and the False Apostles

1 I wish you would bear with me in a little ^pfoolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a ^qdivine jealousy for you, since I ^rbetrothed you to one husband, ^sto present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that ^tas ^uthe serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, ^vyour thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For ^wif someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you ^xreceived, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to ^mthe one we preached to you, let him be ⁿaccursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

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.