¹⁸ Dear children,^(A) let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.^(B)

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends,^(C) if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God^{(D) 22} and receive from him anything we ask,^(E) because we keep his commands^(F) and do what pleases him.^{(G) 23} And this is his command: to believe^(H) in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,^(I) and to love one another as he commanded us.^{(J) 24} The one who keeps God’s commands^(K) lives in him,^(L) and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.^(M)

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends,^(N) do not believe every spirit,^(O) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.^{(P) 2} This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(Q) is from God,^{(R) 3} but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,^(S) which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.^(T)

⁴ You, dear children,^(U) are from God and have overcome them,^(V) because the one who is in you^(W) is greater than the one who is in the world.^{(X) 5} They are from the world^(Y) and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.^(Z) This is how we recognize the Spirit^[a] of truth^(AA) and the spirit of falsehood.^(AB)