Warnings Against Denying the Son

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour;^(A) and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,^(B) even now many antichrists have come.^(C) This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us,^(D) but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.^(E)

²² For false messiahs and false prophets^(A) will appear and perform signs and wonders^(B) to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

⁷ I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ^(A) as coming in the flesh,^(B) have gone out into the world.^(C) Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.^(D)

³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,^(A) which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.^(B)

²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.^(A)

¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,^(A) which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.^(B)

¹⁸ This calls for wisdom.^(C) Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[a](D) That number is 666.