Testing the Spirits

4 ^(A)Beloved, do not believe every ^(B)spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^(C)many false prophets have gone out into the world.

¹⁸ Children, ^(A)it is the last hour; and just as you heard that ^(B)antichrist is coming, ^(C)even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. ^19 (D)They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, ^(E)so that ^[a]it would be evident that they all are not of us.

⁷ For ^(A)many deceivers have ^(B)gone out into the world, those who ^(C)do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is ^(D)the deceiver and the ^(E)antichrist.

Abandonment of Faith

4 But ^(A)the Spirit explicitly says that ^(B)in later times some will ^[a]fall away from the faith, paying attention to ^(C)deceitful spirits and ^(D)teachings of demons, ² by means of the hypocrisy of liars ^(E)seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

³ For ^(A)the time will come when they will not tolerate ^(B)sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, ⁴ and they ^(C)will turn their ears away from the truth and ^(D)will turn aside to myths.

⁴ For certain people have ^(A)crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand ^[a](B)marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn ^(C)the grace of our God into ^(D)indecent behavior and ^(E)deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

² Many will follow their ^(A)indecent behavior, and because of them ^(B)the way of the truth will be ^(C)maligned;

¹⁸ For such people are ^(A)slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of ^(B)their own ^[a]appetites; and by their ^(C)smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.