1 John 4:2

This is how you can know if a person has God’s spirit in them. If that person believes that Jesus Christ came and lived as a human being here on earth, and if they tell people that true story, then you can know that they belong to God, and they have God’s spirit in them.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

In Context

1Listen, my friends. Don’t believe every message that somebody tells you. First, you have to find out if that message comes from God’s spirit. There are lots of people in the world that tell lies about God. They say that their messages come from God’s spirit, but really their messages come from bad spirits.

3But if they do not believe that Jesus Christ came to earth as a human being, they do not belong to God, and they do not have God’s spirit in them. Those people have a bad spirit working in them. That bad spirit is the enemy of Jesus Christ. You know we told you that Jesus’s enemy will come into the world. Well, that enemy is already here in the world, and he gets people to tell lies about Jesus.

Read all of 1 John 4

Cross References

John 16:13After the Holy Spirit comes, he will tell you what is true. He will teach you everything that is true about God. He will not say his own words, but only the words he heard from God. He will also tell you about things that will happen later on.

1 Timothy 3:16God shows us something about Jesus that is really true, and nobody can argue with it. He shows us that Jesus is really great, He came in a man’s body for people to see, but the Holy Spirit showed us that he was really from God. And God’s angel messengers saw him too. The people that believed in him told other people everywhere about him. They even went to other countries to tell people about him, and people all over the world believed in him. And God took him up into heaven.

1 John 4:3But if they do not believe that Jesus Christ came to earth as a human being, they do not belong to God, and they do not have God’s spirit in them. Those people have a bad spirit working in them. That bad spirit is the enemy of Jesus Christ. You know we told you that Jesus’s enemy will come into the world. Well, that enemy is already here in the world, and he gets people to tell lies about Jesus.

Matthew Henry on 1 John 4:2-4

Concerning Antichrist. ( a. d. 80.) 1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. The apostle,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 John 4:2