1 John 4:3
 
1 John 4:3
(KJV) 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.
(1611 KJV) And euery Spirit that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God: and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof you haue heard, that it should come, and euen now already is it in the world.
(1587 Geneva Bible) And euery spirit that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God: but this is the spirit of Antichrist, of whome ye haue heard, how that he should come, and nowe already he is in this world.
(1526 Tyndale) And every sprete which cofesseth not yt Iesus Christ is come in the flesshe is not of God. And this is that sprete of Antichrist of whom ye have hearde howe that he shuld come: and even now alredy is he in the worlde.
 
Counterfeit Versions
(CSB) but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.
(NIV) but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
(NASB) and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
(NLT) If a prophet does not acknowledge Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist. You have heard that he is going to come into the world, and he is already here.
(ESV) and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
(1901 ASV) and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.
(HCSB) But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.
(RSV) and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
(NAB-Roman Catholic) and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.
(NWT-Jehovah’s Witnesses) but every inspired expression that does not confess Jesus does not originate with God. Furthermore, this is the antichrist’s [inspired expression] which YOU have heard was coming, and now it is already in the world.
 
Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
kai pan pneuma o mh omologei ton ihsoun criston en sarki elhluqota ek tou qeou ouk estin kai touto estin to tou anticristou o akhkoate oti ercetai kai nun en tw kosmw estin hdh
　
Hort-Westcott - Critical Text
kai pan pneuma o mh omologei ton ihsoun ek tou qeou ouk estin kai touto estin to tou anticristou o akhkoate oti ercetai kai nun en tw kosmw estin hdh
 
Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
1241 - (Minuscule) - Twelfth century
 
Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
K 018 - Ninth century
L 020 - Ninth century
 
Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Omit “Christ has come in the flesh”
Greisbach, Johann - 1805
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871
Wordsworth, Christopher - 1856 revised in 1870
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
 
Affected Teachings
This verse has been affected in two major ways. First, they remove the name of “Christ” which is the title for the Lord Jesus. Then they remove the portion of text which deals with His incarnation. One of the major tests of a true believer is their firm belief in the incarnation of Christ. Anyone can say that they believe that Jesus is from God. You do not even need to acknowledge Him as God’s Son. You can just view Him as a prophet, a good teacher, a good man or any way you want and still say He came from God. Herein lies the great deception. There are countless millions who see Christ as just a prophet or good man and by doing this they think they are in right relationship with God. The importance of the incarnation cannot be over-stressed because the Son of God left His Throne in heaven and took on a human body to die for the sins of the Elect. If one does not believe this, then they are not of God as the rest of the verse teaches. The Gnostics did not believe that anything holy could ever exist in human flesh and therefore they completely deny any belief in the incarnation of the Son of God. They also disbelieve the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a true believer. This unbelief of the Gnostics has been carried through to the modern versions of Scripture. It is so sad that the Bible which is written about the Lord Jesus Christ should so vilify Him in the modern versions and what compounds it is that the majority of Christians accept them as real Bibles.

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