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Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
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ExplanationCommentary
Verse 1. Try the spirits; that is every doctrine that you hear: for now are many false teachers, false doctors, and false prophets. Witham.—Try, and so forth that is by examining whether their teaching be agreeable to the rule of the Catholic faith and the doctrine of the Church. For, as he says, (verse 6) “He that knoweth God, heareth us: (the pastors of the Church) … by this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” Challoner.—The Church only, not every private man, hath to prove and discern spirits.
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