▼ The καί (kai) which begins 4:3 introduces the “negative side” of the test by which the spirits might be known in 4:2–3. Thus it is adversative in force: “every spirit that confesses Jesus as Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every Spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”

▼ Or “does not acknowledge.”

▼ A number of variants are generated from the simple τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton Iēsoun), some of which turn the expression into an explicit object-complement construction. ᾿Ιησοῦν κύριον (Iēsoun kurion, “Jesus as Lord”) is found in א, τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν (ton Iēsoun Christon, “Jesus as Christ”) is read by the Byzantine minuscules, τὸν Χριστόν (“the Christ”) is the reading of 1846, and ᾿Ιησοῦν without the article is found in 1881 2464. But τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν is well supported by A B Ψ 33 81 1739 al, and internally best explains the rise of the others. It is thus preferred on both external and internal grounds.

▼ “Spirit” is not in the Greek text but is implied.