“Therefore, every person who acknowledges me in front of people [i.e., to be their Lord and Christ], I will acknowledge him [i.e., to be my disciple] in front of my Father in heaven.
Here is how to know [who is speaking from] the Holy Spirit of God: Every spirit [i.e., person] who proclaims that Jesus Christ has come [to earth] in a physical body is [speaking] from God. [See I Cor. 12:3].
And God lives in the heart of the person who [continually] obeys His commands, and he lives in [fellowship with] God. And here is [another] way we know that God lives in our hearts: It is by [means of] the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to us. [See Rom. 8:9, 11; James 4:5; I Cor. 6:19].
No person has gazed upon God [at any time]; [but] if we love one another, God [continually] lives in our hearts, and His love is made complete within us.
Every person who believes that Jesus is the Christ [i.e., God’s specially chosen one] has been [spiritually] conceived [and eventually born] by God. And everyone who [continually] loves God, who did the conceiving, also [must continually] love the person whom God has [spiritually] conceived.
“And I tell you, every person who acknowledges me in front of people [i.e., to be his Lord and Christ], the Son of man will also acknowledge him in front of God’s angels.
For many deceivers have begun circulating in the world; they are those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come [to earth] in a physical body. Such a person is the deceiver and the antichrist [See I John 2:18f].
Every person who denies [the truth about] the Son [See 4:2-3], does not have the Father [living in his heart]; but, the person who confesses [the truth about] the Son has the Father [living in his heart] also.
You people should continue [to practice] what you heard from the beginning [i.e., to love one another, See verses 7- 11]. If you do, then you also will continue in [fellowship with] the Son, and with the Father.
And this is His commandment: We should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ [i.e., the person of Christ], and love one another, just as He has commanded us to do.