<p>2:29<em> If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone also that does righteousness is begotten of him</em>- This is in the context of discerning false teachers. The New Testament always associates false teaching with false behaviour; for by fruits a tree is known. Hardly ever is abstract false teaching mentioned, genuine misunderstanding&nbsp;of Bible verses and so forth. Always the false teachers are known by their immoral fruits. The litmus test as to whether a person is &quot;of Him&quot; is whether they do righteousness, as He is righteous. &quot;You know...&quot; is the way to discern. The spirit of Christ within us will feel an intuitive disjunction with those who lack that same Spirit. We are begotten of Him through receipt of the Spirit (Jn. 3:3-5). The key issue in false teachers is that they are not born again by the Spirit, and their lack of personal righteousness reflects that. The parallel in 1 Jn. 4:7 says that loving our brother is proof we are born of God. The lack of righteousness in view here is therefore in practice, a lack of brotherly love. Likewise 3:10 parallels not loving our brother with not doing righteousness.</p>