14/02/21 – 1 John 4:1-6
Spiritual manifestations play a large part in many church groups today, most notably those of the charismatic and pentecostal variety. At the same time it must be noted that the term “charismatic” is derived from “charisma” (gift). 1 Corinthians 12 teaches about the gifts (charisma) of the Spirit; charisma is used 5 times in this chapter. Therefore, it is quite biblical to teach about the charisma (gifts) of the Spirit, and thus, being a charismatic church should not automatically label a church as heretical. In fact, acknowledging gifts of the Spirit is biblical, but only if testing of the spirit concerned is also applied to all cases. And, in general, those who call themselves charismatic rarely, if ever, test any spiritual manifestation, choosing instead to refer to all who demonstrate spiritual manifestations (such as tongues, healing, slaying in the spirit etc) as genuine Christians. This lack of testing is indeed unbiblical as today’s passage reveals.
1 John 4:1 – Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the world.
believe – pisteuo (believe;
commit to; place confidence in; trust) It is derived from pistis
(faith).
false prophets – pseudoprophetes
(false prophet; one who, acting the part of a divinely inspired
prophet, utters falsehoods under the name of divine prophecies) Prophets didn’t
necessarily foretell the future but also were preachers of God’s word.
are gone out – This is in the perfect tense and therefore
should be read as “many false prophets have already gone out into the
world”.
the world – kosmos. Here it refers to all
mankind, including those to whom John is writing.
try – dokimazo (to
test; examine; prove; scrutinise to see if genuine; approve as genuine; deem
worthy)
It is derived from dokimos (accepted,
particularly of coins and money; approved; found acceptable) Coins that were
faulty were rejected and put back into the melting pot for pouring again into
the moulds. Rejected coins were called adokimos
or not approved, fit only for rejection. Approved coins were declared dokimos, approved for legal tender.
God may either approve us (dokimos) or
declare us reprobates (adokimos).
2 Corinthians
13:7
– Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear
approved (dokimos), but that ye should do that
which is honest, though we be as reprobates (adokimos).
To try (dokimazo) something meant to
test it in order to either accept it as dokimos
(approved) or reject it as adokimos
(rejected). In 1 John 4:1, John tells us to
test all spirits in order to assess whether or not they are of God. Thus we are to find all spirits either dokimos
(approved) or adokimos (unapproved, to be
rejected). But how do you test the spirits? You must test the people whom the
spirits are influencing.
John here is actually continuing his checklist of the genuine Christian.
You were either of the Spirit of God (and therefore you and your beliefs were
also of God) or you were of a false spirit (and therefore you and your beliefs
were not of God).
Clearly John was addressing a problem that he saw among the people to
whom he was writing. There were those who ticked the boxes as genuine
Christians, ones who knew that they were in Christ (1 John 2:5), knew Him who
was from the beginning and had overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:13, 14); they loved
their fellow Christians (1 John 2:10) and they knew the truth (1 John 2:21, 27). They also kept His commandments (1 John 3:24). Such were not of the false spirits.
But, there must have also been those who did not
tick these boxes, did not know Christ, did not love their
brothers, did not keep God’s commandments.
John is now taking this assessment of people in the church a step
further. He now requires that this assessment define not only a person’s
Christian status but also the status of the spirit that influenced them.
The genuine Christian as someone who knows God, keeps His commandments,
abides in Him etc, and has God’s Spirit indwelling. The genuine Christian is
like God, in fact (1 John 3:1-3).
We are to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Romans 8:29 – For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to
be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren.
We are to live our lives as Christ lived His.
1 John 2:6 – He
that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to
walk, even as he walked.
John is now therefore defining the false Christian (the
pseudo-Christian) as one who is not like God. The genuine Christian is
going to be like the God he belongs to and serves. On the other hand, the
pseudo-Christian is going to be like the one (the false spirit) he belongs to
and serves, and it isn’t the God of the Bible.
The genuine Christian will teach the truth because he knows the truth.
This is because he abides in God and God abides in him (1 John 3:24). The
pseudo-Christian will teach lies because he doesn’t know the truth because his
master is the devil who is a murderer and the father of all lies (John 8:44). The children of
God are revealed by their godly behaviour and the children of the devil by
their ungodly (unrighteous) behaviour.
1 John 3:10 – In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever
doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Thus, the pseudo-Christians were obeying the desires of their master,
the devil. John says that we should not be like Cain who was of that wicked one
(1 John 3:12) and Cain
demonstrated his wicked connections by killing his own brother. Effectively,
the way we live our lives therefore will demonstrate the one whom we believe
in, either God, or the devil and his demons (false spirits).
If someone claimed to be a Christian teacher, then testing their beliefs
and behaviour would reveal the spirit that was behind their behaviour. Godly
behaviour revealed the consequences of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life;
wicked behaviour revealed the consequences of unholy spirits in that person’s
life. Try the person and you tried the spirit that led him. A person
demonstrated by his behaviour what sort of spirit was leading him. Those who
taught the truth had to be of God and those who taught lies had to be of evil
spirits. False prophets were those who falsely taught (or preached) concerning
the word of God. They claimed that their words were from God but they were
really lies opposed to God, thus revealing the real source of their beliefs.
False prophets were led by false spirits; therefore by
declaring a prophet to be false, you declared the spirt that led him to be
likewise false. And, says John, many such false prophets had already gone into
the world (apparently with many of them opposing those genuine Christians to
whom John is writing).
By trying the prophets (preachers), you tried the spirits behind them. John’s checklist defining the genuine Christian effectively proves or tries people regarding their Christian genuineness. This checklist would also define the spirit behind each person’s preaching. Many would preach, claiming that their words were of God, and John taught that it was crucial to determine whether the spirit leading them was true or false. John is saying that the person’s preaching would determine the spirit itself. This, said John, would be assessed by requiring the person to define according to their beliefs whether or not Jesus Christ was come in the flesh. (See Vs 2 below)
1 John 4:2 – Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come
(perfect tense) in the flesh is of God:
is come – perfect tense, therefore “has
already come”.
confesseth – homologeo (to say the same thing as another; to
agree with; to confess; profess; declare openly) It is derived from homou
(together) + logos (word). It has the idea
of being in agreement with what another says about something. In 1 John 1:9 it is translated
“confess” (“If we confess our sins …..”) with the idea
that our confession is a statement of agreement with God’s assessment of our
behaviour.
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh – Jesus as God was born physically as a man
with a human nature, and in particular died and rose again bodily (physically).
Note that the JWs believe that Jesus rose again in the spirit but not in body,
in spite of their Bible translation saying “See my hands and my feet, that
it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and
bones just as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39 New World Translation 2013 edition)
Clearly their Watchtower Society has more “truth” than their “Bible”.
While John may have been warning against the Nicolaitans with their
liberal and licentious lifestyle (a knowledge that they claimed was essential
for full salvation), it is also likely that John was opposing other heresies at
that time also. The Nicolaitans were a liberal gnostic sect that taught that
transcendence (salvation) could only be achieved with full knowledge. In
today’s passage it is likely that John was writing about the gnostic heresies
of Cerinthus, a gnostic “Christian” who directly opposed John’s teachings. Using
the “Gospel of Cerinthus”, Cerinthus taught that Jesus was born a human (and not
God) like any other man, the biological son of Mary and Joseph, and that the
Christ descended into Jesus’ body at His baptism, departing from His body again
on the cross. Thus Christ was merely a spirit being
who never had flesh of his own but entered the body of a man while on earth. This
false Christ was never born physically and never died physically! However, the
Bible teaches that Jesus Christ as God became flesh by being born of a woman,
and died and rose again physically in that same fleshly body; He never ceased
to be God at any time.
Another sect at that time, the Docetists
(meaning “an illusion”), taught that “Jesus only seemed to be human
and that his human form was an illusion.” (Wikipedia)
It is likely that the term Docetists derived
from the Greek word dokeo (to
seem; to think something is so; to appear to be so; to be of an opinion; it
seems to me) www.etymonline.com says: "the
heresy of the Docetae," who held that the body
of Jesus was a phantom or of real but celestial substance, 1829, from Greek Doketai, name of the sect,
literally "believers," from dokein
"to seem, have the appearance of, think,"
It appears that a major heresy of that time was to deny that Jesus
Himself was God in bodily form, especially regarding His death and crucifixion.
The effect of this heresy was to deny the godhood of Jesus Himself on the basis
that it was really God’s spirit who entered Jesus and that at the end of Jesus’
life, God departed again. Thus Jesus was not actually
God according to this definition. And therefore God
didn’t really die in place of mankind. By this deception alone the gospel would
be rendered ineffectual, for if Jesus weren’t actually God in the flesh, then,
as mere man only, He couldn’t die as the sinless lamb of God in our place.
Destroy the gospel and you destroy all other biblical doctrines.
Therefore, to deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is to acknowledge
another spirit, a false god, a false spirit that guides false prophets
(preachers and teachers).
In this passage John is discussing the different
types of teacher: the biblical (truthful) teacher who is of God, and the false (lying)
teacher who is of a false spirit (see Vs 1 above). In this way you may discern
who is teaching by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:20-21 – 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is
of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as
they were] moved by the Holy Ghost. (Also see 2 Timothy 3:16)
1 Corinthians 12:3 – Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and [that] no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
1 John 4:3 – And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come (perfect tense) in the flesh
is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have
heard (perfect tense) that it should
come; and even now already is it in the world.
have heard – perfect tense, therefore “you have already heard”.
See Vs 2 above. If any person should preach a gospel based upon a false Christ, then he is not of the true God, and therefore that preacher is an antichrist – one who is opposed to the true teachings of Christ. The Christ you preached would determine who you were of, whether it be God, or antichrist. John says that those of God would preach the true Jesus Christ who had come as God in the flesh and died and rose again as God in the flesh; thus their Christ was always fully God and fully man at all times. Those of the antichrist would preach that their Jesus Christ was only God when God indwelt him and thus wasn’t always God. Only Jesus Christ who is always God can be sinless in order to die for sinful man. Only a perfect lamb of God can die without sin’s penalty applied both to Himself and the people for whom He died. Only Jesus Christ who is always God can be the firstborn from the dead.
Colossians 1:18 – And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.
We will be like the one we are conformed to.
Romans 8:29 – For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
And the one we are conformed to is the one who has gone ahead of all other born-again Christians.
Hebrews 2:10 – For it
became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. (where “captain”
is archegos – chief leader; one that takes the lead
in anything; one who goes first or ahead of the others; one who sets an
example; the author; pioneer)
Christ is therefore the first-born from the dead who also goes ahead of us to prepare the way for us.
Hebrews 6:19-20 – 19Which
[hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the veil; 20Whither the forerunner (one who comes in advance to a place
where the rest are to follow) is
for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high
priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Also see John 14:1-3)
and even now is it in the world – And even now there are antichrists teaching antichrist heresies in the kosmos (the world of mankind here).
1 John 4:4 – Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world.
have overcome – nikao (to
conquer; be victorious) Perfect tense, thus “have already overcome”.
Who have they overcome, though? Here they have overcome “them”. In both 1 John 2:13 & 14, John says that
they have overcome the wicked one, and in both 1 John 5:4 & 5 they have overcome the world (kosmos). In Vs 4 above it can be assumed that “them” refers to those
who are of the world (kosmos). In particular,
it would refer to the false prophets (Vs 1 above) who preached the false
message of their false spirits whom they obeyed.
If we assume some measure of consistency of Scripture, then John is
telling them that they have overcome the world (kosmos),
particularly those of the wicked one (satan) who are in the world.
We may also assume that this is similar to the “young
men”
who have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:13-14) who would also be “he that is in the world”, thus satan and
his demons (and those people in the world who serve them).
Here John implies that their overcoming of “he that is in the world” is because they are of God, and that others who are not of God are not able to similarly overcome.
John also gives a clear reason for his conclusions here: that he that is in them (the indwelling of God through His Holy Spirit) is greater (or stronger) than he that is in (or of) the world. Note that the ruler of this world is satan – John 12:31.
1 John 4:5 – They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
They (those who preach heresy) are of the kosmos. It is because they are of the kosmos that they speak in support of the kosmos. It is because they speak well of the kosmos that the people of the kosmos hear (and pay attention to) them.
It is why Jesus said: “If ye were of the world (kosmos), the world (kosmos) would love his own: but because ye are not of the world (kosmos), but I have chosen you out of the world (kosmos), therefore the world (kosmos) hateth you.” (John 15:19) The world loves its own. Note that Christians may be mocked, vilified, abused verbally and physically, yet if they merely speak the biblical truth about other beliefs, it is the Christian who must pay for it. The world only pays attention to what those of the world say!
John 3:31 – He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
Also 1 John 2:19.
1 John 4:6 – We are of God:
he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God
heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
We, though, are not of the world but are instead of God; therefore we are different to them. Others that know God’s truth will recognise that truth in us and will hear and pay attention to us (because they are assured that we are of God). This is because we who know God are of the Spirit of truth.
Those who are not of God will not hear and pay attention to us because they are of the spirit of error and therefore, in believing the lies of their spirit of error, will not believe the truth of us who know and belong to God.
It is interesting that different people can read the Bible and get widely-varying conclusions, yet each one may fully believe that his interpretation is the only correct and acceptable one. The answer, though, is simple. So much of our beliefs are spiritual in nature and are strongly influenced by (a) our preconceived beliefs, such as a church statement of faith, and (b) the spirit (whether of God or of error) that interprets the information we take in, the spirit that decodes that information for us.
While we can often be guilty of ensuring that the Bible does its best to fit in with our church doctrinal statements, it is the spiritual influence that has the power to make us fit in with whatever spirit is influencing us (that is, whatever spirit it is that we know, either God’s Holy Spirit or the devil’s spirit of error). If a person is influenced by a false spirit, he may actually believe a lie to be truth because that spirit is able to reinterpret lies to appear to be the truth. It is called “deception” which is commonly used by demons. It is why so many in cults cannot see what is wrong with their beliefs until they step back out of the cult and disassociate from the demons guiding that cult.
The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth and therefore, when we are guided by God’s Spirit, we will know the truth, and we will live our lives accordingly.
John 16:13 – Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
We will tick the right boxes because we are genuine Christians. We are being conformed to the image of Christ, and when we see Him, we will be like Him.
1 John 3:2 – Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
But those who are influenced by demons (spirits of error) are not of God. They can read a Bible passage and totally misunderstand what it means. It’s a bit like computer software translating information as it comes into your mind. With God’s Spirit of truth translating we can see things accurately and truthfully without distortion or error, without the deception associated with demons.
Romans 8:26-27 – 26Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God.
But with a spirit of error (demon) translating the information that we take in, we can receive a distorted translation. We can believe that we are seeing it truthfully, yet it can be full of lies. It all depends on what spirit is running our lives.
James 3:10-18 – 10Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 11Doth
a fountain send forth at the same place sweet [water]
and bitter? 12Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries?
either a vine, figs? so [can] no fountain both yield salt water and
fresh. 13Who [is] a wise man and endued with knowledge among
you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory
not, and lie not against the truth. 15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but [is] earthly,
sensual, devilish. 16For where envying and strife [is], there
[is] confusion and every evil work. 17But the wisdom that is
from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be
intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them
that make peace.
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