1 John 4:1-6

1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
3: and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
4: You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
5: They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
6: We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

*** 

Having just said that we know He abides in us by the Spirit He's given us, John gave a warning about the many false prophets who had gone out into the world. This included those who went out from them, (1 John 2:19), who claimed to be of the Spirit of God but were not. He told his readers a key to recognizing these false prophets. Anyone who said that Jesus did not come to the earth in the flesh--that He is not the Christ (1 John 2:22), that He wasn't the Son sent from the Father, that He didn't fulfill His function as our High Priest reconciling those who believe back to the Father--is not speaking from the Spirit of God. It's not truth. It's lies. It's error. It's from the spirit of antichrist.

The spirit of antichrist has been around since Jesus was here. This spirit opposes Him--the Christ--and therefore the Father, (1 John 2:18). As John said in 1 John 2:22-23, the one who denies Jesus does not have the Father. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life, (1 John 5:12). Jesus is the only way to the Father, (John 14:6). Anyone who says there are other ways to reach God apart from Jesus is wrong.

John encouraged his readers by telling them that they are from God, and have overcome these false prophets who were trying to lead them away from Christ. They overcome them. We overcome them too because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. We know He is in us by the Spirit He's given us, (1 John 3:24), and this Spirit testifies of Jesus Christ (John 16:14).

The false prophets are not of God but of the world, so the world listens to them. They don't listen to those who are of God. John said this is how you can tell the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Those in error will not listen to those speaking the words of God (John 8:31-47). The Spirit of God in us is the Spirit of Truth and helps us to hear, recognize, know, and understand the Truth. Without His Spirit, deception is inevitable.


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