1 JOHN 4: 1-6
TEST THE SPIRITS
[1 Peter 2:1-10]
Close to the BATTLE LINES during the Korean War a sentry was walking his post one night. He heard a sound in the darkness, and he challenged, "Halt! Who goes there? Friend or foe?" A voice replied, "Friend!" The sentry said, "Repeat the second verse of 'The Star Spangled Banner.' " The voice responded, "I don't know the second verse." The sentry said, "Advance friend."
Christians must be on their guard to distinguish between spiritual friend or spiritual enemy. Not only do some deny Jesus' deity (2:18-27) some deny His humanity. Thus you must test the spirits. You test the spirit behind religious teachers by knowing the truth and walking in the Spirit of Truth (CIM). You need to know how to walk in the Spirit of God and test the spirits because there are many deceiving spirits in the world today. You can be confident though as you test the spirits in this deceived world because greater is the Spirit of God who is in you than the anti-christ spirits.
I. TESTING THE SPIRITS, 1-3.
II. VICTORY OVER THE SPIRITS, 4.
III. THE SPIRITS CONTRASTED, 5-6.
We are challenged in verse 1 to learn how to distinguish the Spirit of God from false spirits. ¡°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.¡±
John affectionately addressed believers as beloved, both by God and by John. Because of this love he tells them not to believe every spirit. Do not believe is in the imperative. It is a command. STOP believing is a possible translation. More than one kind of spirit sought to control or at least influence the minds and hearts of Christians. Here ¡°the spirits¡± referred to a person(s) dominated or influenced by a demonic spirit(s). Theses spirits seek to control, deceive or influence those seeking power, control and influence. Some examples or types of these demonic forces are spirits of religiosity, spirits of lying, of accusation, of deception, of pride, of lust, of greed, or depressing spirits [Rom. 8:38; Eph. 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:10, 15; Heb. 1:4, 14].
Instead of being gullible or undiscerning they are to test or try the spirits meaning those person who claim to speak for God or authoritatively. Context indicates that this phrase is also a command. The verb ¡°test¡± [doke¨] is used of proving oxen (Lk. 14:19) or coins. The intention of the testing is to approve the spirit. A teacher was not to be suspected of being a demonic controlled person before he had been given opportunity to prove himself. The same test is necessary today for all those in positions of authority or influence [which includes politicians and media people].
The reason for putting visiting, TV, or internet teachers to the test was because many false prophets have gone out into the world. They have gone out and established themselves within the churches. The word rendered prophet may mean either a foreteller or a forth-teller. A true prophet was one who spoke under the direction of the Holy Spirit. False prophets attempt to imitate those who speak for God. False prophets pretend to speak by the Holy Spirit, when in reality they speak by an evil spirit. There are many false prophets in the world even now doing their damage.
In an unethical selling technique called the BAIT-AND-SWITCH method, a retailer lures customers into his store by advertising a well-known product at a very low price. When a prospective buyer asks to purchase it, however, he is told that it is out of stock. The salesperson then tries to sell him an inferior line of merchandise, hoping to pocket a bigger profit. The brand name was used just to get potential customers to step inside.
In a similar way, a false teacher uses biblical words to capture interest and gain a hearing. He may talk about Christ, redemption, the cross, and the resurrection, but these "trusted terms" amount to nothing more than a come-on. The "seller" uses them to advertise truths that, as far as he is concerned, are "out of stock." When an interested person is brought in, he is deceived by beliefs that are completely contrary to God's Word.
Never swallow someone's line just because he uses Christian terms or appealing rhetoric. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern whether or not the speaker is really being true to the Bible. Then you won't get hooked by false teachers who use the doctrinal bait-and-switch method to deceive their hearers.
Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits means that we shouldn't believe everything we hear just because someone says it is a message inspired by God. There are many ways to test teachers to see if their message is truly from the Lord. One way is to check to see if their words match what God says in the Bible. Other tests include their commitment to a local body of believers (2:19), their life-style (3:23-24), and the fruit of their ministry (4:6). But the most important test, John will say in the following verses, is what they believe about Christ (4:2). Do they teach that Jesus is fully God and fully man? Our world is filled with voices claiming to speak for God or to speak authoritatively. Give them these tests to see if they are indeed speaking God's truth or have another agenda that has demonic initiative or impute.
Some people believe everything they read or hear. Unfortunately, many ideas printed and taught are not true. Christians should be understanding, but they should not be gullible. Verify every message you hear, even if the person who brings it says it's from God. If the message is truly from God, it will be consistent with Christ's teachings.
Verse 2 identifies a mandatory confession to test for God¡¯s Spirit.¡°By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from (ἐ¦Ê) God.¡±
The test that is crucial to knowing a false teacher is whether or not they confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. What is involved in this confession, this agreement with God? It is a doctrinal confession that He is the Christ. Christ means that He is the anointed one, the Messiah. It is a confession that God¡¯s Son, the Christ is Jesus. Jesus is the Greek word for the Hebrew Yahoshua or Yahweh saves. Together the confession is that Jesus Christ is the one prophesied of long ago who came as God¡¯s Light to the world to save man from his sins. It means that Jesus Christ is God born into human flesh. Jesus is God incarnate. He was fully human and fully divine. If someone denies the virgin birth, that God incarnated Himself, He is not to be approved or even listened to.
As editor of the Emporia Gazette, William White received many articles from aspiring writers, but he returned most of them to their authors with REJECTION SLIPS. One disappointed and bitter person wrote to White: "Sir, you sent back a story of mine. I know that you did not read it because, as a test, I pasted together pages 19 and 20. The manuscript came back with those pages still stuck together. So I know that you are a fraud and that you turn down articles without even reading them."
White sent a brief reply. "Dear Madam: At breakfast when I tasted an egg, I don't have to eat it all to determine if it's bad."
That's also true in detecting whether a religion is good or bad. Many people despair of knowing which religion is true because there are so many different beliefs in the world. But you don't have to examine every belief of a religious group or sect to know if it is false. If it denies the deity or humanity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His perfect life, His atoning death, His bodily resurrection, or His personal return, it is a "bad egg" and should be rejected. It is not of God, who has revealed Himself in the Bible.
What a religious group or person believes about Christ is all-important. It's the real test of truth!
Verse 3 discloses that the failure to confess the work of the Son of God in the flesh is what exposes the spirit of the antichrist. ¡°And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from (ἐ¦Ê) God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.¡±
You cannot ignore or deny the full deity or the full humanity of Jesus without negating God's redemptive work. He is the God of the Old Testament who in the person of His Son became incarnate in human flesh, lived without sin, died on the cross to satisfy the just demands of His law which man broke. He was raised from the dead in the body in which He died to become the Living Savior of the sinner who will place his trust in Him. John says the person who teaches this is actuated by the Holy Spirit. The teacher who does not agree to this doctrine is not of God. He is moved by the spirit of the antichrist who denies (homologia) and works against the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
Is this your plain testimony? Can your lips give utterance to these words in the power of the Holy Spirit? When I witness to people and they tell me they are saved I always want to hear them freely use the name of Jesus. Frequently those who claim to be Christians deny Christ by not even saying or confessing His name. How can you tell or talk about salvation and never reference Jesus?
II. VICTORY OVER THE SPIRITS, 4.
Verse 4 makes assertions about the followers of Christ. ¡°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.¡±
Three reasons are given for the Christian's victory in verse four. The first reason for victory is because you are from or out of God. They are God¡¯s little children, born again into the family of God. The you is emphatic distinguishing little children from false professors. They are victorious because of their divine birth, their divine origin. They have God's nature because they have been born of God. They hear and follow God but they will not follow the voice of a stranger (John 10:5).
The second reason is because they have overcome them. They have overcome these deceiving sprits in the world. Have overcome is the same verb used in John 16:33. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world. The perfect tense of overcome denotes a completed past victory resulting in their present state of overcoming. When you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and entered His kingdom because of Jesus¡¯ victory on the cross, you overcame all demonic spirits, whether you know it or not. Christ's people will encounter tribulation in the world but we are to be of good cheer (courage) because we in Christ have overcome-conquered the world. "In all these things we are more than conqueror through Him who loved us" (Rom. 8:37). More than conquerors is hupernikoen. We are over and above or super-conquerors.
The third basis of our victory is the indwelling Christ through the Holy Spirit. Because greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world. The Holy Spirit of God living within the believer imparts daily victory over all the forces of the world. Those that walk in yieldedness, in the power of the Holy Spirit not only live in personal victory but they can fight successfully against the complex system of attractive moral and intellectual evil that is organized and marshaled by the great enemy of God which permeates and energizes the fallen world system.
The WALLS OF THE SUBMARINES that descend two miles into the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean are constructed of thick steel plates to withstand the tremendous pressure placed upon them. But the pictures taken from such heavily protected submarines reveal fish swimming two miles below the surface of the water with scales no thicker than that of any other fish. How can this be? The answer is simple: The pressure on the inside of those fish is equal to the pressure of the water around them.
That¡¯s the beauty of Christianity. Some people erect massive walls to insulate themselves from the attacks of the Enemy¡ªonly to find themselves filled with the frustration of isolation. The key is not to put up massive walls to protect yourself from the Enemy¡ªbut to realize the One inside you is greater than whatever pressure or force that threatens to attack you. When we understand that He that is in us is greater than any temptation, problem, trauma, or difficulty that could come against us, we can move through life freely. [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN : Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 1628.]
Satan and the other fallen angels or an evil spirits uses their great craftiness and power to try to defeat God's children. However, the indwelling Holy Spirit makes God's almighty power available to the Christian, enabling him to overcome the attacks of deceptive spirits.
[John G. Paton, a MISSIONARY to the South Sea Islands, often lived in danger as he worked among the hostile aborigines who had never heard the gospel. At one time three witch doctors, claiming to have the power to cause death, publicly declared their intentions to kill Paton with their sorcery before the next Sunday. To carry out their threat, they said they needed some food he had partially eaten. Paton asked for three plums. He took a bite out of each and then gave them to the men who were plotting his death. On Sunday, the missionary entered the village with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. The people looked at each other in amazement, thinking it couldn't possibly be Paton. Their "sacred men" admitted that they had tried by all their incantations to kill him. When asked why they had failed, they replied that the missionary was a sacred man like themselves, but that his God was stronger than theirs. From then on Paton's influence grew, and soon he had the joy of leading some of the villagers to the Lord.]
Dear friend, recognize the great power God has given you in the person of His Holy Spirit. Fearlessly go forward, conquering every spiritual foe in the name of Jesus.
III. THE SPIRITS CONTRASTED, 5-6.
In verses 5 and 6, John concludes the discussion of testing the spirits by placing the false and true teachers in contrast. The Holy Spirit declared to John that those who truly know God, know the Word. Those who don¡¯t know God don¡¯t listen to the Word. Verse 5, ¡°They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.¡±
The pronouns you, they and us are emphatic in position and opposition. The anti-Christian teachers are not of us for there is no middle ground or neutral position concerning Jesus Christ. Since the false teachers are from the world system they speak out of worldly wisdom which is just what the world wants to hear.
The word speak is laleo meaning talking, prating, babbling or talking without real (or spiritual) sense or meaning. The world listens because it hears its own language. The devil tells people what they want to hear. He is their kind of preacher. They expect to secure everything, all the promises of Christ without knowing the humiliation or crucifixion of the flesh or the power of the resurrection.
On the other side the Christian teachers are from God. They get their inspiration and message from Him and are tuned in to Almighty God, which is what verse 6 goes on to declare.
Verse 6 emphasizes that to whom and what we are committed to listening to demonstrates our true allegiance. ¡°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.¡±
Those who know God hear His voice when His Word is spoken to them. While the world listens to false teachers, the one who knows God ¡°listens to us.¡± Those who know the Good Shepherd listen to those know God and who teach the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God (Jn. 10:3-4, 16, 27-28). [The Greek term know and its verb tense indicates growing experiential knowledge of God. The Christian's knowledge of God is ever growing as he walks with Him day by day. He is ever more clearly perceiving, and recognizing God's voice and work.]
Conversely those who are not from God do not approve of or listen to God¡¯s messengers. Like every true herald of God, John had felt the cold, hard, icy stares as his words bounced off of crusted consciences and hardened hearts. They did not want to hear their sins denounced or God¡¯s demands that they change their belief, thinking, and behavior.
Let me speak a word of caution here. The message authenticates the speaker; the speaker doesn¡¯t authenticate the message. The Christian messenger cannot declare truth according to himself, but according to God. Furthermore he should speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15a), in the power of the Spirit so that he may draw the listener to Christ instead of pushing them away.
The second half of verse 6 indicates the capability of recognition or distinguishing between truth and error that belongs to all believers. Yes, there are those among us that have the gift of discerning of spirits (1 Cor.12:10). However each Christian has the ability to test the spirits. They can also recognize seducing or misleading spirits (1 Tim. 4:1) and God¡¯s Spirit of Truth. They can hear the voice of the Good Shepherd whom they are following. It is by their ability to response to the preaching of the Word that makes it possible to discern those who are directed by the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of falsehood [Marshal, Howard. NICTN. Eermans. 1978. Grand Rapids. P. 209].
CONCLUSION
By being knowledgeable about the truth concerning Jesus, by living an overcoming life style and walking in the Spirit you can discern the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of error.
Which spirit are you listening to the majority of the time? The spirits of this world system, or the Eternal Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth? One of the best ways to distinguish the spirit is by how often do they reference the work and nature of Jesus. Is the spirit leading you to give glory and honor to Jesus? Or to to honor someone or something else?
If the Holy Spirit of Jesus has spoken to you today through His Word-Will you listen to Him and respond? You come as the Spirit leads.
