1 John 4:1-6

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them. We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.”

— ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭6‬‬

 This is one of three self-contained units in 1 John, as in there are only loose connections with what comes before and after (per the NET). These six verses focus on a single topic.

It’s true that 1 John emphasizes love for one another as a major sign of disciples, but the confession of Jesus as the Messiah is the other. Certainly, the Holy Spirit is not the only active spirit in the world, and the author is giving a key filter through which to interpret the message of teachers/preachers of the day. 

Again 1 John 2:18-19 is a major verse when we begin talking about those who leave the church/faith. There were opponents/secessionists from this church, and the heresy to nail down in 1 John can be difficult. There’s a major NET note around confessing “Jesus as the Christ,” because grammar allows for three different options. It could be similar to Rom 10:9-10 where it’s more of an object-complement idea, or it could be all of the idea of Jesus as Christ and coming in flesh. That’s the confession, because these heretics also denied Jesus as having physical body (proto-Gnostics).

We can fill out that debate at a later time, but the point is that their message of Jesus was lacking. And this was the main identifier of a message from the true Spirit or a demonic spirit. 

John calls this the message of the antichrist. It’s already in the world. It’s been around for thousands of years, and so we can debate “timelines” all we want. We can argue over figures of history or who will fill roles, but the function of being against Jesus and His people has been in business for a long time. All one has to do is deny Jesus’ deity or humanity and he/she is anti-Christ.

Conquering: How do we conquer? War? Might? Winning arguments? John says we’ve already conquered. We have the spirit inside. We can rest in truth, knowing the Christ. 

By this: the entire preceding paragraph. The prophet test. What does he/she say? In the OT, there was the test of if his prophecies came true. Even one false prophecy would cost someone his life. But there was also the prophet test of if he would support idolatry. This is closer to the latter. Will these teachers promote false teaching? Or do they teach the full person and being of Jesus?

This is the essence of truth. And this is how we know to whom to listen. Most of the rest of 1 John is practical, because who teach Jesus in fullness…love.