Scripture Daily

Context No. 3057 of 4322 · 1 John

Context · Reflection

1 John 4:1-6: in context

1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

John gives both a warning and a test. Do not believe every spirit, he says, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Not everything that claims to be spiritual or from God actually is, and discernment is required.

And the touchstone he gives is Christ himself: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that denies it is not. Teachings that diminish or deny who Jesus truly is, God become man, are not from God, however spiritual they sound. And against the fear of these false forces John sets a bracing assurance: greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. We test carefully, but we do not tremble, because the One who lives in us is greater than every spirit set against us.

Do I test what I am told against the truth of who Christ is, and rest in the assurance that the One in me is greater than any force set against me?

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