seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, 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 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read. I encourage you to go read the whole commentary for yourself.
Do not believe every spirit: John warned against believing every spirit; that is, we are never to assume every spiritual experience or every demonstration of spiritual power is from God. We must test spiritual experiences and spiritual phenomenon to see if they are in fact from God.
But test the spirits: This is important because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Even though the early church had a strong life and a large measure of purity, John still knew the danger false prophets and their message was real in the early church.
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: True prophecy, and true teaching, will present a true Jesus. In John’s day, the issue was about if Jesus had truly come in a real body of flesh and blood. Many Gnostic-influenced teachers said that Jesus, being God, could not have actually become a flesh and blood human being, because God could have no partnership with “impure” material stuff.
Today, some groups deny that Jesus is really God (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims). But way back in John’s day, in this time closest to the actual life and ministry of Jesus on this earth, people didn’t have a hard time believing Jesus was God. They had a hard time believing that he was a real man. This false teaching said Jesus was truly God (which is correct), but really a “make-believe” man.
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: Some think that this is the only test of false doctrine. This is not the only test, but it was the significant issue challenging the church in John’s immediate time. Today a person might confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh yet deny that He is God as the Bible teaches He is God. They also are giving false doctrine because they are not presenting a true Jesus.
This is the spirit of the Antichrist: To deny the true Jesus is the basis of the spirit of the Antichrist, which John has already mentioned in 1 John 2:18-23. It is the spirit which both opposes the true Jesus and offers a substitute Jesus.
The devil doesn’t care at all if you know Jesus or love Jesus or pray to Jesus — as long as it is a false Jesus, a make-believe Jesus, a Jesus who is not there, and who therefore cannot save.
Is now already in the world: Though it will have its ultimate consummation in an end-times political and economic ruler, the essence of this antichrist spirit is present with us today. It is found everywhere a false Jesus is promoted in place of the true Jesus of the Bible.
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world: The believer has a resource for victory, the vital presence of the indwelling Jesus, which makes victory always possible — if we will rely on He who is in you instead of relying on ourselves.
This understanding gives great confidence and spiritual power. For those walking in this truth, victory is assured — they have overcome them. It is a positive statement, not a wishful hope.
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world: This means the Christian has no place for fear. We have many spiritual enemies, but not one of them is greater than Jesus who lives in us.
They are of the world: Those who are of the world are evident because they speak as of the world; the influence of the world is evident in their speech. As Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34).
And the world hears them: Those who are of the world are also evident because the world hears them. They face none of the rejection the child of God will face from the world (1 John 3:1), because they are friends with the world.
The world hears them: The Christian always wants to speak to the world, and to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. It is exciting when the world will listen to the gospel, but we must take care that they are not hearing us because we speak as of the world. Just because the world is hearing the message doesn’t prove that the message is God’s message.
He who is not of God does not hear us: Understanding just who hears what God has taught us through the apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, helps us to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. If someone hears what God has said in the Bible, we know he has the spirit of truth. If he does not hear it, he has the spirit of error.
John makes it clear that error has a spiritual dynamic to it; it isn’t just about being educated or smart. Some very educated, very smart people can still be influenced mightily by the spirit of error. Since error has a spiritual dynamic to it, keeping in the spirit of truth is a spiritual issue.
We keep in the spirit of truth by clinging to Jesus, the One who said I am the truth (John 14:6).
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First of all, thank you all for your prayers. Hubby is doing better but he has a way to go. Thank you so much! Please keep him on your prayer lists.
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I've said it before and I'm saying it again. Humans always want to put God and Jesus in a box. If humans can't explain it, well then it didn't happen. If humans can't explain it, then they will make up something that makes it fit.
The commentary explains that back when John wrote this, people knew people who saw Jesus call Lazarus out of the tomb. People knew people who saw Jesus walk on water. People actually ate all they could at the pot luck dinner Jesus held, supplied with just a few small fish and one loaf. People actually drank the wine Jesus made for His mom's friends at the wedding. He was taken to court for healing a man who has been a paraplegic for 38 years, because He healed the man on the Sabbath.
They believed He was God. They just didn't believe He was human, according to the commentary.
They didn't think He was human until they saw Him die on the Cross without calling down the legions of angels to save Him.
They thought the Messiah would be at least "super human" so that He could just drive Rome out of Jerusalem. When Jesus let Himself die on the cross, their belief that Jesus is the Messiah were dashed.
Now today... the coin has flipped. People say Jesus was human but He couldn't have been God. They claim, as the commentary explains, Jesus was indeed God but He couldn't have been human flesh and blood. God is too good, they say, to be put in a human body.
The Commentary points out that there are many religious groups including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims that don't Believe Jesus is God. They say, according to the commentary, Jesus may not have been a "real human". I'll have to ask... do they think the Bible is real? Do they think the New Testament is fiction?
IMHO... Jesus had to be God as well as human. I think Jesus would have zapped a few thunderbolts through some people had He been merely human. It was God in Him that helped Him make it through the Mission without killing the masses of ignorant people Jesus had to deal with.
IMHO... Jesus had to be human as well as God. He had to understand what it's like to be human and face human challenges every single day, because one day He would be charged with judging humans. I figure some human who was a bigtime lawyer on earth will try to "appeal" Jesus' judgement of humans based on the imaginary "fact" God has never personally experienced what it's like to be human and make important decisions every single day. They could claim God is not their "peer" so He can't legally judge them.
Humans put God in a box. They seem to think God would be incapable of something. They seem to think God can't be around satanic stuff. God created the stuff satan made satanic!
God created every single molecule. God did that without a pattern. He counted the hairs on each or our heads when He personally sculpted each and every one of us. Yep... He even sculpted the human named Judas. He even sculpted Pilot. He even sculpted the Pew Warmers.
God could get in the box humans have established for Him. He let Jesus leave Heaven so humans could try to put Him in a box. God can also walk out of that box without the assistance of any humans. Humans, on the other hand, are too weak to roll away the stone themselves. They have to have God's help.
I think John is saying "You can't seriously deny Jesus was God Incarnate"!
My Online Bible titled these verses "On denying the Incarnation". I'll stick with that!
On denying the Incarnation...
