1 John 4:1-6

1 John 4:1-6

We must never let our guard down regarding false teachers. How many times has great evil been perpetrated on and within the church by truly evil people who have gained the trust of Christians based on personality, looks, conversation, or apparent intelligence? The grammar of the first verse literally says, “Beloved, stop believing every spirit.” Apparently there were some who were already deceived. Satan will not send one who looks like a monster to infiltrate the church. His agents are the most desirable people we can acquire. In the crisis with the Gnostics, John gives this theological test: “Do the spirits working in their human agents confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?” The rejection that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human, the historic doctrine of the New Testament, is prompted by demons, by a spirit that is fundamentally anti or opposed to or against Christ. To this day atheism, false religions, and liberal branches of Christianity follow this same false teaching. John is not providing the answer to every possible false doctrine; he is specifically addressing one heresy. In addition to the incarnation being the fundamental theological truth of the Christian faith, it is also the foundation for our ethics and behavior. If you get this wrong, you can't get anything right. If you get this right and are consistent in what you develop, you will eventually get your faith right. 

John refers to this in verse 4. Because God lives in us in the person of the Holy Spirit, we have overcome the dark powers. This is both right thinking and also right doing or living. Note that verses 4, 5, and 6 emphatically begin with a personal pronoun. In verse 5, John is adamant that the false teachers are worldly, speak like the world, and are accepted by the world. That, in part, makes them appealing to immature believers. These teachers seemed so accepted and sophisticated. Finally, in verse 6, John uses the pronoun referring to himself and others in the plural, “we.” Who are the people referred to by “we”? There are two main possibilities. First, this may refer to the apostles. If this is the case, this phase ended with the closing of the New Testament Canon. Second, it may refer to all those who teach the doctrine of the Incarnation correctly. The difference in who “we” refers to is not as important as the test that orthodox doctrine gives us. Those who reject the truth are not simply wrong. More grievous than that, they are actively led by the spirit of error, falsehood, and deviance. 

“Lord, help me have the wisdom to discern the spirits of false doctrine. AMEN”