1 John | Chapter 4

1 John 4:1-6

Testing truths

 

 

  • Introduction
  • 1 The Call
  • 2-3 The Test
  • 4-6 The Outcome

  

Introduction

  

The key to understanding this section is found in the phrase of 3:24: “And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” John had taken up the matter of testing ourselves to determine the reality of the transformational encounter we have had with the Lord that would be seen two ways:

  1. In obedience towards the Lord and away from our former life where we no longer habitually practice sin. This is a vertical transformation where our lives have changed towards the Lord and His Word as we want to follow Him and not continually be enslaved to our former life.
  2. It is also seen in a horizontal transformation in how we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Such a relationship is one characterized by LOVE which is defined by John as more than in word or tongue, but in-deed and in truth.

The question John now anticipates as to the knowledge of God’s abiding in us by the Holy Spirit is: “How do we determine that what we are experiencing is indeed the Holy Spirit?” The reader of this letter will immediately remember that this is not a new topic as John already addressed in in chapter 2:18-28 where he wrote of the differences between the false spirits and the true Spirit! While we cannot know for certain what this first centenary church was experiencing, we can piece together the fact that there was a schism which those that professed to have a greater knowledge in spiritual matters withdrew from fellowship with the true church and were continually engaged in trying to encourage a further exodus from the true church to their higher knowledge. This higher knowledge must have also included an experientialism that was measured upon emotionalism as the basis of determining what is true and what is false! I make this assessment based upon John’s own words of admonishment “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John implies the necessity of testing any truth or experience to make certain that such truth or experience is inspired truth! A simple outline of these 6 verses will help us understand and apply the text:

Vs. 1 The Call, Vs. 2-4 The Test and Vs. 4-6 The Outcome!

 

Vs. 1 The Call

  1. The Call: John issues the command to test those who claim inspiration. This call is made up of three parts:
  2. The Appeal: It starts with the word Beloved which reveals both his attitude and intensity. This is coupled with the phrase “do not believe every spirit”. In the Greek the phrase is “stop believing” and indicates that the appeal was NOT aimed at prevention but rather at continuation, as those he is warning were already engaged in believing every spirit! The truth that this points out is that not everything that proposes to be spiritual truth IS! It is not activity that determines truth it is instead truth that determines the reliability of the activity. The devil can also present things that appear to be spiritual and miraculous. The test is NOT if there is some supernatural activity present, as again the devil can manipulate such things. The question is what the source of this inspiration…is it God?
  3. The Duty: The responsibility to test the spirits is given to every believer; Enthusiasm, popularity and passion are not the guarantee of TRUTH. This is why John issues this commandment to test the spirits. Just like today the believers were either too lazy or too gullible and were prone to believe something was true because how it made them feel! They were to put to test for the purpose of approving it as truth, but it had to meet specific specifications.
  4. The Reason: What necessitated this appeal was that “many false prophets have gone out into the world.” This is an amazing reality given to us in the Bible, the presence of false teachers and prophets. Early on we are made aware of false teachers…Cain being the first. The prevalence of such false teaching is seen in the many warnings issued for example Deut. 13:1-5 where Moses wrote that if a prophet or a dreamer gives a sign or wonder a test was to be employed and that was not if the sign or wonder came true, it was if such a sign or wonder advocated going after and serving other gods. Simply put, the sign and wonder was not that which guided truth and obedience. Jesus in Matt 7:15 warned against false prophets saying, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” The point Jesus makes is that they employ false advertising and are not what they appear to be. They were active early in the early church as we can read of them in Acts 13:6 with a Jewish man who called himself Bar Jesus but was in reality a sorcerer named Elymas that Barnabas and Paul were called to render this man as he was spiritually blind. What we see is that in every age that which is false has sought to counterfeit that which is true. This is why John makes the appeal to prove the spirits, as a half-truth is more dangerous than a full lie! Many a church has fallen into false teaching simply because they didn’t understand that any modification of truth is more dangerous to the body of Christ than those who have openly opposed truth!

  

Vs. 2-3 The Test

  1. The standardized test: What follows in these two verses is the criteria by which truth may be known and distinguished from a lie.
  2. The Test: Throughout the Bible as noted above different tests were applied to determine a false prophet from a true prophet. In Jer. 28:9 we are told that one test is “If what the word which the prophet spoke comes to pass, then the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord had sent.” And Deut. 18:22 tells us that the opposite if this is true in as much as it what they said was from the Lord doesn’t come true then they aren’t of the Lord. And again, it wasn’t just the results that were to be judged it was the in which direction such results led people towards as noted in Deut. 13:1-5 if the what the prophet spoke came true but led the people away from the true and living God then that person was a false prophet. Added to these twofold tests is what John mentions here in these two verses. The prophet must speak the same and agree on the person and work of Jesus Christ, that specifically He has come in the flesh. What does the person say about Jesus, do they acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah come in the flesh or do they deny this? If they deny this, they are not of God no matter how wonderful a speaker they are, how big their church is and how marvelous their activity. This confession is a statement of fact that Jehovah alone saves, and He does so through His Son who is the only Messiah. That this Jesus came in person is incarnate deity and that only He could satisfy the demands of a Holy God. And it is only by a sinner placing their trust only upon Jesus’ sacrifice can the sinner be redeemed.
  3. The Value: John’s point is that only in the Incarnation is a bridge made between sinful man and a Holy God. Without the Incarnation there could NEVER be any contact between The Divine and fallen humanity and because of this there could never be any possibility of redemption. This is NOT just theology, it is proof the uniqueness of the person and work of Jesus Christ and that there can be no other way, and nothing added to His sacrifice. Jesus earthly life was the bridge between the human and The Divine! In Deut. 13:1-5 the fundamental test of truth was monotheism: No utterance, no matter how eloquently spoken, no matter the results can ever contradict or deny monotheism! And now added to this is the Apostles words by the Holy Spirit: The fundamental truth of Christianity in accordance with what is spoken in Deut. 13:1-5 is that of the Incarnation: No utterance, however seemingly inspired, miraculous its signs and wonders, if it denies the Incarnation of the above monotheism and the person and work of Jesus, can ever be true! Christians can never tolerate any so-called truth that denies Jesus’ eternal nature as God and His historical humanity as sinless man!
  4. The Issue: The contrast with this confession of the Incarnation is the proof of the Divine Spirit and the denial is equally evidence of the spirit of the antichrist. Has Jesus Christ come in the flesh and is He God the Son? Those who deny such have no fellowship with truth and are not born again of the Spirit of God.

 

Vs. 4-6 The Outcome

 

  1. The outcome when the test is applied: Immediately the reader of these 3 verses will notice the emphasized pronouns of YOU, THEY and WE!
  2. The Victory vs. 4: The first use of the pronoun is YOU and the reference is of those who are of God, true Christians and John says two things about these true Christians: First, they have overcome false teachers! John is not referring to a physical contest but rather an intellectual battle in which these believers have become victorious. The false teachers had sought to deceive believers, but they were unable to succeed in their lies. Second, John points out the basis by which they were able to be victorious: It wasn’t that they were smarter, stronger in spiritual things it was simply because of the work of Christ in their lives that made it impossible for the lies to work!
  3. The Contrast vs. 5: The second use of a pronoun is in verse 5 and it is THEY and this is a reference to the false teachers and John says that the false teachers are of the world and by this they aren’t believers as they possess the world philosophy even though they may use Christian language and represent Christian teachers and pastors. They were among the believers but not of the Believers!
  4. The Result vs. 6: It is the difference between the You and the They that continually reveals that we note that the YOU’S know spiritual truth while the THEYS are continually led by false teachers and lies! It isn’t that the THEYS don’t know truth it is that they prefer the lie! It is here that John uses his third pronoun WE and here it refers to the WE of the letter that John was addressing when he was led by the Holy Spirit to write this letter.

Centuries have come and gone and the church is still facing the same problem; not enough Pastors and teachers to rightly divide the word of God and defend the truth of the Word of God. The truth is the incarnation of God’s Son Jesus the Messiah. It is this that defines and is the focal point of doctrine. There is only truth and error, and anything or anyone that takes us away from this Jesus is not of God!

 

 

1 John 4:7-8

Love one another: What God is

 

  • Introduction
  • 7-8 What God is

 

Introduction

 

Reading this general letter of John’s, you begin to understand that John developed tests by which the reader could determine if they were a maturing child of God:

  1. The moral test: Righteousness
  2. The social test: Love
  3. The doctrinal test: Truth

In the verses before us today the Apostle John for the third time takes up the subject of love:

  1. In 2:7-11 John revealed love was the proof of fellowship with God
  2. In 3:10-14 John revealed that love was the proof of being a child of God
  3. Now in 4:7-16 John will show that love is the proof of our spiritual maturity

It is interesting to note the repeated words and phrases that the Apostle uses throughout his writing. Reading through John’s letters and gospel always reminds me of the repeated chorus in a song as they are repeated for emphasis and drive home what is important. For instance, look at: 3:24 “By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us”

4:13 “By this we know that we abide in Him, and he in us, because He has given us of His       Spirit.”

Between this repeated chorus of the Holy Spirits song is two proofs of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

  • The FIRST, as noted previously, was the acceptance of the truth of the Incarnation through obedience which grants us life and fellowship with God.
  • The SECOND, that we are about to study now is, the manifestation of true life, which is seen in the fact of love. John will tell his readers that this love proves our transformation as we take on His likeness which is love. It is this love along with God’s holiness that reveal our transformation into God’s nature and why we are exhorted to love as John is only exhorting us to do what we have now been transformed through our relationship with God through His only Son Jesus to do.

 

The entirety of this section from verse 7-21 breaks apart in a simple outline:

  1. 7-12 The exhortation to love one another
  2. 13-16 The connection between love and sound doctrine
  3. 17-21 The perfection of love seen in the confidence of the believer before God at the judgement

Another repeated chorus of the Holy Spirits song in 1st John is in the phrase seen 3 times in this section. Notice carefully what remains the same and what is different in this chorus. LOVE ONE ANOTHER, is the constant command. What changes is the threefold reason for why the command is issued seen in the words of LET US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO and IF WE:

  • 7-10 “Let us love one another”: The point of revelation in this section is that since we have been born again and love is God’s own nature, we must if we are born again exhibit that nature to each other.
  • 11 “We also ought to love one another”: Since love is God’s gift to His children then we ought to be sharing that gift with our brother and sisters.
  • 12 “If we love one another”: Since God’s love is God’s current activity in and through His children then it must naturally be our activity as well.

It is clear to the reader that God is not asking us, He is commanding us to love one another, and He can do so confidently for the three reasons given.

  

Vs. 7-8 Let us

 

The first reason John states for the command to love one another is since we have been born again and love is God’s own nature, we must, if we are born again exhibit that nature to each other. Simply put those that have experienced the love of God that has transformed them must naturally be loving those who also have been transformed by this same love of God. The love John describes here is a specific type of love that we are told is the exact same type of love that He has given to us, Agape unconditional love. It is this love that is God’s nature, and it is this love that is only produced by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the child of God that yields to its influence. It was this love that was seen in action at the cross and it is this love that has its elements broken down in 1 Corinth 13. What is also pointed out in in this phrase, Let us in the Greek is that the exhortation is continuous in action as it would read in Greek; Let us be HABITUALLY loving one another. The words one another in the Greek suggest reciprocity which is defined as the practice of exchanging things (LOVE) with others for mutual benefit. In other words, God has given His love us with the expectation that we will give it away as well to benefit others. The phrase “for love is of God” and verse 8 “God is love” need clarification which the Greek provides but the English translation does not.

John states both truths here that:

  1. 7 “For love is of God”: Love comes from God; this is saying that He is the definition and source of that love. John will further define this love for his readers in verses 9-10. The first definition of this kind of love is that its source originates in the Divine nature. Second, John reveals for us that this Love of God is transformative, and to encounter this love causes a NEW BIRTH that transforms us to the naturally unattainable degree of ushering us into fellowship with God who gifted us with this Love. John says that because of God’s love towards us we now KNOW. The absence of love is the absence of the knowledge of God as John writes in verse 8 “He who does not love does not know God.” The words in the Greek in verse 8 “does not know God” are “The person who does not love with this kind of love has never known God.” This reveals to the reader is that our faith is transformative because it has encountered the love of God that changes the person causing them to exhibit that which they have encountered, GOD, with others. Faith is appropriating to ourselves what applies to all. Love is the extension to all of what applies to self.
  2. 8 “God is love”: This does not mean that “LOVE IS GOD” as love does NOT define GOD, but God defines LOVE! God can never be defined by an abstraction and the Greek here places the article on the word God and not on the word love which means that these two words are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. A good translation of this phrase would be that “God, as to His nature is love. It is His nature to be loving.” Furthermore, you cannot separate His nature from other aspects of His nature and as we have already discovered in the words of the apostle that God is also Holy which means that God’s love is a Holy Love and that His Holiness is loving! Much of what in the world that is called love bears no resemblance to God’s love and this phrase has been placed into the world to support the worlds version of LOVE. The fact that John links this to the nature of God further supports the trinity as in verses 7-8 the reference to Love is from the vantage point of God the Father. Where the Love of God is from the vantage point of God the Son in verses 9-11. Finally, the Love of God is from the perspective of the Holy Spirit in verse 12. Love is a valid test for a true relationship with God since God is to His nature love and since we claim a relationship with God in necessitates that we live in this same love towards others, and it reveals the nature of God indwelling us.