1 JOHN chapter 4

jack

Summary verse 1

  1. Appeals to having the Holy Spirit are useless unless we can test the claims of men.
  2. John's opponents laid claim to spiritual inspiration.
  3. Since there are two spirits actively operating in the cosmos, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, the Christian must exercise discernment with respect to all that comes his way.
  4. Verses one through six are devoted to the two spirits (linked to what precedes by the catch-word “spirit” (see 3:24).
  5. John now returns to a previous theme, that of antichrists with their false confession of Christ.
  6. During the apostolic era, it was tempting to ascribe any unusual phenomena to the spirit of God (gifts of tongues, prophecy).
  7. God protected believers with additional gifts to interpret and discern these gifts (1 CORINTHIANS 14:29).
  8. Paul cautioned believers to be discerning when listening to individuals claiming to speak from the Holy Spirit (1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-3).
  9. But believers in general were to exercise spiritual discretion when listening to others.
  10. The word “spirit” refers to the person who is inspired by a spirit.
  11. We are told not to believe what individuals say without first testing the spirit to determine its source.
  12. Don’t believe everything you hear, but first subject it to the test of sound teaching.
  13. Too often believers hear something that sounds good or plausible and do not exercise caution.
  14. The danger of deception is great due to the large number of false prophets in the cosmos (compare 2 PETER 2:1; 2 CORINTHIANS 2:17; 1 JOHN 2:18;

1 JOHN 4:1; JEREMIAH 14:14; MATTHEW 7:15; MARK 13:22—the

primary focus of 2 PETER and JUDE).

where to begin

Summary 2,3

  1. This is where we all must begin in evaluating whether a person is of God or not.
  2. The test of spirits begins with the doctrine of who and what Jesus Christ is.
  3. The docetic and Gnostic tendencies of John's time denied the doctrine associated with the first advent.
  4. The confession that Christ has come in the flesh must include:

a.  The hypostatic union (the word = God becoming flesh).

b.  The virgin birth to bypass spiritual death, Adam's original sin, and the indwelling STA.

c.  He did not sin in His humanity.

d.  He died for sins on the cross.

e.  His death, burial, and bodily resurrection.

f.  His ascension and session.

  1. Only the born again believer can make the confession (1 CORINTHIANS 12:3) since it must be made by the Spirit of God.
  2. All uninspired utterances deny some vital aspect of the truth of His first advent.
  3. Mere speaking of Jesus as Lord is not enough (MATTHEW 7:21,22); there must be a minimal understanding doctrinally of who and what Christ is.
  4. We are to become aware of those who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but are in reality wolves (unbelievers who are false teachers and false prophets) who deny the true way of salvation (MATTHEW 7:15-20 compare 13,14).
  5. The one, who like Peter, makes the good or true confession is of God (MATTHEW 16:13-17).
  6. Every individual, on the other hand (theologian, entertainer, politician, scientist, intellectual, historian, arm chair philosopher, etc.) who denies the truth concerning Jesus, is not from God.
  7. John gives an abbreviated form of the confession when dealing with the

non-believer; he says simply “does not confess Jesus”.

  1. To confess Him means to believe all that is vital in order to be saved.
  2. The spirit we are to condemn is the spirit that drives the final antichrist.
  3. They were aware of this evil person who appears in the last days.
  4. The spiritual of antichrist was already at work in John's day and has only heated up in these last days.
  5. Remember that there are those who are trying to deceive you (2:26).
  6. Don’t be naïve and quick to give individuals a clean bill of health.
  7. But test every spirit to see if he is in live with Bible doctrine starting with the doctrine of Christ's person.

Summary verses 4-6

  1. John reassures them that they, his children, are of God.
  2. Since they have confessed that Jesus has come in the flesh.
  3. Their faith has overcome their opponents (compare 5:4).
  4. This means that however imposing and strong the followers of the evil one are, they cannot negate the believers victory in the Angelic Conflict.
  5. They may persecute and even murder the believer, but word (pen) or sword cannot nullify his faith (victory).
  6. The Holy Spirit keeps us saved and guarantees a future resurrection for the body.
  7. So our enemy is strong and a multitude, but is no match for He who lives inside us.
  8. Those who do not acknowledge us and who deny the Lord, find their source in Satan and the cosmos.
  9. This is why all that comes from their mouths is human viewpoint evil and why they have a large following.
  10. The cosmos, which takes its cues from Satan, listens to their human viewpoint.
  11. The truth falls on deaf ears; negative volition listens only to human viewpoint on the meaning of life.
  12. Those who listen to us and agree with us are of God.
  13. This doesn’t mean that they have to agree with all we say, but they must at least confess Jesus.
  14. Those who are unbelievers and negative will not accept anything we say about Ph1.
  15. Those who disagree with us manifest themselves as the spirit of error or are influenced by the same in the case of believers who are negative.
  16. John has given us two tests of those who are false:

a.  Those who deny Christ.

b.  Those who won't listen to us.

  1. John assumes that we know the truth sufficiently to make such a test (compare 2:21).
  2. Believers can be, and are being, influenced by the spirit of error as the refuse to overrule the indwelling STA (2:24; 2 JOHN 7-11).

God's love and our love (verses 7-12)

Summary verses 7,8

  1. John comes back to the subject of the love that believers are to have for one another.
  2. He has already associated love with the new birth.
  3. John again addresses them as “beloved” demonstrating his own pastoral love and affection for his children (compare 2:10; 3:11,18,23).
  4. He enjoins them to love one another, grounding his appeal in the fact that love comes from God.
  5. God is the author of all genuine love.
  6. God's love is totally free from STA corruption. (What makes it so special is that it is perfect love.)
  7. God's love is the perfect model we are to follow and is revealed to us in the Word of God.
  8. Since perfect love (+L) is from God, we are to imitate God in our dealings with one another (be imitators of God).
  9. John goes on to say that only the born again one is capable of this love (implicit).
  10. Every born again has demonstrated this love at least once (compare 3:11).
  11. The one who loves as He loves, knows Him as of salvation.
  12. On the other hand, the individual who does not love, that is, who is not capable of applying God's love, does not know God.
  13. Knowledge of God, which comes at the new birth, enables the individual to love as God does.
  14. As with righteousness above, the one who does not love does not know God.
  15. Only the believer under the filling of the Holy Spirit can love according to the Divine attribute.
  16. Unbelievers love, but it is not the same as the love which God has and believers have under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
  17. For one thing, they do not love God as they continue to sin and have hatred towards Him.
  18. Their love towards others (husband, wife, children, etc.) is always associated with the indwelling STA.

Summary verses 9,10

  1. John's language in verse nine is parallel to John 3:16. (This is a deliberate reminder.)
  2. He stresses that the sending of Jesus, God's Son, so that we might have eternal life, manifested the nature of God's love (a thought implicit in 1 John 3:16).
  3. Jesus’ coming is the visible (overt) indication of God's love.
  4. God sent His one and only Son (in the sense of being uniquely begotten) into the cosmos for us.
  5. God's action was one of supreme self-sacrifice to benefit others.
  6. In verse ten, he goes further and defines true or Divine love.
  7. Negatively, God's love was not predicated by our love for God.
  8. God first loved us when we were yet sinners and hostile in mind and action (compare ROMANS 5:8,10; COLOSSIANS 1:21,22; 1 JOHN 4:19).
  9. God's love did not take into consideration our hostility, but sent His Son to be the propitiation for the hostility that separated us from God, namely our sins.
  10. We do not see this kind of love in the cosmos where people sacrifice what is closest and dearest to them for those who are their avowed enemies.
  11. So their enemies might become their friends.
  12. Furthermore, God had nothing to gain by so doing as He is perfect and has no need.
  13. He did what He did based on an attribute called love and at the same time satisfied the demands of +R and J.
  14. The cross removed that which alienated us from God; eternal life and heaven demonstrate the love which is God's.

Summary verses 11,12

  1. If God has done so much for us, the least we can do is apply the Golden Rule toward each other.
  2. This commandment demands the filling of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to know just how we are to walk in all instances toward each other. (It also demands prayer.)
  3. John reminds us that God, who is love, is invisible (compare JOHN 1:18;

1 TIMOTHY 6:16).

  1. How can we love One who we cannot see if we don’t even love those we do see? (Compare verse 20.)
  2. We love God and His Son only to the extent that we love one another.
  3. If we love each other it is evident that we have the indwelling Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
  4. The SAJG means that for the first time we love as God does.
  5. At salvation, we have God in us and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
  6. As we grow under the filling of the Holy Spirit, God's love is perfected in us.
  7. 1 John 2:5 says that God's love is perfected in us as we keep His word (commandments).
  8. The mature believer especially exemplifies this as he consistently applies all of God's commandments under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
  9. But any believer who is filling of the Holy Spirit (walks in love) and does what pleases God has the love perfected in him.

assurance and Christian love (4:13-5:3)

Summary verses 13,14

  1. The presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit (God abides in us) has taught us the way to be filled with the Holy Spirit (we abide in Him; compare 2:27) and the doctrine of the indwelling of Christ, which is the mind of Christ in us via GAP (compare JOHN 15:4,5,6,7).
  2. Abide in Him, or abide in God, or abide in Me refer to being in fellowship.
  3. Abide is also used of:

a.  The Holy Spirit on Christ (JOHN 1:32,33).

b.  Wrath on unbelievers (JOHN 3:36).

c.  Christ abides forever (via resurrection; JOHN 12:34).

d.  The realm of spiritual death (JOHN 12:46).

e.  The realm of temporal death (1 JOHN 3:14).

f.  Eternal life in us (1 JOHN 3:15 compare 2:17).

g.  The Father (indwelling Holy Spirit) in Christ (JOHN 14:100.

h.  The indwelling Holy Spirit (JOHN 14:16 compare 17; 1 JOHN 2:27;

1 JOHN 4:12,15,16).

i.  Bible doctrine in us (JOHN 5:38; 6:27; 15:7; 1 JOHN 2:14,24; 3:9 [seed = the Word of God; see 1 PETER 1:23,24]; 2 JOHN 2).

j.  The filling of the Holy Spirit (fellowship; JOHN 5:56 [associated with the SAJG]; 15:4-7,9,10 [love],11 [+H]; 1 JOHN 2:6 [in chapter one, meno is not found but fellowship is based on confession and application];

1 JOHN 2:10,24,27,28; 3:6,17,24; 4:13,16).

k.  John 8:31 and 2 John 9 are in a classification by themselves since both i. and j. are merged (compare 1 JOHN 2:24).

  1. So God the Holy Spirit has taught us the doctrine of the filling of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of Christ (compare 3:24).
  2. Verse thirteen expands on verse twelve and tells us that the indwelling Holy Spirit enables us to know that we abide in Him (the filling of the Holy Spirit) and He is in us via the Word of God.
  3. God's love is made perfect in us as we have the filling of the Holy Spirit plus Bible doctrine in us.
  4. The proof or test that God the Holy Spirit abides in us is our love for believers.
  5. The Holy Spirit was given to us when we beheld the Son at salvation.
  6. At that point, we were in fellowship and had love, and practiced righteousness (JOHN 5:56).
  7. And as a result of our experience of seeing that true doctrine of the sending of the Son, we are witnesses of that fact.
  8. This is yet another test of a true Christian.
  9. That confession is in contrast to the many antichrists.
  10. It acknowledges Him as coming in the flesh and being the only Savior of the whole world (see JOHN 4:42).
  11. Other tests include:

a.  The ability to learn Bible doctrine (1 JOHN 2:29).

b.  Application producing confidence (love, righteousness, keeping the commandments).

Summary verses 15,16

  1. John, having his opponents in mind, applies in verse fifteen what he says in verse fourteen.
  2. The one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God is the one who has God in him via the indwelling Holy Spirit and is in a spiritual union with Deity, known as position truth (compare 2:5).
  3. Verse sixteen is a parallel statement to verse fourteen.
  4. The two perfects “know” and “believe” refer to Ph1 salvation.
  5. Via the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, the believer has come to know of it and believe in it.
  6. The object of it is expressed in somewhat an unusual manner.
  7. Literally as “the love which God has in us.”
  8. John looks beyond the cross to the reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the resultant eternal life in us.
  9. When we believed, we were made aware of God's gift based on His love.
  10. Verse 16b has the same function as verse fifteen.
  11. In both cases an observation is drawn regarding those who are believers.
  12. Verse fifteen declares that he has:

a.  The indwelling Holy Spirit.