Verse 1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
The Greek word translated as “spirit” is “pneuma” and it is used in Scripture to refer to the Holy Ghost or the spirit of God, to refer to the spirit of man, and to refer to both angelic spirits and demonic evil spirits. In the verse above it would appear that the apostle John is referring to the spirit of man as he follows his warning by stating that many false prophets are in the world. These false prophets would be trying to deceive God’s elect. These false prophets would most likely be functioning under demonic spirit influence.
The Greek word translated as “false prophets” is “pseudoprophetes” and it means one, who while acting the part of a divinely inspired prophet, speaks falsehoods but claims they are from a divine source. Jesus warned to beware of false prophets in chapter seven of the Gospel of John.
Application: Today, many church goers tend to sit in church pews, sing along with church worship teams, listen to church sermons, and fail to engage their mental skills fully in the assessment of what they are reading, singing and hearing. They feel safe in their church setting and just assume that everything being presented by church leadership is correct and true. The apostle John is warning that false prophets are in the church, therefore believing Christians need to constantly assess what they are being fed spiritually by others and compare the given information with Scripture. False prophets are not going to be in worldly places as non-believers do not need to be deceived or led astray. False prophets are in ministry. So pay attention and know your Bible so you cannot be deceived.
Verses 2-3 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
What does it mean to “confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh”? It means that the person has believed by faith that Jesus is God manifesting in a human body and that He is the promised Messiah. The name “Jesus” means salvation or Jehovah is salvation, and the title “Christ” means anointed in the Greek. Jesus was anointed to be the savior of the world. He was and is Messiah, the one prophesied about in Daniel 9:25-26. The title “Messiah” also means anointed in the Hebrew. The Hebrews were promised that a Messiah or an anointed one, a prince, would come sometime in the future and establish His kingdom. The Jews of Jesus’ day were looking for this Messiah or Christ to come and establish a physical, earthly kingdom and liberate them from the control and domination of the Roman government. They wanted to have their nation restored as it was in the days of King David and King Solomon. But Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom, and to destroy the works of the Devil. The Jews rejected Him because He failed to do what they wanted and what they expected to happen on the Earth. So the religious and cultural Jews have continued to deny that Jesus was/is Christ and they continue to look for their promised Messiah. So, to deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is to deny that He was/is Messiah and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. This is antichrist and not from God.
If a person (pneuma) is filled with the Spirit (pneuma) of God, they know and will state the truth about Jesus Christ: He is God manifesting in the flesh, He is the promised Messiah, He is the only way to forgiveness of sins and eternal life. If a person (pneuma) is not filled with the Spirit (pneuma) of God, that person will distort and misrepresent the truth about Jesus Christ. That person is antichrist or an adversary of the Messiah and in opposition to the truth of the Word.
Application: All devils are against Christ and therefore are spirits of antichrist. All people that reject the Gospel and therefore reject Jesus Christ are antichrist. When John was writing this epistle or letter, Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, died and rose again to ascend into Heaven. Therefore, spirits of antichrist started to proliferate and they have continued to do so from the forming of the Church to now, and will continue to proliferate until the end of time.
Verse 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Christian believers have overcome demonic spirits of antichrist and have accepted the truth of the Gospel because God has called them into a relationship with Him and He is more powerful than any spirits of antichrist. He is Almighty.
Verses 5-6 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
To be “of the world” means to pertain to the things of the world. The world is a fallen world and full of sin. So those that are antichrist or against Jesus Christ are listened to by those who are part of this fallen and sinful world. Believers are no longer “of the world” and therefore the world doesn’t want to hear from them. Christian believers are filled with the Holy Ghost/Spirit and therefore know what is true and what is not true as the Holy Ghost/Spirit leads them. They are able to discern falsehood because they know the truth of God.
Application: Have you, the reader, ever spoken to someone about your faith in Jesus and watched that person turn off or turn away from your words? That person has the spirit of error operating in their life because they serve the Devil either knowingly or by default. That person cannot hear or understand what you are saying because he/she is “not of God”.
Verses 7-8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
The love that the apostle John is referring to is brotherly or Christian love. The Greek noun used in this verse is “agape” and the Greek verb used in this verse is “agapao”. This love is not carnal, but spiritual. It is the love that God shows His people and it is the love that God’s people should show others.
Verses 9-11 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
God demonstrates His love in multiple ways, but the most marvelous demonstration of His love towards humankind was when He sent Jesus to pay for people’s sins so that believers could live life guilt free and without sin and be saved from condemnation to Hell. If God could sacrifice that which He loved for the sake of mankind, believers should be able to love each other and to show love to the unbelievers of this world. The Greek word translated as “propitiation” is “hilasmos” and it means an appeasing.
Verses 12-13 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
This verse is often used to claim that the King James Bible has errors in it, and the statement that no man has seen God is proof that errors exist because after all, Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden and Moses met with God face to face in the mountain and in the tabernacle. The apostle John did not use the Hebrew name Jehovah or LORD when referring to God, but throughout this chapter he used the word “theos”. The Greek word “theos” means deity or divinity. This verse is therefore true in that God is a spirit and spirits are invisible to the natural eye. No one has seen Father God or the Holy Ghost/Spirit. And no one can see the divinity or deity of God. But lots of people have seen Jesus. And who is Jesus? God manifested in human flesh so that He could be seen by man. Did Jesus claim to be God? Yes, He did. John 14:9 states, “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father?” Jesus was saying that if Philip saw Him, he had also seen God as Jesus was God. Jesus was the exact expression of God.
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged out sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Hebrews 1:1-4
So Adam and Eve were walking with Jesus and Moses was talking face to face with Jesus. Simple. God promised to preserve His words and He has done so in the King James Bible which has been used and loved for over 400 years. It cannot have errors as God’s word is true.
Verses 14-16 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Without the presence of God in a person’s life, it is impossible to love others in a sacrificial manner. The presence of the Holy Ghost/Spirit allows a person to love as Jesus loved. Without that presence, the selfishness of the natural man rules the thoughts, words, and actions of the individual.
Verses 17-18 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
When the Christian believer is grounded in the Word of God and has the indwelling of the Holy Ghost/Spirit, that believer can live without fear both in this world and in the next. If a believer experiences fear, something is wrong. Today’s world is ripe with the spirit of fear. The fake news media propagates fear in every radio, internet or television program. Basically, the call that the sky is falling is heard over and over again by the masses and most people live in fear: fear of war, fear of crime, fear of environmental pollution, fear of illnesses like cancer, fear of a financial crisis or stock market fall, fear of failure, fear of social engagements, fear of traveling, and fear of the future just to name a few anxieties. Societies around the world are full of people tormented by fear. But the Christian need not fear anything as the love of God casts out those anxieties. The Christian has a future in eternity with the LORD Jesus Christ
Verses 19-21 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. (1 John 4)
God loves His creation and He loves mankind. Everything He does is for the benefit of mankind. Because of His extreme goodness towards mankind, those that come to know Him love Him. And to love God includes obeying His commandments, and one of those commandments is to love one another. And that love has to be extended to unbelievers and to those that may be enemies of the Christian believer and of the Church. Think about it.