http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1203
Which Spirits are from God? (1 John 4:1-3)?
The first three verses of 1 John 4 contain certain elements that, at
first glance, can be somewhat confusing. Yet, when taken in their proper
context and compared with the rest of the letter, their meaning becomes
much clearer. The verses state:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into
the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that
confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every
spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the
spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and
now it is already in the world (NRSV).
As a brief background to these verses, it should be noted that the book
of 1 John deals in an in-depth fashion with the Gnostic apostasy that
divided the Lord’s Church during the later part of the first century and
on into the second century. One of the main tenets of the Gnostic
heresy was the idea that anything physical was, by its very nature,
evil. Therefore, according to the Gnostics, if Jesus Christ actually
came in the flesh, then He must have been tainted by sinful, evil flesh.
This group suggested, then, that Jesus Christ never literally came “in the flesh,” but only seemed to come in the flesh.
John’s argument at the beginning of 1 John 4 is an encouragement to
Christians to test the teachings and beliefs of everyone who would
pretend to be speaking on behalf of God. [John used the word “spirit” to
refer to the teachings, beliefs, and actions of people (in this case,
true and false teachers). Lenski stated: “ ‘Spirit’ is the person as
such with his inner, spiritual character. There is no need to put more
into this word” (1966, p. 485).] John then suggested the criterion
whereby his readers could know if the teacher was speaking from God or
not. John wrote: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is from God.” This particular phrase has caused some
confusion in the religious world. Looking at the phrase by itself, it
seems that every person who claims that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is “from God,” regardless of any other beliefs or teachings that
may conflict with the Bible. Using this verse, it has been argued that
God accepts any religious group that acknowledges that Jesus has come in
the flesh.
Upon further investigation, however, it can be shown that this phrase
was not intended to offer blanket acceptance of all religious people or
groups who simply state a belief that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. In fact, to state that one believes that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is to do no more than the demons did during the earthly
ministry of Christ. In Mark 1:21-28, the gospel writer related a story
about Jesus casting an unclean spirit out of a man who lived in
Capernaum. Upon meeting Jesus, the unclean spirit cried out, “Let us
alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to
destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (1:24). Obviously,
the unclean spirit recognized Jesus as coming in the flesh; yet few, if
any, would argue that the unclean spirit’s verbal confession would
classify this demon as being pleasing or acceptable to God. Therefore,
it is clear that John’s statement does not mean that every person who
merely says that Jesus came in the flesh is pleasing to God.
What does John’s statement about confessing Christ mean? When looking
at other parts of 1 John, several criteria for a faithful follower of
God are enumerated. James Burton Coffman offered a list of at least
seven things that John used in the epistle to gauge whether or not a
person was faithful and acceptable to God (1979, p. 415). Among other
things, John wrote that a person must: (1) confess his or her sins
(1:8-10); (2) keep God’s commandments (2:3-4; 5:2); (3) practice
righteousness (2:29); (4) love others (3:10); (5) provide for the
physical needs of others (4:17); and (6) believe and confess that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh (4:1-3). As Coffman noted of these
criteria:
They are not separate tests, actually, but a composite, each of the
above scriptures being, in a sense, commentary on each one of the
others…. [T]he unity of the tests is seen in the fact that “keeping his
commandments,” “loving one another,” “doing righteousness,” “possessing
the Holy Spirit,” etc., all amount to one and the same thing” (1979, pp.
415-416).
It is evident, therefore, that John’s statement about confessing Christ
was not meant to be a single test of authenticity, but rather a summary
statement that entailed all of the other necessary conditions found
throughout the book. Charles Ryrie wrote in regard to 1 John 4:2: “From
this verse, we are not to suppose that this was the only test of
orthodoxy; but it is a major one, and it was the most necessary one for
the errors of John’s day” (1971, p. 1022). R.C.H. Lenski likewise
stated: “It would be a serious mistake to think that John speaks of
confessing only the one fact or doctrine of the Incarnation…” (1966, p.
488). Thus, mental acceptance and verbal acknowledgment of the fact that
Jesus Christ came in flesh will never put a person in a right
relationship with God without the proper actions and obedience to God’s
commands.
Additional comments are in order concerning John’s reference to the
“spirit of the antichrist.” Countless people and groups have attempted
to identify the antichrist. Simply type in the word “antichrist” on the
Internet, and you will be inundated with suggested personalities such as
the Roman Emperor Nero, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and the
Pope—which are but a few of the candidates put forth. In most cases,
“the antichrist” is supposed to be connected with the end of the world,
the number 666, and various other “signs of the times.” However, John is
the only biblical writer to use the word antichrist(s). He uses it five
times in the following verses: 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7. In these
five brief references, John made several things clear concerning the
antichrist. He wrote in 1 John 2:18,22: “Children, it is the last hour!
As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists
have come. From this we know that it is the last hour…. Who is the liar
but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist,
the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
First, let it be noted that John specifically mentioned that many
antichrists had already come into the world. If his readers were looking
for a single, solitary figure distinguished as the sole antichrist,
John disabused them of this notion by mentioning that many
antichrists had come. Any attempt to identify the antichrist as a
solitary political or religious personality misses the pointed statement
by John that many antichrists had already come into the world. No doubt, John was specifically referring to those of the Gnostic persuasion.
Second, John unambiguously informed his readers that during their own
lifetime (i.e., the first century), these antichrists had already come
into the world. All efforts to connect the antichrist with some future,
end-time predictions fail to account for the fact that John
specifically stated that the many antichrists were already in the world
at the time of his writing.
If, according to John, there were many antichrists in the first
century, what was John’s definition of an antichrist? John defined an
antichrist as any person (or group) who denies the Father and the Son.
In 1 John 4:3, he explained, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus
is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you
have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.” When
analyzed critically, one can see that any person or group, which
does not recognize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come in the
flesh, is a person or group that has been seized by the spirit of
antichrist. As abrasive as it may seem, groups such as Muslims, Hindus,
Buddhists, and even orthodox Jews would all fall under John’s
condemnation of denying the Son and the Father.
As John urged his readers almost two thousand years ago, so we must
today: “Test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many
false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
REFERENCES
Coffman, Burton (1979), Commentary on James, 1&2 Peter, 1,2&3 John, and Jude (Abilene, TX: ACU Press).
Lenski, R.C.H. (1966), The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg).
Ryrie, Charles C. (1971), Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press).
gh
it sounds like an easy question, for a growing number of people it is
becoming more and more difficult to answer: Where are you from? Ask the
eighteen-year-old college freshmen who grew up in a military family
where she is from, and you likely will hear her rattle off five or six
different states (and perhaps even a few countries!). Ask the son of a
Major League baseball player (who has played for eight different teams
in his twenty-year career) where he is from, and you might hear him
respond by saying, “I was reared in a lot of places.” Ask a preacher’s
kid where he was reared, and you likely will hear the same response.
