means became (had a beginning). And theyre worshiping God. But it says wherever Jesus is not confessed, you cant know God. Those who proclaim some pre-existing Jesus - who is NOT like us in every respect, speak not the spirit of truth, but some other spirit is guiding them. 1 John 4:1 says, "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. 1 John 4:1 ESV. If a minister or a pastor does not know sound doctrine, he cant guard it. Verse 2 again, Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Theres one thing demons will inevitably deny in all their demonic systems, and that is they will deny the deity of Jesus Christ. We cannot pass on the truth unless we protect it, unless we guard it. But what about when you are the one who is receiving revelations (not someone else)? Test the Spirits (1 John 4:1-6): Berean Bible Church The first thing you look for is their doctrine of incarnation. 4 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. But we are constantly being called to the defense of the Scripture and the defense of the truth. It either comes from the Spirit of truth, who is the Holy Spirit, so called by our Lord Himself several times in the upper room discourse in the gospel of John. Thats how he ended his first letter to Timothy. They will stand firm that Jesus had a body of flesh, died in flesh, was raised in flesh, and is coming again in flesh but will deny that he had a prior existence as God and that he, at a point in time, "came" in flesh. Just as Paul praised the Bereans for checking what he preached to them against the scriptures to see if what he was saying was correct (Acts 17:11), so John uses the word "test" here. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. It only takes a minute to sign up. 1 John 4 ESV;KJV - Test the Spirits - Beloved, do not - Bible Gateway You need to know how to walk in the Spirit of God & test the spirits because there are many deceiving spirits in the world today. Demons recognize His deity. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. Summary: You test the spirit behind religious teachers by knowing the truth & walking in the Spirit of Truth. First, the ecumenical and universal spirit of our day that seeks to promote unity in the . Essentially John is warning that if anyone disputes the message (Gospel), they need to be tested. There is the living Word of God, namely the One John says that was from the beginning that we heard, we saw, and we touched. All teaching that presents untruth about Christ, lies, is the spirit of antichrist which is already in the world and yet in its final form is coming. Is it the Holy Spirit speaking or your own flesh? And so here, John is writing to his flock, as you would understand it, to the people that have been put in his charge and all beyond them whom he can influence, including us today, and among the instructions that he gives here in this epistle, much of it, of course, is about who is a true believer. The second thing you look for is regeneration. On the other hand, verse 6, Were from God. Isaiah 50 is about waiting for the pure light of Gods Word. He who knows God listens to us. That engulfs His humanity. So first of all, it requires the fulfillment of this duty requires the knowledge of sound doctrine, and secondly it requires the recognition of error. You are impervious, in one sense, from fatal error. Bazball does not come in half measures - The Telegraph False prophets though they maypresent themselves asif they are prophets of God can be proven false when the conditions of truth arenotmet and the conditions of erroraremet. Look at verse 4. Guard that. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made . How might we test this spiritual 'truth'? How does one accept Jesus as flesh? The end of verse 3 tells us that our fellowship consequently is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. You cant honor the Father without the Son, because they are in essence one sharing the same divine and perfect nature. There is set loose in the world, youll notice at the end of verse 6, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. We grieve in our hearts at how unwilling so many are to contend for the faith. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. They stick with the truth of the Scripture. What do they say about the incarnation? There are always those who come along with their deceptive schemes that purport to be biblical, that quote Bible verses, that say they have a message from God, that have a better way to understand the Bible and apply the Bible, to make the Bible acceptable, to make the gospel acceptable. Teaching is consistent with already revealed Apostolic teaching (1 John 4:6, 2:19), Teaching is "good", encourages righteousness and truth (Eph 5:8-10), Teaching is nothing that we might be ashamed of on the day of judgement (Phil 1:9, 10) or even sooner (Rom 14:22). The god (Satan) of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Their ideas come out of the world, and the world is in the lap of the evil one. It is relentlessly under attack. So let's read 1 John 4:1-3, to see the work of the Holy Spirit and his testimony through the evidence of faith that he produces in the life. a new spirit of cooperation. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Having gone through the gospel of John, and seen the unique way in which he writes concerning Jesus Christ, very different than Matthew, Mark, or Luke, having taught, as well, the book of Revelation and gotten into the wonderful apocalyptic visions that John was given. You are saying He is come from God. GDPR is the new European privacy regulation, which will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 in the UK and the equivalent legislation across the EU Member States. You reject Jesus as God in human flesh, you reject Jesus as the God-Man, fully God, fully man, who came as a substitute for sin, then you dont know God no matter what you think. Number one test, the confession of the divine Lord. And that is the very test we should perform: truth vs. error. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world" (1 John 4:2-3). Who are the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11? What are you going to believe? 2 John 1:7. Theyre not so concerned about you being from God as a source, but somehow you finding God through your works and ceremonies and religion. Just as he cannot come from heaven with great glory without already existing there (and his name there is "The Word of God"(Rev 19:13)), he did not "come" the first time except that he already existedin the beginning the Word was God. Here are the positive tests that will reveal that something is coming from the Spirit of God and not a demon spirit. Is it not? Let me give you a second one. He cant know them. They are from the world; therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. In short: assess the content of the prophecies (and probably the fruit of the prophets as well). And John discharges that responsibility. (9) To tempt the Spirit of the Lord--i.e., to try, or test, whether the Spirit that dwelt in the Apostles was really a discerner of the secrets of men's hearts. The same goes for Christians in our daily walk with the Lord. But on the other hand, verse 6 says, Were from God and we know that. How to reconcile 1 John 4:15 with Mathew 8:29? He assisted with a church plant near OSUs campus and was the preaching pastor of that church for seven years. And that takes us to the third sort of overlapping test. Now looking at it a little more closely, Every spirit that confesses that is continually confesses, agrees with that reality to - homologe is to say the same thing, everyone who is saying the same thing as the Word of God is saying about Jesus Christ, that is that He is God in the flesh, is confessing therefore a truth that is taught by the Holy Spirit. There may be some peripheral issues that youre not sure about, but false teachers dont usually camp on that. How to Test the Spirits - Grace to You Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. He was manifested to us. 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. We may not be able to identify them immediately, but eventually they will not pass the test of the spirits. False teachers can be as blatant as saying that Jesus is not God in the flesh. 1 JOHN 4:1: 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. How Can We Test the Spirits to Know if They Are from God? - Christianity These false prophets may likely be under the influence of demons! What is confessed by those who are of God? Thoughts that intrude which, when followed to their logical conclusion, lead us away from the positive confession John has laid down are also not of God's Spirit but of antichrist and must be severed with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Never miss a beat with 4 Truth updates emailed directly to your inbox. The text that we are looking at this morning, 1 John 4:1-6, is dealing with testing the spirits, that is, discernment between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Evidently, there may be a correlation between the spirits and the false prophets. Is it valid to address (talk to) the spirit directly? When and Where Will the Antichrist First be Seen. Jesus Christ also is full of meaning. 1 Corinthians 12:10 I mean, thats it. They attack the realities of regeneration. Secondly, possession of the divine life. Who are the ones who have the Spirit of God? . Testing the Spirits 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. To rub elbows with them is to participate in their wickedness. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. KJV Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Therefore, they do not listen to His Word. The precursor to 2nd century Gnosticism viewed matter as evil. hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/a/56241/38524, Starting the Prompt Design Site: A New Home in our Stack Exchange Neighborhood, Statement from SO: June 5, 2023 Moderator Action. The Bible calls it fellowship. Spirit Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary You need to know how to walk in the Spirit of God & test the spirits because there are many deceiving spirits in the world today. Are you being a true and faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing is benign. We are commanded to hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ and never lose grip of it in our individual lives as well as in corporate settings. God is identified at the end of verse 21. However, there are three things that make testing the spirits difficult in our day. 1 John 4:2 By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that It doesn't change God's fundamental nature, though. Godwho desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And Ive just summed it up. Answer. Then you will be able to, Rom 14:22 - Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. God has planted His truth in you, planted His Spirit in you as a resident teacher. And he who knows God listens to us. They speak as from the world. Are they free from error, heresy? That One, that Word of life was the eternal One, the eternal life, verse 2, who was with the Father prior to His incarnation and was then manifested to us in the flesh that we could see and hear and touch. Theyre foolishness to him. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Verse 9, Anyone who goes too far and doesnt abide in the teaching of Christ anybody with an aberrant doctrine of Christ does not have God. And the idea today is that other religions worship the same God. From this and a few other references we may now tabulate what constitutes the test of these spirits and the messages they inspire: Notice how central the doctrine of christology is as the measure of what is true and what can be approved as a reliable spirit and its teaching. Christian Standard Bible And He has earned that privilege because of His righteousness, His holy perfection, which rendered Him as a fitting sacrifice for sins which satisfied the requirement of God. 1 john - How are we to test the spirits? - Biblical Hermeneutics Stack