1 john 4:1-21

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: 1 John

Rusty's Notes

Remind them:

• This is a letter to the Church warning them about the teaching of Gnostics.

 
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH AND THE SPIRIT OF ERROR
1 JOHN 4
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

• John is not talking about supernatural spirits here.
• He is talking about human spirits.
• Each human spirit is about something being in Adam or Christ.
• * DO NOT - This is a PRESENT IMPERATIVE with a NEGATIVE PARTICLE, which usually means to stop an act already in process.
• Christians tend to accept:

1) strong personalities
2) logical arguments, or
3) miraculous events as from God.

• John is writing both to combat the false teachers and to encourage the true believers.
• John is encouraging believers to test the intentions and substance of teachers that come into the church, like Gnostics.
• Gnostics denied that Jesus came in the flesh and, therefore, were not of God.
• John calls those who reject Christ’s humanity the antichrist.
• He does this by using several tests:

a. the doctrinal test (belief in Jesus, cf. I John 2:18–25; 4:1–6, 14–16; 5:1, 5)
b. lifestyle test (obedience, cf. I John 2:3–7; 3:1–10, 22–24)
c. the social test (love, cf. I John 2:7-11; 3:11–18; 4:7–12, 16–21; 5:12)[1]

• Through the incarnation, God announces that His divinity is compatible with our humanity.
• Therefore, if a teacher eliminates the humanity of Jesus, they eliminate the possibility of divine compatibility with humanity.
• This would be a distant God, not one who seeks union with His creation.

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

• The Holy Spirit always magnifies Jesus.
•   1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. [2]

3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

• This is the essential doctrinal test for the false teachers (i.e., Gnostics) whom John was combating in this book.
• Its bare assertion is that Jesus is fully human (i.e., flesh) as well as fully God (1:1–4; II John 7; John 1:14; I Tim. 3:16).
• The PERFECT TENSE affirms that Jesus’ humanity was not temporary but permanent.
• This was not a minor issue. Jesus is truly one with humanity and one with God.[3]

4 You (believers) are from God, little children, and you have conquered (overcome) them,

• John is concerned with the Christian’s victory over sin and the devil.
• He uses this term six times in I John (2:13, 14; 4:4; 5:4, 5), 11 times in the Revelation, and once in the Gospel (cf. 16:33).
• This term for victory was used only once in Luke (11:22) and twice in Paul’s writings (Rom. 3:4; 12:21).

because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

• The term “world” in I John always has negative connotations (i.e., human society organized and functioning apart from God).
• The term “world” is used here in the sense of fallen human society trying to meet all its needs apart from God.
• It refers to fallen humanity’s collective independent spirit!
• An example of this is Cain (3:12).
• John is addressing spiritual warfare in this Gnostic context.
• He affirms that believers have overcome Satan because Christ indwells them, and He is stronger than the Devil.
• Christians, therefore, can only be attacked externally through lies and false teachings like Gnosticism.
• They cannot be afflicted by Satan internally. 

5 They (false prophets) are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

• The Gnostics were not of God.
• This was seen in their rejection of Jesus’ humanity and the reality of sin (1 John 1:9).

6 We (John & disciples) are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

• Believers can recognize true preachers/teachers by both the content of their message and who hears and responds to them.

 
KNOWING GOD THROUGH LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another (lifestyle) because love is from God (not human philanthropy, pity, or emotion), and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

• The term “knows” reflects the Hebrew sense of ongoing, intimate fellowship.
• It is the recurrent theme of I John, used over 77 times.
• All who believe in Jesus have the love of God poured into their hearts (see Romans 5:5).
• Whereas lost people can be loving and have moral and ethical standards, Christians have God's eternal life poured out within them.
• We can love fellow Christians in a way that the world will never love.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• Love is God’s nature.
• Everything He does comes from love.
• This love is manifested fully in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the event in human history when God’s love is revealed fully (Romans 5:8).

9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

• All of God’s benefits come through Jesus. What are the benefits?)
• Forgiveness is only half of the Gospel.
• The other half is life in Him.

10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

• Jesus Christ’s work completely satisfied God.
• He has removed our sins perfectly because His sacrifice is not an atonement covering as was the case with the temple sacrifices of the Old Testament, but a total removal of our sins.
• God is completely satisfied with Christ’s finished work.
• The NT is unique among the world religions.
• Typically, religion is mankind seeking God, but Christianity is God seeking fallen mankind!
• The wonderful truth is not our love for God but His love for us.
• He has sought us through our sin and self, our rebellion and pride.
• The glorious truth of Christianity is that God loves fallen mankind and has initiated and maintained a life-changing contact.[4]

11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.

• False prophets claimed to have a vision from God or of God.
• Being with Believers is as close as we can get.

13 This is how we know that we remain (abide) in him (Jesus/Trinity – 1 of 3) and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit (Trinity – 2 of 3). 14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father (Trinity – 3 of 3) has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God.

• The inclusive term “whoever” is the great invitation of God for anyone and everyone to come to Him.
• God promised redemption to the human race in Gen. 3:15.
•  His call to Abraham was to reach the world (Gen. 12:3; Exod. 19:5).
• Jesus’ death dealt with the sin problem (John 3:16).
•  Everyone can be saved if they respond through faith.
• God’s word to all is “Come” (Isaiah 55).[5]
• Confess - This term implies specific, public,  vocal acknowledgment of one’s affirmation     of and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.[6]
• If we believe that Jesus came in the flesh and that He was nailed to the cross for our sins, then we are given the right to become children of God.
• This is not a feeling.
• We can feel all types of things, including losing our salvation.
• But these feelings do not reflect reality.

16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love is made complete (perfected)

• This is from the Greek word telos.
• It implies fullness, maturity, and completion, not sinlessness.[7]

with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,

• boldness before the throne.

because as he is, so also are we in this world.

• Being a child of God is a reality for all Christians.
• We are born of God and have a new nature.
• This means that we can be confident on the day of judgment because we are as righteous as Jesus is righteous.
• We are no less righteous than Christ Himself.
• If Christ is not judged, then neither are we judged.

18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

• What starts in fear, punishment, ends with no fear.
• The perfect love of God in Christ casts out fear because Jesus has removed all of our sins.
• If our sins are completely removed, there is no need to fear condemnation.
• God is set on maturing us into His love so that no lingering fear remains.

19 We love because he first loved us.

• God always takes the initiative.
• We must take the initiative with others… as God did for us.
• This is from the Greek word telos.
• It implies fullness, maturity, and completion, not sinlessness.
• Love indwells Christians because God, who is love, indwells Christians, and has loved us first.
• Love originates from God, and we only love God or one another because God loves us in Christ.
• God initiated a relationship with us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar.

• Conflict is possible, but settled hatred is not.

For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.[8]

• THE LAST VERSE = SUMMARY
• Love is the non-counterfeitable evidence of a true believer.
• Hate is the evidence of a child of the evil one.
• The false teachers were dividing the flock and causing conflict.[9]
• God’s commands are to love Him by believing in the Son and loving fellow Christians (1 John 3:23).

He has rigged the system so that our love for Him is and receiving and transmitting of His love for us.[10]

[1] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (228). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (229). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[4] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (231). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[5] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (232). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[6] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (229). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[7] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (232). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (233). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[10] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 4.