1Jn 4:1-4:6 - The Test of Truth

Calvin

4:1: Many abuse the name of Christ for their own ends. When these mix in the company of believers, there is an increased potential for damage to the body. John first warns of the general danger, puts forth the protective test of the spirits, and then points out a particularly egregious error - that of denying the Christ. In noting that falsehood has accompanied the truth of the Gospel from the start, the errors of our own day shouldn't terrify us, or lead us to give up on religion. This also serves to warn us that the antiquity of any particular doctrine is not sufficient to qualify it as valid. We must be discriminating in what we subscribe to as doctrine, not running from the confusion of ideas, but sifting them by the Holy Spirit within to discern truth from error. Calvin views the term 'spirit' as a title given the New Testament prophets - indicating that their messages were to be purely as dictated to them by the Holy Spirit, containing none of themselves. Satan, of course, imitates the truth by calling his deceivers prophets as well. The title of the teacher or prophet is also insufficient to validate the message. Again, the message must be filtered by the Holy Spirit to strain out the truth from the lies. Every message must be tested against God's Word, and against the Spirit. Scripture alone is actually insufficient to the task, because we are not able to understand its meaning without the aid of God's Wisdom within us. Thus, all must be taken prayerfully to God - to the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth - in consideration of His revealed Word. The assembly of the saints serves to confirm the truth we have discerned, and reject any errors we may have thought true. By the grace of God alone are such a diverse group able to arrive at unity. The stamp of a church council is still insufficient to validate the truth - for it must be tested whether they came to their answer at God's feet or of their own imaginations.
4:2: Christ is the aim of the believer, and the block that all deceivers stumble on. "As long then as we abide in Christ, there is safety; but when we depart from him, faith is lost, and all truth is rendered void." That Christ "came" indicates that He existed before His life here - indeed from all eternity with the Father. That he came "in the flesh" indicates that He became a real man, a brother to us. In discussing His having come, we mustn't forget why He came - for He came with purpose. Thus the test of the teacher hangs on him understanding all that is implied in Jesus Christ our Lord. Each heresy in turn fails on at least one point - either His divinity, or His humanity, or His unique unmatchable role. Since all true doctrine points to and depends on the full truth of Christ, this ought to be our focus.
4:3: Knowing his readers to be well aware of the dangers of Antichrist, he points to the dire foulness of those who taught a reduced Christ by pointing out their association with that antichristian spirit. Antichrist was/is present inasmuch as it carries on its work in secret, as it were; spreading its corruptions as it can. Antichrist will be present in the future as a full-blown departure of the world from God, exalting itself above all else.
4:4: We are assured of victory in spite of the seemingly overwhelming attack. For we know that Christ wins, and we are His. This truth applies to all of our walk in this world - that when we join in the battle with God's weapons rather than our own, the victory is already assured! No matter the means Satan may use to deceive us, we can - by God's working through us - stand firm. Our own strength would prove insufficient for us even to consider starting to fight, for we would believe ourselves lost from the outset. But God - and God alone - is greater, and provides us with the power to stand and to overcome.
4:5: The world - being ruled by falsehood and accustomed to falsehood - readily embraces the lies proffered by such false teachers. This shouldn't surprise or dismay us.
4:6: The faithful teacher - the one who is of God - will demonstrate in his own life the truth which he speaks. His life will serve as testimony to his message. This, the false teacher cannot claim. The rejection of the Gospel by so many does nothing to diminish its truth. Not all who claim to be of God are so. Obedience to His word is a necessary accompaniment to confession of His name. We cannot claim to be unable to properly judge His word and yet claim to be His, for if we are His, His Spirit abides in us and provides us with the wisdom needful to judge. Rejection of the truth indicates a lack of election, for hearing is an inward act of the heart, and comes of faith. The test of the teacher, then, lies in both the source of his message (God or the world), and the character of those who take to his teachings (godly or worldly). Since, however, all teachers true and false lay claim to being oracles of God's revelation, we must - relying prayerfully on the guidance of the Holy Spirit - consult God's revealed Word, seeking to understand what it reveals with regard to each teaching; judging thereby the source of the lesson, whether it be truly God, or the world in disguise.

Matthew Henry

4:1-4:3

For the Holy Spirit to confirm to us our status as God's children, we must be able to discern Him from amongst other spirits. Since all counterfeits are based upon a truth, we need to test and ensure that the Spirit that we hear is the Spirit of God and no other. Pretenders to inspiration, or divine Spiritual guidance must be detected and not believed. Through much of time, those who claimed such Spiritual filling were considered mad (Hos 9:7 - I'd have seen this more as an indication that the pretenders were pretending, myself.) Given that many set themselves up falsely as prophets even in Jesus' own time, and the very early periods of the church, it should come as no surprise to find such still active. (Mt 24:23-24 - false claimants to Christ's return will come, and many of them. They are to be ignored.) The test - for that time and place - was the doctrine taught. Where the doctrine spoke of Jesus as Christ, eternal Son of God, born in flesh to die in flesh, there the teacher was indeed speaking from God's Spirit. Otherwise, not. Interestingly, Mr. Henry suggests that this was a specific test for a specific church at a specific time, and that the test may be otherwise for our time and place. God foreknew both the Antichrist and the lesser antichristians. There appearance serves both to remind us of their inevitable and dreadful punishment - of which this opposition to God is but the start, and to confirm to us more surely the truth of Christ who told us this would come.

4:4-4:6

As encouragement against antichristian seductions, we are offered the fact that we are born and anointed of God, thereby secured against delusion; and that victory is ours already through God - this is assured also by our previous experiences of having noted deception. Knowing our previous victories, hope for future continued victory lies in knowing that God is greater than those that try to mislead us; and that our hope lies in a direction other than this world. The antichrist spirit leads ever to worldly things and worldly kingdoms, being derived of a worldly view. The Christian spirit leads ever to God's things and God's kingdom, which is not of this world. [This particular paragraph (2.2) is really striking. In fact, I think I'll include it here whole.]

"You are not of the same temper with these deceivers. The Spirit of God hath framed your mind for God and heaven; but they are of the world. The spirit that prevails in them leads them to this world; their heart is addicted thereto; they study the pomp, the pleasure, and interest of the world: and therefore speak they of the world; they profess a worldly messiah and savior; they project a worldly kingdom and dominion; the possessions and treasures of the world would they engross to themselves, forgetting that the true Redeemer's kingdom is not of this world. This worldly design procures them proselytes: The world heareth them, v. 5. They are followed by such as themselves: the world will love its own, and its own will love it. But those are in a fair way to conquer pernicious seductions who have conquered the love of this seducing world."

We who know God (His nature, His moral excellence, His works and revelations) and are walking according to His ways, hear and are joined in agreement with those who teach from His Spirit. This is the distinction between us and the world - the test of truth and error: Christ's teaching leads us to our Savior, away from the world, and toward God. The world's teaching leads us to ourselves and our own strength, into the world, and away from God.

Adam Clarke

4:1: All teachers claim the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and thus are referred to as spirits, here. (1Co 12:1-12 - enumerating the spiritual gifts. 1Ti 4:1 - the Holy Spirit tells us flat out that there will be deceptive demonic spirits that will disrupt the faith.) Such claimants are not to be implicitly trusted, but rather put to proof by the testimony of God's word (tested revelation) and the Holy Spirit. False prophets abound amongst the carnal.
4:2: The teacher that teaches Jesus as Christ, Messiah, come in the flesh is confirmed by the Holy Spirit, for none can call Jesus Lord except by the Spirit.
4:3: Any teaching in opposition to these basics of faith cannot have come from God, but rather from that spirit which guides all Christ's opponents. Of them we have been warned (2Th 2:7 - lawlessness is at work, and only restrained by God's intervening hand, which will eventually be removed), and it is clear that they are already active.
4:4: Our testimony has overcome that of the lawless spirit, for the Holy Spirit from which our testimony comes is greater than that antichristian spirit.
4:5: Those who oppose have no true spirituality, seeking only the pleasures of this life, and attracting those of like mind.
4:6: The apostles, teaching from God's Spirit, lead those who are empowered by God to discern their message away from the world and on towards heaven. These other teachers speak not of the restraints of holiness, declare not the need to bear our sufferings as we must, and leave their followers in full possession of their lusts and sins - showing themselves false by leading back to the world.

Barnes

4:1: We should not automatically trust all who claim to be 'in the Spirit.' (Mt 24:4-5 - many will claim even to be Christ.) Every claim should be subjected to proof. This needn't be seen as a reference to the gift of discerning spirits (1Co 12:10) but a comparing of proffered doctrine to the teachings of proven sources such as the apostles, and a look at the evidence of their lives. Where the life shows that the speaker is in accord with God's will, and the teaching in accord with God's truth, the teacher may be accepted. (Isa 8:20 - the prophet is tested by his accord to the Law and testimony of the OT. Ac 17:11 - the Bereans are commended for not merely accepting, but examining the message.) Many go forth claiming to teach God's truth, but instead spread their own fabrications, as inspired by Antichrist. (Ro 12:6 - Barnes sees 'prophet' as referring to teachers and preachers, yet here they are mentioned separately. 2Pe 2:1 - OK. This could be considered a parallel - false prophets arose, and false teachers are presently arisen.)
4:2: We can know who is truly led by the Holy Spirit. All religious teachers claim to speak by spiritual influence - whether this be God's Spirit can be told by whether they confess Christ Jesus come in the flesh. This is not to be construed as a mere mouthing of the phrase, but rather points to their teaching such as a doctrine central to their message. Where this doctrine is lacking, so is the Holy Spirit. To admit that Jesus was the Messiah, or Christ, is insufficient proof - for anybody trying to claim Christianity would clearly have to accept this much. The issue surrounds Jesus' nature. He is truly man - having taken on a real, physical body and experienced a real, human life; yet is truly God - having never departed from His holiness. Without the reality of Jesus' life and death, atonement would not have occurred, and our redemption would be an illusion and no more. Even the acknowledgement of this doctrine is insufficient proof, when it's not accompanied by heart change. One can know and accept all the doctrines of true religion, and yet by evidence show himself no child of God.
4:3: To deny the reality of Christ's humanity is to remove His redemptive work, since no mere illusion could possibly serve to atone for our sins. To deny the atonement is one stamp of Antichrist and his workers. (2Th 2:3-7 - apostasy precedes the end, with deceptions aimed at leading the faithful astray.)
4:4: We are part of God's family, embracing His truth and His Spirit. As such, we have frustrated all attempts of the antichristian spirit to lead us into error. This victory is none of our own doing, but belongs to the power of God dwelling in us. "In his conflicts with sin, temptation, and error, the Christian should never despair, for his God will insure him the victory."
4:5: Those who oppose Christianity act according to the world's principles, their doctrines pertain to the things of the world, not to the things of God. Their aims are no higher - in spite of any claims to being religious teachers - than the pagan's. The world - having similar aims and views - will readily accept such a teacher. (Jn 15:19 - the world loves its own, but hates those who are separated from it.) "A professed Christian of any station in life may determine much about his evidences of piety, by asking himself what kind of persons desire his friendship, and wish him for a companion."
4:6: John, knowing himself ,and knowing himself known, as a true apostle and a good man could expect to be received as a true teacher by those who were in God's family. No matter what tests of piety one might conceive, a failure to accept the apostolic teachings would clearly show that one was not truly 'of God.' A ready reception of all God's teaching is a solid evidence of true piety. (Mt 18:1-3 - child-like (i.e. - complete unquestioning) acceptance of God's teaching is prerequisite to being in the kingdom. Mk 10:15 - parallel. Jas 1:19-21 - we ought to be quick to hear with humility what God is speaking.) [Look at v20! Man's anger doesn't achieve God's righteousness.]

Wycliffe

4:1: There is a command to "stop believing" the falsehoods, some having apparently embraced Gnosticism. We are to test in the hopes that the teaching will pass the test, not in the hopes that it will fail (different words in the Greek.) This would tend to rule out skepticism as reasonable. Why test? Because many teachers are false. (2Pe 2:1 - false prophets and teachers have always plagued God's people. Mt 24:24 - they may even produce 'signs and wonders.' Ac 13:6 - as did the false prophet Bar-Jesus, Rev 19:20 - and as will the beast's false prophet.)
4:2: Not the only test, but a major one, is that they openly acknowledge and teach of Christ's coming in the flesh, and that that incarnation in the flesh is a permanent thing ('come' is a perfect tense, indicating such permanence.)
4:3: The false teachers - amongst whom such things are not confessed - are influenced by many forces and spirits of antichristian nature, some demonic. These are super-human forces influencing their errors.
4:4-4:6: We who are influenced by God have overcome those who are influenced by Satan, not the influencing spirits, but those influenced. (Jn 12:31 - Satan, as current ruler of this world, and thus of the worldly, is the source of their erroneous views.) All heresy springs from Satan's world system. We, however, are increasing in our hearing and understanding of God's ways. That God's people accept the truth of the apostles' teaching serves to validate those teachings. That the world's people accept the truth of the false prophets' teaching serves to verify their falsehood.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

4:1: The singular Spirit of Truth, and that of Antichrist, both use men's spirits as means of putting forth their words. All men - not just the religious 'professionals' - are to test all messages delivered in the name of religion, even if they come from angels, moreso men. (Gal 1:8 - even though angelic in delivery, if the message is false it should be shunned and the deliverer considered accursed.) The prophets, here, are not foretellers, but voices for the spirit inspiring them - for truth or error. Those espousing error try to appear as though sent from God, and easily seduce the worldly. (2Jn 7 - many deceivers have been sent into the world alongside the speakers of truth.)
4:2: Claims of inspiration by the Holy Spirit must be tested. One truly inspired will confess Jesus as Christ, as truly born in the flesh, and as continuing in His humanity in (or as part of) his teaching. To deny His flesh is to deny His death is to deny His love (Heb 2:9 - He was temporarily made 'lower than the angels' - i.e. human - so that He could die for us. Heb 2:16 - This death was and is for humanity alone. Jn 15:13 - His death for us shows His love for us.)
4:3: The true teachers had long since taught that those who taught a false concept of Christ Jesus would come, and has come in the person of the false teachers.
4:4: Rather than being overcome and made slaves to falsehood by these false teachers, we who confess Jesus, and know God to abide with us have overcome this spirit of Antichrist. (Jn 10:5 - because we won't follow a stranger's voice, Jn 10:8 - nor that of the thief. 2Pe 2:19 - that which overcomes a man makes him a slave.) [This makes for an interesting thought: if their overcoming us would have made us slaves to their falsehood, doesn't our overcoming them likewise make them slaves to the truth?]
4:5: The false teachers derive their spirit and teaching from the world; offering up the opinions and feelings of the world that loves such things. (Jn 15:18-19 - the world loves its own, but hates us.)
4:6: The true teachers derive their spirit and teaching from God; offering up the viewpoints and truths of God, which those who know God love and hear. (Jn 18:37 - Those who know the truth hear it in Christ's teachings and those of His messengers.) By the confession of Jesus, and by the reception given a teacher by God's people and the world, we can discern what spirit leads them: the Truth of God's Spirit, or the lie of Satan's spirit.

New Thoughts

There is much to consider here, as always. I am chagrined to find out that the testing is supposed to be done from positive hope, not from skepticism. I must learn to take that one to heart. I am thankful for Barnes' warning that a mere speaking of Jesus is not the test, but the life-changing power of truly knowing Him. I am shaken by the test Barnes notes of "who is seeking us out?" I must consider how this impacts me, and carefully. I am thankful for the answer to my question: where teachings collide, both laying claim to godly inspiration; and where such are not discernibly false, the test can still be given by the fruits of the messenger's life. In this is assurance, and also a warning: if we don't know the messenger, if he is just passing through, how then will we know his fruits? This speaks to me that we should be leery of attending lessons by those we don't know well, or who don't carry with them the endorsements of those we do know well. Deception is only effective when it sufficiently resembles truth. An obvious counterfeit is a useless counterfeit. This being the case, the test of Scripture may not immediately expose the false - it's going to require effort and listening carefully to the Holy Spirit (which requires previous exercise of the listening apparatus). But, if the life of the teacher is known, so is his trustworthiness.