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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Commentary
Vs. 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.”
This instruction given us by God is so important for a new believer, because as the Apostle John makes clear, and my own experiences as a born-again child of God walking with the Lord Jesus Christ for some twenty-five years or so have also so clearly revealed, there are many spirits in Christine dome that are not of God. Therefore, we are to test them, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. First then as to spirits, many people have in the past century been caught up in the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements. Now without going into great detail, these though having the Gospel, and having very much the same Biblical theology as us all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through God’s grace, have in their own attempts to recreate 1st century Holy Spirit works have by their own misguided zeal for wanting to have and exemplify the sign gifts of the Spirit have by doing so, by putting such an overt emphasis on these (especially tongues speaking) only opened themselves and others up to demonic counterfeits. For you cannot take the least of all the Spirit given gifts and exalt it and promote it and base one’s own faith; or others faith on doing it; and thus, use it as “evidence” of their being saved, and not have demonic counterfeits impersonate it. Since nowhere in the Scriptures are, we ever commanded to pursue these, but to pursue the greater gifts culminating in love (1 Cor 12-14). And so, when people go looking for spiritual experiences (which no one in the N.T. ever did) they will as the history of these assemblies shows likely find some. However, whether these are real Spirit works, (which is not very likely since with the faith now established, we are now called to walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5:7), and so whether these are just coached tongues speaking and healings or worse demonic impersonations all needs to decided case by case. However, in my many experiences with these things when people who are supposedly filled with the Spirit exemplify none of the fruits of the Spirit, but only bizarre behaviors and unholy sounds which no discerning Christian would every ascribe to God. Rest assured then these spirits are not of God. Same with not following the precepts of the N.T. regarding the proper use of tongues speaking in the assembly. For if someone cannot submit themselves to the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ given in the N.T. then guaranteed what they are doing is not of the Lord. And so again as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and having God’s Holy Spirit you do not need to do anything to prove this to anyone, all you need to do is keep the Lord Jesus Christ’s Commandments and abide in His love. Now returning to the second half of the Apostle Johns exhortation that we are to tests the spirits because many false prophets have gone out into the world, this then is to be of great concern for every believer, because false prophets along with false teachers are the ones who introduce all kinds of strange teachings and doctrines which have not profited those who heeded them (Heb. 13:9). Indeed, as the Apostle John makes clear here, they are the ones who subtly seek to undermine not only the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ denying (or perverting) various aspects of His Person or Ministry, but these also are the one who introduce doctrines which undermine the foundations of our faith. And so, these like the false prophets in the O.T. before them also love the place of preeminence in the assembly and amongst brethren and are so quick to prophesy about this or that, and yet their words are never confirmed, who also make the Christian faith into a means for their own personal financial gain. Therefore the N.T. warns much about them, and how prey upon the naive and gullible (see Matt. 7:15-20; Mark 13:22; Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Tim. 4:1-4; 2 Tim. 3:13; 2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Jude; Rev. 2:20-23 etc.) and so you need to be aware of them, and rebuke them openly, and not allow them to get established (Jer. 23:16-20). For there are also many deceivers, and many demented people who claim to be prophets, or think themsleves prophets, but they are not (Jer. 14:14; 29:26; Ezekiel 13:1-23; Hosea 9:7). Therefore, like the Apostle Paul warned and exhorted these must be stopped and not permitted to continue on either using or misleading people, “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.” Titus 1:10-11
Vs. 2-3 “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”
Here then the Apostle John was dealing with a specific issue regarding these false prophets and that was they were denying the Humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that He did not come in the flesh, which the Apostle John resolutely rebukes as being from the spirit of the Antichrist. For if the Lord Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh as the Son of Man then there would be no Atonement for our sins, because Jesus though being the Son of God, had to take the place of Adam as the Head of the Human race to make the Atonement for the human race, and thus by doing so He opened up salvation for everyone who believes in Him. Again, if Jesus Christ did not come as a Man, the Son of Man, born of a virgin, then God would’ve died on the Cross which is simply not possible. Jesus Christ is God’s Son come in the flesh as the Son of Man to save everyone who believes in Him!
Vs. 4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Having then rebuked the false prophets and their doctrine which was trying to subtly undermine the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John says to us that we have overcome them, because God’s Person and Spirit is in us and He is exceedingly greater than he who is in the world, that is the Antichrist and his spirit and sway that he exemplifies over those who do not believe. And so it is through God’s Holy Spirit that we discern the truth when faced with lies and error.
This then is the condition of them, they are of this world, therefore they speak as of this world, and the world hears them (consider John 3:31). Thus, they not only speak like the world, reflecting its morals, its values, its beliefs, but they themselves always appeal to those of this world, and so they do not speak for God, calling people to repentance and faith, but for this world. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ warns us all by saying, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26
Again, the Word of God says,
“But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My
words,
Then they would
have turned them from their evil way
And from the evil
of their doings.” Jer. 23:22
Confirming then our person as being of God, the Apostle John also affirms another great truth, that those who are of God hear us, that is they also have ears to hear and thus believe the Word of God spoken through us. Thus, because they are of God, they don’t need to be debated into believing us, for the children of God all hear the children of God, while the children of this world only hear the children of this world, and thus they don’t hear us. That is, they cannot receive the things which we speak of God and Christ because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:6-16). And so, it is by this we know the spirit of truth (which speaks truthfully about the things of God and Christ) and the spirit of error (which does not and cannot receive the truth of Him).
No comments:
Post a Comment