1 John

John saw a war raging in the unseen world between the Spirit of God and the spirit of Antichrist.

Overcoming the Antichrist’s Deception. It is not only Cain’s bad precedent of lack of love that John fears for his readers; it is also the forces of spiritual deception. John furnishes a litmus test to detect them.

do not believe every spirit. Christian faith is not spiritual gullibility. test the spirits. The unseen spiritual influences that guide people’s speech and actions can be “tested” by observing their doctrine and conduct as well as by the gift of spiritual discernment (cf. 1 Cor. 12:10; 14:29). False prophets are people who claim to speak for God but are actually speaking by demonic influence (1 John 4:3–4). In today’s age of “tolerance,” discriminating discernment can be viewed as being judgmental (cf. “Judge not,” Matt. 7:1). Yet Jesus also taught, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24).

By this you know. John establishes a doctrinal standard, specifically a Christological one, for testing spirits (see v. 1). If a spirit (or a person moved to speak by such a spirit) does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that spirit or person is misleading God’s people. Apparently many false teachers were saying that Jesus only “appeared” to be human. This was probably based on a false idea that the material creation was inherently evil and therefore physical bodies were evil.

every spirit that does not confess Jesus. That is, whoever refuses to acknowledge that Jesus is God the Son, “who has come in the flesh” (v. 2). Anyone can talk about Jesus and even believe that he lived on earth, as other religions, cults, and philosophies often affirm. But unless such people affirm both the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus, they are not truly “confessing Jesus,” but, as John states in unequivocal terms, they are under the influence of the spirit of the antichrist.

he who is in you. The Holy Spirit (see vv. 2, 6). he who is in the world. Satan and, by implication, his demons (cf. v. 3; 5:19).

They are from the world … the world listens to them. Jesus himself did not convince most leaders of his time (John 7:48; Acts 4:26), and even the common people who followed him were often fickle (John 6:66). they speak from the world. Their speech originates from and is empowered by the world’s viewpoint and values.

does not listen to us. People who are not true believers resist sound doctrine. It does not make sense to them and does not fit their man-centered, materialistic system of thought (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).

The Assurance of God through the Love of God. John’s teaching in these verses bears comparison with the apostle Paul’s “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13.

The Perfecting of God’s Love. The closing words of this section, “his love is perfected in us” (v. 12), capture the direction of John’s claims and exhortation.

whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. This does not rule out the need for faithful confession of Christ (2:23; 4:2) and ethical integrity (3:16). But love completes the picture of a life in fellowship with God. Love is presented here as a consequence of, not a precondition for, being born of God. Unbelievers can love others to some degree, but not in the way that God’s indwelling presence enables Christians to love (cf. 4:8–11).

does not know God, because God is love. The person who lacks love shows himself to be unchanged at the core of his being by the gospel message. John is not saying that God is only love (he has numerous other attributes), nor that love is God (a statement for which there is no scriptural support). “God is love” means that God continually gives of himself to others and seeks their benefit. There was eternal love between the persons of the Trinity even before the world was created (John 17:24), and God’s love is the ultimate source of any love that Christians are able to display (1 John 4:11, 12, 19).

God’s love is not an abstract principle or sentiment but was made manifest in the sending of his only Son into the world, so that sinful humanity might live, i.e., receive eternal life.

not that we have loved God. God’s love sets the standard for the love Christians are called to embody. propitiation. See note on 2:2. Sin brings divine wrath. On the cross, Jesus bore that wrath for our sins (see 2 Cor. 5:21).

Here and in v. 7 John uses a strong term of endearment, beloved (Gk. agapētoi), evidence that he himself has been mastered by the love he calls for. He uses the same word also at 2:7; 3:2, 21; 4:1. See also note on 2:1, “my little children.”

No one has ever seen God. See note on John 1:18.

The Assurance of God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit (v. 13) gives impetus for and assurance in the high calling of mutual love.

The presence and activity of the Holy Spirit within Christians are evidence that they are abiding in God (see notes on John 8:31; 15:4).

we have seen and testify. This was particularly and uniquely true for apostles like John, who were Jesus’ hand-picked witnesses. By extension and through faith, all subsequent believers testify to the same truths. Savior occurs in John’s writings only here and in John 4:42.

Jesus is the Son of God, not in the derived sense that all Christians as God’s children are his adopted “sons” and heirs (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 3:26) but in a unique sense (the Son of God) in which Jesus is acknowledged as personally divine and as sharing fully every attribute of God (see note on John 1:14). In 1 John 4:2 it was required that true teachers affirm Christ’s full humanity; here it is required that they affirm his full deity.

we have come to know and to believe. Assurance of salvation, while never an arrogant presumption, can become a settled state of mind and heart (see notes on 2:3; 5:13).

By this refers to the previous verse, where John speaks of believers abiding in God and God abiding in them. confidence for the day of judgment. Either eternal life or eternal punishment awaits all humanity (see John 3:36), and God’s love furnishes a sure hope for those who have trusted in him. as he is so also are we in this world. Just as the Son was and is present in the world in a loving fashion that in no way attracted divine displeasure, so are the Son’s followers. The love that Christ embodied and lived out among believers is their confidence in the day of judgment.

No fear in love does not rule out the presence and constructive effect of “the fear of the Lord” that is “the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). Here John speaks of fear of final judgment (cf. 1 John 4:17). God’s perfect love for believers casts out the fear of wrath and eternal punishment.

We love because. Christian love is a gift from God, demonstrated supremely in the cross (see Rom. 5:8). God’s love always takes the initiative, and the love of Christians is a response to that love. Likewise, all morally good human actions are good not because they conform to some arbitrary human standard of good but because they are rooted in imitation of the morally perfect character of God and conform to God’s commands.