Believers are to test the spirits to discern false doctrines taught by the devil. The God of love guards his children by the Spirit of truth, the word, and the church.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This is Part 1 of Episode 7 in our 1, 2, 3 John Bible Study Podcast entitled The Spirit of Truth and the God of Love, where we’ll discuss 1 John 4:1-21. In Part 1 we’ll be looking at verses 1-6. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, in this passage, John exhorts us to test the spirits to make certain that the things that we are hearing actually come from God. And the phrase “test the spirits” is vital for us to understand because in our 21st century setting, we don’t properly understand the role of evil spirits, frankly, of demons. And how demonic forces are behind every false idea that threatens the truth of the gospel. And so, we have to learn how to do that. And we do it by Scripture and by the indwelling Spirit because we’re told even in this passage, the one who is in us is greater than the one who’s in the world. But we need to be aware and recognize how powerful these demons are and how the ideas that they’ve insinuated into the minds and hearts of human beings are such a threat to the gospel.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read 1 John 4: 1-6 as we begin.
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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Andy, what does John mean by testing the spirits?
Andy
We test the spirits by evaluating the doctrines and seeing if they line up with that which we already know of the Christian faith.
I think we test the spirits, in this case we are dealing with false doctrine, by looking at what’s actually being taught. And understand that behind the ideas there’s either the Spirit of God or demons, frankly Satan. We test the spirits by evaluating the doctrines and seeing if they line up with that which we already know of the Christian faith. I think we can also test the spirits as Jesus said, by looking at the lifestyles of the false teachers or true teachers. And Jesus said by their fruit you’ll recognize them.
So, we test the spirits also by seeing the lifestyles of those that are teaching. And if they line up with godliness, then that’s an indicator, but if on the other hand they line up with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh boastful pride of life, then you’ll know. So I think test is evaluated. And I think what it means is like the Berean who took the Scriptures and what Paul said and lined them up to see if what Paul had said was true. It is, I wouldn’t say a fundamentally skeptical viewpoint, but an awareness that not every idea is good and that we need to evaluate and sample it just like we do food on the tongue. So, test the spirits, I think is, don’t assume that everything you hear is true, but make certain you evaluate it by scripture, the doctrine by scripture and the lifestyle by the fruit that you see in the teachers.
Wes
Now in 1 Corinthians 10:20, Paul says that the sacrifices of pagans are actually made to demons. What does this teach us about demonic activity in false religions and how does this give insight into testing the spirits?
Andy
That is actually a key verse for me on this whole concept. And I think also 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which I’ll quote in a moment, but basically that idea is that all of the pagan religions and all of the idols, all of that has a demonic background. And actually, some of them even have certain supernatural aspects. Like we’re told of Artemis of the Ephesians that her image fell from heaven. And my guess is some supernatural thing did happen. Keep in mind things that demons do are supernatural though they go beyond the natural realm, but not every supernatural thing is a good thing. And so, I do believe that these pagan religions did have a supernatural backing, but it was demonic. And I take that verse, and I actually extend it to every non-Christian religion there is in the world. I would even start with that which would be most controversial, but I would say Christ-rejecting Judaism as demonic because we know in the Book of Revelation it’s a synagogue of Satan.
That’s literally what it says, a synagogue of Satan. And Jesus said in John 8, you are of your father the devil. And so, it is devilish for Jewish people to reject Jesus as their messiah. And then from that you go on to others. Like I would say the most successful pseudo-Christian cult ever is Islam. Islam is after Christianity, 600 AD. And it includes the New Testament, includes some aspects, but it’s a false religion. Behind it is demonic power. The same would be true of the more ancient religions of the East, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. I think it’s pretty obvious if you see the kinds of religious rituals and rites that are done in India and Buddhism in Japan and China and other places that it’s demonic. And so fundamentally you’ll see that. Now I’m going to extend it beyond religions to philosophies like atheistic, materialistic Darwinism. Evolution I think is demonic.
I think all of the philosophies such as Kant’s philosophies, some of the enlightenment philosophies, humanism, I think that Satan is behind these ideas. So that brings me over to 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which says,
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we’re ready to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
That speaks of a spiritual warfare of ideas and concepts and precepts. Also, we’re told in Ephesians 6, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world. So, we are fighting a battle with demons and with Satan over the ideas of religions and philosophies. Fundamentally, Satan is behind all of them.
Wes
How do these false spirits or demons affect false prophets and teachers?
Andy
So, demons influence people. Demons are able to put ideas and thoughts in people’s minds. There’s clear evidence of this. For example, let’s speak more positively. We know that demons are fallen angels. So, you would have to say that anything a good angel can do, an evil angel can do something like it, a counterfeit version of it. So, we know that in Matthew 1, an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the baby Jesus and Mary and escape because Herod was about to slaughter the infants. He also was told in Egypt by a dream that those who are trying to take the child’s life are dead, and he should now go back to Palestine. And so, you look at that, all right, how does an angel put a dream in Joseph’s mind? Are there evil versions of that? And I think would have to say there are the ability to put ideas and thoughts in our minds. However, they cannot make us pull the trigger on a decision. They’re not able to, I may want to say ordinarily they’re not able to force us to do things against our will. Now, I think obviously the demoniac of the Gadarenes, he was just completely taken captive by evil forces and was doing many things that would be contrary to a normal healthy will, such as being naked and cutting himself with rocks and breaking chains and all this kind of stuff. But I would say ordinarily what demons do is they’re able to insinuate ideas and feelings and senses inside people’s minds and hearts. Especially if the people are not Christians, they’re not able to fight it.
And so, individuals that set themselves up as religious leaders, but they’re not filled with the Spirit of God. Demons are able to hijack their thought process and they’re able to feed ideas through their minds and their mouths into the lives of people. We also have the statement in 2 Timothy 2 that Satan is able to take people captive to do his will. And so, we see that, and I think we also see it in the case of Job’s wife, where she says almost exactly the thing that Satan was trying to get Job to say, curse God and die. “He will curse you to your face,” Satan had said he would get him to do, and his wife became a mouthpiece for that. So, I think we need to see that behind all false teachers, there is a demonic or satanic power.
Wes
What test then does John suggest by which we can know true from false teachers?
Andy
Well, the focus here is on the doctrine of the incarnation. Who is Jesus? Is he human? Is he truly the Son of God? How do we understand that? And so, if you look at the verse, he says, this is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of antichrist. So, the way I look at it is you have to get the doctrine of Christ properly. And the doctrine of Christ is that he is fully God and fully man. He’s as much God as God the Father is, and he’s much human as any of us are. He is absolutely human and absolutely God. And that’s the doctrine of the incarnation. I think there are other doctrines of demons that are taught that we’re aware of in the New Testament.
For example, Paul says that to forbid marriage in Timothy is the doctrine of demons. So, it’s not just the incarnation. I think that he implies in Galatians 1 that if you add works to justification by faith alone, that also is a doctrine of demons. Because he said, if even we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one you received, let him be eternally condemned. And so fundamentally we have to think that demons insinuate or put out all of the false concepts and false doctrines that we have, but the focus here is on Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
Wes
Andy, it seems every religion and philosophy in the world has some sort of respect for Jesus as a good moral teacher or a prophet. How does the doctrine of the incarnation differ from that sort of basic general respect for Jesus as a good moral teacher or prophet?
Andy
Well, that’s a great question. And first of all, just the claim that a flesh and blood human being one whose hand you could shake or back you could pat, you could sit with and eat a meal, you could watch him chew and swallow is the God who made the universe. That can only be by the working the Spirit of God in us to accept it. It’s so hard to believe.
And fundamentally, it’s the claim that led to the accusation of blasphemy and the desire of the Jews to kill him, to put him to death. They felt it was overtly blasphemous. And I understand why you could think that way because he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance. He looked like an average human being. And so that’s what makes it so challenging. So only by faith, only by the faith that the Holy Spirit works in us, can we accept that the God who made the universe became a human baby and then grew in the normal way and was educated and then lived a normal life in many respects. He lived a very abnormal life in other respects, but he was an ordinary human being. And so, what we need to understand is how we cannot accept Jesus as a simple good man, good moral teacher, while at the same time believe that he made the claim to be God in the flesh. You either are God in the flesh or you are not a good moral teacher and a good role model, but something less than what you’re claiming to be.
That cannot be. And its CS Lewis that made this very, very clear with his Lord, Liar, Lunatic trilemma when he started with the context because Jesus is in fiercely monotheistic Judaism and he’s claiming to be the God effectively of Abraham. He does in John 8. “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8: 58). He’s claiming to be Abraham’s God. “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day.” I mean, he’s claiming to be Abraham’s God. So, you can’t do that in a monotheistic setting like that in Judaism and be a good moral teacher. You are either truly Lord and we should all get on our faces and worship you as God, or you are a liar in that you know that what you’re claiming is false, but you’re doing it anyway for whatever reasons. Or you’re a lunatic, which means you’re a crazy man because you actually truly believe that it’s true, but it’s not. So those are the options. And so fundamentally, we are not left with Jesus as a good moral teacher or merely a prophet. He is God or he is a bad person, somebody we should never follow.
Wes
And so to remind us where we’re at in verse 2, it says by this, “the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” And then verse 3 says, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God,” It goes on to say, “This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” How is denying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, the spirit of the antichrist?
Andy
everything from the beginning of redemptive history until now has focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
So, what we need to understand is everything God is doing in the Bible from 39 books of the Old Testament to the 27 books of the New Testament and everything he’s done since that time through the church, through the apostles and through evangelists and missionaries, everything from the beginning of redemptive history until now has focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s all for Jesus, everything. The spirit of the prophets is the testimony of Jesus, it says in Revelation. So, everything is pointing toward Jesus as Savior and that includes before he was even born. So, what that means is Molech and the Ashtoreth and Baal and all of Chemosh and all those Old Testament now obsolete, gods and goddesses were the spirit of antichrist. And so also the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses, they’re all the spirit of antichrist because Satan crafted them all. And Satan knows very well better than we do, how everything focused on Jesus. And since that time, everything is focused on Jesus. So, any false religion is antichrist and that means against Christ and in the place of Christ. And so, it’s the spirit of antichrist. So, any spirit that does not acknowledge the incarnation, does not acknowledge properly the personal work of Christ is the spirit of antichrist.
Wes
Now 1 John 4:4 is one of those verses that even those with perhaps little general biblical knowledge have heard this phrase, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” This verse I think is meant as an encouragement. What does he mean by that phrase? Let’s try to understand it. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”
Andy
Right? So, the simplest way to understand this right away is we’re talking about the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God who Jesus says lives with you and will be in you. And the same thing is taught in Romans 8:11 where it says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who is in you.” So, this is the Spirit. And then if you look at the end of this very section, verse 6, it says, “This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth.” Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. So, we’re definitely talking about the Holy Spirit, but we believe that the Spirit, by the Spirit, the Father, the Son and the Spirit live in us. So, it’s ultimately the triune God. Christ is in us, God is in us, too, and dwells with us. And Jesus says he’ll make his home within us. But we will start with simply the Holy Spirit. So, he who is in us is the Spirit of God. Now, the statement that’s being made here is an infinite understatement.
Its very encouraging. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Who is he that is in the world? It’s Satan. In chapter 5 of this very epistle he says, “We know that we are children of God and the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”This is in some ways Satan’s world. He said it to Jesus. He said, the whole world is mine and I can give it to anyone I want to. And Jesus didn’t contradict him in some sense. So basically, he that is in the world is Satan. Now, how would you compare the power of the third Person of the Trinity to Satan? I would say there’s an infinite gap between the two. So, it’s good to know that, but let’s just keep it simple. He’s greater, so greater as he is. And what does that mean? His impact on the children of God, true Christians is greater than Satan’s impact will be. The ability that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth has to convince us of the truth and to recognize the truth and to protect ourselves against falsehood is greater than the impact of Satan and his demons on us. And that’s super encouraging.
Wes
So that’s the most well-known part of that verse. If we back up and take the beginning of it, it says, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.” How do Christians overcome the world by believing in Christ?
Andy
Yeah. So, he says this in another place here in 1 John, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” So by believing in the doctrine that he’s been teaching here, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, which John 20 tells us we need to believe in order to be saved, by believing that you’ve overcome all the demons, you’ve overcome Satan, you’ve overcome all of the evil workers, the humans that are serving demons and Satan, you’ve overcome them all. You’ve overcome all the spirit of antichrist and all of its manifestations by believing that Jesus is the Christ and as believing that Jesus is the Christ. We have become children of God. We are from God and have overcome the false teachers and have overcome the demons because the Holy Spirit has worked that in us.
Wes
Andy, how do false teachers speak from the perspective of the world and why does the world listen to them?
Andy
Yeah, so false teachers are rooted in the world system that John described earlier when he said everything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but from the world. That’s what he says. “And the world and its desires pass away.” So false teachers are of the world, they are wrapped up in the world systems. So, what is it they have to offer? They have to offer worldly things, worldly pleasure. So power, sex, money, all of the things that the world wants, the religionists, the false teachers use religion to get it.
The materialists, that’s not religious at all and all that. He uses his own skills and talents and all that to get the same things. But these are religion workers that are basically doing all of those things, trying to get all of those things by means of religion. And so that’s one way to look at a cult. Frequently, the cults, there’s some sexual immorality involved, there’s prosperity, like the prosperity gospel I think is demonic. And so, it’s offering the things that the world wants. And frankly, even the theology of, they take Islam for example. Their view of paradise is very sensual, it’s very sexual, it’s very pleasure oriented and all those kinds of things. And so, they’re of the world and they speak like the world does. They’re woven into the world system that Satan has set up.
Wes
Now, in contrast to these false teachers, what does John mean by saying we are from God? And why do those from God listen to teachers from God?
Andy
Alright, well, we’re from God in two senses. We’ve been born from God, and we’ve been born again from God. So, we understand God knit us together in our mother’s wombs, and we belong to him. And we are even more from God in that we have been born again by the Spirit of God. So, we are from God. But it could be that the we in this sentence is the apostles, the right teachers and leaders of the true gospel.
So, he’s talking about leaders. And so, the false teachers are from the world and speak of their perspective. We the apostles, which he begins the letter with as you remember, “That which it was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched. This we proclaim concerning the word of life.” And then verse 3, 1 John 1:3, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us.” So, the idea of the we there is the apostles, those that were eyewitnesses of the word, they handled and interacted with the things of Jesus. And we are from the Lord. That’s what he’s saying I think in chapter 4.
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We, verse 6, are from God and whoever knows God listens to us. So, I don’t think this is all Christians, but it is the leaders that are proclaiming the true gospel and are representing Christ as apostles. That’s the we in this sentence.
Wes
How is it then that by listening to false teachers we’re enabled to distinguish between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood?
Andy
Alright, the way that we can do this, first of all is we’re told earlier in 1 John 2:20, “You have an anointing from the holy one. And all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie comes from the truth.” And he says, “You don’t need anyone to teach you.” As for you, verse 27, 2:27, “The anointing you receive from him remains in you and you do not need anyone to teach you.” So, what is he saying there? Well, I think what he’s saying is they’ve already heard some of the gospel. That’s how they’re Christians. And so, the Holy Spirit worked in them a recognition of the truth. And then the Holy Spirit has built truth up in them incrementally, little by little. With every good sermon they heard, with every good Bible study they did, the truth has been built up, and therefore they are able to line up new things that they’ve heard.
And by the anointing that’s in them through the Holy Spirit, recognize that new things that they’ve never heard are also true. So put it in with the city of truth that’s growing in them, and now it gets even more defined and more developed. So, you do have the ability to learn new things that you never thought of before, but it fits in with the foundation that’s been laid and the work that’s already been done in you. So, let’s talk architectural image. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, “By the grace of God, we laid a foundation in you by the preaching of the gospel, and now someone else is building on it. For no one can lay any foundation except the one already laid, which is Christ.” And so basically Paul came to Corinth, and he preached Christ, Christ’s life, Christ’s teachings, his miracles, his sinlessness, virgin birth, all of that, his atoning death, and his bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day. And then along with that, the true gospel, which is repent and believe in all that. Not works, but by faith, that is the foundation that was laid. Now the things that come along later just give more details and build, but they’re not radically different or coming from some other way. And that way we take the new things that we’ve heard, the new insights that we have, and they line up with the foundation that’s already been laid in it. That is how we can recognize the difference between truth and falsehood and at the same time learn new things.
So, for me, I’m a specialist in the Bible. I spend a lot of time memorizing it and meditating on it, and I have insights, things that I myself had never thought of before, and then I get to share them with people. And it’s encouraging, but it’s not radically new and coming in some whole other different direction. It just gives details and expands and builds on the foundation already laid. And that’s how you can know that the new thing you’re learning really does make sense and lines up. And fundamentally, the anointing by the Holy Spirit is how you know it. And that’s exactly where he’s going at the end of this verse.
Wes
It’s amazing. These last couple of verses really stand as a warning for us as Christians to watch over the teaching that we allow into our minds and hearts. To test those things and to see that they align with scripture and that through them we can better understand God’s word and God’s purposes. Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us on these verses that we’ve been looking at here?
Andy
Yeah. I love how he ends here saying, this is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. All of the truth has come from him. Every true idea we have, especially a true idea about Christ or that’s taught in the Bible, it’s come to us by the Holy Spirit. He wrote it originally in the Bible and then he delivered it to us. It is by the Spirit that the gospel has spread, and it is by the Spirit that we were enabled to receive it and to recognize it. The Spirit’s done it all. By that I mean taking the concepts and the truth and delivering them to us. And so that’s super encouraging. So, for me, it’s just a recognition of how the Father and the Son and the Spirit each had different roles to play for our salvation, but zeroed in here on the Spirit of truth, who enables us to recognize the spirit of falsehood and be kept safe from it.
Wes
Well, this has been Part 1 of Episode 7 in our 1, 2, 3 John Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Part 2 of Episode 7 entitled The Spirit of Truth and The God of Love, where we’ll discuss 1 John 4:7-21. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This is Part 1 of Episode 7 in our 1, 2, 3 John Bible Study Podcast entitled The Spirit of Truth and the God of Love, where we’ll discuss 1 John 4:1-21. In Part 1 we’ll be looking at verses 1-6. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, in this passage, John exhorts us to test the spirits to make certain that the things that we are hearing actually come from God. And the phrase “test the spirits” is vital for us to understand because in our 21st century setting, we don’t properly understand the role of evil spirits, frankly, of demons. And how demonic forces are behind every false idea that threatens the truth of the gospel. And so, we have to learn how to do that. And we do it by Scripture and by the indwelling Spirit because we’re told even in this passage, the one who is in us is greater than the one who’s in the world. But we need to be aware and recognize how powerful these demons are and how the ideas that they’ve insinuated into the minds and hearts of human beings are such a threat to the gospel.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read 1 John 4: 1-6 as we begin.
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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Andy, what does John mean by testing the spirits?
Andy
We test the spirits by evaluating the doctrines and seeing if they line up with that which we already know of the Christian faith.
I think we test the spirits, in this case we are dealing with false doctrine, by looking at what’s actually being taught. And understand that behind the ideas there’s either the Spirit of God or demons, frankly Satan. We test the spirits by evaluating the doctrines and seeing if they line up with that which we already know of the Christian faith. I think we can also test the spirits as Jesus said, by looking at the lifestyles of the false teachers or true teachers. And Jesus said by their fruit you’ll recognize them.
So, we test the spirits also by seeing the lifestyles of those that are teaching. And if they line up with godliness, then that’s an indicator, but if on the other hand they line up with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh boastful pride of life, then you’ll know. So I think test is evaluated. And I think what it means is like the Berean who took the Scriptures and what Paul said and lined them up to see if what Paul had said was true. It is, I wouldn’t say a fundamentally skeptical viewpoint, but an awareness that not every idea is good and that we need to evaluate and sample it just like we do food on the tongue. So, test the spirits, I think is, don’t assume that everything you hear is true, but make certain you evaluate it by scripture, the doctrine by scripture and the lifestyle by the fruit that you see in the teachers.
Wes
Now in 1 Corinthians 10:20, Paul says that the sacrifices of pagans are actually made to demons. What does this teach us about demonic activity in false religions and how does this give insight into testing the spirits?
Andy
That is actually a key verse for me on this whole concept. And I think also 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which I’ll quote in a moment, but basically that idea is that all of the pagan religions and all of the idols, all of that has a demonic background. And actually, some of them even have certain supernatural aspects. Like we’re told of Artemis of the Ephesians that her image fell from heaven. And my guess is some supernatural thing did happen. Keep in mind things that demons do are supernatural though they go beyond the natural realm, but not every supernatural thing is a good thing. And so, I do believe that these pagan religions did have a supernatural backing, but it was demonic. And I take that verse, and I actually extend it to every non-Christian religion there is in the world. I would even start with that which would be most controversial, but I would say Christ-rejecting Judaism as demonic because we know in the Book of Revelation it’s a synagogue of Satan.
That’s literally what it says, a synagogue of Satan. And Jesus said in John 8, you are of your father the devil. And so, it is devilish for Jewish people to reject Jesus as their messiah. And then from that you go on to others. Like I would say the most successful pseudo-Christian cult ever is Islam. Islam is after Christianity, 600 AD. And it includes the New Testament, includes some aspects, but it’s a false religion. Behind it is demonic power. The same would be true of the more ancient religions of the East, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. I think it’s pretty obvious if you see the kinds of religious rituals and rites that are done in India and Buddhism in Japan and China and other places that it’s demonic. And so fundamentally you’ll see that. Now I’m going to extend it beyond religions to philosophies like atheistic, materialistic Darwinism. Evolution I think is demonic.
I think all of the philosophies such as Kant’s philosophies, some of the enlightenment philosophies, humanism, I think that Satan is behind these ideas. So that brings me over to 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which says,
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we’re ready to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
That speaks of a spiritual warfare of ideas and concepts and precepts. Also, we’re told in Ephesians 6, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world. So, we are fighting a battle with demons and with Satan over the ideas of religions and philosophies. Fundamentally, Satan is behind all of them.
Wes
How do these false spirits or demons affect false prophets and teachers?
Andy
So, demons influence people. Demons are able to put ideas and thoughts in people’s minds. There’s clear evidence of this. For example, let’s speak more positively. We know that demons are fallen angels. So, you would have to say that anything a good angel can do, an evil angel can do something like it, a counterfeit version of it. So, we know that in Matthew 1, an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the baby Jesus and Mary and escape because Herod was about to slaughter the infants. He also was told in Egypt by a dream that those who are trying to take the child’s life are dead, and he should now go back to Palestine. And so, you look at that, all right, how does an angel put a dream in Joseph’s mind? Are there evil versions of that? And I think would have to say there are the ability to put ideas and thoughts in our minds. However, they cannot make us pull the trigger on a decision. They’re not able to, I may want to say ordinarily they’re not able to force us to do things against our will. Now, I think obviously the demoniac of the Gadarenes, he was just completely taken captive by evil forces and was doing many things that would be contrary to a normal healthy will, such as being naked and cutting himself with rocks and breaking chains and all this kind of stuff. But I would say ordinarily what demons do is they’re able to insinuate ideas and feelings and senses inside people’s minds and hearts. Especially if the people are not Christians, they’re not able to fight it.
And so, individuals that set themselves up as religious leaders, but they’re not filled with the Spirit of God. Demons are able to hijack their thought process and they’re able to feed ideas through their minds and their mouths into the lives of people. We also have the statement in 2 Timothy 2 that Satan is able to take people captive to do his will. And so, we see that, and I think we also see it in the case of Job’s wife, where she says almost exactly the thing that Satan was trying to get Job to say, curse God and die. “He will curse you to your face,” Satan had said he would get him to do, and his wife became a mouthpiece for that. So, I think we need to see that behind all false teachers, there is a demonic or satanic power.
Wes
What test then does John suggest by which we can know true from false teachers?
Andy
Well, the focus here is on the doctrine of the incarnation. Who is Jesus? Is he human? Is he truly the Son of God? How do we understand that? And so, if you look at the verse, he says, this is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of antichrist. So, the way I look at it is you have to get the doctrine of Christ properly. And the doctrine of Christ is that he is fully God and fully man. He’s as much God as God the Father is, and he’s much human as any of us are. He is absolutely human and absolutely God. And that’s the doctrine of the incarnation. I think there are other doctrines of demons that are taught that we’re aware of in the New Testament.
For example, Paul says that to forbid marriage in Timothy is the doctrine of demons. So, it’s not just the incarnation. I think that he implies in Galatians 1 that if you add works to justification by faith alone, that also is a doctrine of demons. Because he said, if even we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one you received, let him be eternally condemned. And so fundamentally we have to think that demons insinuate or put out all of the false concepts and false doctrines that we have, but the focus here is on Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
Wes
Andy, it seems every religion and philosophy in the world has some sort of respect for Jesus as a good moral teacher or a prophet. How does the doctrine of the incarnation differ from that sort of basic general respect for Jesus as a good moral teacher or prophet?
Andy
Well, that’s a great question. And first of all, just the claim that a flesh and blood human being one whose hand you could shake or back you could pat, you could sit with and eat a meal, you could watch him chew and swallow is the God who made the universe. That can only be by the working the Spirit of God in us to accept it. It’s so hard to believe.
And fundamentally, it’s the claim that led to the accusation of blasphemy and the desire of the Jews to kill him, to put him to death. They felt it was overtly blasphemous. And I understand why you could think that way because he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance. He looked like an average human being. And so that’s what makes it so challenging. So only by faith, only by the faith that the Holy Spirit works in us, can we accept that the God who made the universe became a human baby and then grew in the normal way and was educated and then lived a normal life in many respects. He lived a very abnormal life in other respects, but he was an ordinary human being. And so, what we need to understand is how we cannot accept Jesus as a simple good man, good moral teacher, while at the same time believe that he made the claim to be God in the flesh. You either are God in the flesh or you are not a good moral teacher and a good role model, but something less than what you’re claiming to be.
That cannot be. And its CS Lewis that made this very, very clear with his Lord, Liar, Lunatic trilemma when he started with the context because Jesus is in fiercely monotheistic Judaism and he’s claiming to be the God effectively of Abraham. He does in John 8. “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8: 58). He’s claiming to be Abraham’s God. “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day.” I mean, he’s claiming to be Abraham’s God. So, you can’t do that in a monotheistic setting like that in Judaism and be a good moral teacher. You are either truly Lord and we should all get on our faces and worship you as God, or you are a liar in that you know that what you’re claiming is false, but you’re doing it anyway for whatever reasons. Or you’re a lunatic, which means you’re a crazy man because you actually truly believe that it’s true, but it’s not. So those are the options. And so fundamentally, we are not left with Jesus as a good moral teacher or merely a prophet. He is God or he is a bad person, somebody we should never follow.
Wes
And so to remind us where we’re at in verse 2, it says by this, “the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” And then verse 3 says, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God,” It goes on to say, “This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” How is denying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, the spirit of the antichrist?
Andy
everything from the beginning of redemptive history until now has focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
So, what we need to understand is everything God is doing in the Bible from 39 books of the Old Testament to the 27 books of the New Testament and everything he’s done since that time through the church, through the apostles and through evangelists and missionaries, everything from the beginning of redemptive history until now has focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s all for Jesus, everything. The spirit of the prophets is the testimony of Jesus, it says in Revelation. So, everything is pointing toward Jesus as Savior and that includes before he was even born. So, what that means is Molech and the Ashtoreth and Baal and all of Chemosh and all those Old Testament now obsolete, gods and goddesses were the spirit of antichrist. And so also the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses, they’re all the spirit of antichrist because Satan crafted them all. And Satan knows very well better than we do, how everything focused on Jesus. And since that time, everything is focused on Jesus. So, any false religion is antichrist and that means against Christ and in the place of Christ. And so, it’s the spirit of antichrist. So, any spirit that does not acknowledge the incarnation, does not acknowledge properly the personal work of Christ is the spirit of antichrist.
Wes
Now 1 John 4:4 is one of those verses that even those with perhaps little general biblical knowledge have heard this phrase, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” This verse I think is meant as an encouragement. What does he mean by that phrase? Let’s try to understand it. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”
Andy
Right? So, the simplest way to understand this right away is we’re talking about the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God who Jesus says lives with you and will be in you. And the same thing is taught in Romans 8:11 where it says, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who is in you.” So, this is the Spirit. And then if you look at the end of this very section, verse 6, it says, “This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth.” Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. So, we’re definitely talking about the Holy Spirit, but we believe that the Spirit, by the Spirit, the Father, the Son and the Spirit live in us. So, it’s ultimately the triune God. Christ is in us, God is in us, too, and dwells with us. And Jesus says he’ll make his home within us. But we will start with simply the Holy Spirit. So, he who is in us is the Spirit of God. Now, the statement that’s being made here is an infinite understatement.
Its very encouraging. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Who is he that is in the world? It’s Satan. In chapter 5 of this very epistle he says, “We know that we are children of God and the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”This is in some ways Satan’s world. He said it to Jesus. He said, the whole world is mine and I can give it to anyone I want to. And Jesus didn’t contradict him in some sense. So basically, he that is in the world is Satan. Now, how would you compare the power of the third Person of the Trinity to Satan? I would say there’s an infinite gap between the two. So, it’s good to know that, but let’s just keep it simple. He’s greater, so greater as he is. And what does that mean? His impact on the children of God, true Christians is greater than Satan’s impact will be. The ability that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth has to convince us of the truth and to recognize the truth and to protect ourselves against falsehood is greater than the impact of Satan and his demons on us. And that’s super encouraging.
Wes
So that’s the most well-known part of that verse. If we back up and take the beginning of it, it says, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.” How do Christians overcome the world by believing in Christ?
Andy
Yeah. So, he says this in another place here in 1 John, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” So by believing in the doctrine that he’s been teaching here, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, which John 20 tells us we need to believe in order to be saved, by believing that you’ve overcome all the demons, you’ve overcome Satan, you’ve overcome all of the evil workers, the humans that are serving demons and Satan, you’ve overcome them all. You’ve overcome all the spirit of antichrist and all of its manifestations by believing that Jesus is the Christ and as believing that Jesus is the Christ. We have become children of God. We are from God and have overcome the false teachers and have overcome the demons because the Holy Spirit has worked that in us.
Wes
Andy, how do false teachers speak from the perspective of the world and why does the world listen to them?
Andy
Yeah, so false teachers are rooted in the world system that John described earlier when he said everything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but from the world. That’s what he says. “And the world and its desires pass away.” So false teachers are of the world, they are wrapped up in the world systems. So, what is it they have to offer? They have to offer worldly things, worldly pleasure. So power, sex, money, all of the things that the world wants, the religionists, the false teachers use religion to get it.
The materialists, that’s not religious at all and all that. He uses his own skills and talents and all that to get the same things. But these are religion workers that are basically doing all of those things, trying to get all of those things by means of religion. And so that’s one way to look at a cult. Frequently, the cults, there’s some sexual immorality involved, there’s prosperity, like the prosperity gospel I think is demonic. And so, it’s offering the things that the world wants. And frankly, even the theology of, they take Islam for example. Their view of paradise is very sensual, it’s very sexual, it’s very pleasure oriented and all those kinds of things. And so, they’re of the world and they speak like the world does. They’re woven into the world system that Satan has set up.
Wes
Now, in contrast to these false teachers, what does John mean by saying we are from God? And why do those from God listen to teachers from God?
Andy
Alright, well, we’re from God in two senses. We’ve been born from God, and we’ve been born again from God. So, we understand God knit us together in our mother’s wombs, and we belong to him. And we are even more from God in that we have been born again by the Spirit of God. So, we are from God. But it could be that the we in this sentence is the apostles, the right teachers and leaders of the true gospel.
So, he’s talking about leaders. And so, the false teachers are from the world and speak of their perspective. We the apostles, which he begins the letter with as you remember, “That which it was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched. This we proclaim concerning the word of life.” And then verse 3, 1 John 1:3, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us.” So, the idea of the we there is the apostles, those that were eyewitnesses of the word, they handled and interacted with the things of Jesus. And we are from the Lord. That’s what he’s saying I think in chapter 4.
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We, verse 6, are from God and whoever knows God listens to us. So, I don’t think this is all Christians, but it is the leaders that are proclaiming the true gospel and are representing Christ as apostles. That’s the we in this sentence.
Wes
How is it then that by listening to false teachers we’re enabled to distinguish between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood?
Andy
Alright, the way that we can do this, first of all is we’re told earlier in 1 John 2:20, “You have an anointing from the holy one. And all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie comes from the truth.” And he says, “You don’t need anyone to teach you.” As for you, verse 27, 2:27, “The anointing you receive from him remains in you and you do not need anyone to teach you.” So, what is he saying there? Well, I think what he’s saying is they’ve already heard some of the gospel. That’s how they’re Christians. And so, the Holy Spirit worked in them a recognition of the truth. And then the Holy Spirit has built truth up in them incrementally, little by little. With every good sermon they heard, with every good Bible study they did, the truth has been built up, and therefore they are able to line up new things that they’ve heard.
And by the anointing that’s in them through the Holy Spirit, recognize that new things that they’ve never heard are also true. So put it in with the city of truth that’s growing in them, and now it gets even more defined and more developed. So, you do have the ability to learn new things that you never thought of before, but it fits in with the foundation that’s been laid and the work that’s already been done in you. So, let’s talk architectural image. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, “By the grace of God, we laid a foundation in you by the preaching of the gospel, and now someone else is building on it. For no one can lay any foundation except the one already laid, which is Christ.” And so basically Paul came to Corinth, and he preached Christ, Christ’s life, Christ’s teachings, his miracles, his sinlessness, virgin birth, all of that, his atoning death, and his bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day. And then along with that, the true gospel, which is repent and believe in all that. Not works, but by faith, that is the foundation that was laid. Now the things that come along later just give more details and build, but they’re not radically different or coming from some other way. And that way we take the new things that we’ve heard, the new insights that we have, and they line up with the foundation that’s already been laid in it. That is how we can recognize the difference between truth and falsehood and at the same time learn new things.
So, for me, I’m a specialist in the Bible. I spend a lot of time memorizing it and meditating on it, and I have insights, things that I myself had never thought of before, and then I get to share them with people. And it’s encouraging, but it’s not radically new and coming in some whole other different direction. It just gives details and expands and builds on the foundation already laid. And that’s how you can know that the new thing you’re learning really does make sense and lines up. And fundamentally, the anointing by the Holy Spirit is how you know it. And that’s exactly where he’s going at the end of this verse.
Wes
It’s amazing. These last couple of verses really stand as a warning for us as Christians to watch over the teaching that we allow into our minds and hearts. To test those things and to see that they align with scripture and that through them we can better understand God’s word and God’s purposes. Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us on these verses that we’ve been looking at here?
Andy
Yeah. I love how he ends here saying, this is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. All of the truth has come from him. Every true idea we have, especially a true idea about Christ or that’s taught in the Bible, it’s come to us by the Holy Spirit. He wrote it originally in the Bible and then he delivered it to us. It is by the Spirit that the gospel has spread, and it is by the Spirit that we were enabled to receive it and to recognize it. The Spirit’s done it all. By that I mean taking the concepts and the truth and delivering them to us. And so that’s super encouraging. So, for me, it’s just a recognition of how the Father and the Son and the Spirit each had different roles to play for our salvation, but zeroed in here on the Spirit of truth, who enables us to recognize the spirit of falsehood and be kept safe from it.
Wes
Well, this has been Part 1 of Episode 7 in our 1, 2, 3 John Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Part 2 of Episode 7 entitled The Spirit of Truth and The God of Love, where we’ll discuss 1 John 4:7-21. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
