TRUTH HAS A JESUS TEST – 1 John 4:1-6

A flood of voices fills our feeds—podcasts, reels, pundits, prophets. John tells believers: “Don’t believe everything you hear; test the spirits.” He supplies three simple filters so we can spot gospel truth and delete counterfeit claims.

The Christ Test: What Do They Say About Jesus? (vv 2-3)

“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.” (v. 2-3)

Jesus: “I have come”…

• John 5:43 – to come in the Father’s name (as His authorized representative), contrasting Himself with others who come in their own name.
• John 7:28 – to come not on His own initiative but as the One sent by the true God, emphasizing His divine commissioning.
• John 8:42 – to come from God, sent by the Father, showing His origin and mission derive entirely from God rather than Himself.
• John 12:46 – to come as Light into the world so that whoever believes will not remain in darkness.
• John 16:28 – to come from the Father into the world (and ultimately to return to the Father), highlighting His heavenly origin and destined return.
• John 18:37 – to come into the world to bear witness to the truth; everyone who is “of the truth” listens to Him.
  

• Confession must include: eternal Son, real incarnation, saving mission, crucifixion & resurrection.
• Any teaching that downgrades Jesus to mere coach, vibe, or optional add-on → false.
• Center of all healthy theology = full-strength, historic, risen Jesus.
  

The Source Test: Who Powers the Message? (v 4)

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (v. 4)

• Believers have already “overcome” because “the One who is in you is greater.”
• True teaching runs on the indwelling Christ—quiet confidence, grace & holiness.
• Counterfeits rely on hype, ego, fear, merch sales, or manipulation.
• Question: “Is this fueled by God’s Spirit or by greed, fear, or self-promotion?”
  

The Audience Test: Who Can’t Stop Applauding? (vv 5-6)

“They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. … Whoever knows God listens to us.” (v. 5-6)

• Worldly voices resonate with worldly listeners; apostolic gospel resonates with God’s people.
• Truth often stings self-made spirituality yet thrills those hungry for holiness.
• Check the fan-base: applause from culture because it flatters? or affirmation from Scripture-shaped saints?
• John’s benchmark: Do they listen to the original, eyewitness gospel (“we are from God”)?

BBCC Verse of the Week: 1 John 4:2 (NIV)² 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.

Study Notes

From the command and the need to test, John passes to the test itself: "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God." The origin of the inspiring spirit may be discerned from the teaching of the prophet through whom it speaks: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. By this acknowledgment is meant not merely a recognition of his identity, but a profession of faith in him—openly and boldly (as Westcott puts it)—as the incarnate Lord. Even evil or unclean spirits recognized the deity of Jesus during his ministry (e.g., Mark 1:24; 3:11; 5:7–8; cf. Acts 19:15). But though they knew him, they did not acknowledge him. The Spirit of God, on the other hand, always honors the Son of God. Jesus taught that it is the Holy Spirit’s particular ministry both to testify to and to glorify him (John 15:26; 16:13–15; cf. also 1 Cor. 12:3). The precise words of the test formula should be carefully noted. Probably the phrase should read, “Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh.” The confession is that the man Jesus is himself none other than the incarnate Christ, or Son—exactly the doctrine that Cerinthus and his disciples denied. The perfect tense come (elēlythota), compared with the present tense in 2 John 7 (erchomenon), seems to emphasize that the flesh assumed by the Son of God in the incarnation has become his permanent possession. Far from coming upon Jesus at the baptism and leaving him before the cross, the Christ actually came in the flesh and has never laid it aside. Such a confession of faith is sufficient to show that the spirit inspiring it is from God. The fundamental Christian doctrine—which can never be compromised—concerns the eternal divine-human person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. – John Stott

John is concerned in this letter about his readers being led astray by professing believers who, though perhaps well intentioned, are in the final analysis self-deceived about how to know God and about the significance of Jesus’ earthly life, death, and resurrection (2:26). We today are in somewhat less jeopardy in the sense that we have the completed and closed canon of the NT, which is the repository of all apostolic teaching about Jesus Christ. When we hear teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can measure it against that canon of Scripture. In John’s day, before the NT had come into existence, claims about revelation from the Holy Spirit were harder to discern, but they were judged on essentially the same basis: apostolic teaching as it was embodied in the men who had been chosen by Jesus to be his witnesses, and those in close association with them. We see in John’s letters a situation in the early church where professing Christians claimed to have truth about God in Christ from the Spirit but where that supposed truth in serious and substantial ways did not line up with the apostolic truth known to John. This problem was not limited to the Johannine church(es) in Ephesus or wherever they were located, for we see a similar situation troubling the apostle Paul in Corinth, where he taught the churches to distinguish between the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world (1 Cor 2:12 – 3:1). In fact, he teaches there is a spiritual gift of distinguishing between spirits (12:10). For wherever there is divine revelation mediated by the Spirit, there is the possibility of error and the consequent deception of self and others. – Karen Jobes

Westminster Confession of Faith 8.2 (with Scripture references) The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity (John 1:1; 1 John 5:20; Philippians 2:6), being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father (John 10:30; John 14:9), did, when the fullness of time was come (Galatians 4:4), take upon Him man's nature (Hebrews 2:14, 16; Hebrews 10:5), with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15); being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance (Luke 1:27, 31, 35; Galatians 4:4). So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion (Luke 1:35; Colossians 2:9; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18). Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).

Pastor Samuel Sutter // sam@BBCCOnline.org

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