Daily Scripture Reading 1John 4:1-21
We live in an age where truth is ignored, down-played, devalued, even maligned. People alive today are not known for seeking religious or philosophical truth. Even most Christians spend little time seeking truth. The average Christian spends at best 5 minutes per day reading the Bible.
The passage we will read today highlights one of the reasons our disinterest in truth is a problem. There is a command in this passage which we cannot follow if we do not seek and know the truth.
1John 4:1 ¶ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Notice the command to test the spirits. Since there were false prophets, it was necessary for the recipients of this letter to have a healthy dose of skepticism. When they heard something that appeared to be spiritual or sounded good, they had to test it to see if it was actually good.
Today, there are many preachers and Bible teachers with a wide array of theological beliefs. Quite a few of them are talented at making their beliefs sound good and Biblical even though they are not. Therefore, we need to be discerning.
In order to be discerning, we need to know the Bible. In order to know the Bible, we need to spend time reading and studying the Bible. Unfortunately, most Christians are not devoting enough time and energy seeking truth in order to know whether or not so-called pastors and teachers are teaching truth or heresy.
1John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
1John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
One of the primary tests we should apply to every so-called preacher and Bible teacher is whether or not they confess that Jesus has come in the flesh.
1John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Take note of this statement regarding God. God is greater than the world. This fact should give Christians great comfort. This should alleviate any fears we may have as we face opposition to our Christian beliefs. Since God is greater than the world, we should be willing to boldly proclaim the truth about God.
1John 4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world hears them.
1John 4:6 We are from God. The one who knows God hears us; the one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1John 4:7 ¶ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1John 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
This verse lists an example of love which helps define love. God sent His Son into the world so that we might live. That was an act of love. That teaches us that love is action, not a feeling.
1John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
If God loved us despite our flaws and sins against Him, then we should also love one another despite humanity’s flaws.
1John 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
1John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
1John 4:14 We have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
1John 4:15 ¶ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Here is another test we can apply to so-called preachers and Bible teachers. Do they confess that Jesus is God?
1John 4:16 And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1John 4:17 By this, love has been perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world.
1John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
1John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.
1John 4:20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This is another example of the Bible teaching that actions speak louder than words. If someone claims to love God, but they do not love their brother, then their claim to love God is not true.
1John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
Based on this passage, there are two reasons to love our brother. First, since God loved us despite our flaws and sins, then we should love our brother despite his flaws and offenses against us. Second, God commanded us to love our brother. We should love our brother based on that alone.
The trend in modern times is to ignore or downplay truth. Many Christians spend little time studying and learning the Bible.
However, 1John 4 commands us to be discerning. We have to test spirits or so-called spirits to see if they are from God.
Furthermore, the Bible commands us to love God and one another. In order to obey that command, we have to know the Biblical definition of love. That requires us to know the Bible.
Just as there were false prophets in the first century AD, today there are false teachers who promulgate a false definition of love, and they proclaim doctrines that are not Biblical. All Christians should study and learn the Bible so that they are equipped to discern whether their pastor or teacher is proclaiming truth or error.
Do you know any so-called pastors or Bible teachers who do not confess that Jesus is God and came in the flesh?
How much time do you invest in reading and studying the Bible?
How well-prepared are you to discern truth from error?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”