1 John Chapter 4 Pt. 1 Detecting The Spirit Of AntiChrist.

1 John chapter 3 ended with a text that is connected to chapter 4. 

The Spirit of God always leads us to honor scripture. 

1 John 3:23-24  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. 

These two verses remind us to love one another, and to keep His commandments. This is how we know that Christ abides in us, by the indwelling Spirit of God.  

The Holy Spirit will never lead a Christian to do anything that is contradicted by the scriptures. 

Many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 

This truth is still needed today. The idea is that a Christian should not be ready to hear and heed every man, who claims to be speaking for God. 

Why? Because there have been false prophets and false teachers throughout the Old Testament and New Testament times. 

Jehovah had a test for false prophets in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4  Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 5  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 

Here is God's instruction to the Hebrews in the Old Testament. Often, false teachers sought to lead Israel astray into idolatrous practices. 

God sometimes allowed false prophets to claim a new revelation as a way of testing how faithful the Israelites were going to be.

John tells us to love one another and keep Christs commands. Moses told the Hebrews to love Jehovah and keep His commands. 

All false teachers seek to lead people astray, usually to make money in the process. 

We must also remember that when the Spirit of God guided John to write these letters, most Christians did not have a copy of the Bible, like we have today. 

They were very much dependent upon faithful pastors, teachers and evangelists to preach and teach truth to them. 

The word "try" is connected with testing metals for purity and type. In Bible terms, it reminds us that in order to smelt the purest gold, intense heat must be applied, so that the dross rises to the top. 

The dross can then be skimmed off, leaving pure metal behind. This type of "trying" is also connected with God purging out dross from our lives, so that we might be usable vessels in our Master's hand (See Job 23:10). 

Thus, we must "try" the spirits. Now John is going to give some specific tests to determine the spirit of error from the Spirit of truth. 

We must put these teachers to the proof. Try them by that testimony which is known to have come from the Spirit of God, the word of revelation already given. 

If their words do not align with the Bible, they must be rejected at once.

The Spirit of God contrasted to the spirit of antichrist. 

1 John 4:2-3  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 

Below are some heretical beliefs that affected the early churches.

Gnostics believed that Jesus was only a good man and that he was temporarily inhabited by the Christ or divine spirit. 

The divine spirit left the body of the man Jesus and thus, did not die on the cross. The man named Jesus died, but no part of the divine being was with him during that time of his demise. 

Arianism was a major heresy in Alexandria. Arius was a priest in Alexandria, in 319 AD. In his teachings, God was unbegotten, without beginning, and since Jesus is the only “begotten” Son of God, He cannot be God in the same sense that the Father is. 

Thus, Arius believed that Jesus did not exist from all eternity, and that He was created like the rest of creation. 

Docetism was a heresy that stated Jesus had an apparent body that could be “seen” but was not physical or real. Thus, Jesus was not incarnated, nor could He experience human pain and suffering. 

They also taught that Jesus persuaded another disciple to take His place on the cross. This sect denied the vicarious, substitutionary atonement for mankind’s sins wrought by Christ on the cross.

Monarchianism was a movement that opposed the doctrine of the trinity and held that the Holy Spirit made Jesus the Son of God by an adoptive process. 

Thus, Jesus was given some degree of special power from God and was considered indirectly an adopted Son. The heresy of adoptionism began around 190 AD and was initiated by an individual named Theodotus.

Nestorianism was a sect that claimed Jesus the man, and Christ the divine element acted as one, but was not one being.

The common violation of God's Word shared by these heresies, is that they did not believe that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. 

Comparing modern translations with the KJV.

(KJV) 1 John 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 

(ESV) 1 John 4:3  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 R2now is in the world already. 

Here is a comparison between the King James version and the English Standard version. Notice that the modern translation omits the title of Jesus as "Christ."

The NIV, NRSV, NASB also follow the ESV in omitting the whole phrase "Christ is come in the flesh" from this verse.

The NKJV omits these words by using a footnote. 

Such omissions introduce two errors. Christ is the title that connects Jesus with the long promised Messiah of Israel, the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. 

Jesus Christ is to be confessed as the Son of God, the eternal life and Word, that was with the Father from the beginning. He is the Son of God that came in our human mortal nature, and therein suffered and died at Jerusalem. 

He who confesses and preaches this, by a mind supernaturally instructed and enlightened therein, does it by the Spirit of God, for God is the author of that illumination.

Those who deny this truth are of the spirit of Antichrist.

Denying Jesus is Christ is the spirit of antichrist.

1 John 2:22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 

The Spirit inspired truth recorded by John tells us that those who deny Jesus is the Christ, are of the spirit of antichrist. 

The second error is denying that Christ has come in the flesh. This error denies the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. 

It denies that Jesus is Emmanuel, which means God with us. It denies that Christ  came as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, to take away the sins of the world. 

I have already pointed out why such a change was made in ancient times. Heretics altered their manuscripts to make them align with their false teaching.

I listed some of the sects of heresy that would have been open to changing their copies of scripture in the manner we see.

There are 3 Greek manuscripts used by modern translations, that omit the phrase "Christ is come in the flesh." 

The vast majority of surviving manuscripts containing this text, contain the phrase "Christ is come in the flesh." 

Put another way, the great majority of manuscripts support the reading as it stands in the KJV. 

It was the spirit of antichrist that motivated false teachers to corrupt their copies of scripture. 

This is why the Spirit of God moved John to give us a litmus test to discern between error and truth, between the antichrist spirit in the world, and the Spirit of God. 

Again, let me emphasize, I am sharing this with you, to help us understand why modern translations are often quite different that the King James Bible. 

John gave us this litmus test so that we can discern between truth and error.

We will probably encounter other Christians who read from a modern Bible. 

We must not be antagonistic toward believers who do not read the same text that we read.

Remember, God hates those who sow discord among the brethren.

This type of error requires us to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (See Matthew 10:16). If we have opportunity to do so, let us share the truth in love, on this issue of translation differences.

It is the Spirit of God who opens our eyes and teaches us truth from the Bible. He must be the One who convinces others regarding this type of error. 

Make sure you stand on the rock of God's Word. 

1Jn 4:4-6  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 

The spirit of antichrist is of the world. The world systems are ever arrayed against  our Lord Jesus Christ. They hate Christians and despise the scriptures. 

The Christian is of God. The Christian knows God and hears and heeds the apostolic truth. 

Thus, we are able to discern between truth and error, by trying the spirits, as John has commanded. 

Thoughts to Ponder....

Satan is a defeated foe, and his time of creating misery, heartache and leading people into eternal damnation, is short.

Yet, he will not go down without a mighty fight. He hates Jesus Christ, and all who bear His name. 

He hates families in Christian homes who seek to honor God by obeying His Word. He hates the Bible because it is God's revelation to mankind. 

He relentlessly attacks the veracity of scripture, because if he can cast doubt into the minds of those who read it, then he can lead them astray.

Remember, dear believers in Christ. Greater is He (the indwelling Spirit) who is in us, than he (the Devil) who is in the world.

We must remain faithful and do as our Lord commanded. 

Jesus' triumph over sin, death, the devil and hell, is our triumph too.

May these truths comfort our hearts. 

Bob