The Epistle of 1 John – Part Twelve

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

This is the twelfth part of a series on the epistle of 1 John written by John the apostle. In this series we will cover the basic concerns John had for writing this letter to Christians. Included are the fourteen reasons he wrote these epistles of 1, 2 and 3 John as well as the eleven assurances we have that establish our salvation as a Christian.

 

John has previously presented facts that we can know we belong to the truth because of what we believe, how we love others and how we obey the Lord’s commands. This attitude and behavior of our heart, mind and soul gives us peace and assures us we are saved. Because of the confidence we have in God and the witness of our godly commitment to Jesus our Lord and Savior, we can have assurance in our prayers to God and requests we make of Him. This leads us to verse 22 of chapter 3.

 

1 John 3:22

“And receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.”

 

Doubt ceases when we, as followers of Christ, are walking in faithfulness and obedience. Our hearts will cease to condemn us because we are clean before the Lord (positionally and conditionally) and any fear gives way to confidence. This confidence can be experienced in the requests we make of God. But this does not mean God is obligated to grant any and every request we might make of Him. God is not a candy man. Our requests must fall within the parameters of His perfect will for our lives and others.

 

In John 15:7-8 John tells us that if we “remain” in Jesus and the Lord’s words and commands “remain” in us then whatever we wish will be given to us. It states: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

 

If we are remaining in Jesus in how we think and act, we will want what Jesus wants and desire what Jesus desires. We will have a fairly accurate glimpse of what the “Lord’s will” may be, but not perfectly. We must always seek to pray for God’s will in situations for we are limited in wisdom, knowledge and experience. This is not demonstrating our lack of faith in God. It is simply being honest about our limited human spiritual maturity, knowledge and perception of our Heavenly Father’s will. Other verses such as John 14:12-14 give us encouragement that our faith in Jesus will enable us to do great things, not because of our abilities, but because of who God is and how we live in Him daily.

 

1 John 3:23

“And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

 

One of the first commands we obey when we respond to the love of God in Christ is to believe in the name of His Son Jesus. One of the assurances of our salvation is when we love one another and when our motivation to love one another comes from our belief in Jesus as our Savior. Our dedication to Christ stimulates a desire to show love towards God and others for this fulfills the example Jesus set for us as well as the instructions He gave in His teachings and commands. This love is not a forced love or a love in response to a demand from God. It is a love that flows from the knowledge of the grace we have received and the love we have experienced from God through forgiveness of our sins.

 

1 John 3:24

“Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.”

 

Here in verse 24 John gives us two more assurances that we are saved. First, when we obey the commands of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, God lives in us. Obedience is verification that we are living in Christ and He lives in us. Secondly, we also can be assured that we are saved because we have received the Holy Spirit who lives in us as well. The Spirit will speak to us and verify He is living in us. He is the seal (Ephesians 4:30) that guarantees we are held securely by Jesus Christ (John 10:27-29).

 

John is saying that we demonstrate the possession of our divine life in Christ as well as the incarnation of our divine Lord within us, by our obedience to God’s divine law and this is verified by our knowledge of God’s divine Spirit living within us.

 

Next in verses 1-3 of chapter 4 we come to another mark of a true Christian. A follower of Christ can discern between truth and error. These verses tell us that we are not to believe every spirit, but to test them as to their veracity and truthfulness. Christians are able to do this because of the Truth that lives in them and because of the Holy Spirit’s influence.

 

1 John 4:1

“Dear friends, 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.”

 

The apostle John shares yet another warning with his Christian brothers and sisters in this verse. He is sharing once again his concern over the false prophets and teachers that are infiltrating the local churches in Asia Minor. But here he expresses himself in a unique way. He is revealing that behind every false teacher’s lies and deceptions, there is a different spirit that is contrary to God’s Spirit. While the Bible is over 2,000 years old, the wisdom and truth it contains is just as relevant today as it was in past centuries. There are a plethora of false teachers and religions in the world today, some of them very powerful and influential. What is taught in regards to spiritual truth is either from God or Satan there is no middle ground. We must remember that ERROR is not benign it is MALIGNANT! False teachings and wrong doctrine are not neutral; they will permeate the lives of people until they grow like a terminal malignant spiritual cancer. This is why, as John says, we must test every spirit. Paul wrote to Timothy and strongly recommended to him that as he taught others about Christ that he was to keep to the pattern laid down of “sound teaching.” He told Timothy to guard the Truth with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in Him.

 

2 Timothy 1:13-14

“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

 

He further described to Timothy the mindset and philosophy of life that lives within false teachers and how this falsehood can spread from their evil devious hearts and minds and cause all sorts of sinful manifestations and disruptions.

 

1 Timothy 6:3-5

“If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicionsand constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”

 

Paul warned Timothy that in the future people will set their reasoning minds aside and believe all sorts of strange and senseless doctrines because they will seek what pleases their sinful hearts, bodily passions and fleshly desires.

 

2 Timothy 4:3-5

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

 

Paul also gave the same instruction to his disciple Titus in Titus 2:1-2, 9. He ordered Titus to not only teach sound doctrine but also to refute and oppose any false teaching. But you might ask, “How can we test the spirit behind what we hear to see if it is true?” John gives us several ways to do this. They are not exhaustive, but they are basic tests that can be applied when evaluating the spirit behind what we hear taught by others. Our first test is given in 1 John 4:2-3

 

1 John 4:2-3

“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. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

 

The FIRST test to evaluate teaching we hear is whether it acknowledges Jesus Christ as God in the flesh. Jesus Christ is part of the triune God we believe in and has always existed. He came to the earth and became a partaker of the human nature so we could be partakers of the Divine Nature. We are qualified to test teachings because as followers of Christ we are partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ. EVERY teaching that denies Christ has come in the flesh is NOT FROM GOD and comes from another spirit other than God. You can’t redefine, or modify Jesus Christ’s nature and person and be correct. The following scripture passages tell us about the eternal existence of Jesus in Heaven and His deity, as well of His incarnation in the flesh and thus prove that He was both God and man at the same time.

 

1 John 1:1

“That which 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. “

 

2 John 7-8

“Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

 

Colossians 2:9-10

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,”

 

Hebrews 1:3

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

 

May we obey the commands of Christ, believe in His name, love one another and test each and every spirit to see whether it is from God.