1 John 4:1-6
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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world. 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. 5 They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Test the spirits: John is not talking about supernatural spirits here. He talking about human spirits. Each human spirit is about something being either in Adam or in Christ. John is encouraging believers to test the intentions and substance of teachers that come into the church, like Gnostics. Gnostics denied that Jesus came in the flesh and therefore were not of God. Those who reject Christ’s humanity are called the antichrist by John. Through the incarnation God announces that His divinity is compatible with our humanity. Therefore, if a teacher eliminates the humanity of Jesus, then they eliminate the possibility of divine compatibility with humanity. This would be a distant God, not a God who seeks union with His creation.
Greater is He who is in you: John is addressing spiritual warfare in this Gnostic context. He affirms that believers have overcome Satan because Christ indwells them, and He is stronger than the Devil. Christians, therefore, can only be attacked externally through lies and false teachings like Gnosticism. They cannot be afflicted by Satan internally.
They are from the world: The Gnostics were not of God. This was seen in their rejection of Jesus’ humanity and the reality of sin (1 John 1:9).
