Exploring 1 John: A Test for True Spirits of God
1 John 4:2-3; John 1:1-3 - What do you believe about Jesus?
“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 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.”
1 John 4:2-3 NASB1995
John now tells us that every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God and those spirits that do not confess Jesus are not from God. Obviously, a word study is in order! “Confess” comes from the Greek word ὁμολογέω or homologéō and it has the following Biblical usages; Strong’s G3670 is used 26 times in the New Testament:
to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent
to concede
not to refuse, to promise
not to deny
to confess
declare
to confess, i.e. to admit or declare one's self guilty of what one is accused of
to profess
to declare openly, speak out freely
to profess one's self the worshipper of one
to praise, celebrate
Usually, when a creed is recited in various denominations, it is meant to be a profession or declaration of faith. But standing there muttering the words while your heart is ready to go off to the golf course or home to watch the football game is NOT from the Spirit of God.
This was something I observed over and over again when I attended a Lutheran Church. Usually we said the Apostle’s Creed of Confession (see footnote for Creeds), but occasionally we did the Nicene Creed (it depended on the church calendar, I guess). That verbal and rote confession by the congregation towards the end of the service really meant nothing as far as I could tell, even to me most of the time. The same could be said for the droning repetition of the Lord’s Prayer. A church that “confesses” these things then turns around and embraces sin like the ELCA has done (and they also doubt the word of the God these days in many ways) is obviously not paying attention to the words.
John Piper agrees with me. Here is what he says in a message from Desiring God:
Focus on 1 John 4:2: “By this you know the Spirit of God.” So there is a way to recognize the Spirit of God in a person. That’s what that verse says, right? There is a way that you can know for yourself whether you are of the Spirit or a person in the community is of the Spirit. “By this you know the Spirit of God.” What’s the this? He goes on: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Which is another way of saying has the Spirit, is born again.
In other words, the Holy Spirit testifies to the reality of God in our lives by causing us to confess that Jesus has come in the flesh, so that when somebody does confess that Jesus has come in the flesh, you have evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work and is real right there in their lives.
Now, that creates a problem for us because we know that it is possible to confess with the lips that Jesus has come in the flesh and not be of God. You could pay a person on the street to come up here and say anything you wanted him to say, “Jesus has come in the flesh. Jesus is Lord.” He’ll rattle off anything, and it would mean nothing about his spiritual reality. So there’s a problem here.
Or if you have children, you’ve had this experience. One of them clubs the other. “Hey, that’s not right. Say you’re sorry.” “I’m sorry.” Does that create the possibility of reconciliation? Does that initiate forgiveness? Does it restore relationships? No, it’s nothing. It’s worthless. Words coming out of the mouth — no matter how true they are — do not necessarily signify reality within. So there’s a problem we have to solve here because the verse says: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2).
John is pushing back at the Gnostics who believed that Jesus was not fully man and not fully God at the same time. I have to share some of this commentary, too, found on Precept Austin by Ray Stedman from Authentic Christianity that helps us to know what to confess and what can be a problem with orthodoxy and its confessions:
Jesus is his human name. He never was called Jesus when he was the eternal Son of God, before the incarnation. It was only when he was born as a babe in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth that he bore the human name of Jesus; Jesus of Nazareth. But the whole teaching of Scripture is that this Jesus of Nazareth, this historical Jesus, this man who grew up and lived and ate and slept and walked with men, who prayed and talked and taught them, is the Messiah of the Old Testament, the predicted One, the Son of God who was to come, the eternal One, God himself, who would come into human history -- they are one and the same. This is the Spirit of truth. Jesus is the Christ, come in the flesh. Jesus of Nazareth is identical with and indivisible from that promised Messiah of the Old Testament.
…
This is the paramount doctrine which can never be compromised, the divine-human person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the one thing that is basic and fundamental to all Christian faith. He appeared in the flesh, he came as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto the death of the cross.
…
There are even many who are orthodox in doctrine and who say, "Yes, of course we believe Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh. We have that in our creed, we can show it to you. It is written in our hymn books. We confess it every Sunday morning when we stand up in church, 'We believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.'" But do they confess Him, do they live by Him? Have they committed themselves to this One in whom they profess to believe? This is the searching question John asks. If they do not confess Him, if they do not live by Him, then do not follow them, their error is as deadly as those who deny that he came in the flesh. Many young people are finding today that dead orthodoxy has no more power to deliver than heresy and apostasy has [my emphasis added]. It is those who live by him, follow him, obey him, live by his life -- these are the ones to follow. If you do not do that you can never be my teacher. I do not want to listen to any voice that professes to talk about the inner things of man's life and his relationship to an eternal God, which does not confess that Jesus is Christ come in the flesh, or who does not demonstrate in his life that he lives by that principle. Test it.
So there are many doctrinal faiths that are in error that claim to be Christian (Jehovah’s Witnesses are one example). I highly suggest going to Gotquestions.org and asking questions about various groups if you want their Biblically-based answer. John desires that the believers know and confess that Jesus came in the flesh and is from God and is God and those who don’t confess this (by declaring, celebrating, assenting, agreeing) and live for Him have the spirit of the antichrist. Precept Austin also has a very interesting commentary from Dr. Wayne Grudem on three inadequate views of the incarnation of Christ (deity and human in one being):
Apollinarianism (Apollinaris became bishop in Laodicea about A.D. 361)
(1) Christ had a human body only
(2) mind and spirit of Christ were from divine nature
(3) example: meeting “Mickey Mouse” at Disney World
(4) Problem: our minds and spirits need salvation too! (such a Christ: not really [a] true man to represent us)
(5) Christ had human mind, spirit: Lk 2:52; Jn 12:27; 13:31; Heb 4:15; 5:7, etc.
(6) Rejected by several church councils
Nestorianism (Nestorius was a popular preacher at Antioch; after 428: bishop of Constantinople):
(1) Christ was 2 distinct persons in one body: (a) the human person; (b) the divine person
(2) Example: circus “horse”
(3) Problem: Gospels show Jesus as “I” not “we”-- never seen as two persons in Gospels
(4) Nestorius probably never taught the heretical view that goes by his name
Monophysitism (Eutychianism) (Greek monos, “one”, and physis, “nature”) (Eutyches - 378-454) was the leader of a monastery at Constantinople)
(1) Human nature absorbed into divine nature
(2) Something entirely new resulted (greater than human, less than divine)
(3) Example: drop of ink in water
(4) Problem: both humanity and deity are lost!
I love the examples in this commentary of each type of error. Grudem is an advocate of the Chalcedonian creed, which I have also included in the footnotes; this creed espouses Dyophysitism (boy there’s a word), which is defined as follows (from Wikipedia) and is generally accepted by Catholic, Protestant (Lutheranism, Reformed Anglican) and Eastern Orthodox beliefs; Oriental Orthodox disagree:
Jesus Christ is one person of one substance and one hypostasis, with two distinct, inseparable natures, divine and human.
Well, there’s another new word: Hypostasis. It is defined (from Wikipedia, again) as:
In the most basic terms, the concept of hypostatic union states that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man. He is simultaneously perfectly divine and perfectly human, having two complete and distinct natures at once.
Just like the mystery of the Triune God, the mystery of the divine/human Jesus, also one of the members of the all-for-one and one-for-all Triune God, is incomprehensible, but will truly be understood when we meet Him face to face. Continuing with the Dr. Grudem commentary, here are Biblical examples of both natures:
(1) Jesus’ human nature ascended to heaven and is no longer in the world, but His divine nature is everywhere present. (John 16:28; 17:11; Acts 1:9-11; Mt. 28:20; Jn 14:23)
(2) Jesus was 30 years old (Luke 3:23), but also eternally existed (John 1:1-2; 8:58)
(3) Jesus was weak and tired in his human nature (Mt. 4:2; 8:24; Mk 15:21; Jn 4:6), but his divine nature was omnipotent (Mt. 8:26-27, Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3)
(4) While Jesus was a sleep in the boat (Mt. 8:24) he was also “continually carrying along all things by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3).
(5) Jesus’ human nature died (Lk 23:46; 1 Cor. 15:3), but his divine nature did not die, but was able to raise himself from the dead (John 2:19; 10:17-18; Heb. 7:16)
I also have to share some commentary from Enduring Word that is right on; Guzik notes that the more likely error in John’s day was that Jesus was not human. The error today is more likely to be that He is not divine, too, and He is being “molded” into a modern form that is false:
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: Some think that this is the only test of false doctrine. This is not the only test, but it was the significant issue challenging the church in John’s immediate time. Today a person might confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh yet deny that He is God as the Bible teaches He is God. They also are giving false doctrine because they are not presenting a true Jesus.
The principle of presenting a true Jesus is essential to the testing of spirits. No one who presents a false Jesus, or one untrue to the Scriptures, can be regarded as a true prophet.
Today, there is a lot of curiosity about the “true Jesus.” Many modern academics say they want to discover the “true Jesus” and when they say this they often mean, “The true Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Biblical Jesus is make-believe. We need to discover the true Jesus behind the myths of the Bible.”
Not only is this position ignorant (ignoring the confirmed historical validity of the New Testament) it is also arrogant. Once any academic throws out the historical evidence of the New Testament and other reliable ancient writings, they can only base their understanding of Jesus on their own personal opinion. These academics present their baseless opinions as if they were scholarly facts.
Think about this ignorance and arrogance the next time you see some made-up AI version of Jesus that looks exactly like a modern-day Palestinian except without the Keffiyeh scarf. The perpetrators are doing these things to emphasize the human nature of Jesus and hide the true nature of the divine Christ so that they can use Him for political purposes.
By the way, I didn’t think I would get this deep into esoteric theological concepts. We aren’t taught those concepts very well, are we? We are supposed to accept the hypostatic nature of Jesus and the mystery of the Triune God without digging into the reasons and rationale. I took confirmation classes as a young Lutheran but I am just learning these deeper concepts now. IMHO, confirmation for young hormonally-challenged and easily bored teenagers is a truly strange concept looking back in retrospect. The Apostle John started it all by truly understanding who Jesus was from his Gospel:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
John 1:1-3 NASB1995
My next devotional examines 1 John 4:4 - The protection of the child of God.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I can study big words and arcane theological concepts all day, but I truly know and confess that You are my redeemer and have saved me from my sins for eternal life with You! Amen.
As promised here are the creeds (source: Wikipedia):
Apostle’s creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of the saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Nicene Creed (Missouri Synod Lutheran):
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only‐begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Chalcedonian Creed
Following, then, the holy Fathers, we all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us One and the same Son, the Self-same Perfect in Godhead, the Self-same Perfect in Manhood; truly God and truly Man; the Self-same of a rational soul and body; co-essential with the Father according to the Godhead, the Self-same co-essential with us according to the Manhood; like us in all things, sin apart; before the ages begotten of the Father as to the Godhead, but in the last days, the Self-same, for us and for our salvation (born) of Mary the Virgin Theotokos as to the Manhood; One and the Same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten; acknowledged in Two Natures unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the difference of the Natures being in no way removed because of the Union, but rather the properties of each Nature being preserved, and (both) concurring into One Person and One Hypostasis; not as though He was parted or divided into Two Persons, but One and the Self-same Son and Only-begotten God, Word, Lord, Jesus Christ; even as from the beginning the prophets have taught concerning Him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself hath taught us, and as the Symbol of the Fathers hath handed down to us.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 5/28/2024 to review the lexicon for confess.
Precept Austin was accessed on 5/28/2024 to review the commentary for 1 John 4:2-3
Commentary in Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.
In all cases of republishing, the following attribution must be included:
By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org