Exploring 1 John: Our Protection
1 John 4:4 - We overcome the world through He who is in us.
“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.”
1 John 4:4 NASB1995
John tells the believers that they have overcome “them”, which are the spirits of the antichrist, because they are from God, who is greater than anyone who is in the world. Let’s study a word! “Overcome” comes from the Greek word νικάω or nikáō with the following Biblical usages; Strong’s G3528 is used 28 times in the New Testament:
to conquer
to carry off the victory, come off victorious
of Christ, victorious over all His foes
of Christians, that hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions
when one is arraigned or goes to law, to win the case, maintain one's cause
We conquer or overcome through Christ, who is victorious over all of His foes. This is such great assurance for believers!! I’m going to jump into commentary right away on this verse, because John Piper has great insight into this on Desiring God:
There is one place in this passage where this grand truth that lies just beneath the surface of 1 John 4:2–6 protrudes up for all to see out of the surface, and it’s 1 John 4:4. This is a verse that John gives to his little children for their encouragement and for their humbling. He says:
Little children, you are from God . . .
That means you’re born of God. You have the Holy Spirit. You are of God.
. . . and you have overcome them . . .
That is the false prophets. Those who have left the church back in 1 John 2:19.
. . . and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Now, let’s ponder for a minute what the overcoming is — what this conquering is. What does John mean that the saints in the church have conquered the false prophets who have left the church? It’s not any physical battle that they endured. What is it? What was the victory they got? Isn’t the victory that they did not succumb to the deception of the false teaching? The victory is that when the false teachers said, “It’s not really an incarnation. It’s not really God incarnate. Jesus Christ is not really in the flesh. The Messiah doesn’t have to be thought of that way.” They didn’t fall for it. They conquered. They stayed orthodox. They maintained their hearty confession of Jesus Christ come in the flesh. [my emphasis added]
Did they do it because they were so smart? Did they do it because they autonomously decided to do it? Did they do it because their parents did it? What’s the verse say? They did it because he who is in them is greater than Satan. The Holy Spirit is greater than Satan. He is greater than the false spirit of error in the false prophets. He’s greater than the world. He’s greater than the deceptiveness and hardness of our own hearts.
I sat here thinking about this and realized that the Holy Spirit has certainly been doing a work in both of us. We are much closer to real orthodoxy now in our belief than ever before in our lives. Each study of scripture, each in-depth sermon at our church, each session of intercessory prayer opens up our hearts to He who is greater than anything in the world. So what does orthodoxy mean? Here is what a secular Dictionary says, beyond just the fairly useless definition:
An orthodox religious belief or interpretation is one handed down by a church's founders or leaders. When capitalized, as in Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox refers to a branch within a larger religious organization that claims to honor the religion's original or traditional beliefs. The steadfast holding of established beliefs that is seen in religious orthodoxy is apparent also in other kinds of orthodox behavior. Orthodox medical treatment, for example, follows the established practices of mainstream medicine. Unorthodox thinking is known in business language as "thinking outside the box".
It’s one thing to “think outside the box” when you are doing a process improvement for a business, something that I used to lead as a trained practitioner of lean/six sigma. It’s quite another to be unorthodox in belief, which would never be case with the Holy Spirit in charge. Many mainstream churches are now embracing unorthodox beliefs in their attempts to appease the worldly crocodile that works for Satan and loves sin and “free spirits” who have tossed traditions by the wayside. It makes me gasp to think that I was one of those appeasers for many years, tossing aside belief and grasping at the shiny ornament of agnosticism, science and tolerance as the only answers. I was quite brainy and arrogant, but certainly not very smart.
Ok, first a comment about these pictures I found. I looked for pictures for “overcome” in unsplash (which is a free library of photos in Substack) and found the first picture. I was reading another great commentary that I wanted to share about how every human who takes their eyes off of God was/is a failure and this picture came up in a search! Meant to be, that’s for sure! Same guy, different dispositions.
Anyway, the commentary that is so good was found in Precept Austin and is from the late, great preacher D. L. Moody:
This brings me to the fourth verse of the fourth chapter of the same epistle: “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.” The only man that ever conquered this world—was complete victor—was Jesus Christ. When He shouted on the cross, “It is finished!” it was the shout of a conqueror. He had overcome every enemy. He had met sin and death. He had met every foe that you and I have got to meet, and had come off victor. Now if I have got the spirit of Christ, if I have got that same life in me, then it is that I have got a power that is greater than any power in the world, and with that same power I overcome the world.
Notice that everything human in this world fails. Every man, the moment he takes his eye off God, has failed. Every man has been a failure at some period of his life. Abraham failed. Moses failed. Elijah failed. Take the men that have become so famous and that were so mighty—the moment they got their eye off God, they were weak like other men; and it is a very singular thing that those men failed on the strongest point in their character. I suppose it was because they were not on the watch.Abraham was noted for his faith, and he failed right there—he denied his wife. Moses was noted for his meekness and humility, and he failed right there—he got angry. God kept him out of the promised land because he lost his temper. I know he was called “the servant of God,” and that he was a mighty man, and had power with God, but humanly speaking, he failed, and was kept out of the promised land. Elijah was noted for his power in prayer and for his courage, yet he became a coward. He was the boldest man of his day, and stood before Ahab, and the royal court, and all the prophets of Baal; yet when he heard that Jezebel had threatened his life, he ran away to the desert, and under a juniper tree prayed that he might die.
Peter was noted for his boldness, and a little maid scared him nearly out of his wits. As soon as she spoke to him, he began to tremble, and he swore that he didn’t know Christ. I have often said to myself that I’d like to have been there on the day of Pentecost alongside of that maid when she saw Peter preaching. “Why,” I suppose she said, “what has come over that man? He was afraid of me only a few weeks ago, and now he stands up before all Jerusalem and charges these very Jews with the murder of Jesus.”
The moment he got his eye off the Master he failed; and every man, I don’t care who he is—even the strongest—every man that hasn’t Christ in him, is a failure. John, the beloved disciple, was noted for his meekness; and yet we hear of him wanting to call fire down from heaven on a little town because it had refused the common hospitalities.
I don’t know about you, but I want the power and the strength that comes from the Greatest Conquerer and not the things that I think are my greatest strengths that are really my weaknesses. We may think that we have done something or been something in this life and, interestingly, I have a bookcase full of nice awards that I received when I was still working for “doing something”. Those awards will not buy me one minute with Jesus after I die, but what I do through His strength and victory to overcome now and always confess Jesus will lead me to eternal victory!
My next devotional examines 1 John 4:5-6 - They are of the world, we are of God.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Today I pray the great words of the hymn “A Mighty Fortress” by Martin Luther. Luther understood the strength found only in You:
[Imagine a booming pipe organ in a great church]:
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
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 5/29/2024 to review the lexicon for overcome.
Precept Austin was accessed on 5/29/2024 to review commentary for 1 John 4:4. Precept Austin also featured the lyrics to a “A Mighty Fortress”.
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