The Letters · New Testament
1 John 4
1 John 4: trying the spirits, and love as the test of knowing God
General context
The readers are told not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. The test given is confession: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not is the spirit of antichrist, which the readers heard would come and which is already in the world. They are told they have overcome these, because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world. Two sides are distinguished by who listens: the others are of the world and the world hears them, while the writer says those of God hear him, and by this the spirit of truth and the spirit of error are known. The subject then changes to love. Love is of God, everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, and whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. The proof named is that God sent his only begotten Son so they might live through him, and that love is defined not by their loving God but by his loving them. Since God loved them that way, they ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time, but if they love one another God dwells in them and his love is perfected. The Spirit is the sign that they dwell in him, and the writer says they have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son. Perfected love gives boldness for the day of judgment, since perfect love casts out fear. They love because he first loved them, and anyone who claims to love God while hating his brother is called a liar, since loving a brother who is seen is the condition for loving God who is not.
Cited passages: 1 John 4:1, 1 John 4:2, 1 John 4:3, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 4:5, 1 John 4:6, 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:9, 1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:11, 1 John 4:12, 1 John 4:13, 1 John 4:14, 1 John 4:16, 1 John 4:17, 1 John 4:18, 1 John 4:19, 1 John 4:20, 1 John 4:21
1 John 4 (KJV)
1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3And 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.
4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6We 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.
7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19We love him, because he first loved us.
20If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
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Historical context
The chapter states what the dispute is about. It is a confession, "that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh", and those who do not make it are said to be in the world already. The letter names none of them, describes no meeting or hearing, and gives no place. It calls them "many false prophets" who "are gone out into the world", which matches the departure described at chapter 2 verse 19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us". The writer sets his own side against them by who listens, "he that knoweth God heareth us", and does not argue further about it. He also makes a claim about sight twice in a few verses, saying "No man hath seen God at any time" and then "we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son", which distinguishes seeing God from seeing what was sent. Nothing in the chapter is dated, and no scripture is quoted.
Cited passages: 1 John 4:2, 1 John 4:1, 1 John 2:19, 1 John 4:6, 1 John 4:12, 1 John 4:14, 1 John 4:3
Literary context
The chapter has two halves that look unrelated and are joined by one word. The first sorts spirits, the second defines love, and both turn on being of God. The sorting is done by a matched pair of sentences, one positive and one negative, differing only in a word: "Every spirit that confesseth" against "every spirit that confesseth not". The love section then repeats its own key term until the term becomes a definition, "God is love", stated twice, at verses 8 and 16. The argument runs downward each time, from what God did to what the readers owe, "if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another", never the reverse. Seeing is used against the readers at the end, in a question that makes the invisible claim depend on the visible one, and the chapter closes not with a feeling but with a commandment.
Cited passages: 1 John 4:2, 1 John 4:3, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16, 1 John 4:11, 1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:20, 1 John 4:21
Key moments
- Try the spirits (1 John 4:1). The readers are told to test claims rather than accept them.
- Come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). One confession is made the dividing line.
- Greater is he in you (1 John 4:4). The readers are told they have already overcome.
- God is love (1 John 4:8). Not loving is treated as not knowing God at all.
- He loved us first (1 John 4:10). Love is defined by God's action rather than the readers'.
- Fear cast out (1 John 4:18). Perfect love is set against fear and its torment.
- The brother you can see (1 John 4:20). Loving the unseen God is tested by the visible brother.
For reflection
The chapter makes a claim about loving God testable only by whether a person loves a brother he can see. What does it cost to accept a test you cannot pass in private?
