First John: 1 John 4:6a-The First Three Assertions Lesson # 155

1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (ESV)

“We are from God” is composed of the following: (1) nominative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “we” (2) preposition ek (ἐκ), “from” (3) articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God” (4) first person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “are.”

The first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō means “each one of us, each and every one of us” since the word refers to John and his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Here the word is used to emphasize a contrast between John and his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists and the false prophets whose teaching is described in 1 John 4:5 as originating from Satan’s world system and organization which is totally opposed to Jesus Christ.

The verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic” which is identified in 1 John 4:6 as being truth which would then indicate that John and his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists perform the action of possessing the characteristic of truth which originates from the God of truth.

The noun theos refers to the Spirit and is the object of the preposition ek which means “from” since the word functions as a marker of source.

Therefore, this prepositional phrase is expressing the idea that John and his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists possessed the characteristic of truth which “originates from or with” God the Holy Spirit.

“Whoever knows God listens to us” is composed of the following: (1) articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb ginōskō (γινώσκω), “whoever knows” (2) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), “listens to” (4) genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “us.”

The verb ginōskō means, “to know experientially” which would then indicate that God the Holy Spirit receives the action of being known experientially by a member of the Christian community.

To experience means, “to personally encounter, observe or undergo something through a process, to have knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered or undergone,” and implies being affected by what one meets.

Therefore, this verb ginōskō speaks of a member of the Christian community personally encountering the Holy Spirit through the process of experiencing their sanctification by means of obedience to His teaching in the Word of God.

Consequently, they are affected by this encounter with the Holy Spirit which results in more of the character of Jesus Christ.

The verb akouō means “to accept, to obey” since the word pertains to believing something is true and responding to it on the basis of having heard.

The personal pronoun egō means “any one of us” since the referent of this word is the apostle John and each of his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists in contrast with the false prophets.

It is used of them in a corporate sense and in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

“Whoever is not from God does not listen to us” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “whoever” (2) emphatic negative adverb ouk (οὐκ), “not” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (4) preposition ek (ἐκ), “from” (5) articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God” (6) emphatic negative adverb ouk (οὐκ), “not” (7) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), “does listen to” (4) genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “us.”

The nominative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun hos means “whoever” and refers to an unidentified member of the human race who does not obey the Spirit’s teaching which was communicated by John and each of his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists

The verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic” which in context would be truth.

The emphatic negative adverb ou expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

Therefore, these two words express the idea of a member of the human race who at any time absolutely does not possess the characteristic of truth as a result of refusing to obey the Spirit’s teaching which was communicated by John and each of his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists.

The noun theos refers to the Holy Spirit and is again the object of the preposition ek, which means “from, originates from” since the word is a marker of source.

This indicates that person who does not obey the Spirit inspired of the apostles by no means possesses the characteristic of truth which originates with God’s character and nature.

Once again, we have the verb akouō which means “to accept, to obey” since the word pertains to believing something is true and responding to it on the basis of having heard.

This word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

Therefore, these two words express the idea of a member of the human race by no means obeying the Spirit inspired teaching of John and each of his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists.

Once again, we have the first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō means “any one of us” since the word refers to John and his fellow apostles, teachers, and evangelists as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

1 John 4:6 Each one of us does possess the characteristic originating from the one and only God (who is the Spirit). The one who at any time does know God (the Holy Spirit) experientially does obey any one of us. Whoever at any time absolutely does not possess the characteristic originating from this the one and only God (who is the Spirit) by no means obeys any one of us. By means of this, any one of us can at any time confirm the Spirit’s teaching which is truth as well as the spirit which is deceit. (Author’s translation)

In the first assertion, John states that he and each one of his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists who obey the Spirit’s testimony concerning Jesus Christ does possess the characteristic originating from the one and only God.

In the fourth assertion in this verse, John identifies this characteristic as truth.

They possessed the characteristic of truth as a result of accepting by faith the Spirit’s testimony that Jesus of Nazareth is the God-man Savior is truth.

In the fourth and final assertion in 1 John 4:6, John identifies the Spirit’s teaching as truth and identifies the teaching of the false prophets as deceit.

Therefore, as was the case in the first assertion in 1 John 4:4, the characteristic of truth is referred to here in 1 John 4:6 since he associates truth with the Holy Spirit and the deceit with the false prophets.

Again, as we noted earlier, this first assertion in 1 John 4:6 is emphasizing a contrast between John and the recipients of First John and the false prophets whose teaching is described in 1 John 4:5 as originating from Satan’s world system and organization which is totally opposed to Jesus Christ.

The implication of this first assertion is that the apostle John and his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists were sent from God because they possessed the truth of God in their lives.

This would be manifested by the practice of truth, which in turn would be manifested by the practice of divine righteousness and love.

The apostle John solemnly presents a second assertion in 1 John 4:6 which states that the person who at any time does know God experientially does obey John and each of his faithful communicators who obeyed the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus of Nazareth that He is the God-man Savior.

Therefore, John is teaching in this second assertion, that only the believer, who obeys the teaching of John and each of his fellow faithful communicators of the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus Christ, is experiencing fellowship with the Holy Spirit and thus with the Father and the Son.

The third assertion which appears in 1 John 4:6, states that whoever at any time absolutely does not possess the characteristic originating from the one and only God by no means obeys John or his fellow faithful communicators of the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus of Nazareth.

This third assertion stands in contrast with the second assertion.

The contrast between those who obey the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which is communicated by the apostle John and his fellow faithful communicators of the Spirit’s testimony concerning Jesus, and those who don’t obey this teaching, which would be the false prophets and those people who obey their teaching.

The “whoever” in the third assertion can refer to a non-believer of course, but also a believer since the latter like the former can be deceived by false doctrine because they have a volition and a sin nature like the non-believer and can be deceived by Satan and his world system and organization like the non-believer.

Thus, being a child of God does not protect you from being deceived by false doctrine originating from Satan’s kingdom.

The child of God must exercise faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God in order to maintain fellowship.

When they sin, they are to confess these sins to the Father as John instructed in 1 John 1:9 in order to be restored to fellowship.

Then, they must obey the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God in order to maintain that fellowship.

The child of God who habitually disobeys the Spirit’s teaching and instead obeys false doctrine on a habitual basis will be disciplined by God (cf. Heb. 12:4-13; Rev. 3:19).