First John: 1 John 4:6b-The Fourth Assertion Lesson # 156

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)

“By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error” is composed of the following: (1) preposition ek (ἐκ), “by” (2) genitive neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this” (3) first person plural present active indicative form of the verb ginōskō (γινώσκω), “we know” (4) articular accusative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the Spirit” (5) articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), “the truth” (6) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (7) articular accusative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the spirit” (8) articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun planē (πλάνη), “error.”

The genitive neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos means “this” and is anaphoric which means that it is referring to the first three assertions here in 1 John 4:6.

The first asserted that John and each of his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists possessed the characteristic of truth which originates with God the Holy Spirit.

The second asserted that the person who at any time does know God the Holy Spirit experientially does obey teaching of John and each of his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists.

The third asserts that whoever at any time absolutely does not possess the characteristic of truth which originates with God the Holy Spirit absolutely never obeys their teaching.

The demonstrative pronoun houtos is the object of the preposition ek, which means “by means of” since the word functions as a marker of means with the implication of something proceeding from or out of the source.

Therefore, this prepositional phrase is expressing the idea that by means of these three assertions as a source any member of the Christian community can confirm the Spirit’s teaching which is truth and the spirit whose teaching is deceit or deception.

The verb ginōskō means, “to confirm” since John is attempting to instruct the recipients of First John as to how they can be assured that a particular teaching originates with God the Holy Spirit or Satan.

This time the first person plural form of this verb means “any one of us” or “each one of us” since the word is an “inclusive” we and it is used in a distributive sense.

The former means that it is referring to both John and the recipients of First John.

The articular form of the noun pneuma means “the Spirit” and refers of course to the Holy Spirit.

This word also contains the figure of metonymy which means that the person of the Spirit is put for His teaching since in context John is trying to help the recipients identify if a particular teaching originates from God the Holy Spirit or from Satan.

The noun alētheia means “truth” and refers to the truth in an objective sense as a body of knowledge containing a revelation from God.

The noun alētheia is functioning as an epexegetical genitive which means that this word refers to the “same thing” as the substantive to which it is related, which is pneuma, “the Spirit.”

The genitive of apposition typically states a specific example that is a part of the larger category named by the head noun and is frequently used when the head noun is ambiguous or metaphorical.

Here the genitive form of the noun alētheia stands in apposition to the articular accusative form of the noun pneuma, which refers to the Holy Spirit and contains the figure of metonymy which means that person of the Spirit is put for His teaching.

The latter is ambiguous and begs to be defined because he uses the word again in the following phrase with the noun planē.

Therefore, it needs clarifying.

As was the case in 1 John 4:1, 2 and 3, the articular accusative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma, “the spirit” in 1 John 4:6 means “spirit” in the sense of an outlook or viewpoint expressed through instruction by a teacher which influences people.

In other words, this word refers to teaching propagated by a teacher, which expresses a particular viewpoint.

The articular construction of the pneuma is monadic which is indicated by the genitive adjunct tēs planēs (τῆς πλάνης), “of error.”

This use of the article denotes that the word it is modifying is in a class by itself.

Therefore, it is expresses the idea that this particular spirit is unique in itself in that it is deceit or in other words, lies from Satan’s world system and organization.

The articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun planē means “deception, deceit” since the word pertains to an assertion or assertions known or believed by the speaker to be untrue with intent to deceive.

The noun planē is functioning as an epexegetical genitive which means that this spirit as deceitful.

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)

The fourth and final assertion which appears in 1 John 4:6 teaches that by means of the first three assertions in this verse, the child of God can confirm the Spirit’s teaching which John describes is truth and the spirit which is deceit.

The first three assertions in this verse are not only the means but also the source from which any member of the Christian community can confirm the Spirit’s teaching which is truth and the spirit whose teaching is deceit or deception.

By source, I mean that by these three assertions, the child of God can determine or identify the source of a particular teacher’s doctrine, whether it originates with the Holy Spirit or Satan and his kingdom.

Therefore, if we compare this fourth assertion with the first, the apostle John is teaching the recipients of First John that they can confirm if a particular teacher is being used by the Holy Spirit or by the devil by whether or not they possess the characteristic of truth as a result of obeying the Holy Spirit’s teaching.

They will manifest this characteristic through the practice of divine righteousness (cf. 1 John 2:28-3:10), which constitutes the practice of divine love (cf. 3:11-18).

If we compare the fourth assertion with the second, he is teaching that they can confirm if a particular teacher is being used by the Holy Spirit or by the devil by whether or not they know God experientially, which, as we noted, refers to experiencing fellowship with God.

If they are experiencing fellowship with God, then they are obeying the Spirit’s teaching and if not, they are being obeying the devil.

Therefore, if we compare these two assertions, he is also teaching that the child of God can confirm if a teacher is obeying the Spirit by whether or not they obey his teaching and that of his fellow faithful apostles, teachers and evangelists since he asserted that each of them possessed the truth of God in their lives.

This is confirmed by their godly conduct.

If we compare the fourth assertion with the third, John is teaching that the child of God can confirm if a teacher is obeying the Spirit and is being used by the Spirit or obeying the devil and being used by him by whether or not they possess the characteristic of truth.

These two assertions teach that the teacher who does not possess the truth of God in their life which will be manifested by their conduct is by no means obeying the Spirit’s teaching, which John and his fellow apostles, pastors and evangelists were faithfully communicating to the Christian community.

If these teachers do not possess God’s truth in their lives which will be manifested in their conduct, then they are by no means obeying John’s teaching or the teaching of any of his fellow apostles, pastors and evangelists who were faithfully communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Christian and non-Christian communities.

Therefore, John is teaching in 1 John 4:6 that a false teacher who is being used by Satan’s kingdom and is obeying false doctrine originating from Satan will manifest this in their life by their ungodly conduct.

On other hand, the teacher who is being used by the Holy Spirit and is obeying the Spirit will manifest this in their life by their godly behavior.

In other words, obedience to the Spirit’s teaching will manifest itself in godly behavior while on the other hand, disobedience will manifest in ungodly behavior.

Notice in 1 John 4:6, John is emphatically asserting that the person who obeys his teaching and the teaching of his fellow apostles, teachers and evangelists, who were faithfully communicating the Spirit’s testimony concerning Jesus Christ, are obeying the Holy Spirit.

John can make this assertion in emphatic terms because their godly conduct manifests the fact that they were obeying the Spirit.

By practicing divine righteousness which constitutes practicing divine love, they were manifesting the fact that they were obeying the Spirit and not the devil like the false prophets he mentions and describes in 1 John 4:2-3 and 5.