Test the Spirits

Introduction

The Need to Test

Our text begins with a warning. Once again, John addresses his readers as “beloved” or loved ones. The fatherly language of love reminds us of the way John views his readers. They are not under investigation, they are not getting a lecture, they are being lovingly warned of false prophets and hypocrites that constantly infiltrate the church. When the church reads this, they will be assured of their salvation by the fruit of obedience, faith, and love for the brethren. Their assurance of salvation seals the fellowship that they can have in Christ. It is impossible to have true, meaningful fellowship in the church without assurance of salvation. This is why it is so important to have assurance of salvation, God wants you to know you are saved, and when your heart doubts it, you can look at the evidence and tests that this book gives you and gain that assurance.

What are these tests? There are three. First, a Christian submits to what God’s word says about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Second, a Christian submits to God’s word says about how to live the Christian life, emulating God’s character as revealed in Scripture through his example and commands. Finally, a Christian loves other Christians with a sacrificial love. The Christian life is built out of Christian doctrine, Christian obedience, and Christian love. Now John is not going through these topics in a strictly logical way, from topic A to topic B and so on, instead he keeps circling back to each test, describing them in different ways and from different angles to flesh out in the minds of the readers what life as a Christian should look like. Think of it as if John is composing a 3-dimensional image of each topic. By bringing up the different tests in different ways, we can get a full idea of what the Christian life are supposed to look like in this way. John has just talked about love and obedience and how they give us confidence on the day of Christ, now he turns back to the topic of truth and doctrine and warns against false spirits.

Now, who are these spirits, and why do they need to be tested? In verse 3:24 we are told, “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” The presence of the Spirit and evidence of his work in your life is ultimately the proof of your salvation. However, not every teaching that claim’s spiritual origin is spiritual and not ever spirit is the Holy Spirit. John compounds this truth with the fact that many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is why the spirits need to be tested to see whether they are the Holy Spirit or not. John’s intention is basically to tell this church to not be gullible, but to carefully and faithfully test all that they hear by what they’ve heard from the Apostles, which we have in the New Testament epistles, and the rest of Scripture.

Doctrine Test

When you have a test, there is of course something to test it by. Every test has an answer sheet to determine whether the thing being tested is legitimate or not. Fake gold can be convincing until compared with the real thing, and counterfeit money is best identified besides legitimate currency. What we know is that there are many people going around claiming to teach legitimate Christian doctrine from the Holy Spirit, but really they are false prophets who teach the doctrines of devils. How are we to judge these false teachings? Verse 6 gives us the clear answer,

English Standard Version Chapter 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.

“we” refers to the Apostles, the authors of the New Testament. Paul’s high view of Scripture is evident in 2 Tim 3:16-17

English Standard Version Chapter 3

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

That last sentence is important, “the man of God may be complete.” Paul is saying that all you need to live a profitable Christian life is in inspired Scripture. The New Testament is very clear that Christian practice and doctrine is to be founded on Scripture and that Scripture alone gives you all you need to live the Christian life as intended. This includes doctrine. So when someone makes a doctrinal statement, when someone says something about God or about the person and work of Jesus Christ, the question we need to ask is, “is what they are saying based on what Scripture says? Can I find what they are teaching from a natural reading of the Scriptures, or is this something that they are trying to squeeze in where it just doesn’t fit.”

This isn’t always going to be about salvation issues, but even with secondary issues we need to adopt this way of thinking. If we start believing things about God or the Christian life that are not explicitly Scriptural as if they were, we are in danger of drifting away from our rule of faith. A big part of the reformation was the move away from putting church tradition on equal footing with Scripture. The reformation never discounted how important church history is, but they did make the distinction that the rule of faith is Scripture alone, not tradition or church history. Yet, today a lot of denominations that call themselves “reformed” would never step foot outside their traditional beliefs, even when confronted by Scripture. I’ve met several brothers and sisters from reformed churches that practice infant baptism, for example, and rather than going to Scripture to defend what they believe, too often they go to a confessional statement or the writings of the reformers. Now, obviously those are good things to read, but unfortunately they have taken a step back from the reformation that they claim they follow to the Roman Catholic idea of traditions being held as equally authoritative to Scripture. They would probably not say as much, but the way they treat these historic works are ironically very unreformed. Scripture alone is our rule for life and doctrine, church tradition and history is helpful to consult when studying Scripture as it is full of others who have studied the same Words you are, but you cannot use them as a rule for faith. Ultimately, what you believe has to be based on what Scripture says.

But the false teachers that John has in mind are not teaching secondary doctrines, which we can differ on and still love each other in Christ, he is talking about the difference between orthodox Christian teaching and heresy. These teachers are messing with the doctrine of who Jesus is, and as John has already established, getting the person and work of Jesus wrong is a sure sign of heresy.

In verses 2-3 John says,

English Standard Version Chapter 4

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

How do we know that someone’s teaching about Jesus is from God: the content! every spirit that confesses the truth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is born of God. This is likely in response to an early heresy that believed that Jesus came as God but did not come as fully man, but rather came in the visual form of a human, like an avatar, but was not actually physically human, he just looked like he was. This was based on Platonic philosophy that saw all flesh and physical matter as inherently evil, and that God could not become actually human. John isn’t saying that everyone who teaches that Jesus came in the flesh is a sound teacher, there are many atheists who would teach that, what he’s saying is that every message that is in accordance with what the Scriptures teach about Jesus Christ is born of God, and everyone who teaches what is contrary to Scriptural teaching of the person and work of Jesus Christ is not of God.

You could put other clear doctrines in this place and the same would apply. Every spirit who says that Jesus is God, that he lived a perfect life, that he died for sins, and that he rose again and ascended to the right hand of God is of God. Anyone who teaches the clear biblical doctrines of Christ and his work got that message from the Holy Spirit, even if they are just repeating Scripture, which is breathed by the Spirit. This is contrasted with the one who denies any of these important doctrines of who Jesus Christ is. You get that wrong, and it doesn’t matter what else you teach, you are not of the Spirit.

When you listen to someone for Spiritual instruction, you always need to judge them by the Gospel they preach. Is the Jesus they talk about the same Jesus that Scripture clearly lays out. If not, they are not a Spirit-filled teacher and should not be listened too. Many who call themselves Christians are quick to point out how useful it is to learn from other religions. While studying other religions might be helpful for evangelistic reasons, we should never go to them for spiritual truth. Why? Because no other religion has an accurate teaching of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And all Spiritual truth is centred on him. If someone gets him wrong, they aren’t worth your time. There’s nothing you can learn from them because they already got the most foundational parts of spiritual truth wrong. Just like you wouldn’t trust a mechanic who doesn’t know how a car works, don’t trust a teacher who has Jesus Christ wrong.

Worldliness Test

But this is not all that John has to say about false teachers. Look at what he says in verses 4-5,

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

First, John tells his readers that they have overcome them, that is, he is confident that they have overcome the lies all around them and have perceived the truth and believed it. Then he says that he who is in them is greater than he who is in the world. How often this is quoted completely without the context of false teaching. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, meaning he who has revealed the message of the Gospel to you and applied it to you by filling you with the Holy Spirit is greater than the lies that the world throw around. Notice, though, that John equates these false teachers to the world. Of the two cosmic kingdoms in spiritual war, they may claim to be of God but really they are of the world.

This means two things. First, that those who are teaching falsely are likely to be living falsely. How often teachers teaching false things have been found to be sexual predators, unfaithful to their spouses, or secretly addicted some some hidden sin. False teachers are hypocrites and do not have the Holy Spirit in them, and it’s only a matter of time before they slip up. I remember hearing a teacher that was very popular in the 80’s who used to hold these huge rallies that had a lot to do personal purity and holiness. They focused a lot on works and not a lot on the Gospel. They didn’t necessarily teach heresy, but the Gospel wasn’t the central in their preaching. It turned out that they had been engaged in sexual abuse for decades, even as he preached about purity and holiness.

It also means that even those who preach what is right, their lifestyle has a say as to whether they are from God or not. They may say things that are true, or even helpful, but John is devoted to keeping the distinction between those of the world and those of God. This is because they speak from the world and the world listens to them. That’s interesting isn’t it? Be suspicious of teaching that caters to the world and the culture in which we live. Today, many churches are teaching things the church has never historically taught about sexuality and marriage, and the world loves it. They are teaching things are patently against what Scripture teaches, but are in accord with what society around us accepts and promotes, and this is a very clear violation of what Scripture says is ethical.

When you hear someone teach, discern what they are trying to align themselves with. Are they trying to please man of God? Does what they teach look like Scripture or the world? And every teacher should ask themselves when the teach something, “would I teach this if everyone on earth, everyone I know and care about, would reject me, hate me, and even kill me if I did?” Teachers must teach in the fear of the LORD, not to please man. The same can be said of preachers who preach to please a certain political or even theological crowd. Scripture and scripture alone is our rule, that is the standard you hold me to, and that is the standard you should hold anyone to who is teaching spiritual things.

Conclusion