THE SPIRIT OF GOD
AND THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST
Verse 1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
LGT "Beloved, continue (keep) believing not in every spirit, in fact (but) continue (keep) testing the spirits whether they are out of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
"Beloved, believe not every spirit."
John continues to display his tender side in this address, 'beloved.' The Greek word for 'beloved' is 'agapatoi,' which is a plural subject meaning, 'My dear ones worthy of love.' He uses this term again in verses seven and eleven.
'Believe not every spirit' is a phrase that has and is misrepresented to mean 'spiritual warfare.' I believe the apostle John is telling his beloved brothers to 'stop believing' the false prophets of the Docetic and Cerinthian Gnostics. These Gnostics were claiming to have the Holy Spirit gift of apostleship, when actually they were the antichrists John spoke about earlier in this epistle. Some teachers will use this passage to say that we are fighting a spiritual battle with the demons. I believe we are in a spiritual battle, but I believe this battle is with our own flesh. Because I am a child of God I am shielded from Satan and his warriors.
In this epistle John makes reference to two spirits, 1) the Spirit of light and 2) the spirit of darkness. John being a true apostle possessed the Spirit of light, and the false apostles that were many, and did not remain in the church, were possessors of the spirit of darkness, that is, the spirit of antichrist. The sense of spirit John writes of here is the spirit that is possessed by the true apostle and the false apostle.
"Believe not every spirit (me panti pneumati pisteuete)." 'Stop believing,' as some were clearly carried away by the spirits of error rampant among them, both Docetic and Cerinthian Gnostics. Credulity means gullibility, and some believers fall easy victims to the latest fads in spiritualistic humbuggery" (WPNT A.T. Robertson).
"But try the spirits whether they are of God:"
The Greek word for "try" is "dokimazete", which means to test, prove, examine, scrutinize, judge worthy and decide upon after examination. John is telling his beloved family not to believe everyone who claims to be an apostle without first examining them with the test of apostleship.
"John tells us we can test the teachings of men. This test is just like putting litmus paper into a solution to tell whether it is an acid or a base. This is a test, which will work: Does the teaching deny the incarnation of Christ? That is the spirit of antichrist, my friend. You do not want to follow that. It is contrary to Christ, although it may imitate Him. Generally, these false teachers are very attractive persons. Many of them have charisma, and they make fleshly appeal to folk. But they can be tested by the Word of God for the Holy Spirit is there to be our teacher and guide" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
"Because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
The false prophets John is referring to are the Gnostics, the immediate false teachers the 'many antichrists' he spoke of earlier, but he is also warning the churches that many more will come, as we see in our present day, in the false cults like the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Moslems, Judaism, Christian Science, Scientology, Romanism, etc. All religions are considered a false cult that denies Christ's deity or His humanity.
"Are gone out" (exelaluthathen). The perfect tense indicates that the influence of their going out on their false mission is in operation at the present" (Word Studies in the NT. Marvin R. Vincent D.D.).
Verse 2, "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God."
LGT "In this (connection) keep knowing the Spirit of God: every spirit who is confessing (acknowledging) Jesus Christ having come in flesh is out of God."
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:"
John continues this thought from verse one as you see from the literal Greek translation, 'in this connection keep knowing the Spirit of God:' John is now giving believers the infallible test to be able to screen out the false teachers.
"Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God."
I think it is safe to say that by now we know that John was very concerned about the false teachings of this damnable false cult of Gnosticism that had permeated the churches throughout Asia Minor. In the beginning of John's Gospel he stressed the deity of Christ, and here in his first epistle he is stressing the humanity of Christ. The Docetic and Cerinthian Gnostics were denying both of these crucial doctrines concerning the divine essence and the humanity of Christ. There is no salvation to anyone who denies that Christ was God and also that He was man. Christ is different from man in that He is God, and He is different from God in that He is man. Jesus Christ is truly human and truly divine, God of very God.
"But let us consider what this confession includes; for when the Apostle says that Christ came, we hence conclude that He was before with the Father; by which His eternal divinity is proved. By saying that He came in the flesh, he means that by putting on flesh, He became a real man, of the same nature with us, that He might become our brother, except that He was free from every sin and corruption. And lastly, by saying He came, the cause of His coming must be noticed, for He was not sent by the Father for nothing. Hence on this depend the office and merits of Christ" (John Calvin's Commentary on First John).
"How are we to distinguish? John tells us the way: 'Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.' This is where it all begins - in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, and it begins there with His incarnation. Calvary and the Garden Tomb are meaningless unless he is who He claimed to be, unless He is God-man. The way that you can determine the false teachers is that they will deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. That does not mean that they do not talk nicely about Him. They talk about what a remarkable youth He was and that He was a superior child who was born into the world. They say that He was a religious genius and that He was intoxicated with God. They say that he probably had a greater knowledge of God than any other man. He was a 'superstar,' you know (There was a blasphemous play the hippies put on during the sixties drug culture called 'Jesus Christ Super Star'). They can say a lot of nice things about Him, but ask them if He was God manifested in the flesh?" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 3, "And every spirit that confesses 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 in the world."
LGT "And every spirit who is not confessing Jesus is not out of God; and this is the one from the antichrist, who you have heard that he is coming, and he is now in the world already".
"And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God."
John uses the term spirit in the sense of a spirit gifted teacher, and in this sense he is saying that if these so-called apostles or teachers deny the deity of Christ, they are not of God. Today we don't have this problem as far as an apostle goes, for there are no apostles today, as there are no spirit gifted teachers. However there are a lot of false cults around, as noted above, that deny both the deity of Christ and His humanity.
The next word that stands out in this verse is 'confess.' Remember in chapter one verse nine John used the same word in connection with a believer confessing his or her sin. The word means the same in both cases, that is, to 'acknowledge or recognize.' So we see that if a teacher, or any one says that Jesus was a mere man and not God, or that he was God and not man, that one is a liar and is not out of God.
The last phrase 'not of God' is 'ek tou Theou' in the Greek N.T. and is translated 'sourced out of God.'
The phrase 'is come in the flesh', is an allusion from the preceding clause, but is not in the original. However, the phrase is referring to the Gnostic heresy of denying the deity and humanity of Christ, and I am sure that is why the translators entered 'in the flesh.'
"And this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come;" and even now already is it in the world."
This denial of the deity and humanity (that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, by way of His virgin birth) is sourced out of the Antichrist. There are many antichrists in the world today, but there is only one 'Antichrist', and he will raise up in the last days of ' The Tribulation', the seven years of Daniel's prophecy concerning Israel's Great Tribulation, 'The Time of Jacob's Trouble.' The spirit of this final 'Antichrist' is in the many antichrists that have gone out into the world to deceive the nations. A denial of Christ's deity and humanity is a sign that the false teachers are sourced out of the 'evil one.' We believers are sourced out of the Holy Spirit of God, and we do not deny the deity nor the humanity of Christ, for we could not be a believer in Jesus Christ and deny either one of these crucial doctrines.
"For some reason, God's people have always been credulous and gullible. There are many believers who fall victim to what Dr. A.T. Robertson called 'the latest fads and spiritualistic humbuggery.' There is a lot of that going around in our day. Therefore, John spends the time to give us this warning to beware that the false teachers will deny the incarnation (that Jesus came in the flesh) of Christ. Don't tell me that the Virgin Birth is not important. Some people ask, 'Can you be a Christian and deny the Virgin Birth?' You cannot - that is impossible because the mark of a false teacher is at that very point. When you destroy the Virgin Birth, you destroy His death upon the cross for the sins of the world and His bodily resurrection - in other words, you wreck the Christian faith. This is the reason that the Virgin Birth is the place where there has been so much denial in our day, and that denial, of course, is, that which reveals a false teacher immediately.
John is saying that God's children ought not to be deceived by false teachers. The objective way to identify them is that they deny the incarnation of Christ. Now John gives us the internal, the subjective evidence in verse four" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 4, "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."
LGT "You are out of God, little children, and you have overcome them: because greater is the One in you than the one in the world."
"Ye are of God, little children."
This is a wonderful statement of positional truth. As I have said before, positional truth is doctrine that states who and what we are based on who and what Christ is, and what he has done for us, by His death, burial, and resurrection. The moment we believed on Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior, we are immediately His little children, and we are "of God", that is, we are sourced out of God. What a beautiful position, is it not? By the way, positional truth applies not only to the present, but also into eternity future, so you see, what has taken place the moment we accept Christ, will be our personal possession for eternity to come.
"And have overcome them."
The 'them' John is referring to are the false apostles of the Gnostic sect. The only way a person is to overcome the evil influence of the antichrists in the world, is through the Holy Spirit. In our eternal position in Christ, as His little children, we have overcome the evil one, but in reference to time, we must overcome the evil influence of the antichrists false teachings through the influence of the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Word of God.
"This is the reason that you do not need an angel to appear to you tonight to tell you what you need to know. Rather, you need to have the Holy Spirit teach you, and the Holy Spirit teaches through His Word. You cannot stay away from the Bible, be ignorant of it, ignore it, and yet expect to have the Spirit of God lead you and guide you" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
"Because greater is He that is in you, then he that is in the world."
John explains to all believers the reason that they are over-comers. We are all indwelt with God's Holy Spirit and have overcome the wicked one through the words and work of our Savior Jesus Christ the Righteous One. In our eternal Position in Christ, we are over comers, and experientially we may be over comers, but only through the Word of God applied to our lives.
"John's readers were not more learned, more skilled in philosophical debate, than the false teachers; yet by refusing to be persuaded by the false teachers they had overcome them. This they were able to do because the indwelling Holy Spirit, whose anointing had imparted to them true knowledge - a 'built-in spiritual instinct', as it was called in the comment on I John 2:20, 'And ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things,' enabling them to hold fast and reject error. If 'He that is in you' is the Holy Spirit, 'he that is in the world' is the spirit of falsehood, called 'the spirit of antichrist' in verse 3 and 'the spirit of error' in verse 6" (The Gospel and Epistles of John F.F. Bruce).
Verse 5, "They are of the World: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them."
LGT "They are out of the world; because of this they are speaking out of the world and the world is hearing them."
"They are of the world:"
A.T. Robertson says:
"The world and the false teachers are in perfect unison." Paul beseeches us not to be conformed to the world in Romans 12:1, 2. The world is at enmity with God. Man cannot serve two masters. John Calvin states, "The false teachers are of the part of the world that Satan is a prince of."
"Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them."
It is a crying shame when the 'body of Christ' takes on the methods of the world in order, so they say to win the world to Christ. As I have noted before, the church went downhill fast when they invited the 'Jesus Freaks' in the 60's and 70's in to their midst, and then accepted these 'Freaks' methods to win them. The so-called church today is in the biggest mess I have ever witnessed in the sixty-six years I have been on this planet; from the 7-11 choruses they sing (that is, 7 words sang eleven times) to the insipid sermons preached that appeal to the self-worth of the individual. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic.
"False teachers do get a following. The occult and the cults are growing much faster today than is Christianity. They have the advantage of appealing to the flesh, which we do not. I think it is tragic to have Christians using fleshly means to draw in a crowd. We need to be careful of the methods, which we use. If they are fleshly methods, God cannot bless them at all. We need to be sure that the Word of God is being given out (I personally believe that is all that should be given out when Christians meet, nothing else). I do not care whether several thousand people come to your church - that is not the important thing. I am interested in the message. Is the Word of God being given out? Is it given in the power of the Spirit so that the Spirit of God can take it and use it? The message should not be a great deal of pious promotion for some sentimental appeal that causes you to give" (T.T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 6, "We 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."
LGT "We are out of God; the one who is knowing God is hearing us, (he) who is not out of God is not hearing us. Out of (by) this we are knowing the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit (error)."
"We are of God."
John uses the inclusive we in verse six, that is, he is including himself with all the believers that will be reading his epistle. He also uses the term we in contrast with the false 'Gnostic' heretics that did not remain in the churches they entered spreading their false teachings. John is making it very clear that all believers are sourced out of our Father, God, and the unbelievers are sourced out of their father the devil.
"We (hemeis), in sharp contrast with the false prophets and the world. We are in tune with the Infinite God" (WPNT A.T. Robertson).
"He that knoweth God heareth us."
It is very important to define the term 'knowing'. To know God is to love God, and to love God is to know God. It is impossible to know God personally outside the Scriptures. As we know, God no longer reveals Himself in visions and other 'epiphanies'; He has revealed Himself in His Word, and that is exactly where we get to know Him personally. It is true that God is revealed in the entire universe, but as a Father we can only learn of Him in His Word, you cannot separate God from His Word. I think it is very important to spend a few moments defining the term 'knowing God.'
I really do love the way John expresses our relationship with the Father as His dear children. We have the choice of getting to know the Father as a dear Father, or to choose to just let Him be a paternal 'Father God' to us. He is the Creator and Sustainer of this great universe, and yet he wants to be our dear Father who is very interested in us as His dear little Children, as the Greek word 'teknia' literally means, 'little children.' Little children need tender loving care, and only our heavenly Father can supply this care. I really enjoy taking any one of my children or grandchildren in my arms and hug them. I don't believe there is anything more gratifying than to be pleased with our loved ones. I am sure that our heavenly Father is pleased that we belong to Him, but I also believe that as we get acquainted with him through the study of His wonderful Word we get to know Him as a dear loving tender Father, that is very concerned about our knowing Him in a very personal way.
The ones who know God are the children of God. John is saying that the children of God are hearing the Word and believing the Word, and that there are those, including the Gnostics that were not hearing the Word, and therefore, they are not children of God.
"He that is not of God heareth not us."
The one who does not know God does not hear the Word John was preaching. There are a lot of commentators, including John Calvin, who say that the 'us' in this verse is referring to the ministers of the Word. I think that is a bit of a stretch to include the so-called ministers of today. I think it would be more precise to say that John was referring to himself and the other apostles in the inclusive 'us'. Since there are no more apostles, I believe the inspired Word the apostles left us is the correct application of what is to be heard. I am not an advocate of 'ordination' of ministers, I believe we who hear the Word and are getting to know God on a daily basis are ordained ministers, that is, we are ordained by God's Word. The more we learn God's Word the more we are qualified, or are ordained, to teach God's Word, this includes brothers and sisters.
The unbelieving Gnostics were having no part of the deity of Christ as John taught, and the unbelievers today are having no part of Christ as the Savior of the World. John said, "If they were of us, they would have remained with us."
"Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."
John is saying in this phrase that according to what he has previously said, there is no reason to be misled by the spirit of error, that is, the false teachings of these antichrists.
John Calvin comments on this phrase:
"I think that the Apostle John means no other thing than that the trial of doctrine must be referred to these two things, 'The spirit of truth, and the spirit of error,' whether it be from God or from the world." The editor of Calvin's commentary has an interesting footnote: "According to this view, 'The spirit of truth' means the teacher of truth, and 'The spirit of error' the teacher of error; and this is agreeable to the whole tenor of the context, the spirit throughout denoting the person who claimed, rightly or falsely, to be under the direction of the divine Spirit. 'By this,' refers to what had been just stated, that is, that false teachers were of the world, and spoke things agreeable to the worldly minded, and were heard by the world, and that the true teachers were from God, and were heard or attended to by those who knew God, and were not attended to by such as were ignorant of him. It was by this statement, which he made; they could distinguish between the teachers of truth and the teachers of error. The teacher of truth was one from God (an apostle), and was attended to by those who knew God, and not by those who knew Him not; on the other hand, the teacher of error was from the world, preached what was agreeable to the men of the world, and was hearkened to by them. The order, as it is often the case, is inverted; the teacher of error, mentioned last, is described in the fifth verse, and the teacher of truth, mentioned first, at the beginning of the sixth" (John Owens Editor of Calvin's commentary on First John).
"However, by thus speaking John seems to say nothing; for all are ready to declare, that they do not speak except from God. So the Papists at this day boast with magisterial gravity, that all their inventions are oracles of the Spirit. Nor does Mohammed assert that he has drawn his dotages except from heaven. The Egyptians also, in former times, pretended that all their mad absurdities, by which they infatuated themselves and others, had been revealed from above. But to all this I reply, 'that we have the word of the Lord, which ought especially to be consulted'. When, therefore, false spirits pretend the name of God, we must inquire from the Scriptures whether things are so" (John Calvin's Comm. On First John).
GOD IS LOVE
Verse 7, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."
LGT "Beloved, let us be loving one another, because the (this) love is out of God, and everyone who is loving has been born out of God, and is knowing God."
"Beloved, let us love one another."
John returns to his normal admonishing Christians to love one another. As was said before this love is a supernatural love produced by the Holy Spirit. This is 'agape' love, which is divine love and comes from God directly. No one can conjure up this kind of love. One kind of love expressed in Greek is 'eros' love, which is self-seeking, in that it is sexual love. This type of love is for the satisfaction of the sexual appetite common to normal people, and abnormal people, and we can see in our society how it is at the basis of almost all crimes. Another Greek word describing love is 'philos' which has many meanings: 'Loved, dear, a friend, a congenial associate, to manifest some act of kindness or affection; to kiss, regard with affection, have affection for, to like, be fond of, delight in a thing, to cherish inordinately.' So you see, anyone, believer and unbeliever alike, can have these feelings described by 'eros' and 'philo' love, but only a believer is able to love with an 'agape' love. The divine 'agape' love is sourced out of God, and it produces righteousness pleasing to God. The next phrase of this verse says exactly this.
"Again, may I say that the word for love here is not eros; John is not talking about sex. All through this section, the word for love is agape love. It is not sentimental, it is not sexual, and it is not social love. It is supernatural love. It is that which the Holy Spirit can put in your hearts, and only the Spirit of God can make it real to us. It is the love of God, and only the Spirit of God can enable us to extend this love to other (believers)." (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee)
"For love is of God."
For love is sourced out of God.
"The love which the New Testament enjoins involves a consuming passion for the well-being of others (other believers), and this love has its wellspring in God. Since 'love is of God', says John, 'let us love one another'; the children of God must reproduce their Father's nature. Those who show such love to one another give proof in doing so that they are God's children and that it is they (not those who say so much about the true gnosis or knowledge of God [as the Gnostic heretics were doing] without regard for the love of God) who really know Him" (The Gospel and Epistles of John F.F. Bruce).
"And every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."
This phrase puts everything about love in its divine perspective. While 'eros' and 'philo' love are from God, they are different from divine 'agape' love. God institutes 'eros' and 'philo' for the perpetuation of the human race, and the divine 'agape' love for the perpetuation of his Church, which is the body of Christ. Unless a person is born again by the Spirit of God, it is not only difficult, but it is impossible to love with divine 'agape' love.
Verse 8, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
LGT "The one who is not loving did not know (knew not) God, because God is love."
The counterpoint to verse seven is that unbelievers cannot love with divine love because they know not God. Divine 'agape' love is sourced out of God, as Vincent says, 'Flows from God,' therefore, the unbeliever cannot love with divine love, because this love does not flow from God through them. It is also possible to know another believer by the love of God flowing through them.
The last phrase, 'God is love,' cannot be reversed to, 'Love is God.' So many so-called Christian churches stress this 'love' as if it were God. God produces Christian love and this love is manifested in the life of the believer, but we cannot be godly by so-called manufactured love. This divine love cannot come through the energy of the flesh. It is taught by many denominations that all a believer is required to do is love everybody and God will be well pleased. This is really nonsense, because what John is teaching here is that if you are a child of God His love will flow through you, unless you quench the flow, and not allow His love to govern your life. Love is not an emotion, but is simply recognizing a relationship in a brother, that he or she is related to the lord Jesus Christ, and then treating them as a family member. It is not necessary to go around and glad hand everyone you meet, this is manufactured and is as phony as a three-dollar bill. God's love can and will flow through you when it is properly understood, and you apply Bible Doctrine to your life. The Christian can manufacture nothing truly righteous. It is only through the study and applying of God's Word that His righteousness can flow through us. The way we can show our love for other Christians is to be concerned for their spiritual welfare as well as their physical welfare. I know I am concerned about my own welfare, but am I as concerned with my Christian brother?
Verse 9, "In 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."
LGT "In connection with this was made manifest the (this) love of God in us, that His only begotten Son, God sent into the world, in order that we might live through Him."
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us."
Vincent and Robertson both point out that the Greek term 'en hemin' 'toward us' or 'in us' or 'to us' are an incorrect rendering of this term. The correct reading should be 'in our case,' that is, for our benefit. John is not talking about the abiding relationship that God has with us, in this passage, but he is saying that God sent His Son to die on our behalf while we were yet sinners, and that God's love is made manifest by this.
"Because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world."
This is the manifestation of God's grace, that while we were yet sinners, God sent His only begotten Son into the world in order that we might live. The only begotten of the Father means that Christ came into the world as pre-existent with the Father. The only begotten Son means that His birth was unique, in that He had an earthly mother, but not an earthly father. Christ received his humanity through His mother, but He didn't receive a sinful nature through an earthly father. Christ was truly human and truly divine; He was true God and true man. The uniqueness of His birth was that He had an earthly mother and a heavenly Father.
"He calls Him His only begotten, for the sake of amplifying. For in this He more clearly showed how singularly He loved us, because He exposed His only Son to death for our sakes. In the meantime, He who is His only Son by nature makes many sons by grace and adoption, even all who, by faith, are united to His body. He expresses the end for which Christ has been sent by the Father, even that we may live through Him: for without Him we are all dead, but by His coming He brought life to us; and except our unbelief prevents the effect of His grace, we feel it in ourselves" (John Calvin's Comm. On First John).
"God sent His only begotten Son into the world. Here is another verse to which those who would like to rob us of the deity of Christ turn. When Jesus Christ is called 'the only begotten Son,' it means that He has a unique relationship with the Father. He was not created. God called the created angels His sons, and He says that those who trust Christ are sons of God, but yet that the Lord Jesus is 'the only begotten Son' (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 10, "Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
LGT "In this is the (this) love, not that we have loved God, but that He Himself loved us, and sent His Son satisfaction (propitiation-expiation) concerning our sins."
"Herein is love,"
John says, what I am about to write is the description of love.
"Not that we love God, but that He loved us,"
This statement of John is proof that God's love for us all is all grace. God did not see something in us that was deserving of His love; He loved us 'in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Romans 5:8). John begins this sentence With 'Not that' which is a sharp contrast of His love for us compared to our love for Him. God loves us with a perfect divine love, and we are unable to love Him with a divine love until we are born again of His Spirit. Once we are born again, we are able to then love Him with a love He has shed abroad in our hearts. God does not see in the unbeliever anything that is worthy of His love, so you see, our being saved is by faith in Christ alone, and then we have the capacity to Love God. We cannot love God until we know God, and we cannot know God apart from the Holy Scriptures. This is a primary reason we are to study the Word.
In the sixteenth century John Calvin was one of the leaders in the Protestant reformation and he made a very significant comment on this particular passage in his commentary on first John:
" Were the prattling of the Papists entertained, that every one is chosen by God to be worthy of love, this doctrine, that He first loved us, would not stand; for then our love to God would be first in order, though in time posterior. But the Apostle assumes this as an evident truth, taught in Scripture (of which these profane Sophists-that is, vain philosophers, are ignorant), that we are born so corrupt and depraved, that there is in us as it were an innate hatred to God, so that we desire nothing but what is displeasing to him, so that all the passions of our flesh carry on continual war with His righteousness" (John Calvin's comm. on First John).
"And sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
God cannot save us by His love, but He can save us because He loves us. The word 'propitiation' is a very important word in regard to our salvation. The word 'propitiation' means that God was satisfied with Christ's death on the Cross, in our place. This sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ reconciled us to God, and declared us righteous before God. By Christ dying in our place, God's justice was satisfied, and we are accepted and loved, as joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected for our justification, "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). If we notice in chapter two and verse two, John says that not only our sins were paid for, but also the sins of the whole world were atoned for. The question might arise, 'then won't everyone go to heaven?' I answer with the Scriptures, 'For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16). You can see by these Scriptures, that sin has been atoned for, but one must put his or her trust in Christ as their 'propitiation' to be saved. Christ has done it all, and all we have to do is trust in His work on the cross. A sinner will not go to hell for sinning, but a sinner will go to hell for rejecting Christ the propitiation for all sin. The justice of God is perfectly satisfied with Christ's death on the cross; all believers will spend eternity in heaven with God their Father, and all unbelievers will go to an eternal hell, where the fire is not quenched and the worm dies not, to spend eternity with their father, the devil.
Verse 11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."
LGT "Beloved, if (it be true that ) God thus (in this manner) loved us, we also are being morally obligated to be loving one another."
"Beloved, if God so loved us,"
John is saying, the fact that God loved us while we were yet sinners, and that His love for us is of pure grace, this love He has given us. Paul put it in similar terms in Romans 5:5, "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy [Spirit] who is given unto us."
"We ought also to love one another."
John uses this term 'ought', which is a very strong Greek word 'opheilomen', and as you can see from the literal Greek translation above it means 'morally obligated.' You see, John is saying that we are to love our Christian brother and sister, with the same divine love He demonstrated toward us. If we can say we love God and then hate our fellow Christian, something is terribly wrong with us. This love God demonstrated toward us was not the same self-seeking love we demonstrate every day, expecting something in return for our love effort. God loved us when we could not return anything.
Verse 12, "No man hath seen God at any time, if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us."
LGT "No one at any time has scrutinized God; if we may be loving one another, God will be abiding in us, and His love will be having been brought to its goal in us."
"No man has seen God at any time,"
Vincent brings out a very interesting point on the use of the word 'seen', which in the Greek is 'theomai' (it is where we get our modern term 'theater'), which means to behold intently, or gaze upon. It is interesting that he points out what the object of this gazing is on, God. However, Vincent makes a very interesting grammatical observation in that there is no article before 'God', and therefore, it is not the person of God that is in view in this passage, but His divine attribute or character. So we see that John is saying no man has seen the character or attribute of God except as it is revealed to us through Christ. Men are not seeking God; God is seeking man. Man is able to reveal God's divine attribute of love to the world by faith revealed through Jesus Christ by loving the brotherhood.
"If we love one another, God dwelleth in us."
John is saying 'if we keep on loving one another', it is proof that God is abiding in us. Remember, this 'agape' divine love cannot be manufactured. There are a great many churches that offer courses in how to love your neighbor, and how to get along with your spouse, such as that worldwide maudlin group called 'Promise Keepers.' All that these things amount to be are psychological mental exercises, of training oneself to be accepted by a religious society. What we need is what John is telling us in this wonderful epistle, Love God and love one another, that is, recognize who God is, and love Him, and recognize who other believers are, that they are related to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and love them for their relationship.
"And His love is perfected in us."
God, by His Holy Spirit, has made it possible for us to be keep on loving one another. Again John is explaining to us that it is not our love to God, nor His love to us, but the nature of this 'agape' love. This divine love, God is bringing to a completion in us.
F.F. Bruce in his commentary on First John quotes C.H. Dodd:
"John makes use of the strongest expressions for union with God that contemporary religious language provided, in order to assure his readers that he does seriously mean what he says: that through faith in Christ we may enter into a personal community of life with the eternal God, which has the character of agape, which is essentially supernatural and not of this world, and yet plants its feet firmly in this world, not only because real agape cannot but express itself in practical conduct, but also because the crucial act of agape was actually performed in history, on an April day about AD 30, at a supper-table in Jerusalem, in a garden across the Kidron Valley, in the headquarters of Pontius Pilate, and on a Roman cross at Golgotha. So concrete, so actual, is the nature of the divine agape; yet none the less for that, by entering into relation of agape thus opened up for men, we may dwell in God and he in us" (The Gospel and Epistles of John F.F. Bruce).
Verse 13, "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit."
LGT "In this we are knowing that we are abiding in him and He in us, because he has given us out of His Spirit.
"Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us"
The fruit of the Spirit is love. We cannot produce agape love. When we love our fellow believer we have the confidence that He is abiding or remaining in us, and as He is dwelling in us He is perfecting this love, that is, He is bringing it to its fullness.
"Because He hath given us of His Spirit."
Our confidence that God is dwelling in us is in this assurance because He has given us His Holy Spirit. The verb 'has given' is in the perfect tense, which means that it began at a point in time in the past, and has reached its culmination, and continues as a completed result. The facts are all there, God has indwelt us with His Holy Spirit, and He has comforted us with the assurance that he dwells in our hearts, by the fact that we are able to love other believers with this wonderful agape love.
Verse 14, "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."
LGT "And we have scrutinized and are testifying (bearing witness) that the Father has sent the Son a Savior (deliverer, rescuer) of the world."
"And we have seen and do testify"
I believe John is using an inclusive 'we' here including his readers. John is saying that he and his readers are beholding this truth because of the Holy Spirit, whereas the false teachers, the Gnostics, could have never seen.
"When the Apostle says, we have seen and do testify he refers to himself and others. And by seeing, he does not mean any sort of seeing, but what belongs to faith, by which they recognized the glory of God in Christ, according to what follows, that He was sent to be the Savior of the world; and this knowledge flows from the illumination of the Spirit" (John Calvin's comm. on First John).
"That the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."
This is what they all knew by faith; the reason for the incarnation was that Christ has been offered to all as Savior of the world.
Verse 15, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."
LGT "Whoever might confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the God will be abiding in him and he in the God."
"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,"
This is a very interesting phrase. John said earlier that if we love one another it is proof God is dwelling in us. As we have learned from chapter one verse nine the term confess means that we say the same thing about our sin that God says about our sin for forgiveness. When the word 'confess' is used, John is saying we must see things from the divine perspective. We must say the same thing about Jesus Christ that God says about Him, 'that He is the Son of God.' By the way, our confession is made to the Father, and to the Father alone. God forgives us when we sin, and He also saves us when we confess, that is, say the same thing about His Son, that Jesus is His Son.
"God dwelleth in him, and he in God."
All it takes is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be placed in a secure abiding relationship with God the Father.
"Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and He in God." This is the reason that the Lord Jesus could say, 'Whatever God does, I do.' He made this tremendous claim: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life' (John 5:24). How is that possible? He had just said in John 5:19, ' The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.' He is going to raise the dead, and He is going to judge all of the dead. Therefore, He can say to you today, that because of who he is, if you will hear His voice, and if you will believe on Him, you will be saved" (T.T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 16, "And 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."
LGT "And we have known and have believed (trusted) the (this) love which the God is having (possessing) in us. The God is love, and the one who is abiding in the (this) love is abiding in the God and the God is abiding in him."
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us."
The Greek perfect tense egnokamen 'have known' explains a great deal here. The meaning is that they all knew of God's love in the past, and they now still know it. I remind you that the perfect tense in the Greek is that something has begun in the past and reached its culmination, and continues on into the future as a completed result.
"What is here being said about love is no matter of mere theory; it is something which is proved in experience and faith. In speaking of 'the love, which God has in us' John may mean more than His love for us; that is included, indeed, but the love which God has for His children is poured into their hearts by His Spirit and flows out to others. The love, which dwells in the community of God's children and which they show one to another is His love imparted to them. More than that: the God of love imparts Himself to His people, so dwelling within them that they, in turn, dwell in His love and dwell in Him" (cf. verse 12). [The Gospel and Epistles of John F.F. Bruce]
"God is love."
This term 'God is love' speaks of the omnipresence of God. If God dwells within us, His love ought to be present in us. How can we say, says John, 'we love God' and hate our fellow believer. This is the second time in this chapter that John says 'God is love', the first time was in verse eight.
"And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."
It is impossible to say you love God and hate a brother or sister in this life.
"God is love, is the minor proposition in an argument; for from faith to love he reasons this way: By faith God dwells in us, and God is love; then, wherever God abides, love ought to be there. Hence it follows that love is necessarily connected with faith" (John Calvin's Comm. on First John).
Verse 17, " Herein 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.
LGT "In this (the) love has been brought to its goal with us, in order that we may have boldness (confidence) in the Day of Judgment, because just as that One is, we also are in this (the) world."
"Herein is our love made perfect",
God's love is made perfect means that it has been brought to the goal God intended for it. This goal is as has been stressed over and over by John, that we love God, and that we love one another. I think it is good to be reminded here that the love that God is perfecting in us is the unemotional divine 'agape' love. This is the love that we have for our brothers and sisters in Christ, by recognizing our relationship with God as family members. If we see our brothers and sisters as joint heirs with Jesus Christ, our treatment of them will be based on the same premise. John Calvin put it this way: "That we are partakers of divine adoption, when we resemble God as children their father; and, secondly, that this confidence is invaluable, for without it we must be most miserable."
"That we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment:"
I believe that the rewards that will be presented at the Judgment Seat of Christ will be for this love we have for God and one another. If this love is brought to its goal in us, we will have nothing to fear at the 'Bema Seat.' Spiritual maturity is in this one thing, 'Divine Love.' What a wonderful thing it will be, not to shrink back at the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Because as He is, so are we in this world."
We are in Christ, and we are accepted on this basis. The fact that God's love is being perfected in us is a sure sign that it is a work of the Holy Spirit. If we were able to develop a love, we can be sure that it would not be perfect. This love that John is talking about, is a perfect love, and therefore it could only be brought to its goal by God the Holy Spirit.
Verse 18, "There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
LGT "Fear is not in the (this) love, but this goal attaining love is throwing out the fear, because the (this) fear is having curtailment (cutting off), moreover, the one who is fearing has not been brought to the goal in the (this) love."
"There is no fear in this love;"
One of the wonderful features of 'agape' love is that it drives out fear. We who believe in eternal security have no fear in our safety in being kept by the power of God's love. We know that we are secure in Christ Jesus and that we are preserved unto the day of our salvation. This is also true of the love that God has shed abroad in our hearts enabling us to love Him and to love our fellow Christians.
"But perfect love casteth out fear."
This perfect love, that only God can manifest, flows into our hearts and casts out our fear, which only comes through ignorance. We must understand the true meaning of love before it can take effect in our hearts and minds, and the only place we can learn about this perfect love is in the perfect Word of God.
"Because fear hath torment."
John's desire is that all who believe will allow God's love to be perfected in their hearts, because doubts produce fear, and fear in turn results in torments of the mind. John is very protective of his children in Christ, and he stresses over and over in this epistle the assurance we may have in our salvation, and also in our Christian walk.
"He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
Fear is caused by ignorance of the Word of God. God's Word is not complicated and written so that only the 'scholastics' can understand it, and then explain it to us. The Word of God is not understood because of lazy neglect, not in difficulty in understanding. Spurgeon said, 'God put the cookies (The Word of God) on the bottom shelf so even the kiddies could get to them. The more we saturate ourselves with God's Word, the more we will understand it. Please don't be mislead by those who would have you believe that only 'they' are able to explain the Word of God, because of their great knowledge and years of study. I personally enjoy reading commentaries on the Word, especially when I read those who agree with my point of view. I have learned a great deal from other Christian men, but I have found that the Bible does throw a great deal of light on the commentaries.
"He that fears is not made perfect in love." If you are fearful, you cannot enjoy your salvation. Joy stems from love, and if you have love for the Lord Jesus, for God, and for your brethren, then fear has been cast out" (T.T.B. J.Vernon McGee).
Verse 19, "We love Him, because He first loved us."
LGT "We are loving, because He first loved us."
Here is another case where the literal Greek translation states the case more accurately. As you can see there is no object 'Him' in the first phrase, 'we are loving.' We are able to love, because He first loved us. He loved us 'while we were yet sinners.' John says 'we are loving', that is, 'we Christians.' Of course it is true that we love Him, because He sent His Son to the Cross making it possible for us to love Him.
Verse 20, "If 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?"
LGT "If anyone might say that I am loving the God and may be hating his brother, a liar he will be. For the one who is not loving his brother, whom he has seen, he is not able to be loving the God whom he has not seen."
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar."
John says here that it is impossible to love God if you hate your brother. Plain and simple, if you hate your brother, and say you love God, you are a liar, you are out of fellowship, because you are breaking one of Christ's commandments, that is, loving God, and loving your brother. If you hate your brother, you are walking in darkness. A.T. Robertson points that the Greek tense in both cases gives the true meaning, which is, 'If anyone keeps on hating his brother', and the one who does not 'keep on loving his brother.
"For he that loveth not his bother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"
John applies simple logic to the equation. If we don't love the objects of God's love, all His family, we are certainly not able to love the Father of the family.
Verse 21, "And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God loves his brother also."
LGT "And this is the commandment we are having from Him, that the one who is loving God is also loving his brother."
Here again John is reminding the believers of the commandment Christ gave in the Gospel. In chapter two verses ten and eleven John wrote to them of the benefit of the 'new commandment' Christ gave, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light (fellowship), and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not wither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."
Remember, we have two commands from Christ, 'to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and might, and to love our fellow Christian our selves.' We can only do this as we submit our wills to His commands, for the Holy Spirit only produces this divine love.
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