Read with Me
1 John 4:4-6 (HCSB)
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
Listen with Me
John has just warned his readers to be careful to test the spirits and not just believe what someone says because they claim to be from God. The spirit of antichrist was strong in those days, with various heresies rising up, the strongest of which was Gnosticism, and were deceiving many and leading them off the path of life.
But John’s audience in this letter had stood strong thus far. They had overcome the deceiving spirits and had remained faithful to the true gospel. And John gives appropriate credit to the Holy Spirit who lived and ruled in the hearts of those believers. He is the one who is in them and who is greater than the one who is in the world, the spirit of antichrist, satan, and those in and through whom he is working. Therefore, if they stand firm in Him, they need not fear being led astray.
Is it is on the basis of those two spirits that John divides the people of the world into two groups. For the Jewish people, this division was between Jew and Gentile. For the Greeks it was between Greek and barbarian. But for John it was between those who are from the world, and those who are from God.
Those who are from the world speak the language of the world, and those who are also of the world listen to them, resonate with their message, and agree with them. Those are the ones who are led by the spirit of antichrist.
But those who are from God speak God’s language, the language of wisdom, righteousness, and peace. And those who are from God listen to them, resonate with their message, and agree with them. Those are the ones who are led by the Holy Spirit.
John saw these two groups as easily identifiable, based on which message they listened to and walked in, but not immutable. Though this letter was written specifically to those who are already in the kingdom with a clear warning to not fall away but to stand by the truth, John’s gospel carries in it the clear message of salvation and transformation for those who move out of the ways of the world and its spirit into the kingdom through faith in Jesus. These can then listen to and obey a new Spirit and can follow the way of the kingdom of God.
Pray with Me
Father, we really need John’s clear warning today So many people hold onto the things of the world for a long time before they are dragged off the path and back into the darkness. We have done a poor job of teaching them that they must let go of the things of the world, the attitudes and mindsets from which they came, and wholly embrace a new Spirit and the total transformation that comes from Him. It is only with that whole-self transformation that we can make the shift from being of the world to truly joining the ranks of those who belong to Your kingdom. Lord, help me not only to get this message out, but to truly live it out myself, today and every day. Amen.