Each week throughout 2021, I will share a Bible study blog post taking us through the letter of 1 John. Only five chapters long, this brief book is worthy of our consideration. Whether you drop in for one post or many, I pray that you enjoy them. Access all posts here.
The great mountain ranges of the world produce many of the planet's most impressive rivers. Think of the Colorado River, for instance. Fed by many supporting tributaries, it begins in the majestic Rocky Mountains, the highest peaks of which are found in the state of Colorado. There, the snow gathers, then melts, and the waters flow (all the way to Mexico), providing water for millions of people and thousands of acres of farmland. Life flows from those mountains.
John thought of God like a great mountain from which life flows. He is the source of life. Love and light and truth and righteousness all flow from Him.
Today, we will see how God is the ultimate source of truth and love. Truth, because He cannot lie. Love, because He cannot hate. God is the origin of both truth and love.
And rather than be at odds with one another, truth and love perfectly overlap. The truth God reveals is wonderfully loving, and His love is never absent of truth. He is the perfect source of both.
This leads us to two main points for today's study.
First, since God is the originator of truth, John will tell us to test the messages we hear throughout our lives.
Second, since God is the originator of love, John will, again, tell us to love one another.
Let's look at both. Over the next three weeks, we will consider how to test the messages we hear, but also consider how to better love one another. Truth and love go together, and our text will help us see how. Let's read:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Here, we have John's main exhortation: Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1). Don't believe all the spirits. Test the spirits.
But what is a spirit?
For John, in this passage, a spirit is a messenger or a message. This is why he says, at the end of the verse, for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1). John had witnessed many depart from the church, never really members of God's family, false prophets who had launched out into the world.
So John exhorts his readers, and us, to test the messages we hear. We aren't to believe everything that presents itself as coming from God. We are to have discerning minds.
A good example of this careful mind comes to us from Paul's missionary journeys. When he visited Thessalonica, some Jewish people believed, but many persecuted him. He had made claims based on the Old Testament Scriptures, but they didn't care enough to look into it. So Paul had to run. He went south to Berea. The record says of them:
"Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (Acts 17:11, ESV)
We are to be like the Berean people, searching the Scriptures to see if the claims people make are so. We should not blindly receive the messages we hear.
Do Not Believe
For this, we must consider John's exhortation in this first verse. It would be easy to jump on the command to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, and we will spend some time thinking about how to do just that, but you have to see John's first directive. He said: Do not believe every spirit (1).
O believer, God asks you to be a nonbeliever as well. It is embedded in your identity as a believer. To inhale the air means you must also exhale; you cannot do one without the other.
Belief and unbelief are the same way. You cannot inhale belief without exhaling unbelief. By accepting the truth, you confess there is an error.
By loving righteousness, you become a hater of sin. By following good, you have come to reject evil. And when you believe in God and His gospel, there is much you cease to believe.
Other translations say it this way:
- "Don't believe everything you hear..."* (1 John 4:1, The Message)
- "Do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit..."* (1 John 4:1, New Living Translation)
Now, the last thing I want to encourage is a paranoid and hostile group of Christians. I have seen this close-minded type of Christian group. Only their select teachers are qualified to share with them because others outside their camp or network or denomination must be in error. They become rigid in secondary matters and paranoid about every Christian teacher. In groups like these, a hypercritical spirit ruins fellowship, because everyone is afraid to say or believe or do something the group does not accept.
But what I would like to foster is a more discerning view of the world.
When I was a boy, I was pretty convinced there were a few basic things to worry about. It boiled down to the big three. Drugs were one major enemy. Groups like D.A.R.E. came onto our elementary school campuses and scared us straight. We watched classic campaigns like the "this is your brain on drugs" commercial or the "Just Say No" movement. Another enemy was kidnappers. We were told not to talk to strangers. If someone tried to say hello or ask the time or pet our dog, they were, for sure, a kidnapper. And the last big enemy was quicksand. In every cartoon I watched as a child, quicksand was a major danger. So I was on the lookout. Drugs, kidnappers, and quicksand. None of it was gonna get me. And I have lived to tell the tale.
I'm being silly, I know, but what was the message there? Watch out. There is more than meets the eye. Be discerning. Not everyone who looks friendly is so. Have a critical eye.
And I think we could use a more discerning view of the messages we interact with each day. We must test them. We should not immediately believe them. Here are some environments it would be helpful to test the spirits:
- In the college classroom.
- From other Christians.
- From the pulpit.
- When online.
- The thoughts of the mind.
But how can we can test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1)? How can we tell if they are false prophets who have gone out into the world (1)? John gives us three questions to ask, and we will look at each in our next study.
