How to Know the Spirit of God 1 John 4:2 - Equipped for Battle

John the apostle has been sharing with us about false spirits, and now he is giving the ways to identify them. Today he contrasts the way to discover false spirits versus the Spirit of God. He wrote in First John chapter four and verse two:

Hereby you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

Now upon first glance this seems like a very simple requirement to understand the Spirit of God, however, there is a little background that should be established. In the time of the apostles there were religious groups around named the “Judaizers” and the “Gnostics”. Basically, the Judaizers were a group who decided that it was okay to believe in Jesus, but they required that people also keep the Jewish law. The Gnostics get their name from the Greek word “gnosis” which basically means to “be in the know”. They believed that nothing material was holy. Therefore Jesus could not have appeared in the flesh, but He actually was a phantom who when He walked on the seashore would not leave any footprints. Now we see why John was addressing those with false spirits.

John wrote, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” The words “is come” actually means “is coming” in the flesh. Some religions today put Jesus in the angel category rather than coming in the flesh. Still others believe that Jesus is not God who has come in the flesh but rather a created being such as Michael the archangel, but according to John who saw Jesus, lived with Jesus, was taught personally by Jesus, Jesus was God who came in the flesh. John wrote it this way in the gospel of John in chapter one and verses one and fourteen:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus Christ is the word of God. He is God, and He came to live among His creation. He paid the price for people's sins with His death on the cross, and He did so to restore fellowship with people whom He loves. Those who are false spirits try to avoid this loving effort by reasoning or giving some other explanation for the existence of man, but John tells us clearly that those who confess that Jesus is come in the flesh “is of God.”

Next time we shall look at this topic even more closely as John our beloved spiritual father seeks to guide us toward truth and away from false spirits that are in the world, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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