67 - Evidence for Abiding

Evidence for Abiding; 1 John 4:1-6

In Galatians chapter five we get a list of the fruit of the Spirit. As we look at that list we recognise that an evidence is produced in the life of the believer that is related to the character of Christ. As the believer advances in spiritual growth he does so on the basis of two things: a) the teaching and filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) fills us, and we are commanded to be filled by means of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis there is not that the Holy Spirit is the content of the filling but that He is the agent, the instrument, of the filling. We are filled by means of the Holy Spirit. The Greek uses a dative clause there indicating instrumental means. So the Holy Spirit fills us with something and what He fills us with is what Paul refers to are the parallel passage in Colossians 3:16, the Word of Christ. So it is the Spirit of God plus the Word of God that produces maturity in rhe child of God. We can't get there any other way than through those facets.

What John is saying in 1 John chapter four is similar and yet different. It is fascinating to make a comparison between John and Paul because they use completely different vocabulary and they come with a slightly different perspective. This is because these are two completely different personalities involved. As we have seen, the main body of this epistle began in 2:28. There John is introducing his main theme, and that is how believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can have confidence at His appearing. Then we have the section which goes from 2:29-3:10a we have the repetition of the Greek word phaneroo which indicates that sooner or laster our life is going to be manifested before the appearance of Jesus Christ and we have to be ready. From 3:10b-23 emphasises the priority of Jesus' command to love one another. Then in verse 24 John uses the word "abide" again. It takes us right back to 2:28 where the main command is to abide in Him so we won't be ashamed at His coming. To 1 John 3:24 is going to restate the key idea here so that we are reminded of what he is talking about. The question is: How do we do that? The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, so abiding is related to obedience. When we are disobedient we are not abiding. 1 John 1:9 resumes the abiding.

Then John says: "We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." If we look at that phrase "we know by this," if what follows can hang by itself then we know "by this" applies to what he said before. But this is a dependent clause, an explanatory clause. So what John is asking is: How do we know that we are abiding? Because of the Spirit whom He has given us. What John is referring to here is not the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit but the filling of God the Holy Spirit because, as we have seen, there is a correlation between abiding in Christ and the filling of the Spirit. What we see here in verse 24 is that we know if we are abiding. How? Because of the Spirit whom He has given us. What is the Spirit doing? If we are walking by the Spirit the Spirit is producing the fruit of the Spirit. That is one way we know. But John is going to go on and say that there are other evidences of that abiding relationship.  

1 John 4:1 ^NASB "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." The point that John is making is that not only is abiding related to the fruit production of God the Holy Spirit but abiding or fellowship is also related to sound doctrine. So fellowship isn't just something that is relational, it isn't just something that is broken because of sin; it is something that must be based on sound doctrine. If you don't believe the right things you can't have fellowship with God. The question arises: How correct does one's doctrine have to be to have fellowship? Do you have to have every detail in line or not? No, because the issue that John is focusing on is the foundational issues such as the Trinity. If you don't believe in the Trinity you don't have a saviour who is fully God, undiminished deity united with true humanity. If you have a Jesus who is somehow God but He really didn't appear as a man (Gnosticism) then Jesus couldn't die physically, because the Gnostic idea was that God couldn't be united in a physical body. The word "spirit" in this verse has to do with thinking: test every mode of thought, every expression of thought. The end of verse 6 says: "By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." We know grammatically that this "by this we know" refers to what he said previously. It speaks of the evaluation covered in verses 5, 6. It is talking about thinking. How do we know that the thought is true or false? That is in context how John is using the term "spirit." The word "test" is dokimazo [dokimazw] which means to evaluate for the purpose of  determining what is correct. This is not a harsh judgment.

"Whether they are of God" – ek [e)k] plus theos [qeoj], whether it has its source in God. This is not a statement of believer versus unbeliever but whether or not what somebody is teaching has its origin in God and is the truth or has its origin in man and is not the truth.    

1 John 4:2 ^NASB "By this you know the Spirit of God:…" That is a break and should have a period after it, not a colon or semi-colon.  What follows the word "God" in v. 2? "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; [3] and every spirit [teaching] that does not confess [acknowledges] Jesus is not from God." Does that sentence stand alone? Yes, it does. It is an independent clause and that means that "by this you know" doesn't refer to the phrase "every spirit" and following, but it refers to verse 1. How do we know the Spirit of God? By testing the spirits, by evaluating what is taught. So evaluation presupposes a frame of reference. To get a frame of reference you have to have spent time studying the Word of God. We are to develop that frame of reference in our souls so that we can evaluate what is being taught and use Scripture as the standard. We must remember that in verse 2 John uses the phrase "of God" not to refer to salvation but to relate to his spiritual status, whether he is walking by the Spirit, abiding in Christ, or not.  "… this is the {spirit} of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." This is the same kind of teaching that is going to characterise that of the Antichrist, i.e. the future world ruler who is going to come as the substitute messiah. The spirit of the antichrist is the denial of who Jesus Christ is. This is the same teaching as the antichrist, the one who dies that Jesus is the Messiah.

Then in 2 John 7 he adds something to this: ^NASB "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ {as} coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist." What is interesting is that he uses this phraseology "gone out into the world." They were somewhere else before they were in the world. If you are already in the world you don't go out into the world. That raises the question: if they went out into the world, where were they before they were in the world? That means that he is talking about believers who have succumbed to false teaching. These were not unbelievers. The principle he is articulating here is that these false teachers were they who had come from within the context of the apostolic body. Cf. 1 John 2:19.

1 John 4:4 ^NASB "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." This is another test, another contrast, and he is addressing these believers. The congregation he is addressing has not succumbed to the false teaching. "You are of God," still abiding and still walking by means of the Spirit; "overcome them," i.e. have not allowed them to deceive you. They have overcome the deception of this false doctrine that Jesus did not come in the flesh; "because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." This is a fascinating verse because so often we want to take it out of context. He is not talking about salvation or positional reality at this point, although it is implied here; he is talking about the fact that they are able to overcome false doctrine because their relationship with God the Holy Spirit and they are using this in such a way that they are able to overcome the false teaching that is coming out of the cosmic system, i.e. that Jesus is not the Messiah. When he states this and says, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because," this is a truism, a gnomic principle, i.e. a principle that is a general truth that is true at all times. So he is taking this principle "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" and is applying it to the situation.

It is full of meaning. Who is "in you"? The Holy Spirit, and that is a reference to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the principle that the Holy Spirit's power is greater than the one that empowers the world. You can apply this particular passage to the issue of demon possession of the Christian, that because the one who is in you is greater than Satan, greater than the demons, you don't need to worry about that. But that is an application of the principle. In context that is not how John is using it. John is using this to tell then that the reason they have overcome the false teaching, the spirit of error, is because they have been walking by the Holy Spirit, they have been abiding in Christ, they have been assimilating doctrine, and they have been testing these false teachings. So on the basis of that they have because of the application of the Spirit in their own life they have been able to overcome the teaching that was coming out of the world system.   

Then we come to the last test, a contrast between the believer who is operating on divine viewpoint, the revelation of God incorporated in His Word, and the believer who is operating on cosmic thinking, i.e. the thinking of the world. 1 John 4:5 ^NASB "They are from the world; therefore they speak {as} from the world, and the world listens to them." They are from the world, ek tou kosmou [e)k tou kosmou], from the source of the world and therefore they speak as from the world. 1 John 2:16 ^NASB "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] The world is passing away, and {also} its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." These false teachers are from the world. Their thinking originates from the world and is consistent with the human viewpoint thinking of the world and therefore the world listens to them. This is because they haven't exchanged doctrine for their false human viewpoint. Remember the principle in Romans 12 is that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We have to exchange that human viewpoint that we have in our soul for the divine viewpoint of Scripture. That is how we progress in spiritual growth. Those who fail to are still going to be attracted to the world.  

1 John 4:6 ^NASB "We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." The mark of the abiding believer is positive volition. He is responsive to those who are teaching the truth. If you are not abiding in Christ then you are not going to be responsive to those who are teaching the truth, but if you are abiding in Christ then you are going to be responsive to those who are actively teaching the truth of the Word of God.

In this section John gives us several examples of how we can see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our own lives and as we perceive the manifestations of the Spirit in our own lives through the fruit of the Spirit and through correct doctrine we can know whether or not we are prepared to stand before Jesus Christ at the judgment seat of Christ when he appears at the Rapture.