The First Epistle of John: Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6

1. The First Epistle of John Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6 • I John 4:4 - You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. • Let’s set the stage here with what John had articulated in his gospel. • John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.“ • Now the black vs. white of John continues • You is emphatic and is best translated as Ye and addresses the little children • Potentially and likely easily deceived • What dose it mean to overcome? • Perfect active indicative • To conquer - to carry off the victory, come off victorious • Positional or conditional? • Could it be both? • Compare Heb 2:14 to Eph 6:10-18 • Applications: • Of Christ over all His foes 1 July 24, 2011 Bob Eckel

2. The First Epistle of John Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6 • Of Christians against the power of their foes, temptations and persecutions • I John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? • Of this world system, e.g. when one is arraigned or goes to law, to win the case • Paul looks at this similarly but with a slightly different twist • Rom 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. • Who is he that is in the world? • He who lives in the false prophets • To be contrasted to the ‘He’ who lives in us. • The prince who is in the world. • The spirit of the Antichrist 2 July 24, 2011 Bob Eckel

3. The First Epistle of John Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6 • II Cor 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. • Note 3 messages directed at believers here: • One that is personal • One that is of uplifting encouragement • One that divides the spirit of truth from that of error • John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. • 1 Cor 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. • I John 4:5 - They are of the world. Therefore they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears them. • So who are ‘they’? • Bin Laden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Adolf Hitler 3 July 24, 2011 Bob Eckel

4. The First Epistle of John Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6 • How does the Bible define Antichrist? • 1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. • 1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. • Geneva – ‘He brings a reason why the world receives these teachers more willingly than the true: that is, because they speak nothing but that which is worldly.’ • The false prophets and the world system are in perfect unison. • Can you think of some examples here? • A reminder from the OT - remember John is primarily addressing a Jewish audience • Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? • therefore they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears them • hears – literally hears or attend to, understands, perceives 4 July 24, 2011 Bob Eckel

5. The First Epistle of John Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6 • The world system has its own administration, language, and metrics. • And what are its metrics? • Can some of these appear to be good? • 1 Cor 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. • I John 4:6 - We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. • John begins here with a conclusive statement - literally, we are of the God • Not some but the God • Implies our union with Him • Both John and Paul have stated this in a number of ways • i.e. that we are His children, sons, and heirs. • and he who knows God (the one knowing God) hears us. • ginōskō is the Greek know here • Present active participle – we keep on getting to know Him • John literally repeats what Christ had already said in John 8:47 • he who is not of God does not hear us 5 July 24, 2011 Bob Eckel

6. The First Epistle of John Spirit of Truth vs. That of Error - I John 4:4-6 • And this is the way we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error • I Cor 2:10-12 - But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. • What is error? • planē – factual wrong, delusion, deceit or deception • What is the truth? • John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. • Since He is the truth, then everything about Him is true doctrine. • John 15:26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. • And how important is truth? • III John 3,4 - For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth [that is] in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 6 July 24, 2011 Bob Eckel