The spirit of antichrist

 

1 John 4:1-6

In 1John 4:1-6 the Holy Spirit is not talking about doctrine, and he is not talking about performance, He is instructing us to be on guard against the spirit of antichrist.  Verse one begins with “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.”  To test anything we must understand the propertys of what is to be tested, and without that it becomes almost impossible to measure the item to test.  John being led by the Spirit gives us clear instruction on how to perform the test.  In the second verse we have this instruction: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and now is in the world already.”

These are some of the things we can test: False teachers may say, Jesus was a good teacher, he was a prophet much like Moses or Abraham, but He was not God.   They may say Jesus did a lot of miracles but no one in their right mind would believe he was born of a virgin.  In fact after He arose triumphant over death and the grave many antichrists said He had not really died, or that His disciples had stolen his body.  So the test of a false teacher will always hinge on the deity of the God – man Jesus Christ.

John was not the only one who addressed the false teachers, the apostle Paul being lead by the Spirit of truth wrote the words for us in Colossians 2:8- 9,“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirit of the world, and not according Christ.  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”  The Lord Jesus Christ has authority and a false teacher or a person with the spirit of antichrist will not submit to His authority. 

The conflict we see being played out in the world today is God’s wrath on a world system that refuses to accept the authority of His Son, the Christ.  Paul in his letter to the Roman church made that very clear: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:18-23)

I found these words from John very encouraging, that we who are alive with the Spirit of Christ have overcome, that Jesus who lives in us is greater than he who is in the world.  In verses 5 & 6, John tells us these truths: “They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God.  Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.  By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  And this I’ve learned, those who put faith in the world and it’s system, often believe those of us who trust in Christ as the only hope, are uninformed and not very bright.  They claim to be wise and yet God calls them fools.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice