Little children (believers, dear ones), you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind]. 1 John 4:4
Welcome to chapter four of 1 John and to afaithtalk.com‘s Bible Study. I’m so glad you’re here.
Before we begin studying today, let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, thank You for this time, this study and the beautiful words You have for us today. Thank You for guiding and leading us as we study and thank You for revealing all You want us to see. In Your Name we pray. Amen.
Please read 1 John 4:1-3
Testing the Spirits
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source]; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son’s true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world.
Yes, it helps if you read slowly or just skip the brackets, yet they are often very helpful in understanding. So thus far what John has said is that we can know and recognize the Spirit of God because anyone who acknowledges and confesses that Jesus has come to earth as a man is of God. For Jesus came as a man who was fully human and fully God all at once.
Please read 1 John 4:4
4 Little children (believers, dear ones), you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind].
Yes, Believer, you are of God and you belong to Him, and are very dear to Him. Did you know you have already overcome the agents of the antichrist? You have because He who is in you, Christ who is in you through the Holy Spirit given us, is greater than all of them.
Please read 1 John 4:5-6
5 They [who teach twisted doctrine] are of the world and belong to it; therefore they speak from the [viewpoint of the] world [with its immoral freedom and baseless theories—demanding compliance with their opinions and ridiculing the values of the upright], and the [gullible one of the] world listens closely and pays attention to them. 6 We [who teach God’s word] are from God [energized by the Holy Spirit], and whoever knows God [through personal experience] listens to us [and has a deeper understanding of Him]. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know [without any doubt] the spirit of truth [motivated by God] and the spirit of error [motivated by Satan].
Please read 1 John 4:7
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us [unselfishly] [a]love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience].
This is one place where I will point out the bracketed text. Knowing God in an experiential way is how you know you’ve been born of God, blessed by God, He is near, He knows you, all of it. If you don’t know how to experience it, read his words, do what they say or just ask Him to surprise you and watch as you go about your day. He loves to answer that prayer.
Please read 1 John 4:8
8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]
God is love, it’s an enduring attribute of His nature.
Please read 1 John 4:9-11
9 By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath]. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another.
By this… back up to verse 7, this being the love we are to show other believers.
Encouragement to love one another. Really doing what is best for one another is obeying Him. And it’s in this love that we show we belong to Him.
Please read 1 John 4:12-13
12 No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us. 13 By this we know [with confident assurance] that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given to us His [Holy] Spirit.
But if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is completed and perfected in us. (Filled to all the fullness of God.) By this we know and can have complete confidence, that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given to us His Holy Spirit. Given to us..His Holy Spirit. Yes, it’s true, because when God sees you, He sees Jesus. Because you are hidden in Jesus and Jesus is the only way you get all these benefits. Praise Your Holy Name dear Lord.
Please read 1 John 4:14
14 We [who were with Him in person] have seen and testify [as eye-witnesses] that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
You can trust John, he’s an eye-witness of Jesus Christ and he knows and believes, in fact he is one of the first that believed. So much so in his gospel letter he refers to himself as the Beloved, and the one Jesus loved. Remember from verse 8, Love is who God is, it’s His eternal nature.
Please read 1 John 4:15-17
15 Whoever confesses and acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him. 17 In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.
Confidence and Assurance and Boldness…because as He is, so are we in this world. Because He is in us and with us and His love is coming to completion in us.
Please read 1 John 4:18
18 There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love].
This love, it is complete and full-grown and perfect love, there is nothing ever to fear. You are always loved. Love Himself is in you. If you don’t know this love, let these words soak so far into you, memorize them, marvel over them, dwell on them, and pray. For it’s nearly impossible to love if you don’t know already that you are loved.
Please read 1 John 4:19-21
19 We love, because [b]He first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.
This is the commandment we have from Him: love one another as Jesus has loved us.
See John 15. Love seeks the best for another.
Thank You, Jesus. Amen.
Footnotes
- 1 John 4:7 See note 2:10.
- 1 John 4:19 Because God bestowed on humanity a free will, man is not forced to love Him, but rather consciously and freely chooses the response he makes to God’s love.