CHAPTER 4
[p. 320] CHAPTER 4
Verses 1-6. Here, before pursuing the subject, John stops again to point out the seducers. In the preceding chapter (verse 24) he has spoken of the gift of the Spirit of God, but there are also false spirits, and it is well to put the saints on their guard against them.
Verse 1. “Try the spirits.” The thing to be judged according to this exhortation, is not whether a man is converted, but whether a man who prophesies is speaking by the Spirit of God or by a spirit of demons. How are we to know the false spirits? Here is the touchstone.
Verses 2, 3. “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” By this test we discern the Spirit which is of God, and that which is not of God. A man who prophesies by the Spirit of God also confesses Jesus Christ come in the flesh. He not merely confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh, but he confesses Jesus Himself — the Jesus who came in flesh. To confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is to acknowledge a truth; to confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is to acknowledge the Person and lordship of Jesus.
It is not uncommon for the agents of the enemy, when putting forth false doctrines, to make use of the word of God, although they despise it. They quote it when it suits their purpose,+ and when it is inconvenient they despise and neglect it. All error proceeds from the devil, and he uses every agency to cause it to spread. And yet, although all error comes from him, it does not suffice that a doctrine be false to decide that he who puts it forth speaks by an evil spirit. In cases where there has been evidence that a demon was speaking, besides the excitement of the speaker, there has been an astonishing promptness of effect, and a wonderful power of persuasion.++ Alas! the flesh is always ready to give an ear to Satan, but it resists the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Besides, when the Holy Ghost works in man, He proceeds by appropriating the truth to the individual; and this result is not obtained very promptly.
+All heretics conceal their doctrines. In our days we have had proofs of this in the Irvingites and Mormons. It seems almost incredible that there should be any being on earth who could accept the absurdities of these latter. What success is to be attained over man by pandering to his flesh, and what a solemn example of Satan’s power!
++ This was the case among the Irvingites.
[p. 321] As soon as the demon is discerned, there is but one course — to treat the demon as a demon. If this course be adopted, he will be found powerless before the name of Jesus; but if we resort to any other way, if we yield to human considerations, if we are amiable with the agents of the enemy, we shall soon find ourselves in weakness before Satan: God not being able to be with us in the course we have chosen.
In the presence of these dangers how precious is the word of God to faith! It is the word which enlightens us that we may discern the adversary and error, and which shews us the path which God has marked out for faithfulness in such circumstances. Let us cleave to His word, with an upright heart, walking in lowliness before the Lord; and nothing can cause us to stumble on our way: God is faithful, He keeps His own, He will keep the youngest and the weakest. But without this submission to God and to His word, whatever beautiful sentiments we may express, or whatever clever method we may adopt, we shall have to feel the power of the enemy.
Verse 6. “We are of God” (we, the apostles); “he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us, hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” The words of the apostles are authoritative. Those to whom these delegates of the Lord spoke were under the responsibility of receiving the word, because it came from an apostle. The refusal to submit would shew that the person was of the world, and following the spirit of error. Our responsibility is the same, for we possess the epistles written by the apostles. Having given these words of warning and teaching respecting the spirits, John resumes the subject commenced in chapter 3: 24.
Verses 7-12. “God dwelling in us” is a privilege which derives all its value from the love of God in which we share.
[p. 322] Among the number of blessings which have fallen to our lot, there are several of a kind different from the one we have just spoken of; for instance, those which flow from the counsels of God; the portion of the church as united to Christ, the inheritance promised to the saints, blessings which are unfolded in Paul’s epistles. But in the Epistle of John we get an order of privileges more connected with the Person of God Himself — with His nature, of which by grace we are partakers.
Verses 9-12. God has manifested His love by sending His only-begotten Son through whom He has given us life, found a propitiation for us, and by whom He has revealed Himself in love. These verses set forth the Christian privileges brought by Jesus at His first coming. Here are some details.
Verses 9, 10. The love of God which now moves in our souls was first shewn by acts outside us. It wrought in our behalf when as yet there was nothing but sin in us. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Thus our privilege of feeling our hearts filled with the love of God flows from the love God had for us when we were but sinners; and this love has become ours by the possession of an object outside ourselves. If with respect to this privilege, we had only the subjective side, that is, the love in us, it would be pure mysticism; but there is also the objective side, the love of God for us. Thus there is no room for that self-worship which is such a strong characteristic of religious sentimentalism.
Verses 11, 12, are blessed effects of the presence and action of the love of God in us. Thereby God Himself dwells in us and His love is perfected in us. To what glorious truths does this link us! We read in the Gospel of John, chapter 1: 18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” And in this verse of the Epistle, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” The same Christ who revealed God in the world dwells in the saints in whom He also reveals God. Such is the privilege of those whose life Christ is. “His love is perfected in us.” When love is in exercise in the intercourse of saints, God has His place in this intercourse; He is there, for He Himself is love. And if God is present producing His love in others, it is a perfected love.
Verse 13. “Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” As in chapter 3: 24, so again in this verse we find the two privileges joined together: our dwelling in God, and God dwelling in us. “Of his spirit.” God has communicated His nature to us, He dwells in us. The church as a body is also the dwelling-place of God, on account of the personal presence of the Holy Ghost in the body. The church, being the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost, is highly blessed. This is not the place to unfold that blessing, pleasant as it would be to do so. Only for the sake of the subject now under consideration let us remark that the Holy Ghost manifested His presence in the church at the beginning by various signs; there were gifts of healings, of tongues, and other workings which all contributed to the glory of the presence of God in the midst of His saints. These glorious manifestations were not hindered by the presence of any even if unconverted.+ But when we learn from John that God dwells in us and that we know this privilege because God hath given us of His Spirit, we have a very different blessing before us; one that is inherent to the divine nature in us, a privilege which is inseparable from conversion, since it is conversion itself in its very essence.
We dwell in God and God dwells in us; this is the order of these privileges in our spiritual experience. Being conscious by the Spirit that we dwell in God, we thereby know that God dwells in us. It is the order followed in verse 13 which we are now considering. But when these privileges are looked upon in connection with the testimony of God and with divine operations, they are reversed: God dwells in us and we in Him. This is the subject set forth in the two following verses.
Verses 14, 15. “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” God gives us to believe the testimony and at the same time takes up His abode in us; this is one of the first of blessings on which others are built up. Thus as a simple result of this grace we dwell in God, we have our refuge in Him, we taste of His peace, His joy, and His rest.
When John says, “whosoever shall confess,” he sees life in its earliest fruits, and he finds in these another proof of God’s dwelling in us and of our dwelling in Him. What privileges we possess by faith! We have drawn from that fulness, from that ocean of life; and, after having received for ourselves, we become channels of communication to others.
Verse 16 is a summary of the preceding verses: “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us”; it is privilege of faith. “He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him”; it is experimental blessing.
Verse 17. Read “Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” Having given the proofs of the love of God for us, and having shewn that we have known and believed His love, John, in this verse, seeks to shew the immense blessing which the love of God sheds upon us. His love, which was manifested by the gift of the Son, is perfected in the grace which makes us to be such as Jesus is. We are “as he is” by the fact of having in us the life of Jesus glorified. The life which shone forth in Jesus when He came out of the grave (after having exhausted the judgment of God, abolished sin, and conquered death), divine life in man has been communicated to us, and it places us before God in the same standing as that of Jesus Himself.
It is not an imputed privilege; the love of God which constitutes it is a love that is perfected in us. We have received from God this life against which there is no judgment, for it is divine, and we have received it through Him who went under the judgment in our stead. Such is the love of God perfected in us. The effect of this grace is to give our souls full confidence as to the day of judgment. Evidently there could not be a place for us in that day more excellent than that of finding ourselves in the same position as the judge Himself. Verse 18. Again, what sentiments become ours in our daily life! No more fear; the love of God perfected in us has cast it out.
Verses 19-21. John puts the reality of the love of God in us to a counter-test: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” The proof that our love is really of God is in this; that we love the brethren, not on account of the satisfaction found in so doing, but because they are of God. We cannot love a person without taking an interest in his children. But suppose the case of a father having three sons; I love two of them, this does not testify that I love their father, for if I did, I should love the three sons. These principles which act as counter-proofs are very useful; we often need their test.