Reading Other People’s Mail: 1 John – Day 4
Day 4 – 1 John 4
Take some time to Read 1 John chapter 4
Develop Discernment
John wants every one of his readers to understand that the Christian life is also a life of discernment. It’s important that we understand the difference between right and wrong. It’s also important that we understand true teaching from false teaching. John asserts that there are many “false prophets” (1 John 4:1).
I don’t think it’s an accident that John uses the word prophets to describe these false teachers. The danger of spiritual truth is that people can use it to gain authority over others. People can also claim to have new spiritual truths if they claim to be a prophet. Prophets, after all, hear the voice of God and proclaim it to others. John and the rest of the disciples didn’t get their message from some abstract spirit that whispered things to them. They heard it for themselves from Jesus. They saw it as they traveled from place to place. They literally had their hands on it as they ministered to the masses alongside Jesus.
Obviously, the false prophets who were resisting John were making claims about Jesus that were totally false. One of these claims was that Jesus didn’t come in “in the flesh” (4:2). John is likely referring to an early form of Gnosticism here. In essence, these false teachers were making the claim that Jesus only appeared to come in the flesh. A more developed form of this teaching was that the flesh is bad, therefore Jesus could not have actually taken on real flesh.
John, along with the other disciples, would be alarmed and even angry about such teaching. John, in the gospel that bears his name, says that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The birth of Christ is the story of the incarnation. In-carne means “in the flesh.” The gospel story is undermined in every way if Jesus didn’t become one of us through the powerful work of God. He is from God in every way. The false teachers John was dealing with argued against such things and claimed the authority to do so as prophets. John agrees that they are prophets—false prophets and antichrists.
You are Different
John readers are the remnant of people that have continued in the true and right teaching about Jesus. They are in John’s words “from God.” Their “from God” status comes from their refusal to believe these false teachings and from presence of God in their lives, thus John’s statement “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). These other people are of the world, but not true Christ followers. True Christ followers are of and from God!
More Love
The old familiar theme is love. True love does not originate with us. Its origin is in God and of God because he loved us before we even knew what love was. The definitive proof of God’s love is Jesus (4:9). Jesus is God’s love, come in the flesh (the incarnation). Jesus is God’s love in action. God didn’t tell us to get right first in order for him to love us. God loved us first, by sending Jesus to pay the price of sin for us (4:9).
This is why we should want to love each other. We love each other because we have been loved so greatly. Loved people are called to love. God’s presence in our lives will be manifest as we love each other (4:12).
John’s message cannot be understood apart from his main points. First, Jesus is the ultimate example of love and God’s provision for the forgiveness of sin. Second, God’s love is most fully understood in the coming of Jesus in the flesh. Trust in Jesus—as the Son of God, as the one who atones for sin, as God’s supreme example of love—is what makes one a true believer. Any teaching that adds to this message or takes away from it is false teaching.
Application:
John often seems repetitive because he is. His message about love is like the chorus of a song. After every verse, he comes back to it. We don’t know much about the false prophets that John is talking about, but every indication is that love wasn’t one of their character traits, particularly love for the church body they left behind. John and the remaining people were enemies. John had two essential criteria for the believer—that they believe the true teaching of Jesus and that they live lives of love.
How can we be discerning about right and wrong, and about false teaching and teachers?- Discernment is the process of identifying what’s wrong and choosing what’s right. What does this look like for you both in the teaching you take in and the love you live out?
What would you say to God based on your reading today? Take some time to talk to God in prayer.
Consider writing down a key verse or verses from today on an index card or small piece of paper and carry it with you today. Look at it as often as you can as a reminder of what we learned today.
Possible Verses: 1 John 4:4; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 4:10-11; 1 John 4:18; 1 John 4:19
