Epiphany Camden - Christ-Centered Scrutinizing - 1 John 4.1-6

“Christ-Centered Spiritual Scrutinizing”: 

“Christ-Centered Spiritual Scrutinizing” Community Group Study of a sermon by Pastor Doug Logan on 1 John 4:1-6 Epiphany Fellowship of Camden Prepared by John Matthew Leone Leadership Development Coordinator 1 February 2012

1 John 4:1-6: 

1 John 4:1-6 1 John 4:1 (ESV)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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

1 John 4:1-6: 

1 John 4:1-6 1 John 4:4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 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.

Themes in 1 John: 

Themes in 1 John

Themes in 1 John: 

Themes in 1 John Themes in this section of 1 John: True and False Teachers (antichrists) The World Knowing God

1. Testing the Spirits: 

1. Testing the Spirits 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test [ dokimazo ] the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. “Test” is the translated from dokimazo , which means “discern, examine” (Key Dictionary of the Greek New Testament). In the previous section, John had called his readers to love one another. Here, he calls them to a “keen diligence. Love, as John understands it, is apparently not indiscriminate affection, but discerning devotion” (Robert W. Yarbrough, 1-3 John , Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008], 219).

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Why does John say “test the spirits ” rather than “test the teachers ”? John envisions a social setting, perhaps “communal worship where utterances reflecting religious spirits...are in evidence (cf. 1 Cor. 12:3; 14:32). D. Smith proposes that ‘Christian prophets claiming the authority of the Spirit have been addressing the community.’ Burge speaks of ‘pneumatics, teachers claiming that their words were inspired by the Spirit of God.’ In such a setting full fidelity to the apostolic teaching about Jesus Christ, both human and divine, is a sine qua non of authentic Christian worship” (Yarbrough, 224). 1. Testing the Spirits

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Recognized teachers in the church and those who try to exercise influence through the promotion of certain teachings are not to be heard without proper, biblically-informed discrimination (testing). “The Spirit prescribes to us...that the faithful should not receive any doctrine thoughtlessly and without discrimination. We ought, then, to take heed.... All are not to be heard indiscriminately.” John Calvin 1. Testing the Spirits

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Understanding that part of our responsibility as believers is to have a discriminating attitude toward teachers in the church, why do so many believers tend to uncritically follow and practically worship their pastors and teachers? One possible answer : Some don’t feel confident enough in their knowledge of Scripture to challenge a pastor or teacher on a point of doctrine. Another possible answer : Some people are comforted by being told what to believe and think. 1. Testing the Spirits

PowerPoint Presentation: 

The opposite error of uncritically accepting everything the pastor teaches is to challenge and criticize nearly every teaching and decision the pastor(s) make. These schismatics take the imperative to “test the spirits” to the extreme, and usually create division within the body as a result. (See last week’s study on 1 John 3:11-24.) Some factors underlying such behavior are pride and envy of the pastor’s rightful authority in the church (cf. Heb. 13:17; 1 Cor. 16:16; Phil. 2:29; 1 Thess. 5:12-13; 1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:9-13; 1 Pet. 5:2). 1. Testing the Spirits

2. We are Overcomers in Christ: 

2. We are Overcomers in Christ Verse 4 states that believers “are from God” and that we “have overcome ” (perfect active indicative of nikao , indicating a present finished state resulting from a past action) the world and those who are in it (cf. John 16:33). “It is not clear whether John has in mind antichrist and allied spirits, evil people in the world generally, those who have left the church (2:19), or some combination of these. Whether he has any or all of these in view, John declares victory [in Christ]” (Yarbrough, 227).

2. We are Overcomers in Christ: 

2. We are Overcomers in Christ We have overcome because “ the one who is among you is greater than the one who is in the world” (Yarbrough translation). “Here the distributive sense , which includes the individual sense but enlarges the reference to the corporate society [of the body of Christ], is preferable. Christ is not present in the individual to any greater extent than the individual participates in the presence of Christ amid the apostolic fellowship as a whole” (Yarbrough, 227).

2. We are Overcomers in Christ: 

2. We are Overcomers in Christ Compare this sense of the Spirit of Christ “among” us with the Johannine understanding of Christ being the One who “walks among” the churches in Rev. 2:1. Compare this sense of the Spirit of Christ “among” us with the Matthean understanding of Christ as the One who is “among” the “two or three” who are “gathered in [His] name” (Matt. 18:20).

2. We are Overcomers in Christ: 

2. We are Overcomers in Christ Note also the context of discernment and weighing of matters for church discipline and excommunication in Matthew 18:20. There, conduct determines who is in or out of the community of faith. In 1 John 4:1-6, it is doctrine that determines who is in or out of the covenant community. In both texts, the marks of the regenerating, indwelling Spirit are evident. He empowers our minds (so that we think right about Christ) and our will (so that we act right in imitation of Christ).

2. We are Overcomers in Christ: 

2. We are Overcomers in Christ We “overcome” only because the victory has been gained by Christ our Lord. The victory becomes ours as we abide in Christ (1 John 2:27-28). It is important to note that this victory is completed only in the age to come (3:2). “The ‘already/not yet’ structure of Christian existence [that is] frequently noted in Paul is present likewise in John’s thinking” (Yarbrough, 228).

2. We are Overcomers in Christ: 

2. We are Overcomers in Christ How does knowing that we already possess the ultimate victory in Christ impact our lives in the present, in the day-to-day drudgery?

PowerPoint Presentation: 

John states in v. 6 that “this is how we know” who is “from God”: whoever belongs to God “listens” to the apostolic message. Those who don’t accept the apostolic message (delivered down to us in the Scriptures) on its face do not belong to God. Simply put, those who are constantly twisting and fighting with the clear message of the gospel and with Scripture do not belong to God , but to the devil and to the world. 3. The Mark of God’s Children

3. The Mark of God’s Children : 

3. The Mark of God’s Children 1 John 4:6 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 [ plane in Greek]. 2 Pet. 3:16 There are some things in them [Paul’s letters] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error [ plane in Greek] of lawless people and lose your own stability.

3. The Mark of God’s Children : 

3. The Mark of God’s Children 1 John 4:6 reminds us of the schism of 2:19 and those who “went out” from the covenant community. We often think of schism in a negative sense. Does John present schism and division as a positive or negative thing?

3. The Mark of God’s Children : 

3. The Mark of God’s Children “Division is painful, but sometimes it is necessary, and when necessary it may even have a [ positive ] consoling aspect. In 4:6 John seems to be stating that the clarity that results from people showing their true colors is valuable. Out of the crucible of disagreement or error may come an occasion for discerning God’s Spirit from the spirit of imposters or pretenders. On such occasions the apostolic testimony provides resources for informed deliberation and confirmation of wise choice” (Yarbrough, 229).

3. The Mark of God’s Children : 

3. The Mark of God’s Children Is it not more beneficial for schismatics and false teachers to go out (or be thrown out) of the assembly than for them to remain? Is it not more beneficial to the flock if the wolves are driven away by the shepherd (or that they go out on their own accord)?

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves [i.e., the elders of the Ephesian church] and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves [false teachers] will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert...