1 John 4:1-6
Believers must actively test spiritual claims by their confession of Jesus Christ come in the flesh, discerning between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Believers must actively test spiritual claims by their confession of Jesus Christ come in the flesh, discerning between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
To guard the church from false prophets by establishing a clear Christological standard for spiritual discernment.
Testing the Spirits, Confessing the Son, and Abiding in God’s Love
True life in God confesses Jesus Christ come in the flesh, receives apostolic truth, abides in God’s saving love, and proves love for God by loving fellow believers.