1 John 4 explained: Test the Voices, Then Love

Test the spirits (vv. 1-3)

A "spirit" here means a person claiming to speak by God's Spirit, and John's test is whether they admit Jesus was the Messiah who truly came as a real flesh and blood human. Many scholars think some teachers of the time were saying Jesus only seemed human, and John calls that idea the spirit of the antichrist, meaning a force opposed to Christ.

Two kinds of voices (vv. 4-6)

John tells his readers they have stood firm against these teachers, because God living in them is stronger than the one in the world, which most interpreters take to mean the devil. The false teachers draw crowds because their message fits the world's way of thinking, while people who know God recognize the message John and the first witnesses taught.

God is love (vv. 7-12)

John says love comes from God, and the clearest proof is that God sent his Son as a sacrifice for people's sins, an act of love that came from God's side first. No one has ever seen God, but when people love one another, God's love becomes real and visible among them.

How we know God is near (vv. 13-16)

John gives three signs that God lives in someone: God's Spirit given to them, the testimony of those who saw Jesus, and openly confessing Jesus as God's Son. It all rests on trusting the love God has already shown.

Love without fear (vv. 17-18)

The "day of judgment" is the final reckoning John expected at the end of time, and he says people living in God's love can face it with confidence. Fear, he says, comes from expecting punishment, and love that has grown to maturity pushes that fear out.

Love God, love people (vv. 19-21)

People love because God loved them first, so claiming to love an unseen God while hating a real person in front of you is a lie. For John, loving God and loving others cannot be pulled apart.

Key verse: 1 John 4:16

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on what it means that Jesus was a sacrifice for sins in verse 10: some say it turned aside God's just anger at sin, while others say it means God himself removed sin and its guilt to heal the relationship.

Something to think about

Do you think the way people treat those around them reveals more about what they truly believe than anything they say?