Believing Rightly and Loving Greatly

“It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”

Those words from Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix are as relevant today as they were in John’s day. No one in the early church was choosing between red and blue pills, but they were choosing between the teachings of the Apostles and the folks who had left the church. These false teachers were blinded from the truth and were actively recruiting John’s people to join them in the lie.

Even today, people who are far from the truth are inviting Christians to join them in their heresy. Entire religions have been created because people had a lie pulled over their eyes to blind them from the truth. But, as Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” 

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. (1 John 4:1) 

There is a spirit behind every teaching, and that spirit is either the Holy Spirit or the devil. It’s the responsibility of believers to recognize from which spirit the teaching comes. Christians are going to disagree with each other about doctrine, but we should be able to unite under the essential teachings of the faith even if we are divided by non-essential ones.

But John isn’t talking about disagreements among believers. He’s talking about doctrines that separate believers from unbelievers. Which doctrines would fall into that category? John could have mentioned any number of teachings, but he chose one, probably because the false teachers in his day were preaching it.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 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 4:2-3)

The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ is at the very heart of Christianity. It’s one of the essential truths of the faith. Jesus is both fully human and fully God. He’s not half God and half man, he’s fully each. John has already mentioned this in 2:18-27, and now he drives home the fact that anyone who disagrees with this teaching is being led by the enemy. No one who denies either that Jesus is human or that Jesus is divine is from God. 

Fortunately, John’s people have not followed the false teachers, so he commends them for that, and he writes one of the most profound sentences in the Bible. I’ve mentioned that this letter is full of little one-liners that are packed with powerful truth, and this is one of them:

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. (1 John 4:4)

The people in John’s church haven’t fallen for the lies of the enemy, because the Holy Spirit has protected them. The devil may have great power, but he only has the power that God grants him for his purposes. So while the devil’s power is big, God is bigger. This is no competition between equals. 

No matter what difficulties you face, regardless of what the evil one may throw at you, no matter what pain you suffer or discouragement you experience, nothing in the universe is more powerful than the Holy Spirit who lives within you. Nothing. Rest in the truth that every problem you have is God-filtered and is only in your life for your ultimate good and to serve your loving Father’s purpose.

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 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. (1 John 4:5)

The false teachers weren’t from God but from the world, and their message was attractive to the world. Our society today is being overrun by lies the world embraces. The world loves lies and hates the truth, and when we tell the truth, it hates us as well.

John said that whoever knows God listens to “us.” Who is “us”? Most Bible scholars think John is either referring to the Apostles, all Christian teachers, or all Christians. The point is that today we have the Bible, and those who know God read and believe his Word. If someone doesn’t read or believe the Bible, that’s evidence that he or she is not from God. 

John now changes direction from his second mention of the Doctrinal test to his third mention of the Love test (see 2:7-11 and 3:11-18).

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

God is love. Love is his very nature. It’s who he is at the core of his being. That’s how we can know that everything that happens to us is within the context of God’s love. 

God is all-powerful. There is nothing in existence more powerful than God, including the event in your life that has shaken you to the core. For his reasons, God has allowed this to come into your life. But God is also love. It’s who he is. And his love for you is beyond comprehension. So there is love behind every difficulty he allows into your life. We may never know the reason why, but we can trust our loving Father. That’s why we can rejoice even in the tough times. 

God’s love for us may be impossible for us to comprehend, but we can get at least a glimpse of the greatness of his love when we look at the cross. 

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

Jesus Christ came to us and died on the cross so we could have life in him. Jesus came to die. This is what demonstrates the greatness of God’s love. And since God’s love is so great, and since he’s the source of all love, it only makes sense that his followers should love one another. (We mentioned “propitiation” here).

Every person you see is someone God loves and sent his Son to die for. The boss who doesn’t like you, the politician you didn’t vote for, the person who betrayed you, the snarky store clerk, the waitress who got your order wrong, the person who pulled out in front of you in traffic and then went five miles per hour below the speed limit — they are all people loved by God. 

They should also be loved by us.

There is, of course, love outside of the church. Unbelievers can love each other. Sometimes non-Christians seem to love better than believers do. All people can love, because all are made in God’s image, and God is love. For the believer, though, love should be at the core of who we are. If we know the God who is love, we ought to love as he loves. 

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:11-12)

God’s nature is in us, so loving others should be who we are. Every time I’m unlovable, a fellow believer should love me anyway. Every time you’re unlovable, I should love you anyway. That’s who Christians are. 

Verse 12 doesn’t mean that God comes to dwell in us when we begin to love. It’s just the opposite. Our love for others is the evidence of God’s presence in our lives. It’s only when we love others that we fully experience the love of God for us and know the presence of God within us. 

God is love. We know him. We should love like him.

John reminds us in verse 12 that no one has ever seen God. They do, however, see us. When people watch you, do they see God’s love through you?

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