Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 4:1-6.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the
world (1 John 4:1).
The apostle John calls upon his “beloved” fellow believers to
exercise the gift of discernment, knowing the difference between false teaching
and true.
He begins with a negative exhortation, “believe not every
spirit.” The word “believe” here means “trust” or “have confidence in.” The
“every spirit” here is a reference to men with bodies and spirits who claim to
be Christian teachers. John is concerned about “false prophets” infiltrating
the church.
We have a related saying, “Don’t believe everything that you
hear.” John is saying, “Don’t necessarily believe everyone that you hear,
merely because he claims to speak as an emissary of Christ.” Some will claim to
be speaking with divine authority, but they will be teaching things that are
false (e.g., Arius, Joseph Smith, Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc.).
This caution could be mishandled. As believers we should
generally be open and trusting. It is a very cynical person who believes the
worst about everyone they encounter. In the love chapter Paul said a sincere
Christan “believeth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). We should not take John’s
exhortation as an excuse for cynicism and acting uncharitably. We should
generally be trusting, but also cautious.
John adds a positive exhortation, “But try the spirits
whether they are of God” (v. 1a). The verb “to try” here is dokimazo. It
means to put to the test, to prove, to examine. Would the jeweler ever purchase
a diamond without closely examining it to make sure it’s genuine? What do you
normally do when you purchase a car? You inspect it and take it on a test
drive. You check the brakes, and the handling, even the turn signals and mirror
and radio.
John is here saying, Trust (be charitable) but also verify by
trying or testing or proving. What is the purpose of the testing? To see, John
says, “whether they are of God.”
During Christ’s first advent ministry the disciples could go in
person to the incarnate Lord, “for he knew what was in man” (John 2:25). After
his ascension, they could turn to the apostles and devote themselves to their
teaching (Acts 2:42). Now, those same apostles have left us the Scriptures to
be our guide for faith and practice.
Even during the time of the apostle Paul, Luke commended the
men of Berea who “received the word
with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those
things were so” (Acts 17:11). We too aspire to have a “Berean spirit.”
We
read and study the Bible and listen to preaching and teaching from it, so that
we might be equipped for spiritual discernment, “trying” all teachers and teaching
by the standard of Scripture.
Grace
and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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