1Jo 4:2-6 | JFB | STEP | 2. Hereby-- "Herein." know ... the Spirit of God-- whether he be, or not, in those teachers professing to be moved by Him. Every spirit-- that is, Every teacher claiming inspiration by the Holy Spirit. confesseth-- The truth is taken for granted as established. Man is required to confess it, that is, in his teaching to profess it openly. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh-- a twofold truth confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is come (the Greek perfect tense implies not a mere past historical fact, as the aorist would, but also the present continuance of the fact and its blessed effects) in the flesh ("clothed with flesh": not with a mere seeming humanity, as the Docetæ afterwards taught: He therefore was, previously, something far above flesh). His flesh implies His death for us, for only by assuming flesh could He die (for as God He could not), , , ; and His death implies His LOVE for us ( ). To deny the reality of His flesh is to deny His love, and so cast away the root which produces all true love on the believer's part (1Jo 4:9-11, 19). Rome, by the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, denies Christ's proper humanity.

‏ 1 John 4:2-6

2. Hereby--"Herein."

know ... the Spirit of God--whether he be, or not, in those teachers professing to be moved by Him.

Every spirit--that is, Every teacher claiming inspiration by the Holy Spirit.

confesseth--The truth is taken for granted as established. Man is required to confess it, that is, in his teaching to profess it openly.

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh--a twofold truth confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is come (the Greek perfect tense implies not a mere past historical fact, as the aorist would, but also the present continuance of the fact and its blessed effects) in the flesh ("clothed with flesh": not with a mere seeming humanity, as the Docetæ afterwards taught: He therefore was, previously, something far above flesh). His flesh implies His death for us, for only by assuming flesh could He die (for as God He could not), He 2:9, 10, 14, 16; and His death implies His LOVE for us (Joh 15:13). To deny the reality of His flesh is to deny His love, and so cast away the root which produces all true love on the believer's part (1Jo 4:9-11, 19). Rome, by the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, denies Christ's proper humanity.

3. confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh--Irenæus [3.8], Lucifer, Origen, on Mt 25:14, and Vulgate read, "Every spirit which destroys (sets aside, or does away with) Jesus (Christ)." Cyprian and Polycarp support English Version text. The oldest extant manuscripts, which are, however, centuries after Polycarp, read, "Every spirit that confesseth not (that is, refuses to confess) Jesus" (in His person, and all His offices and divinity), omitting "is come in the flesh."

ye have heard--from your Christian teachers.

already is it in the world--in the person of the false prophets (1Jo 4:1).

4. Ye--emphatical: Ye who confess Jesus: in contrast to "them," the false teachers.

overcome them--(1Jo 5:4, 5); instead of being "overcome and brought into (spiritual) bondage" by them (2Pe 2:19). Joh 10:8, 5, "the sheep did not hear them": "a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."

he that is in you--God, of whom ye are.

he that is in the word--the spirit of Antichrist, the devil, "the prince of this world."

5. of the world--They derive their spirit and teaching from the world, "unregenerate human nature, ruled over and possessed by Satan, the prince of this world" [Alford].

speak they of the word--They draw the matter of their conversation from the life, opinions, and feelings of the world.

the world heareth them--(Joh 15:18, 19). The world loves its own.

6. We--true teachers of Christ: in contrast to them.

are of God--and therefore speak of God: in contrast to "speak they of the world," 1Jo 4:5.

knoweth God--as his Father, being a child "of God" (1Jo 2:13, 14).

heareth us--Compare Joh 18:37, "Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice."

Hereby--(1Jo 4:2-6); by their confessing, or not confessing, Jesus; by the kind of reception given them respectively by those who know God, and by those who are of the world and not of God.

spirit of truth--the Spirit which comes from God and teaches truth.

spirit of error--the spirit which comes from Satan and seduces into error.