Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XLI) 03/16/22

^4:6 But we are God’s children; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God, for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.

Dr. Haupt’s statement “the church turned away from all error” was in reference to the church of his day. Looking at what the Lord Jesus from heaven told John to write in his letters to these churches, [1] we learn how well they listened to the Apostle John’s words in this epistle. So, the question we might ask is, “Should Christians today still practice the ‘testing’ of the spirits to see if they are holy or unholy?” Some would say, “Absolutely Yes!” Perhaps more than ever before in this 21^st century. The main point of John’s testing was that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God who came to earth to be clothed in a human body so that He could die and be raised from the dead as a human and offer all the benefits to us, humans. The question today might be from a different angle: “Do you believe that God’s Son, Jesus the Anointed One, is the only way to salvation, and obeying His teachings is the only way to heaven?” Try it; you might be surprised by the answers you get.

Ernst Hermann von Dryander (1843-1922) proposes that we contemplate the tremendous contrasts which the Apostle John places before us; the Spirit of God, on the one hand, the spirit of antichrist on the other – the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Many between these are brought face to face with the alternatives: this or that – one or the other – the Anointed One or antichrist. But, first, we must decide on which side do we stand? Whether it leads the innermost resolved of our spirit – to God or the world? To what place does our compass needlepoint in directing our thoughts, wishes, and ideals – heavenwards or earthwards?

It means, says Dryander, first we must prove the spirits with care and earnestness in order to see whether we really desire to belong to our Lord Who came in the flesh to save us! And for those who do so, this confession is not a mere matter of the lips, not a catechism learned by repetition, no inherited orthodoxy. These do not necessarily touch the heart, strengthen the will, or alter the manner of life; they can all go hand in hand with an evil spirit. To confess means to abide in Him, see Him, and know Him in spirit. Confessing Him means dedicating our whole being to Him – body, soul, and spirit. It means a purer life together with a steadfast belief in the articles of our faith, and therefore a real spiritual relationship with Him. Nothing is more damaging to Gospel teaching and disquieting to our Lord than mere observance of Church law, which is only a matter of the head but not of the heart, and therefore of no value for living a sanctified life.

So, prove yourself, whether you are “of God.” Pray for the “Spirit of truth,” that you may be enlightened. Do not fear painful humiliation if you are forced to accuse yourself of being a true Christian. Instead, turn to Him if you find that the attractions of the world are trying to seduce you. We are God’s property. We know God hears us, even if others won’t listen to our testimony. That’s how we know the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Dryander then closes with lyrics from a hymn sung in his day.[2]

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,

And lighten with celestial fire;

Thou the anointing Spirit art,

Who dost Thy sevenfold gifts impart;

Thy blessed unction from above

Is comfort, life, and fire of love. [3]

George Gillanders Findlay (1849-1919) says that the words “hereby,” then “we know,” as the conclusion of the Apostle John’s test of trying the spirits are all reduced and traced to this. Here is found their doctrinal spring and practical stream. The Church’s confession and the faith that carries this confession to victory within the heart and intellect originate from the witness given by Jesus the Anointed One’s disciples, entered for all time in the record of Scripture. We believe in Him, as Jesus said, through their word.[4] The spiritual consciousness of the Church is inseparable from its historical roots in the Final Covenant.

However, the spirits of the present age are boasting and arrogant in their judgments, notes Findlay. They say that what they say has high qualities and is charged with mighty influences gathered from the past, but it is changeable and passing, like the spirits of every age. There are things superior to its verdict, which will not wither under opposing views. The Eternal Spirit spoke in the words of Jesus and His witnesses; the time-spirits, one after another, receive inspiration from the mouth of the one for whom judgment is waiting. The history of human thought is, in effect, a continued “trying of the spirits” as to “whether they are of God.”

That’s why, says Findlay, the Gnosticism of the Apostle John’s Day, attempted to weigh the Gospel, the Anointed One, and the Apostolic doctrine on its critical scales. Every subsequent encounter between the Spirit of the Anointed One and Antichrist has had the same issue. Our Lord’s incarnation is the test of every creed and system. God’s Word is the rock on which “Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on,”[5] and yet, the house built on the foundation of the rock did not fall.[6] [7]

William Macdonald Sinclair (1856-1917) says it is most important to notice that this examination of truth and error is taught to all alike, not merely on an ordained and materially separate class.[8] Sinclair also addresses what we have seen other commentators remark about a curious old reading mentioned by Socrates, the historian, namely, “every spirit that destroys (or, dissolves) Jesus the Anointed One.” It is, however, evidently, a marginal note, written against the Gnostics, which crept into the text. It is clear that this sixth verse presupposes an evangelistic presentation of the Anointed One before any suggestion that He was not God in human flesh could be made.[9]

The Apostle John feels the serious duty, in condemnation of Cerinthus and other opponents, to assert the genuine truth and divine authority of the apostolic Gospel. There could be no spiritual pride in this; it was a conscientious obligation. God spoke through them, and their loyalty, but repudiations or compromise were forbidden.[10] When heretics said, “The Anointed One ought to have said this or that,” the Apostles had only to reply, “But He didn’t say that.” The criterion here is much the same as in verses two and three, but regarded from different points of view: paying no attention to false innovators, or faithful obedience to the Jesus the Anointed One of history.[11]

Charles Gore (1853-1932) says that those of us today who try to be intelligent persons, do not find intellectual decisions that easy. We like to see good on all sides and in all opinions. But the Apostle John is intensely persuaded that there is a mortal struggle going on between good and evil, between truth and falsehood, between the Anointed One and the devil. That’s why he seeks to go to the root principle of every claim and determine whether it is, at the root and so in its ultimate issues, for the Anointed One or against Him. It cannot be both. And he sees the root principle of Christian truth in the real incarnation of God in Jesus. And with an unfaltering decision, he proclaims and applies this test. And here, in these first six verses, he proclaims this doctrinal test as if it stood alone and there were no others. But then immediately the note changes. He shows the reason for this zeal for the theological truth. It is because it is the ground, the only adequate ground, of the conviction that God is Love and Love is the only true energy of the believer’s life.[12]

Arno C. Gäbelein (1861-1945) notes that the test as to the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error is stated in verse six: “We belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.” The test is the Apostle John’s doctrine. This Epistle contains a significant revelation of the Anointed One’s doctrine. They contain the “many things” which the Lord spoke of when on earth, and which would be revealed when the Holy Spirit came. He has come and has made known the blessed things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him, [13] but which are now revealed by His Spirit, the Spirit of truth. The spirit of error denies these doctrines.[14] It’s not so much that the world doesn’t want to listen to our message of blessings and eternal life, they just don’t like what they must agree to and do to become eligible for those blessings and eternal life.

Archibald T. Robertson (1863-1934) says that in sharp contrast with the false prophets and the world. We are in tune with the Infinite God. That’s why the one who knows God keeps on getting acquainted with God, growing in his knowledge of God. Another thing, says Robertson, one reason the world has no interest in what we preach is because some sermons are dull and not inspiring. There is a touch of mysticism here, to be sure, but the heart of Christianity is mysticism (spiritual contact with God in the Anointed One by the Holy Spirit). John had felt the cold, indifferent, and hostile stare of worldly listeners as he preached Jesus.[15] On way to make sermons more interesting and inspiring is to interpret the Scriptures to help explain our message instead of using our message to interpret the Scriptures. It’s called “Expository Preaching.”

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[1] Revelation 2:1-3:22

[2] Dryander, Ernst Hermann von: Addresses on the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Address XI, Logos

[3] Come, Holy Ghost, our Souls Inspire by Rabanus Maurus (776-856 AD), trans. John Cosin (1594-1672 AD)

[4] John 17:20

[5] Matthew 21:44

[6] Ibid. 7:25

[7] Findlay, George G., An Exposition of the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., Chap. XIX, p. 326

[8] Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:15; 11:13; 12:10; Ephesians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:21

[9] Cf. 1 John 2:18

[10] Cf. John 18:37

[11] Sinclair, William M., A New Testament for English Readers, Ed. Charles J. Ellicott, op. cit., Vol. III, pp. 487-488

[12] Gore, Charles: The Epistles of St. John, op. cit., §7.1, p. 170

[13] 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

[14] Gäbelein, Arno C., The Annotated Bible, op. cit., p. 154

[15] Robertson, Archibald T., Word Pictures of the New Testament, op. cit., p. 1961

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XL) 03/15/22

^4:6 But we are God’s children; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God, for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.

Daniel Steele (1824-1914) says that “The world listens to those who express their thoughts; the Christian listens to those who teach God’s thoughts.” The readiness to hear springs from a living, growing knowledge, which welcomes and appropriates the truth. The phrase “He who is not of God” does not exclude true moral responsibility. They have determined their character by the perverse attitude of their will, by which they shut out “the Spirit of truth,” which enables the seeking soul to see it. In the absence of the Spirit of truth, the evil spirit, the father of lies, fills the empty and darkened soul with various forms of religious error. That makes them vulnerable to misbelief, disbelief, and unbelief.[1]

William Lincoln (1825-1888) says that the meaning of the expression “We are of God” is this: We, who are the apostles of God, witness how the Anointed One lived; we testify what the Anointed One’s path was; we know that the way of the Anointed One was the path of humbleness; this the world does not want to hear. I have sometimes listened to these words commented on this way, says Lincoln: No one is as divinely inspired today as the Apostle John was then, and, therefore, no one may speak so authoritatively as John did. That is true enough, but that hardly touches the sentiment of the passage; it has a deal more in it than that. The meaning is that the inspired apostles of the Lord and Savior testify that the path of the Lord Jesus was a road, from up to down, a way of self-humiliation, a path of taking the lower place, looking for God to exalt Him in His time. That’s why John said the world was not interested in listening to them, but the children of God are the ones who need to listen. That is the meaning of the passage.[2]

Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) says that by the Apostle John saying “We are of God,” he means that we are allied to Him in spiritual nature through the new birth; in contrast with the antichrists. And as such, we understand God’s message and preach it. By “we,” John means especially himself and the true teachers, not excluding, however, any of the spiritual body. The Church speaks doctrine through its teachers. Practical knowledge is the knowledge that receives its object. The hearing is more than what enters the ear; it is willing to adopt the teaching as agreeing with the heart’s knowledge of God. The heart and the doctrine are in one sphere.

On the other hand, those not of God won’t listen to us. They do not have the spiritual mind, [3] but the unspiritual, which goes after the separatists, prefers human philosophy to the true word. We should know that the one which most readily hears shows what spirit they have, to what nature or sphere they belong. Knowledge is a quality, hence the knowledge of discrimination – the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit in His relation to truth.[4] The spirit of error is the devil’s source of all false doctrine. They who welcome the Anointed One’s doctrines have the Spirit who gives them. Those whose soul takes naturally to false doctrine are in kinship with the arch seducer, liar, and wanderer.[5]

Sawtelle also believes that the last words of verse six look back to the opening words of this chapter, while verse seven looks forward to the following message John wants to share. Greek word scholar W. E. Vine says that the resumption of the subject of brotherly love is not by way of a sharp break from what has immediately preceded. On the contrary, it is closely connected with it, since the Spirit of Truth produces love, whereas the spirit of error is ever against it. Love proceeds from God. The anti-Christian spirit is selfish. This first of three parts of the epistle, dealing with brotherly love, was shown to be characteristic of walking in the light.[6] It is presented as a characteristic of God’s children and a mark of their righteous conduct[7] and is shown to proceed from God as being essentially His attribute and as having been manifested by Him in the Anointed One.[8] John Stott sees it as a summary of all that has been said before.[9] Either way, it all goes together regardless of chapter and verse divisions.

John James Lias (1834-1923) says that what the Apostle John writes here generally refers to teachers only. However, there is at least a secondary reference to all Christians both here and in verse fourteen. Certainly, they are all “of God,” if there be anything genuine in their Christianity. And as every Christian is bound to “give a reason for the hope that is in them,”[10] many to whom the Gospel has not been formally preached by the Anointed One’s ministers may have been able to “hear” the truth. So, the Apostle first (verse four) addresses his flock. John includes them in the same category as himself.[11]

Lias then admits that many tests exist to identify true Christians. Are those believers guided by the Spirit of the Anointed One, or not? (1) Do they seek to conform their opinions to those around them? Do they seek to avoid inconvenience or danger, or are they zealous for the truth and for it alone? (2) Do they seek to lead an easy life, cultivate the good opinion of their fellowman, and obtain from them what present advantages they can? Or do they set before them steadily what is right as their aim and object? (3) Do they endeavor to attain a standard not of this world but of the one above? Many call themselves disciples of the Anointed One, but we must renounce the world to be truly His.[12] [13]

A. T. Pierson (1837-1911) says that the secret of overcoming Satan is “He that is in you.” It refers to God, and “he that is in the world” refers to the devil. The first thought that strikes us is that there is no attempt in the Bible to deny or dispute the significant influence of Satan. On the contrary, the Bible represents Satan as the head of a great army of foes. If you examine the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, you will find there seem to be seven grades of fallen angels, as there are seven grades of unfallen angels. We read of “Principalities,” “Powers,” “Dominions,” “Authorities,” “Rulers,” “Thrones,” “Wicked Spirits,” etc., and above them all, there is a rank of archangels or chief angels. So, we are to imagine Satan as the highest over the ranks of fallen angels.

Nevertheless, says Pierson, we are urged to remember that although Satan is powerful, let us look for a moment at the sovereignty of Jesus the Anointed One. In the first place, Jesus the Anointed One has all power. Satan has great power but not omnipotence. The Anointed One is not only a God of all power, but He is a God of all wisdom. Satan is wise, but he is not omniscient, and the Anointed One is. Then, Jesus, the Anointed One, is everywhere present. He is in your heart, and my heart, and the heart of every disciple, by the Holy Spirit, so that a true child of God we may still say, “He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world,” since He is the all-powerful, the all-wise, and the all-present God.[14]

God would have us contemplate this significant fact, that if Jesus the Anointed One dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, He makes us strong to overcome Satan, as Jesus was powerful enough to overcome the devil in the desert and in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that is the secret of our triumph over evil. We are told that when Hercules was a baby, some serpents came into the room and wound their way into the cradle and tried to sting him and fold their coils around him to choke the life out of him. But we are told in the fable that he just took hold of the necks of these serpents and strangled them to death with his little hands. So, God would have you feel that as a baby, the Anointed One rocked you in the cradle of the Church.

When you come into contact with the great serpent, the devil, if Jesus is in you, you can beat back the serpent, so he cannot strangle you. But remember this, that you are only strong when you are on the Lord’s ground, not on the devil’s ground. Pierson says he read a story about a swan walking on the shore of a lake, and a wolf came up and ran after the swan and would have torn it into pieces. But the swan said, “I am not strong on the land, but I am strong on the water.” So, it plunged into the water. Then, when the wolf followed, the swan with its strong bill gripped the wolf by the ears, pulling his head down under the water, and drowned him. There are a great many people who try to fight the devil on his territory, and they always get defeated, but if you meet the devil on the Lord’s ground, you will defeat him.[15]

Robert Cameron (1839-1904) reminds us that Satan is great in power, wisdom, and resources to attain his devilish ends. He molds the world, of which he is the energizing power. It lives, moves, and has its immoral and intellectual being in him. He dictates its laws, its code of honor, and its ethics. He is the ruler of its darkness. Likewise, he aims to have the religious part of this world content with the form instead of the power of godliness. He throws himself into the world’s moods and controls its longings. Then, when all is to his liking, he prepares his prophets and teachers to gratify its palate. Sometimes they are people of truth as well as of falsehood; sometimes, they are saintly individuals and even men and women of prayer who wander away from fellowship with God. Then he brings the characters he has doctored into contact with the diseased world and skillfully adjusts the one to the other. His prepared doctrines draw their inspiration from the world in its spirit, tendencies, and aims, and “the world listens to them.”

Erich Haupt’s (1841-1926) summation is that verses four through six contain testing the spirits. The relation between the Christian and the anti-Christian spirit is accordingly the means used by the Apostle John to bring out his subject. It is not the end he has in view: his sole end is that the Holy Spirit is the energy and spring of all spiritual activity. Therefore, trying the spirits appears at once in the fourth verse. It is declared a fact that John’s readers have the Holy Spirit and are, therefore, of God. This is John’s main proposition, which everything else leads up to. But this, of course, implies at the same time that the victory over the antichrists is achieved. That victory is accomplished (perfected) in that the church turned away from all error, and witnessed the good confession laid down in the preceding words, it has already been successful in the conflict and overcomes the anti-Christianity: yet not indeed in its power, but through the power of the Holy Spirit directing in it.

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[1] Steele, Daniel: Half-Hour, op. cit., pp. 101-102

[2] Lincoln, William: Lectures on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., Lecture VI, p. 112

[3] John 10:8; See 1 Corinthians 2:16

[4] John 14:17

[5] Sawtelle, Henry A., An American Commentary, Alvah Hovey Ed., op. cit., p. 48

[6] 1 John 2:7-11

[7] 1 John 3:10-18

[8] 1 John 4:7-21

[9] Sawtelle, Henry A., op. cit.

[10] 1 Peter 3:15

[11] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., p. 300

[12] See Matthew 6:19-21 Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; Colossians 3:2; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17

[13] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Homiletical Treatment, op. cit., p. 303

[14] Pierson, A. T. An Exposition of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Lecture XXX, p. 295

[15] Ibid. Biblical Illustrator, First Epistle of John, op. cit., p. 24

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXXIX) 03/14/22

^4:6 But we are God’s children; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God, for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.

Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879), English teacher, inventor, and social reformer, reminisces that there was a pastor who addressed several candidates for the ministry, and as he was going from one theme to another, he paused and said, let me tell you a story. Having amassed comfortable independence, a well-known barber retired to his hometown, becoming a preacher in a small chapel. Another person from the same village, being similarly fortunate, settled there and attended the former barber’s church. This other gentleman wanted a new toupée and said to his pastor, “Perhaps you could make one for me.” The Pastor/barber readily agreed. The poorly made hairpiece came to the gentleman’s home at double the usual price. The good gentleman said nothing, but when the barber/preacher said anything worth listening to, the gentleman’s first thought was, “That’s excellent, but I can’t forget his overcharging me for the toupée.” When the preacher/barber prayed with apparent anointing, he also thought, “This should touch my heart, but I can’t forget the toupée.” Now, my dear young brethren, said the pastor wherever you are assigned to minister, don’t forget the toupée.[1] In other words, actions speak louder than words.

Charles Hodge (1797-1878) insists that the power granted by the Anointed One to His Church of binding and loosening, of forgiving or retaining sin, is not absolute but conditional.[2] For example, our Lord said to His disciples, “They who hear you, hear Me.”[3] That means people are required to believe the Gospel preached by the disciples as if they heard it from the lips of the Anointed One. If these words are to be understood as addressed exclusively to the Apostles and include a promise of infallibility in teaching, the meaning is substantially the same. People were as much bound to receive the Apostles’ doctrines, as teachings of the Anointed One, for what He taught, they taught. That’s why the Apostle John says here in verse six that the people who know God listen to us.[4]

Albert Barnes (1798-1870) says that we can distinguish those who embrace the truth from those who do not. Whatever pretensions they might offer for being a devout Christian, it was clear that if they did not embrace the doctrines taught by the true apostles of God, they could not be regarded as His friends; that is, as true Christians. It may be added that the same test is applicable now. Those who do not receive the doctrines laid down in God’s Word, whatever pretenses in their devotion to God and the Church, or whatever zeal they may offer in the cause they promote, can have no well-founded claims to the name Christian. One of the most unmistakable pieces of evidence of true reverence is the readiness to receive all that God taught through His Son.[5] [6]

Robert Smith Candlish (1806-1873) outlines the importance of these first six verses in order to ask a question that guarantees our full and final victory over antichrist and his spirit lies in the emphatic declaration: “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” He that is in you is the Spirit of God; for “hereby we know that God abides in us, by the Spirit which He gave us;”[7] the Spirit that, being of God, “confesses that Jesus the Anointed One is manifested in the flesh.”[8] He that is in the world is the spirit of antichrist, “whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now, it is already in the world.”[9] Therefore, you who “are of God have overcome the spirits”[10] – the “spirits” are false prophets “that are gone out into the world.”[11] They are of the world; what they teach is what worldly people love to hear.[12] We, the true teachers, are of God; what we speak is of God; and meets with the acceptance, not of those who are not of God, but of those who, being of God, knows God. With this test, the spirit of truth in us is distinguished from the spirit of error in them.[13] So, from whom do you obtain the truth?[14]

Then Candlish explains that the spirit of error and the spirit of truth are everywhere, and it may be these sifting, trying, critical days at hand. What is to be your protection? How are you to be prepared? Let me warn you, says Candlish, discerning the spirit of error is not done with head knowledge, nor logic, or rhetoric, or philosophy, or theology; nor creeds, or catechisms, or confessions; nor early training in fundamental manuals; nor familiarity with the brightest and most fundamental writings; nor skill in argument and debate. Nothing will do but God in you; in your heart of hearts; God in the Anointed One dwelling in you; God giving you the Spirit.

A personal experience will bring that blessed assurance to keep you safe. For as the person not of God won’t listen to our truth who speak under the anointing, they know God will not listen to the false prophets. So, the Good Shepherd Himself assures us. He “goes before the sheep, and they follow Him, for they know His voice; they will not follow strangers but flee from them, for they are unfamiliar with strangers’ voices.[15] My Father is the one who gave them to me, and He is greater than all.  No one can steal My sheep out of His hand.”[16] [17]

Daniel D. Whedon (1808-1885) says that we follow the true apostolic traditions from the Anointed One, as claimed with bold emphasis by the Apostle John in the first three verses of this chapter. Hence, here is the third test of the antichrist spirits – not following the true Gospel’s history and doctrine, as maintained and declared by John and his fellow apostles. The Apostle Paul seems to have had the same problem with Timothy’s members.[18] As the apostles were the chosen witnesses and pupils of Jesus, their narrative of facts and statements of principles are solely authoritative. The heretics were outsiders. They took their systems from the spirit of the age – the world – mixed them with Christian dogma and undertook to hand an unhistorical, unauthentic pseudo-Christianity to the Church.[19]

William Graham (1810-1883) tells us that this strong confidence of faith, expressed in the words “You are of God,” is what sustained England’s reformation fathers in many a dark and cloudy day. They were contending face-to-face like believers against the Romish antichrist, for the right to worship God according to the Scripture, and planted in tears and blood the tree of liberty, under whose shade British Protestants now enjoy such expansion and restfulness. So, it is with the individual soul as well. We fall back upon the confidence that we are of God that His agápe-love has conquered our stubbornness, His mercy pardoned our transgressions, and His promises filled us with humble but immortal hopes. “You are of God,” says the Apostle John, “His creatures, His children, His peculiar treasure, the trees of His planting, the branches of His vine, the stones in His temple, the vessels of His mercy, and the heirs of His heavenly glory. So do not be afraid, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you, His kingdom.”[20] [21]

John Stock (1817-1884) writes that when God in His loving mercy converts our souls, He does not destroy their properties but gives them their true and proper direction and use. Any person in union with the Anointed One becomes a new creature; they partake of a newly created life.[22]  Once the abode of chaotic darkness, the mind now has the light of truth to guide it. Former sinners with attitudes, kindled from below and full of hostility toward God, are now delivered, enjoying God’s agápe-love from above, and have a foretaste of heaven. Their will, before aggressive, is now on God’s side, reconciled to God, and submissive to His influence. Their imagination, by which Satan accesses the soul, is cleansed by God’s inspiration and adorns the temple of the soul. Sins are blotted out, the heart quickened of God, made through grace His habitation, the new creation appears as a result of God’s formation, beyond angelic or human power, to His sole glory, and eternal praise!

Dr. Stock continues by issuing this message: Listening to the still small voice of God, contained in His Word, and spoken by Himself, His Prophets, and Apostles will allow us to escape the desolation and the anguish which will come like a whirlwind on those who have no interest in God’s counsel, nor of His discipline.[23] They will find it difficult to escape from the maze of error and enjoy the freedom of the children of Light. This Light and Liberty increases the richness of the Anointed One’s word active in us with wisdom. The more we resemble the Lord, such are blessed, as the Lord Himself affirms, saying, “Blessed are your ears because they hear.”[24] [25]

Charles Ellicott (1819-1904) mentions that this is the anthesis to those not of God. In condemnation of Cerinthus and other opponents, John feels the grave duty to assert the apostolic Gospel’s genuine truth and divine authority. There could be no spiritual pride in this; it was a conscientious obligation. God spoke in them, and their loyalty forbids any denial or accommodation.[26] When heretics said, “The Anointed One ought to have said this or that,” the Apostles had only to reply, “But He didn’t say it.” In other words, “Get real!” The criterion here is much the same as in 1 John 4:2-3, but regarded from a different point of view: attention to false innovators or faithful adherence to Jesus the Anointed One of history.[27]

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[1] Hill, Rowland, His Life, Anecdotes, and Pulpit Sayings by Vernon J. Charlesworth, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1876, The Barber and the Wig, p. 124

[2] Matthew 18:18 is analogous to many others in the Scriptures and is all to be explained in the same way.

[3] Luke 10:16

[4] Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology, op. cit., Vol. III, pp. 656-657

[5] Cf. Matthew 18:1-3; Mark 10:15; James 1:19-21

[6] Barnes, Albert: Notes on N.T., op. cit., pp. 4862-4863

[7] 1 John 3:24, 4:13

[8] Ibid. 4:2

[9] Ibid. 4:3

[10] Ibid. 4:4

[11] Ibid. 4:1

[12] Ibid. 4:5

[13] Ibid. 4:6

[14] Candlish, Robert S., First Epistle of John, op. cit., p. 92

[15] John 10:5, 26

[16] Ibid. 10:29

[17] Candlish, Robert S., First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp. 92-93; 102-103

[18] 1 Timothy 1:11-20

[19] Whedon, Daniel D., Commentary of the Bible, op. cit., pp. 273-274

[20] Luke 12:32

[21] Graham, William: A Practical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of John, op. cit., p. 255

[22] 2 Corinthians 5:17

[23] Proverbs 1:27

[24] Matthew 13:16

[25] Stock, John: Expositions of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., p. 837-338

[26] Cf. John 18:37

[27] Ellicott, Charles. Ellicott’s Bible Commentary for English Readers, p. 16235

CYNICS may ask, how many have profited by the innumerable proverbs and maxims of prudence that have been current in the world for centuries? They will say they’re only used to repeat after some unhappy right has “gone wrong.” When, for instance, a person gambles and loses all they have, including their house, that leads to remembering the old Scottish proverb which declares that “willful waste leads to woeful want.” But did not the gambler know this well-worn saying from early years on down to the   present? But, what good, then, did it do? Are the maxims of morality useless, then because people disregard them? For Christians and Jews, the Book of Proverbs is a great example. But what about other religions?

Here is one to consider from Islamic scholar Omar Khayyām (1048-1131) who was a poet, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet:

“To friends and foes true kindness show; No kindly heart unkindly deeds will do; Harshness will alienate a bosom friend. And kindness reconcile a deadly foe.”

This seems to echo the words of the Apostle Paul, who said, “Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸ Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” (Romans12:17-21)[1]

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[1] Cf. Deuteronomy 32:35; Proverbs 25:21-20

GOD’S CROSSES ARE EASIER THAN SELF-CHOSEN CROSSES

Here are some words that we all need to contemplate. The crosses we make for ourselves by unnecessary anxiousness about the future are not heaven-sent crosses. We tempt God by our faulty wisdom, seeking to anticipate His arrangements, and struggle to supplement His providence with our provisions. The fruit of our understanding is always bitter. God allows it to be so that we may be frustrated when we forsake His fatherly guidance. The future is not ours. We may never have anything for which to hope. Or, if it comes, it may be entirely different from all we expected. Let us not shut our eyes to what God has for us in the hidden depths of His wisdom. Let us worship without seeing. Let us be silent and be still.[1]

The crosses God lays upon us always bring their special grace and consequent comfort with them. We see the hand of God when the cross rests upon us. But the crosses brought about by anxious worries are beyond what God intended. Instead, we meet them without the special grace adapted to the need of a faithless spirit, which renders grace impossible. And so, everything seems complicated and unbearable. All seems dark and helpless, and the soul that indulges in curiously tasting of forbidden fruit finds nothing but hopeless rebellion and spiritual death.

All this comes from not trusting God, from ignoring the wisdom in His hidden ways. “Tomorrow will worry about itself,”[2] our Lord has said, and the worry and trouble of each day become good if we leave them to God. Who are we to ask Him, “Why are You doing this?” It’s the Lord’s doing, and that is enough. Let Him do what seems good to Him. So, let Him wound, then do the healing. Let Him discipline, and provide comforting. Let Him give life or decide when to call us to our rest: He is Lord! We are His work. Let us remove anything that would slow us down from our lives, [3] and then God’s will, unfolding hour by hour, will satisfy us as to all He does in or around us. Human conflicts, their inconstancy, their very injustice will be realized as the result of God’s wisdom, justice, and unfailing goodness. Then, we will see nothing but that infinitely good God, hidden behind the weakness of blind, sinful humanity.

The most outstanding people are nothing themselves, but God is great in them. He uses their changing ways, pride, pretensions, vanity, and other wild passions to reveal His eternal purposes for His elect. He turns everything within and without, the sins of others and our failings, to our sanctification. God designed everything in heaven and earth to purify and make us worthy of Him, So let us be glad when our heavenly Father puts us to the test with various inward and outward testing.[4] When He surrounds us with external adversities and internal sorrows, let us rejoice, for, in this way, our faith is tried as gold in the fire.[5] It is this crucial experience that snatches us from ourselves and the world. Let us rejoice, for the new self is born in us by such painful work.

In the trials of life, we learn the hollowness and falseness of all that is not God: Emptiness because there is nothing real where not one speck of good is present. And falseness because the world promises and kindles hopes, but gives nothing but emptiness sorrow hearts.

We see that not facing reality rules everywhere. It excites desires and kindles hope but can never fill the heart. That which is itself empty cannot fill another. The weak, wretched idols of earth cannot impart strength or happiness that they do not possess themselves. Do people seek to draw water from a dry well? Surely not. Then why should they look for peace and joy from famous or great people who themselves cannot find contentment while consumed with inward weariness amid their outward display? ‘‘Those who make them will be like them.”[6] So, let us fix our hopes higher, further from the casualties of this life.

All that is not God is vanity and falsehood, [7] and consequently, we find both of these in ourselves. What is so vain as hopelessness in our hearts? What delusions are there that we don’t use to deceive ourselves? Happy is the person who is not deceived. However, our heart is as vain and false as those in the world. Therefore, we must not despise deception without hating ourselves. We are even worse than the world because we have received more incredible things from God. Therefore, let us endure patiently if the world fails or misuses us. Since we have so often forgotten or misused God, grieving His Spirit of grace. The more the world disgusts us, the more it is furthering God’s work, and while seeking to harm us, it will help us.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”[8] So, cut off every root of bitterness, and cast aside whatever disturbs the simple peace and trust of a child of God. Turn to your Heavenly Father in every care; bury yourself in that tender heart, where nothing can fail you. Rejoice in hope, and casting aside the world and the flesh, taste the pure joys of the Holy Spirit.[9]

May your faith be unmoved during every storm. Always remember the words of the Apostle Paul, but in reverse order, “To those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose, all things work together for their good.”[10] [11]

Archbishop François Fénelon

 (1651-1725)

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[1] Habakkuk 2:20

[2] Matthew 6:34

[3] Hebrews 12:1

[4] James 1:2ff

[5] Ecclesiastes 2:5; cf. Zechariah 13:9; 1 Peter 1:7

[6] See John 20-24-29

[7] Ecclesiastes 6:2

[8] Philippians 4:7

[9] Romans 12:12

[10] Ibid. 8:28

[11] Fénelon, François: Paraclete Giants, The Complete Fénelon, Translated and Edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 2008, pp. 48-51; Vocabulary and grammar redacted by Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXXVIII) 03/11/22

^4:6 But we are God’s children; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God, for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.

The false prophets, notes Finlayson, are Satan’s attempt to provide an enhanced version of Christianity taught by prophets who claimed to have Divine inspiration; the false prophets claimed to be under Divine inspiration as well. The only way they could succeed was to attempt to make their message as close to the truth of the true prophets as possible. Christianity was at that time wonderfully active in many places. How was it to be counteracted? One way was to incorporate Judaism with Christianity. Another method was to integrate Gentile philosophy with Christianity, called Gnosticism.

The general drift of Gnosticism is to replace the plain facts of the Gospel with philosophic myths. Cerinthus, a contemporary of John in a Roman province in Asia, is described as “the intermediate link between the Judaizing and the Gnostic sects.” As a Judaizer, Cerinthus held, with the Ebionites, [1] that Jesus was only the son of Joseph and Mary, born the natural way. As a Gnostic, he maintained that the Anointed One first descended, in the form of a dove, on the carpenter’s son at His baptism; that the dove revealed to him the unknown Father, and worked miracles through him; and then flew back to where he came from and left Jesus alone to suffer.

There is a reason for believing that this was a particular danger, or something not unlike it, invading the circles to which John writes in this Epistle. Therefore, there arose the necessity for discriminating between true and false prophets, that one class might be followed and the others shunned. How was this necessity to be met? Only by the action of the Christians themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.[2]

Richard Rothe (1799-1867) emphasizes that every Christian must keep in mind what the Apostle John says here. In proportion to how much a person has grown in the knowledge of God’s Word, they must assure themselves they have a clear understanding of God’s Word. They must also discern that the disputes they hear concerning God’s Word are often contradictory, not of what you said, but what God said. But Christians must not forget that they have this consciousness and conviction only “in proportion to” their maturity in becoming more and more like the Anointed One. Therefore, they will not always pay attention to the scripture the world has contradicted, but how well they can interpret the Word itself.  But they must all keep in mind the world’s faulty reasoning in misunderstanding it.[3]

Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) says we could render the first part of verse six: “He that increases in the knowledge of God.” Once more, we have that magisterial tone of Apostolic authority which is so conspicuous in the first four verses. It is the undercurrent of the whole Epistle, as John’s Gospel. It is the quiet confidence of conscious strength. Compare, “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God,”[4] and, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.”[5] [6] It may be a case of someone thinking that they qualify just because they hear what Jesus said in the Gospels. But there is a big difference between hearing and listening. I remember when my mother would tell us kids to wash our hands, hang up our coats, or stop running through the house, and we didn’t do any of them. She would then raise her voice and ask, “Are you listening to me?” Yes, we heard her, but our lack of response meant we weren’t listing.

Joseph Benson (1749-1821) focuses on those the Apostle John implicates in verses four, five, and six. They are the religious seducers, with all their doctrinal snares and delusions. John wants to show his readers’ that the doctrines they adhere to have prevailed against those who deserve the name of “antichrist.” Today, we are afraid to use this term to identify anyone who preaches a different Gospel than the one they heard from the Apostles. But Benson identifies them as all those who oppose anything the Scriptures say about Jesus or His teachings. His readers should be glad because they have the true miraculous gifts of the Spirit, which these impostors falsely claim. The Christians to whom John is writing should not despair; the advantage is clearly on their side because greater is He that is in them than he that is in the world.[7]

This, says Benson, is none other than the Spirit of the Anointed One who is powerful enough to overcome the spirit of antichrist that is in the world. They are part of Satan’s brood, but they are not strong enough to prevail over God’s Son. These false teachers are a product of the world, namely those that do not know God; therefore, they speak about what is acceptable in secular society. It comprises the principles, wisdom, and prevailing religious philosophy you would expect from worldly people involved in religion. In particular, John did not want the faithful to become discouraged by these false teachers’ success in spreading their errors.

“Listen,” says John, “we Apostles are commissioned by God – taught and sent by Him, and have approved ourselves to be so by irresistible evidence.” We are those who know God, who experience the governing influence of His reverence and love, who hears and watches over us. His Word is our Light by which we are taught and guided. But these Christian traitors neither believe nor obey what we preach. They are not interested in hearing messages inspired by the Holy Spirit and verified by miracles and born-again experiences. Now, says Benson, even though the original apostles are all dead, they still speak to us through their divinely inspired writings. John, in this passage, declares that their writings are the test by which the Anointed One’s disciples are to judge both teachers and of their doctrine.[8]

Charles Simeon (1759-1836) warns us that when we go out to preach the Gospel, some with perverted minds prefer arguments and debates instead of seeking the truth. Some are not open to receiving instruction. They have certain principles in their mind, which bias them on all subjects, and they have a certain pleasure in being one-of-a-kind. Things that are plain and obvious to others are not so to them because their minds are packed with objections. These are ideas and concepts they had to go far out of their way to find. For instance, some will lay far greater importance on what Nostradamus had to say than on what the Spirit revealed to Ezekiel, Daniel, John, or Paul. It seems that they are at issue with somebody on every subject, including their closest friends. Their intent is not to compare what they know or believe with what you are quoting from the Gospel, but to prevail in drawing others into the same whirlpool of delusion in which they are drowning.[9]

Roman Catholic George Haydock (1778-1862) again quotes Robert Witham (1667–1738), [10] who said Christians are of God and apostles of the Anointed One because they have received the Spirit and are sent by Him. That is, they who love and serve God and comply with the doctrine of His Son, Jesus the Anointed One, and follow the doctrine which He commissioned them to teach. On the other hand, those who are not of God pay no attention to us. Consequently, they refuse to hear and obey the voice of the Church and those whom the Anointed One appointed to govern His Church, as has been observed elsewhere. So, by this, we identify the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Here Apostle John gives them the second general mark and rule to preserve them and all Christians from errors and heresies to the end of the world. As such, those who know God, who heard the Apostles, now hear their successors who are invested with the same mission and authority. They have been sent by the Anointed One, as His heavenly Father sent Him, whom He appointed to govern His Church, and with whom He promised to remain to the end of the world.[11]

We must realize that the Roman Catholic Church at that time did not consider itself to be one of many denominations in the spiritual body of the Anointed One, but the ONLY one authorized by God to interpret His Word and shepherd His church, all other churches were outside this exclusive partnership with God and His Son. Today, the Roman Catholic Church is more ecumenical and open toward Protestants. But inwardly, many are still of the same mind as was George Haydock, Robert Witham, and Richard Challoner (1691-1781).[12]

Gottfried C. F. Lücke (1791-1855) is surprised at how easily some people deceive themselves about the divine Spirit in themselves and others, for there is also a spirit of illusion and error, which times of great spiritual revival, when illusions and a hypocritical pretense of the divine Spirit so easily rise, and truth and error are deceitfully blended together – Another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in a different kind of language, and to still another the interpretation what was said.[13] John established using a trial of the spirits as a duty for his readers. In doing so, he gave them the same method to use.[14] John also consoles and encourages them by this sentiment, that they, as true believers, already gained a victory (over the illusive spirits) and that the divine Spirit dwelling in them is greater than the spirit of the world, the spirit of seduction.[15]

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[1] The name Ebonites, was first used by bishop Irenaeus of Lyons (Gaul) in the late second century to designate a Jewish Christian sect. They believed in one God and taught that Jesus was the Messiah and was the true “prophet” mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15. They rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus, instead holding that He was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. They believed that Jesus became the Messiah because He obeyed the Jewish Law.

[2] Finlayson, Robert: First Epistle of John, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, op. cit., Homiletics, pp. 126-127

[3] Rothe, Richard: The Expository Times, December 1893, p. 126

[4] John 4:47

[5] Ibid. 18:37

[6] Plummer, Alfred: Cambridge Commentary, op. cit., p. 145

[7] 1 John 4:4

[8] Benson, Joseph: Commentary of the Old and New Testaments, Vol. 3, p. 11582

[9] Simeon, Charles: Horae Homileticae, op. cit., Discourse 2454, p. 4755

[10] Robert Witham was an English Roman Catholic college head and biblical scholar.

[11] Haydock, George: Catholic Bible Commentary, op. cit., loc. cit.

[12] Robert Challoner was Bishop of Debra in the London District, author of spiritual and controversial works including Britannia Sancta (1745). 

[13] 1 Corinthians 12:10

[14] See 1 John 4:23

[15] Lücke, Gottfried: Interpretations of the First Epistle of St. John, Seventh Section

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXXVII) 03/10/22

^4:6 But we are God’s children; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God, for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.

It’s like the story I heard about the well-known infidel, Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, who traveled around delivering lectures against religion and the Bible. His fame and oratorical ability assured him large crowds of admirers and skeptics. After one very inflammatory speech in which he severely attacked people’s faith in an unseen God, he dramatically took out his pocket watch and held it up. Then he said, “I’ll give God a chance to prove that He exists and is almighty; I challenge Him to strike me dead within five minutes!” A dead silence came over the stunned audience. As the time ticked away, people began to grow uneasy. Some left the hall, unable to take the nervous strain, and one woman fainted. Finally, at the end of the allotted time, the atheist mockingly exclaimed as he put his watch back in his vest pocket, “See!  There is no God; I’m still alive!” After the lecture, a young fellow said to a Christian lady he knew, “Well, Ingersoll certainly proved something tonight!” Her reply was memorable. “Yes, he did,” she said. “He proved God isn’t taking orders from atheists!”

COMMENTARY

In writing about avoiding lying, and the repentance of Hermas (circa 100-200 AD)[1] for his dishonesty, God, told Hermas he should love the truth, that the Holy Spirit living in him should inspire him to be truthful with everyone. Didn’t he know that those who lie are denying the Lord have become robbers of the Lord by not rendering Him the fruit of what he received? That’s when Hermas broke down and began to cry. So, God asked him why he was crying, and Hermas told Him that he had always had trouble telling the truth and live an honest life. Yet, no one bothered to contradict him, and he was credited with telling the truth. How can I live, cries Hermas, seeing I have behaved in such a way? That’s when God said to him: “Your feelings are indeed right and sound, for you ought as a servant of God to have walked in truth, and not joined an evil conscience with the spirit of truth, nor caused sadness to the holy and true Spirit of God.”[2]

Didymus the Blind (313-398) explains that if we take the word “hear” literally, it simply means that we hear all kinds of sounds through our ears. But it must be more than that – it implies that we should obey what we hear. Therefore, if someone does not know how to act, they have not listened.[3] To this, Bede the Venerable adds that the worldly person does not accept the things anointed by God’s Spirit; they consider them foolish. Therefore, those who do not want to listen to preachers of God’s love are soon recognized as not knowing God or what’s coming from Him because they have done nothing to imitate His love toward mankind.[4]

John Trapp (1601-1669) responds to the Apostle John’s remarks that those in union with God listen to us, but those with no contact with God don’t even hear us. Says Trapp, the Anointed One’s sheep are rational; they can discern His voice from that of a stranger and will not become hardheaded when listening to His voice, but with the ear of their soul, which tries doctrines as the mouth does meat, [[5] and knows the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.[6]

Daniel Whitby (1638-1726) tells us that when the bishops of Rome once prove they are of God, as the Apostle did, it will be time to consider the inference of Esthius.[7] “He that is of God must hear their bishops and church, come to them, and resolve any doubts about their faith.”[8]

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) says that Christians who are well acquainted with Scripture may, with the Holy Spirit’s help, discern those who present doctrines according to the apostles and those who contradict them. The sum of revealed Christianity is in the doctrine concerning the Anointed One, His person, and office. The false teachers spoke of worldly philosophy according to its maxims and fleshly desires to not offend worldly-minded people. The world approved of them; they made rapid progress and had many followers like themselves; the world will love its own, and its own will love it.

The true doctrine of the Savior’s person leads sinners from the world to the Word. It serves as a mark of the spirit of truth in opposition to error. The more pure and holy any doctrine is, the more likely to be of God; nor can we by any other means try the spirits whether they are of God or not. And what wonder is it that people of a worldly spirit should cleave to those like themselves, who suit their schemes and discourses to their corrupt taste?

Thomas Pyle (1674-1756) says there should be little difficulty in seeing the mark of distinction between these heretics and a true Christian prophet. The others have no vision, only momentary power, greatness, and dominion. They have no other notions of the Anointed One, but that He is a time-based monarch to raise and magnify the Jewish nation by destroying the rest of mankind. On the other hand, a faithful Christian is motivated by the hope of spiritual good and the love of true virtue. However, all who delight in knowing God and true goodness must approve of them. On the contrary, it is no wonder to see the false teachers of these times followed and thronged by the majority that shares the same temperament.[9]

John Gill (1697-1771) talks about what it means to know God. Those personally acquainted with God know Him as the divine protector or as a spiritual power. But as in the Anointed One, not only professionally, but practically; has experimental knowledge of Him, as exercising lovingkindness, having tasted of His grace and goodness; so as to trust in Him, and love Him; for such a knowledge of God has true real affection for Him joined with it; so they love His name, His glory, His truths, and His ordinances.[10] So many know about God, but they do not know Him as one of His children.

James Lindsay (1710-1796) sees the Apostle John speaking against mistaking fanaticism for the move of the Holy Spirit. He says that above all, we must not mistake temporary feelings, which are the offspring of intense spiritual circumstances, with that devoted custom of the mind. Though less passionate, it is more beneficial because it acts by a steady and permanent influence. As to what regards our practice, says Lindsay, let us be equally careful to avoid loud sermon proclamations on the one hand, but never shrink from the open but modest testimony of what we deem essential truths. Let us examine our opinions by the standard of the Gospel and try their practical effect on our temperament and conduct. Let us never rest in emotions, however strong, however religious, until they mature into good spiritual fruit of the spirit. But let us also be careful not to discount extreme zeal so that we do not develop insensitivity and indifference to any move of the Spirit.[11]

James Macknight (1721-1800) notes that the Apostle John appeals to the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit[12] that God bestowed on the Apostles and continued with them as proof of His abiding in them. At the beginning of chapter four, John implied that the inspiration of the Spirit inspired the doctrine they taught. John asserts, in verse four, that God commissioned him and his brethren to teach the world. Therefore, all Christians were bound to acknowledge their authority and receive their doctrine; and if any teacher did not accept their authority, it was proof they were not one of God’s chosen servants.[13]

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) says that anyone who preaches an incarnate crucified Savior as the only way to everlasting joy is enlightened, approved, sent, owned, as well as born of God. Whoever then truly knows anything about God according to the discoveries they’ve made of the Anointed One in the Gospel will diligently pay attention to and heartedly receive the divine truths we preach under the direction of the Holy Spirit. But those who have not been enlightened and renewed by God pay no attention to our message concerning the Anointed One as the only true Messiah, nor to us who preach it. By this, we easily and clearly discern whether people preach under the anointing of God’s Spirit of truth or the influence of the erroneous spirit of the devil.[14] In other words, the message we preach of God’s plan of salvation is only effective for the speaker and hearer, only with the Holy Spirit’s anointed. It’s not our talent, eloquence, persuasiveness, nor our intellect that draws a soul toward salvation, only the presence of God’s Spirit on the message.

Once again, says Robert Finlayson (1793-1861), the Apostle John’s heart warms toward his readers as his beloved at the thought of danger. It is necessary to bear in mind the circumstances in which they were placed. They had the help of true prophets. The apostolic age had not come to an end. John was still living; others had inspired words to deliver. They had what some minds still craved – unfailing guidance on the spot. But they were not placed beyond danger, as minds never are in this world. Many false prophets had gone out into the world and were in their neighborhood, as they are in all communities where the Anointed One’s truth is published and finding acceptance.

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[1] Hermas was a well-to-do freedman and earnest Christian, who lived in Ancient Rome. He was a freed Greek slave living in Rome about the middle of the 2nd century. (Some later writers confuse him with Hermas of Dalmatia, mentioned in Romans 16:14) His writings were accepted as Scripture by Irenaeus (130-202 AD) in his “Against Heresies” (Book IV, Chapter 20:2) by quoting from the Shepherd of Hermas (Book 2, Command I) and Tertullian (ca. 155–230 AD) in his De pudicitia (“On Modesty”) Chapters 10 and 20.

[2] Shepherd of Hermas, Second Part of the Book of Hermas, Command III

[3] Didymus the Blind, (Bray Ed.), James, 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, op. cit., loc. cit.

[4] Bede the Venerable, Ancient Christian Commentary, Vol. XI, Bray, G. (Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John

[5] Job 14:3

[6] Trapp, John: Commentary upon all books of New Testament (1647), op. cit., p. 476

[7] Esthius, a Jewish convert who was a Medical Doctor and Religious writer, died in 1606

[8] Whitby, Daniel, A Critical Commentary and Paraphrase of the Old and New Testament and the Apocrypha, Vol. VI, J. F. Dove, London, 1822, pp. 302, 467

[9] Pyle, Thomas: Paraphrase, op. cit., pp. 395-396

[10] Gill, John. John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible (Kindle Locations 341265-341269)

[11] Lindsay, James: The Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., 1 John, p. 15

[12] See 1 John 3:24

[13] Macknight, James: Literal Paraphrase, op. cit., pp. 89-90

[14] Brown, John of Haddington: Self-Interpreting Bible, op. cit., p.1327

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXXVI) 03/09/22

^4:5 These people belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs, and the world pays attention to them.

The references to light and darkness further allude to the prologue of John’s Gospel. The Word [Jesus] “was God” and was the Light which shone in the spiritual darkness of the Jewish world, to which the Jewish world would not come because they preferred the darkness. John’s converts were Jews, and the temptation to return to Judaism, or compromise with it, was strong. Therefore, he presents the light of the Anointed One as God’s light, and compromise with the darkness was by nature impossible.

David Legge (1969) urges us, never let the world’s approval determine our message. Whether the world accepts what we say or not doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter whether our President, government or political parties have their platform. They are not to be busy with focus groups’ mentality to determine what the people want and then direct their policies accordingly. It doesn’t matter whether the philosophical mindset is one of relativism, that “your truth may not necessarily be my truth, but I live and let live, and there’s no absolute right or absolute wrong.” The world’s approval must mean nothing to us in relation to our message. Our message is historical; our message is eternal; it is rooted and grounded in the truth of whom the Anointed One is, the Jesus of history, the Son of God. His Words are the ultimate standard by which we live and preach.[1]

Douglas Sean O’Donnell (1972) points out there are many verses in Scripture that start with “God is,” and then add an attribute (e.g., “mighty,”[2] or “merciful,”[3] but only a few speak of God’s essence. John gives us the three most memorable. In his Gospel, John records Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “God is spirit.”[4] The Apostle John begins his epistle saying that “God is light,”[5] and now toward the end that “God is love.”[6] We might say of others, “They are a very loving person,” but what is said here is different. John is not saying that love is a characteristic God possesses; rather, he says that love is the essence of God’s divine being. The eternal love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that existed before creation[7] spills over into His creation, as God perpetually gives of Himself for the benefit of His creation. That is what makes the statement “God is love” so remarkable.[8]

4:6 But we are from God.  So, if we have a personal relationship with God, He listens to us. But the people who are not from God don’t listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.

EXPOSITION

So, the Apostle John cautions his readers. Here’s Isaiah’s description: “The Lord will make you sleepy, He will close your eyes (The prophets are your eyes), He will cover your heads. (The prophets are your heads).”[9]  It is not a reference to those who fall asleep in church while the pastor is preaching, but rather, when they stop listening to the messengers that God has sent, they will get sleepy spiritually speaking.  Hosea puts it more bluntly, “My people are asking idols made of wood for advice. They think those sticks will answer them! They have chased after those false gods like prostitutes and have left their God.”[10]

Micah explains the dilemma this causes: “These people don’t want to listen to me. But if a man comes telling lies, they will accept him.  They would accept a false prophet if he comes and says, ‘There will be good times in the future, with plenty of wine and beer.’”[11]  The Lord also had some harsh words for the prophet Isaiah to pass on to those who fell for such teachings.  “These people are like children who refuse to obey. They lie and refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings. They tell the prophets, ‘Don’t see dreams about things we should do. Don’t tell us the truth. Say nice things to us and make us feel good. See only good things for us. Stop seeing things that will really happen. Get out of our way. Stop telling us about the Holy One of Israel.’”[12]  John expected God’s people to make a note of what he was saying.

It is important to distinguish between truth and error.  Those with the “spirit of error” do not respond to the truth; they do not hear the Bible as God’s Word.  Those with the “spirit of truth” have God’s truth at heart.  The Bible is characteristically their criterion of truth.  They will acknowledge that Jesus came out of heaven as the Son of God and stepped foot into a human body. Protection from error is found in loyalty to the principle of truth in God’s Word. 

The Greek pronoun hēmeis “we” here refers to the apostles who authored books in the Final Covenant. They clearly understood that genuine believers respond willfully to anointed teachers.[13] The Gospel rings true to them. There are kinship and correspondence between God’s people and God’s Word.  The words “he who knows” are literally “the one knowing.”  It is a person clearly described as a believer. Fakers do not respond to the truth because the Devil’s domain darkens their hearts. We can discern the truth of whether someone is a genuine believer by their response to the truth.

The “we” is set in contrast to the “they” in verse five. The Holy Spirit inspired the apostles’ writings with special revelation.  The apostles clearly understood that. He who knows God hears us. Genuine believers respond with positive volition to true teachers.  The Gospel and the Word of God ring true to them.  There is a kinship and correspondence between God’s people and God’s Word.  The words “he who knows” are literally “the one knowing.”  This is a person clearly described as a believer. Fakers do not respond to the truth.  They do not witness the truth because the Devil’s domain darkens their hearts.  We can discern the truth of whether someone is truly a believer by their attitude to the truth.

However, it leaves no room for hearers if it is considered broad enough to include those who have truly received the Anointed One by faith. Therefore, “They who know God will hear us” will mean that we hear ourselves. But John’s meaning seems rather that they who acquire knowledge of God are ready to listen to further apostolic instruction. But this need not be confined to verse six; it may apply to the whole passage, related to the Spirit of truth.[14]

Perhaps John felt the same anointing that Micah experienced when he said, “But the Lord’s Spirit has filled me with power, goodness, and strength.  So, I can tell Jacob about his crimes, and so I can tell Israel about his sins!”[15] But John has one more piece of advice to offer on this subject as his conclusion, knowing who-is-who is essential when it comes to our spiritual lives.

Once in the temple, the religious leaders asked Jesus, “Where is your father?”  Jesus answered, “You don’t know My Father or Me. But if you knew Me, you would know My Father too.”[16]  I experienced a similar eureka moment after my father passed away. I was privileged to go and preach in some of the churches he pastored. I got used to the old-timers coming up to me and saying, “You don’t have to tell me whose son you are; I could tell it right away. You are the spitting image of your father.” That made me feel both humble and proud.

It is the same in the spiritual world.  Jesus said this by way of illustration: “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”[17]  In other words, you can tell the validity of the messenger by the validity of the message.  Once, when I was visiting England for a youth convention, I stayed at the home of one of the pastors.  After our meal, they turned on the “telly,” as they call the TV, to watch the news.  After the news, someone always reads the horoscope for the next day.

The horoscope reader made this pronouncement for those born under a certain astrological sign: “Tomorrow you will receive a parcel from the postman, and in this parcel, there will be good news announcing a certain amount of money coming your way.” I started to laugh because all the postal workers in England were on strike, and there would be no mail delivered tomorrow or many more days.  So, I asked the pastor about this obvious error.  He told me that these readings are often recorded ahead of time and simply being played back from the tape. So, as you can imagine, my low trust in the horoscope and astrologists dropped even lower.

While this is amusing to me, and although I have nothing against studying philosophy and psychology, whenever I find where their tenets disagree with Scripture, I accept the Word of God as preeminent.  I have listened to professors who treat the Word of God as though it is the property of the unenlightened.  They have more or less said that Christians are closed-minded.  The truth is that they do not understand there is a level higher than human intellect called “faith.”  Suppose I still believe there is such a thing as love. However, I can’t see it or accept the wind but only have the swaying branches of a tree to show its presence or trust that there is a thing called joy, even though it cannot be held in my hand. Why can I not believe there is a God whose love I feel, whose presence I sense, and whose power has been demonstrated through signs, miracles, and wonders?

The world does not acknowledge this because the Holy Spirit has not transformed their minds to accept the spiritual truths. For example, put two people in an audience: a born-again Christian and an unchurched individual who has never heard the Gospel or read the Bible. Let the speaker stand up and say: “The Holy Spirit is in this place; I can sense His presence.” The unchurched individual might lean over and say, “What’s he talking about?”  The believer will smile and say, “I know exactly what he’s talking about, and I agree with him because I feel the Spirit’s presence too.”

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[1] Legge, David: 1,2,3 John, Preach the Word, “Discerning Christianity,” op. cit., Part 12

[2] Job 36:5

[3] Psalm 116:5

[4] John 4:24

[5] 1 John 1:5

[6] Ibid. 4:8, 16

[7] John 17:24

[8] O’Donnell, Douglas Sean. 1-3 John (Reformed Expository Commentaries), op. cit., loc. cit. Kindle Edition

[9] Ibid. 29:10

[10] Hosea 4:12

[11] Micah 2:11

[12] Isaiah 30:9-11

[13] See John 10:4-5, 8, 16, 26-27, 47

[14] Cf. John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13

[15] Micah 3:8

[16] John 8:19

[17] Ibid. 10:27

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXXV) 03/08/22

^4:5 These men belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs, and the world pays attention to them.

However, those people who are not from God do not listen to the proclamation of His Word. They refuse to believe the truth: instead, they prefer “the spirit of falsehood.” They also accept full responsibility when they willfully reject the call to repentance and faith in the Anointed One. Believers are able to recognize the Spirit of truth and the lying spirit by observing a listener’s reaction to the preaching of God’s Word. The Apostle Paul gave God thanks, who always leads us in victory through the Anointed One. God uses us to spread His knowledge everywhere, like a sweet-smelling perfume. Our offering to God is to be the perfume of the Anointed One that goes out to those who are being saved and to those who are being lost.[1] To those who are being lost, this perfume smells like death, and it brings them death. But to those who are being saved, it has the sweet smell of life, and it brings them life. So, who is good enough to do this work?[2] [3]

Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) points out that “out of the world” denotes their origin and membership: the spiritual origin and allegiance of the heretics are worldly, which the Apostle John attacks.[4] [5] To put this another way, they came out of the world to be part of the church, but the world never came out of them. They looked for salvation but were never interested in sanctification. Since these are mandatory in order to speak with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they proclaimed their message in the spirit of the world.

Edward J. Malatesta (1932-1998) convinced that the Apostle John sees the spirit of antichrist acting contrary to the faith proclaimed by the community. Its number one goal is to turn believers away from listening to God’s voice and persuade them to pay attention to what the world likes. In so doing, they isolate them from Jesus and the Father and the truth. They begin by wandering away from the fundamental doctrines they were taught and end up drifting apart from the fullness of loving, personal communion with Jesus, the Father, and the believing community into the emptiness of the world’s selfishness and hatred.[6]

Zane Clark Hodges (1932-2008) has no doubt that those with antichrist spirits are from the world and speak from the world’s viewpoint. For this reason, they get a good hearing from the world. It is always true that satanically inspired thought has a special appeal to worldly minds. But people who are from God or are “of God;” and those “from the world belonged to the evil one.” The “of God” people listen to the apostles; the “of the world” won’t listen at all. The pronouns which begin verses four, five, and six – (You, They, and We) are emphatic in the original and mark off three groups: the readers, the antichrists, and the apostles. Each one who can be described as “from God” (that is, motivated and influenced by God) and thus knows God listens to the apostolic voice. In Church history, the apostolic doctrine has always been how the Holy Spirit of truth and spirit of falsehood can be effectively distinguished. True Christianity is godly Christianity, not ungodly Christianity.[7]

James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) fears that the tragedy of our time is that we do not have enough men and women to proclaim and defend sound doctrine. So, the Truth is not clearly defined, and the Way is not correctly illuminated to envision the Life we have in the Anointed One. The Apostles’ Creed, the only true teaching of the church, illuminates it; and the incarnation of God’s Anointed One defines and gives a focal point to those beliefs. It is for whether we believe that dogma and, if we do, to respond to it. There are not three ways, according to the Apostle John. There are only two ways: the straight way of the Anointed One and the crooked way of antichrist. We are called to serve the Anointed One, and those who are true to God will do so.[8]

John Painter (1935) notes that to say “they are of the world” means that they are the world’s inhabitants rather than the children of God. To call them the world’s offspring is the equivalent of calling them generation of the Evil One or the devil’s brood.[9] They are the world’s descendants because they speak from the determining reality of the world. The world determines the subject and values expressed in their speech. Naturally, the world, whose speech and values are expressed here, listens to them; that is, it receives and approves of what it hears.[10] The people of the world are so anxious and pleased to hear what these evil-spirited speakers have to say because it validates their lifestyle, and they need not fear any retribution from God. That’s why they hated it when a Holy Spirit anointed preachers to tell them the truth.

Muncia Walls (1937) says success in the world’s eyes is calculated by how much one possesses, how many followers one has, how much one has accumulated. But, according to God’s Word, success in God’s eyes is predicated on obedience to the Word of God and obeying the leading of the Spirit with our life. Just because some present-day religious leader boasts of a large following does not mean success in the view of the Word of God. Many such ministers today have tremendous crowds who follow them, but this is no scriptural indication of their message being true. The majority follow them because the greater number are not interested in the truth. Truth brings change, and the masses are not willing to change. They would rather hear Words that comfort them and make them feel good rather than listen to words that cut to the heart and bring about conviction, resulting in repentance.[11] [12]

William Loader (1944) notes that it is obvious that the opponents of the Apostle John and his community had gone the way of the world. Doubtlessly, they did not see themselves as rebels or traitors. On the contrary, they probably formed their community and successfully carried their kind of mission in the world. Maybe the reason the world listens to them indicates the success of their mission. But, on the other hand, perhaps John is simply reinforcing his assertion that their beliefs are a sell-out to the world’s values. John does not elaborate how this is so, but he may see their defamation of the Anointed One’s flesh and their neglect of practical love as symptoms of the world’s system of self-indulgence. From John’s perspective, religion without justice, spirituality without engagement in life’s flesh and blood issues is just another form of the world’s depravity.[13]

Judith M. Lieu (1951) reminds us that the assurance of victory does not mean that hostility and danger belong to the past. There continues to be a division between those whom the Apostle John identifies only as “they” and those whom, in the previous verse, he labeled “you” and “we” of the text. “They” have their origin in and belong to the world; first “you,” then “we,” are aligned with God. Why should this opposition continue to matter if the readers are already confidant of the outcome? Apparently, because the expected consequences of their supremacy had not been realized.

Some forms of future, says Lieu, hope imagined the final defeat of evil and the consequent acknowledgment of God by all. Isaiah saw in a vision, “There will be a steady stream of people from all nations going to Zion.” At the same time, early Christians’ hope anticipated the universal confession of Jesus as Lord.[14] Others were less optimistic: perhaps only the elect would be preserved.[15] In the meantime, if the vast majority failed to respond or even preferred other sets of ideas, this too might itself be part of God’s purpose.[16] For John, the outcome had yet to be fully realized.[17] But he gave one good piece of advice to the community, pay no attention to or believes what the world has to say about Christianity’s future, listen only to those anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Peter Pett (1966) believes that the Apostle John is confident that false prophets will not mislead true Christians because they have “the anointing as true Christians.”[18] The Holy Spirit is within them. And He will lead them into truth. And the Father and the Son also abide within them.[19] They are, and therefore, as John says here in verse six, very much “of God.” So, “greater is He (the Triune God) that is in them than the one who is in the world.” That is why they overcome “them” by not being deceived or led astray, but by holding firmly to the truth and continuing to win souls to such truth. John’s Christian community may sometimes seem to be back on its heels but is not. Remaining in Him will propel them forward to victory.[20]

Duncan Heaster (1967) states that there is a negative aspect attached to all truths; if something is true, then, therefore, other things or ways of life are not true. There are several Bible passages that bring out this dualism.

            “God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5)

               “God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

               “God is righteous, and there is no unrighteousness in Him”(Psalm 92:16)

Therefore, it is quite valid to understand that a set of true teachings by their very nature give rise to a set of untrue ones to be rejected. But more personally relevant for each of us, each truth we perceive leads to things we should do and things we should not. This seems to be good thinking and adherence to God’s Word. But hidden in Unitarian Heaster’s writings is that there is no recognition that when the Apostle John talks about God being light, he’s quoting Jesus, thus showing a distinction between the two. We see this in what Heaster goes on to say in the next paragraph.

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[1] Ephesians 5:2/Philippians 4:18;

[2] 2 Corinthians 2:14-16; cf. John 14:17

[3] Kistemaker, Simon J., New Testament Commentary James and I-III John, op. cit., pp. 328-329

[4] Cf. 1 John 1:2:16; John 15:19; 17:14, 16

[5] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51., op. cit., p. 228

[6] Malatesta, Edward J., Interiority and Covenant, op. cit., p. 293

[7] Hodges, Zane C., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, op. cit., loc. cit.

[8] Boice, James Montgomery: The Epistles of John, op. cit., p.111

[9] 1 John 3:12-13; 5:19; John 8:39-45

[10] Painter, John. Sacra Pagina: 1, 2, and 3 John: Vol. 18. loc, cit.

[11] Hebrews 4:12

[12] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John & Jude, op. cit., pp. 70-71

[13] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, op. cit., pp. 50-51

[14] Philippians 2:10-11

[15] Mark 13:22-27

[16] 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

[17] Lieu, Judith, The New Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 171

[18] 1 John 2:20, 27

[19] Ibid. 4:13, 16; 5:12

[20] Pett, Peter: Commentary on the Bible, op. cit., PDF., loc. cit.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXXIV) 03/07/22

^4:5 These people belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs, and the world pays attention to them.

William E. Jelf (1811-1875) says that the difference between the sphere in which the false teachers and Christian teachers move enforces the necessary difference between their teaching and the Church. The false prophets belong to the pagan world and view things from a heathen viewpoint. They teach mere principles of reasoning for belief and conduct. Even in the hands of astute heathen philosophers, they were false and inferior. They were simply secular views and sinful habits acknowledged and acted upon in the practical sense. The world naturally receives and approves these spewed principles, and would probably receive Christianity as a mere human scheme of religious belief and practice if it were the way they wanted it to be.[1]

Johannes H. A. Ebrard (1818-1888) points to the essence of the teaching of those infected with the antichrist spirit. Instead of repentance, they teach carelessness is okay; instead of humility, they advise that pride is alright; instead of love, they explain that lust of the eye is acceptable; instead of renunciation of the world, instruct that pride of life can be tolerated; instead of the crucifixion of the flesh, and they lecture that the lust of the flesh is manageable. And therefore, the core of their teaching, despite all its pretend Christianity, infatuates the whole world. Thus, “the world loves to hear them;” to swallow these so-called theories of wisdom as sweet morsels. It makes them rejoice in retaining its worldly nature while it is secure and receiving double honor – first, the Christian name, and then recognized as a Christian over and above the world. But, indeed, it is only the world which such fanatics can deceive.[2]

William B. Pope (1822-1903) points out that the indwelling God of chapter three, verse twenty-four, by their excellent faith in the strength of Him who is greater than he that is in the world, gave the believers the victory over all the seducers who left the congregation. Its prince is the antichrist spirit. But now, they needed to be warned that this antichrist spirit was attempting to invade the Church. So, the true believer’s victory over this worldly doctrine will be by the same faith that helped them triumph before as taught by those whom the world loves to hear, this kingdom of darkness principles breath the spirit of human reason. So, since they are not of the World, don’t bother to listen to them.[3]

Brooke F. Westcott (1825-1901) says that if we look at the characteristics of those who listen and believe these worldly speakers, we can see through their speech what these speakers’ character looks like. These impostors draw the spirit and the substance of their teaching from the world’s mindset and, therefore, it finds acceptance of like nature. As the old saying goes, “Birds of the same feather flock together.”[4] In the order of the original: “They are of the world, they speak of the world, and the world hears them.” Even today, those so-called religious experts constantly borrow from the world’s logic, philosophy, and ethics yet claim that they are not of the world.[5] They fail the Apostle John’s test miserably.[6]

In speaking of those in the world, Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) calls “being of one nature with the world,” implying that words belonging to false teachers are now expressly stated. They may be enrolled in some church bearing the Christian name; they may profess to be the only consistent expounders of Christianity; they may even claim the anointing of the divine Spirit. But in truth, they are wholly immersed in worldly influence, still unconverted, still in their sins. They may have an intense religiosity, but not God’s Spirit.[7]

Marvin Vincent (1834-1921) says that this verse contains some unclear rendering of the Greek. It might be interpreted as “they speak concerning the world.” But literally: “they speak out of the world.” That is, the character of their utterances corresponds to their origin. The Revised Version has, “speak they as of the world.” The position of the world in the sentence is emphatic: “it is out of the world that they speak.”[8]

Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) says that these false prophets have gone out into the world on a mission of evil from their cave of ignorance. This world is regarded as the sphere in which they are to propagate their repudiations of the Apostle John’s Gospel. This is but one of the many forms in which Scripture sets forth the mysterious conflict between good and evil, with the world as its theater and the witness. The struggle is between (1) the serpent’s seed and Eve’s seed; (2) the Anointed One and the tempter; (3) the Anointed One and the world; (4) the tempter and the individual; (5) error and truth; (6) the Church and the world; (7) the Church and antichrist spirit; (8) the antichristian delegation and the body of believers.[9]

Professor F. F. Bruce (1910-1990) asks why leaders, with their followers, of the opposition party, said to be “of the world,” and is it relevant for today? Yes, he says because the philosophy they endeavor to harmonize with the Gospel, depriving it of what makes it the Gospel, is current secular philosophy, the prevailing climate of opinion; as we say in German, “Zeitgeist.”[10] We have already seen that there is no form of “worldliness” so unfriendly to Christianity as this kind of “restatement.” Such a restatement is pleasant to “the world” because it aligns with contemporary fashion. Nevertheless, it is doomed to pass away because it loses its appeal with a change in style, which the Gospel never does. The Gospel, like its faithful preachers, is “of God,” and the people of God recognize it through the inward witness of the Spirit.[11] They are thus in no danger of confusing “the Spirit of truth” with “the ghost of error.”[12] [13]

John Phillips (1927-2010) notes that a great divide exists between those with secular interests and those with spiritual interests. The Apostle John mentions, first, those with worldly interests. He says here in verse five, “Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.” The world is Satan’s sphere of operation. Many are actually lying in his lap.[14] A sharp line was drawn between the world and the Church during the early church days. So long as the world turned a glaring face at those who loved Jesus, it was not hard to visualize the world as a foe. When, however, the world began to turn a smiling face toward the Church, it was not easy recognizing them as foes. For the first three hundred years of the Church, the world sent tidal waves of persecution against the people of God. Then, as a result of the work of Roman Emperor Constantine, after that, the world was in Church. And as a result, the Church’s influence on the world became political rather than spiritual. Thus, John writes in terms of “they” and “we.”[15]

Raymond E. Brown (1928-1998) points out that the phrase, “therefore speak they of the world” (KJV); “therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world” (NIV). It points to “the message they bring is established by where they come from.” It should be no bigger surprise than knowing that a person speaking English comes from Germany, France, England, Australia, or Jamaica by their accent. Likewise, in the case here, says Brown, what these outsiders are saying can easily be detected speaking worldly things because they are using a worldly dialect. This clearly establishes the relationship of speech to the origin of the speaker. And besides affirming that this language belongs naturally to the world, it also helps us understand why the world recognizes it. We had a comparable situation when the Pharisees complained about the success of Jesus in somewhat similar terms: “Look how the whole world has gone after Him!”[16] That was because they recognized His place of origin – Galilee. The same was true of these secessionists in following the worldly speakers. The Greek verb akouō implies “hears” (KJV) “listens” (NIV). Thus, John shifts from “speaking” to “listening,” and that theme will dominate in the next verse.[17]

David E. Hiebert (1928-1995)says that their message defines them because these secular speakers are rooted in the world. They draw the substance of their teaching from the philosophy of the godless world, indicating that they have no connection with the divine fountain of revealed truth. The present tense verb “they speak” portrays them as continually presenting their message from the world’s viewpoint. They confirm the words of Jesus: “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.”[18] In adjusting and restating the content of their message to harmonize with the spirit and philosophy of the world, they distort and deform God’s message. The truth of the matter is this; there is nothing more harmful to Christianity in this world than their reinterpreting the Gospel.[19]

Simon J. Kistemaker (1930-2017) says that John voices the quiet confidence in these verses of knowing that God and His people are one. However, John does not minimize our responsibility to do God’s will in this assurance. We, who are from God, have received the knowledge of God’s truth has the duty to tell people about it are His representatives. John stresses the word “we” by placing it at the beginning of the sentence. We, who are God’s children, proclaim the Word. When we do so, we receive a hearing from everyone who knows God. John echoes the words of Jesus: “Whoever is born of God listens to God’s Word.”[20] Why do God’s people listen to preachers? Because preachers proclaim God’s Word and that Word has divine authority When the preacher speaks, His people hear God’s voice.

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[1] Jelf, William E., Commentary of the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., pp. 58-59

[2] Ebrard, Johannes: Biblical Commentary on the Epistles of St. John, p.284

[3] Pope, William B., Popular Commentary, op. cit., pp. 314-315

[4] The phrase ‘birds of the same feather flock together’ is at least over 476 years old. It was in use as far back as the mid-16th century. Early British Anglican Reformation leader Dr. William Turner is said to have used a version of this expression in The Huntyng and Fyndyng out of the Romish fox, from the year 1545: “Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.” He was speaking of the Roman Catholic Church.

[5] For instance: The Secular City by Harvey Cox; Situation Ethics by Joseph Fletcher; The Nature and Destiny of Man by Reinhold Niebuhr, et., al.

[6] Westcott, Brooke, F., The Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 145

[7] Sawtelle, Henry A., An American Commentary, Alvah Hovey Ed., op. cit., p. 47

[8] Vincent, Marvin R: Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. II, op. cit., p. 356

[9] Plummer, Alfred: First Epistle of John, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Exposition, op. cit., p. 107

[10] Zeitgeist means the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time – “spirit of the time”

[11] Cf. 1 John 5:7-11

[12] Ibid. 2:26

[13] Bruce, F. F., The Epistles of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition. Kingsley Books, Inc. Kindle Edition.

[14] 1 John 5:19

[15] Phillips, John: Exploring the First Epistle of John, op. cit., loc. cit., p. 133

[16] John 12:19

[17] Brown, Raymond E., The Anchor Bible, op. cit., Vol. 30, p. 498

[18] John 3:31

[19] Hiebert, David E., Bibliotheca Sacra, op. cit., October-December 1999, p.433

[20] John 8:47; cf. 10:27