Keeping the Faith (1 John 4:1-6)

It has been observed that one of the clear marks of contemporary society is the way people can accept contradictory opinions. There is a reluctance to say that something is wrong, providing the opinion or practice does not interrupt the lives of other people. If it is suggested that it is wrong, the person making the suggestion is often said to be judgemental. Yet we know that sometimes people may be interrupted by unwelcome information.

For example, I may be sitting watching a television programme unaware that smoke is coming out of the window of another room in my house. A passer-by who shouts at me and urges me to escape from the fire has my good at heart, even although he is interrupting my enjoyment. Of course, any sensible person would be grateful for such an intrusion. Tolerance of what is destructive is not a sign of broadmindedness. Indeed, the observer of the danger would be a criminal if he allowed the unaware person to suffer the consequences of the fire.

It is obvious from John’s comments in verses 1-6 that he was aware that certain dangers faced the church of his day. The congregation to which he was writing had gone through a difficult time during which false teachers had penetrated these gatherings and led people astray. He also knew that other false teachers would arise. The basis of his outlook was not merely an assessment of current trends and how they would develop. Instead he built his teaching on the instructions given to him and the other apostles by the Lord Jesus when he was here on earth. Listen to some details that Jesus said about such persons:

Matthew 7:15-20: ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.’

Matthew 24:11: ‘And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.’

Matthew 24:24-25: ‘For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.’

Note that Jesus stresses that they will look like real prophets (they will wear sheep’s clothing), they will be many in number and have large numbers of followers (the false will be plentiful and popular), and they will perform great signs that will be regarded as evidence of authenticity. The threat of such persons was so real that the writers of the New Testament letters stress that the Christian church faces constantly the threat of false prophets. Paul warned the elders of Ephesus that some of them would turn out to be false prophets; Peter tells his readers in 2 Peter 1 that they would have false teachers in their midst; Jude depicts such false leaders in his letter; and John highlights the existence of such persons in congregations to which he sent his Revelation.

It is important to note that John, as did Jesus and the other apostles, refers to false teachers within the visible Christian church. He is not referring to the founders and leaders of other religions such as Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism. There is no doubt that these religions contain false prophets, but they are not a threat to the spiritual outlook of the church because they are not part of it. The dangers that John sees are from within the church.

It is also important to observe why John is making this point. His reason for doing so is found in his endearing term, ‘Beloved.’ He highlights the danger because he loves the Christians. Sometimes it is suggested that to behave in such a way reveals a lack of love. Yet would we regard a person who did not protect sheep from wolves as a lover of the flock? If that is necessary in the physical world, it is also essential in the spiritual world. A true leader who loves the church will warn it of all dangers that he sees.

How does one get this heart of love for the people of God? The answer to the question is straightforward. This heart outlook develops from spending time with God in his Word, with him in prayer, and by using the other means of grace. It is impossible for a person to have it if he does not make use of these means. This heart of love also develops by spending time focussing on particular people, praying for them, and asking God to defend them from personal tendencies that may be doors for false teachers to get through.

1. Personal and corporate responsibility

Earlier we noticed what Jesus said about false teachers: their similarity to true teachers, their popularity and their credible works. It is interesting to observe the first response that John expects from his readers. He tells each of them to test the spirits. In telling them to make this response, John is combining the two important elements of self-assessment and joint-assessment. He instructs each of them to discover what kind of person they are listening to, but he also instructs them to assess these teachers together. This means that each one of us is responsible for our own souls and for the souls of those in our congregation.

In what ways can we do this? Say you see a DVD of a well-known speaker or read a book by him or her. As you listen or read, you pick up that what is being said is not biblical. I don’t mean that the speaker or author has a particular view on issues about which Christians can differ legitimately. Instead, I am referring to a fundamental doctrine of the faith. If you hear or read such things, you have the responsibility to warn others because you have seen the danger.

2. The protections of doctrinal accuracy (vv. 2-3)

John then informs his readers that they have a clear test as to the authenticity of a teacher or prophet. The test is not his behaviour, or his popularity, or his success. Instead it is doctrinal accuracy. John refers to a heresy that was infiltrating the church of his day. The wrong idea suggested that Jesus was not fully man, that he only seemed to be like a man. It was an attempt to explain the complexity of the person of Christ. Many were confused by this teaching and it became necessary for true believers to confess verbally what they believed about Jesus.

Why did John bring in this test? Does he want all his readers to become scholarly theologians, to have a Christian life that is mainly cerebral? Of course not! He has already explained in his letter how important it is that believers obey God’s commandments. John mentions this test because he knows that ignorance of basic doctrines is the greatest danger that a Christian faces and its existence gives the devil his easiest opportunity of making inroads into the Christian church.

We can apply this practically by thinking of the Shorter Catechism. It comes in three sections: section one is concerned with doctrines, section two with prayer (mainly an explanation of the Lord’s Prayer), and section three with Christian living (explanation of the Ten Commandments and some other requirements). In section one, straightforward answers are given regarding the key doctrines of the Christian faith. If we understand these answers, we will not be led astray unwittingly by false teachers. Had the early church possessed it, they could have said to the false teachers who denied the humanity of Christ what the Catechism teaches about him. We have the great privilege of having a doctrinal shield already available. Sometimes individuals put a card on top of their TV reminding them that it shows unsuitable programmes. Perhaps it would also be useful to put a Shorter Catechism there as well.

There are two sets of people who are responsible for ensuring that this doctrinal knowledge is always understood, and each set has taken a vow regarding it. One set is the officebearers of the church who have taken vows in which they stated that they understood these doctrines and were thus able to protect the church. The other set is parents, who have the responsibility of ensuring that the vows they made when receiving baptism for their children are kept. In a sense, what is in mind here is family protection. Officebearers protect the church family from error and parents protect their families from error. And they have to be proactive as well as reactive. There is little benefit in giving instruction to a church when an issue suddenly arises; they way to deal with such possibilities is to teach the faith constantly to one another whenever they have fellowship. Similarly, parents should fill their children’s minds with the truth and it will become the grid by which they assess what comes their way.  But when a church or a family is without such a doctrinal framework, it is easy for the devil to deceive.

3. The indwelling Holy Spirit (vv. 4-6)

Having highlighted the importance of personal responsibility and doctrinal understanding in connection to testing the views of others, John them mentions a third way by which God’s people are protected from error. It is important to realise that we are not being asked to select one of the three methods and use it as our preferred option. Instead we are to use all three. The third help is the presence of the Spirit. What does John say about his work?

First, John points out that the Spirit enables his people to overcome false prophets. The language that he uses indicates that he is speaking about spiritual warfare in which God’s people resist and overcome a Satanic ploy to defeat them. We can imagine a situation in which a small country feels overwhelmed by the might of an attacking alliance. The Christian church often finds itself under the attack of the combined forces of the world, the flesh and the devil. Believers discover that, despite implementing their personal responsibility and understanding of the truths of the faith, the infiltration by the enemy goes on. In such situations they discover that divine help if given to them as they make use of the other two weapons. Their resolve to be loyal to Jesus deepens and their desire to understand the Bible’s teachings increases, and that is the evidence that the Spirit is at work within. This is how such overcome. But if there is no resolve to adhere to Jesus and no desire to appreciate doctrines, there is no evidence that the Spirit is present.

Second, the indwelling Spirit leads his people to listen to the words of the apostles. We should note John’s use of pronouns in verses 4-6: ‘you’ in verse 4 refers to believers; ‘they’ in verse 5 refers to false teachers; ‘we’ in verse 6 is a group different from both the ‘you’ and the ‘they’. John gives a straightforward explanation: whoever belongs to God will be led by the Spirit to accept the teachings of the apostles; a failure to accept their teachings is clear evidence of the absence of the Spirit.

So how can we summarise the message of John in these verses. We can see in his words a call for two positive responses in a world full of great religious confusion. First, there is a call to discernment, to discover through the teachings of the Bible the satanic origins of much that goes under the name of Christianity. Second, there is a call to devotion to Jesus Christ, to confess openly and gladly that we believe in the Saviour revealed in the Bible.