The First Letter of John – Chapter 4
Testing the Spirits, the Incarnation Confessed, and God Who Is Love
1. Do Not Believe Every Spirit
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God.” (1 John 4:1)
St John begins with discernment. Not every spiritual claim is divine; not every religious enthusiasm is from God. The Christian life requires testing, not gullibility.
St John Chrysostom warns:
“The devil speaks many truths in order to hide one lie.”
Discernment is not suspicion of everything, but fidelity to the rule of faith received from the apostles.
2. The Touchstone of Truth: The Incarnation
“Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.” (v. 2)
John gives a decisive criterion. Orthodoxy is not first about tone or intention, but about confessing the Incarnation.
“Every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the antichrist.” (v. 3)
St Irenaeus of Lyons insists:
“Where the flesh of Christ is denied, salvation itself is denied.”
To deny that the Son truly came in the flesh is to empty the Cross, the Sacraments, and redemption itself.
3. Victory Already Given
“Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them.” (v. 4)
John reassures the faithful. The battle is real, but the outcome is not in doubt.
“For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
St Augustine comforts:
“Fear not the many voices; the One who dwells in you is greater than them all.”
Christian confidence rests not in strength of argument alone, but in indwelling grace.
4. Two Ways of Speaking
“They are of the world; therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them.” (v. 5)
False teaching resonates with the world because it flatters it. Truth often jars because it calls for conversion.
“We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us.” (v. 6)
St Jerome comments:
“The ear of faith recognises the apostolic voice.”
Apostolic teaching, not popularity, is the measure of truth.
5. God Is Love
“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God.” (v. 7)
Here John reaches the summit of the letter. Love is not merely commanded; it is revealed as God’s own life.
“Whoever loves is born of God and knows God.”
St Gregory of Nyssa explains:
“Love is the very movement of God’s being toward us.”
6. The Most Terrible Sentence
“He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” (v. 8)
This is not sentimentality. John does not say “God is loving,” but “God is love.”
St Augustine reflects:
“If you see love, you see the Trinity.”
Love is not optional; it is the proof of knowing God.
7. Love Revealed in the Sending of the Son
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world.” (v. 9)
Love is defined by mission and sacrifice, not by emotion.
“He loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” (v. 10)
St Athanasius states:
“The Son became man that man might live in God.”
Divine love acts first; human love responds.
8. Love One Another Because God Dwells in Us
“If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (v. 11)
Christian love is not self-generated; it is participation in God’s love.
“If we love one another, God abides in us.” (v. 12)
St Bede the Venerable notes:
“God, unseen, is made visible by love.”
9. The Gift of the Spirit
“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (v. 13)
The Holy Spirit is not an accessory, but the interior witness to divine indwelling.
St Basil the Great teaches:
“The Spirit is the seal of God’s presence in the soul.”
10. Confessing the Son
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him.” (v. 15)
Right confession and real love belong together. Doctrine safeguards love; love proves doctrine.
“So we know and believe the love God has for us.” (v. 16)
Faith is trust in divine love revealed in Christ.
11. Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (v. 18)
John distinguishes servile fear from filial confidence.
St Augustine explains:
“Fear is cast out not by presumption, but by love made perfect.”
Christian maturity replaces terror with trust, not by ignoring judgment, but by abiding in love.
12. Love Because He First Loved Us
“We love, because he first loved us.” (v. 19)
All Christian love is response, never origin.
“He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (v. 20)
St John Chrysostom remarks:
“The invisible God is tested by visible love.”
13. One Commandment, Two Directions
“This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.” (v. 21)
Love of God and love of neighbour are not alternatives. They are one commandment with two inseparable movements.
Theological Summary
| Theme | Revelation in 1 John 4 |
| Discernment | Spirits must be tested (vv. 1–3) |
| Incarnation | Confession of Christ in the flesh (v. 2) |
| Victory | God within us overcomes the world (v. 4) |
| Apostolic Faith | Truth recognised by the faithful (v. 6) |
| God Is Love | Love belongs to God’s very being (vv. 7–8) |
| The Cross | Love revealed in sacrifice (vv. 9–10) |
| Indwelling | God abides where love is lived (vv. 12–13) |
| Fear | Perfect love casts it out (v. 18) |
Closing Prayer
God of love and truth,
You have revealed Yourself in Your Son
and poured Your Spirit into our hearts.
Guard us from error, root us in apostolic faith,
and perfect Your love within us.
Cast out all fear that does not come from You,
that we may abide in You now
and stand before You in confidence and joy,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 