1 John 4: Discernment & the Way of Love

• v.1-6 Test Opposing Spirits
• v.7-11 God’s Love energizes our love
• v.12-16 Expressions of God’s Life in us
• v.17-21 Principles of Love

[Chapter Synopsis: The presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us distinguishes us from unbelievers, as through us He extols Jesus and attracts other to believe. But it is His presence in us that enabled us to be born again, born to love as Jesus loves, for God is love, and as He expresses Himself, we will love others. Without that love our relationship with Him is questionable.]

v.1-6 Test Opposing Spirits

[Passage Synopsis: This is about ‘behind-the-scenes’ realities, the Spirit who resides in us and the spirit of the enemy who rejects Jesus.]

v.1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

v.2,3 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

v.4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

v.5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

v.6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

[Note: Test out who and what is false. When the Spirit leads, He will glorify Jesus, but anyone who denies Jesus is of the enemy. We are overcomers because Jesus [who is Lord of all] lives in us. Unbelievers express the attitudes and ways of ‘the world’ we considered earlier. Because we come from God, those from God will listen to us, but others won’t!]

v.7-11 God’s Love energizes our love

[Passage Synopsis: The same message keeps on coming through – God loves us so we can love one another.]

v.7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

v.8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

v.9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

v.10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

v.11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

[Note: Back to the basics – love – to be expressed among us, which is the natural flow in those who have been born again. No love = no God. A key declaration – God IS love. God demonstrated His love by sending Jesus. It’s not that we loved Him but that He loved us first, seen in Jesus’ sacrifice. With this love in mind, let’s love one another.]

v.12-16 Expressions of God’s Life in us

[Passage Synopsis: And more! As believers our love reveals God’s presence in us, His Spirit flowing through us. But it’s more than this, it’s the words of testimony and declaration that come forth at His prompting.]

v.12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

v.13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

v.14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

v.15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

v.16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

[Note: Our love for one another as believers, is an expression of God living in us and we know we are united with Him by His Spirit He has given us, so we testify to these truths – Jesus is the Saviour of the world! The one who truly believes and declares that Jesus is the Son of God shows God indwells them. Thus God’s love in us and through us is what it is all about.]

v.17-21 Principles of Love

[Passage Synopsis: And even more about love. Jesus’ love in us sets the way to eternity, delivers us from fear, and releases us to love and acts as a clear sign of who we are, for you cannot love God if you don’t love others.]

v.17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

v.18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

v.19 We love because he first loved us.

v.20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

v.21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

[Note: Love through us reveals Jesus in us. His love for us delivers us from fear. Our love flows because He first loved us. Saying you love God but hate your brother is impossible. Love God? Then love your brother.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: