1 John 4:1-6

v1: “Do not regard or trust, do not follow, everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God, or everyone who professes to have received a vision, inspiration, or revelation from God,” because there are many who claim to have received a word from God but who have not. We are to examine and test teaching that claims to be from God.

v2: Those whose teaching and preaching acknowledges Jesus Christ “as the Son of God… who was with the Father from the beginning,” and who “as the Son of God who came into, and came in, our human, mortal nature and suffered and died at Jerusalem,” are to be recognised as those who “do so through the Spirit of God, that is, God is the author of that illumination.” Included in this “teaching about Christ, his person and work,” is the rest of what God has revealed in His Word, because to deny clear teaching in other parts of Scripture, is to deny essential aspects of who Christ is and what He has done.

v3: It was has been foretold by Christ “that one great antichrist would arise and wage… war against the Christ of God, his institution, his honour, and his kingdom in the world.” Prior to his arrival, his way will be prepared by “other, lesser antichrists,” and “by the spirit of error working in people’s minds and inclining them toward him.” As we see this “word of Christ fulfilled,” it should make us more certain that all of Scripture is true.

v4-5: If you have “up to this time overcome these deceivers and their temptations, there is good reason to hope that you will continue to do so.” One reason is that “the Spirit of God lives in you, and that Spirit is more powerful than human beings or demons,” and he is preserving you for God and for heaven.

v6: The further anyone is “from Christ and his faithful servants,” and “the more devoted [they] are to this world,” the “further [they are] from God.”