1 John 4

Greetings in the grace and peace of our Lord,

The Chapter Memory System continues this week in 1 John 4. As a review (for any new readers....any myself), the Chapter Memory System is basically the product of the way I have been studying the Bible. I take one chapter per week, produce an outline for that chapter (based on the overall outline for the book), pick out memory verses (usually between 3 and 6) that typify each main outline section (and usually contain the key words for that section), and then write a summary of the whole week's study in this blog.
The goal is simple; Hear His Word (Rom 10:17), Hide His Word (Ps 119:11), and Heed His Word (James 1:22). (I study and quote from the ESV unless otherwise noted)

The Outline themes for 1 John 4 (the 'd' in A.B.I.D.E.) are Distinguishing spirits and Discerning God is love.

The memory passage is;

1 John 4:1-2, 7-9 (ESV)
¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

The first section (vv 1-6) focuses on how we are to test, or discern, from where a spirit originates. We are not to just believe every spirit (if they were to speak or reveal themselves) but are to give them a simple test; 'does (or will) that spirit confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?' If not, the spirit is from the antichrist and is false (evil); if so, the spirit is from God (even the Spirit of God). These false spirits (who may reveal themselves through false prophets) will sound like the world and the world will listen. These spirits will most likely make a lot of 'sense' in worldly terms and will appeal to our flesh somehow. But that accents the necessity of testing the spirits to make sure we listen only to God and not to a spirit of error.

John gives us tremendous encouragement in v4; 'we have God in us and are on His side, and He has won the final victory.'

The word 'love' appears 27 in verses 7-21, which makes the theme of this section abundantly (and thankfully) obvious. (writers note; I would have 'loved' to have the outline be 'God is love' or 'Love from God', but neither of those start with the letter 'd'. Just to let you know, in my original study I tried to get around this by using the Spanish phrase 'Dios es amor', which DOES start with 'd'. But alas, if I go down that road, there's no stopping me. So I changed it to the current outline title, 'discerning God is love')

Verses 7 and 8 have been running through my head off and on for probably about 30 years (and I'm not much older than that). The only problem is that it's from a song (calypso, I believe) that directly quotes the King James. So the 'unlearning' of this verse was just as hard as the 're-memorizing'.

'Beloved (fellow Christ-followers), we need to love each other do show that we have been born of God and know God. God showed His love for us first by sending Jesus, the Savior of the world, to satisfy the debt of sin we owed; that we might now live through Him. The way we display His abiding in love in us and His abiding life in us (and us in Him through Holy Spirit) is by loving each other.'

Verse 15 begins a new strain of thought in which the 'love' theme of this section collides with the the 'abide' theme of the whole book. 'If you confess that Jesus is the Son of God, He abides in you and you in Him. We know and believe God's love for us; that whoever abides in His love abides in Him, and He in us. This abiding and love give us confidence, not fear of punishment, for the day when our actions as believers will be weighed by Christ.'

John concludes this chapter with a final thought about loving each other. If someone hypocritically says that they love God but then turn around and hate a brother, he is a liar. For this there is a commandment; love God, love the brothers.

(at the end of my study I typically ask myself a question or two. The default questions are 'How does this affect my worship' and 'How does this affect my discipleship'. But sometimes I am led to ask myself a different question)

How does this affect my heart?
Honestly, with all this talk about love, I have had to guard against getting numb to my heart. Love on paper is safer than love played out. But I am thankful to this text in that it gives me clear instruction and a clear evaluation. Like a good teacher, John packages this issue with clear objectives and a very clear rubric. 'If I claim to be born of God and to follow Christ, is that evident in how I interact with the brotherhood?' My love for and abiding in God (if it is genuine) must show itself in love for others who have been born of Him and are following Him. The question is, do I love others as much as I love myself? The Lord continues to impress on me the need to walk humbly with Him and walk humbly toward others (1 Pet 5:5-6). I think I am reminded that it is equally (or more) important to walk in love with Him and walk in love toward others (the greatest commandments, Matt 22:37-39).

Help me, Lord, to walk in love and humility with You, and teach me how to walk in love and humility with others.

Grace and peace,

Ethan