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by
Howard Watson
John again emphasizes godly love and brotherly love while affirming
the deity of Jesus Christ who has come in human flesh. In verses
two and three he strongly states that false prophets are teaching
a lesser Christ than Jesus. These are antichrist spirits and are
of Satan; therefore, the Christian must try/test the spirit in light
of the truth of the revelation of Jesus as the Christ of God in
human flesh. The word for spirit is "pneuma" meaning wind,
breath, and changing doctrine or influencing principle. This is
a false spirit and is not from God. We must test differing teachings
from teachers/preachers to see if they are confirmed by the Scriptures
of the Holy Spirit.
False teachings are from the world and not God. See verse three.
The world is full of false teachings and teachers. We can find them
in many places, even churches and schools of learning. Unbelieving
media personalities give false teachings about Jesus and His person;
many Jewish teachers, Islamic teachers and other religionists misuse
or dispute the truth about Jesus the Christ. This is all of the
world and not Jehovah/God.
Christians are again told to express the love of God for one another.
See verses seven to twenty-one. God sent Christ Jesus into the world
in spite of its godlessness and rebellion, and the world rejected
Him. But Jesus, who died as a result of the world's rejection of
Him, claimed victory over hate and sin's death on His cross. He
became the propitiation ("hilasmon" Gk. an atonement)for
the sins of the world's individual sinners. See verses 10ff.
This great love which God has for you and me is the same love which
we must have toward one another. This love (agape) is incompatible
with hating one another. See verse twenty.
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