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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - 1 John 4:1 - 4:1
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1Jo 4:1-21. Tests of false prophets. Love, the test of birth from God, and the necessary fruit of knowing His great love in Christ to us.
Beloved - the affectionate address wherewith he calls their attention, as to an important subject.
every spirit - which presents itself in the person of a prophet. The Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error, speak by men’s spirits as their organs. There is but one Spirit of truth, and one spirit of Antichrist.
try - by the tests (1Jo 4:2, 1Jo 4:3). All believers are to do so: not merely ecclesiastics. Even an angel’s message should be tested by the word of God: much more men’s teachings, however holy the teachers may seem.
because, etc. - the reason why we must “try,” or test the spirits.
many false prophets - not “prophets” in the sense “foretellers,” but organs of the spirit that inspires them, teaching accordingly either truth or error: “many Antichrists.”
are gone out - as if from God.
into the world - said alike of good and bad prophets (2Jo 1:7). The world is easily seduced (1Jo 4:4, 1Jo 4:5).