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1Jn_4:4. After the apostle has characterized the twofold πνεῦμα , he directs the attention of his readers to the relationship in which they stand to the false prophets.
ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστε ] A contrast to those who are ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ; believers are of God, because the πνεῦμα which animates them is the πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ .
καὶ νενικήκατε αὐτούς ] αὐτούς is not = antichristum et mundum (Erasmus), but τοὺς ψευδοπροφήτας , in whom the antichristian nature dwells.
νενικήκατε is to be retained as perfect, comp. chap. 1Jn_2:13; Calvin inaccurately interprets: in media pugna jam extra periculum sunt, quia futuri sunt superiores. John could say to his readers: νενικήκατε , not only inasmuch as in them was mighty the strength of Him who had said: θαρσεῖτε , ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον , and inasmuch as they in Him were sure of ultimate success (Neander, Düsterdieck), but also inasmuch as their opponents with their seductive arts must have been put to shame by their faithfulness, and must have been repulsed by them (Ebrard, Braune). The cause of this victory, however, did not and does not lie in the human power of believers, but in the fact ὅτι μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ;
ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν , i.e. ὁ Θεός (according to Grotius, Erdmann, and others: ὁ Χριστός ); as the believer is of God, God remains in him as the soul of his life; ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ , i.e. ὁ διάβολος , “whose children the antichrists are” (Lücke). Instead of the more particular ἐν αὐτοῖς , John uses the more general ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ , in order thereby to signify that they, although they were for a while in the Church, belong nevertheless to the κόσμος , which the following words expressively bring out.