1 John 4:2-3

Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser.     About The Berean | Archives | Random Berean | Subscriptions               1 John 4:2-3 (2) By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, (3) and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. New King James Version   Change your email Bible version The end of the first century witnessed many heretical teachings. One of these heresies, Gnosticism, taught that Jesus Christ was not really a flesh-and-blood human being but a spirit that was manifested as a human being. This was undoubtedly one of the things John was alluding to when he wrote these verses. However, there is also a deeper meaning to these words that John was inspired to write. The Holy Spirit inspired John to use the Greek perfect participle for the words "has come" in the above verses. The perfect tense implies not only the historical fact of Jesus Christ having been born as a flesh-and-blood human being but also the present continuance of this fact. John is saying that Jesus Christ is still human in the sense that He is living His life over again in human beings who submit to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. The message of this scripture is simply this: A teacher is of God if he teaches that Jesus Christ is coming—living His life over again in the flesh of every true, regenerated Christian—and that a Christian must follow Him wherever He leads and emulate Him in every way. But a teacher who teaches that one does not have to follow Christ and that it is not necessary for Christ to live in the flesh of His disciples is not of God. John says that this false teaching stems from the spirit of antichrist (verse 3). — Earl L. Henn (1934-1997) To learn more, see: Was Jesus Christ Born Under the Law? Related Topics: Antichrist Gnosticism Humanity of Christ Jesus Christ as a Flesh -and -Blood Human Commentary copyright © 1992-2015 Church of the Great God New King James Version copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Please cancel my subscription to The Berean                 The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment is made possible through voluntary contributions to the Church of the Great God. P.O. Box 471846 Charlotte, NC 28247 803-802-7075