1 John 4:3

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. CONFESSETH NOT THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH. So 'Aleph ('), Cyprian, Polycarp, Irenaeus (3: 8). Lucifer, Irenaeus, Origen, on Mark 25:14 , and Vulgate, read, 'Every spirit which destroys (sets aside, or does away with) Jesus Christ.' A B read only, 'Every spirit that confesseth not (i:e., refuses to confess) Jesus' (in His person, His offices, and divinity). YE HAVE HEARD - from your Christian teachers. ALREADY IS IT IN THE WORLD - in the person of false prophets ()....

3._And this is that spirit of Antichrist _The Apostle added this, to render more detestable the impostures which lead us away from Christ. We have already said that the doctrine respecting the kingdom of Antichrist was well known; so that the faithful had been warned as to the future scattering of the Church, in order that they might exercise vigilance. Justly then did they dread the name as something base and ominous. The Apostle says now, that all those who depreciated Christ were members of that kingdom. And he says that the _spirit of antichrist would come_, and that _it was already in the world_, but in a different sense. He means that it was already in the world, because it carried on in secret its iniquity. As, however, the truth of God had not as yet been subverted by false and spurious dogmas, as superstition had not as yet prevailed in corrupting the worship of God, as the worl...

1-6 Christians who are well acquainted with the Scriptures, may, in humble dependence on Divine teaching, discern those who set forth doctrines according to the apostles, and those who contradict them. The sum of revealed religion is in the doctrine concerning Christ, his person and office. The false teachers spake of the world according to its maxims and tastes, so as not to offend carnal men. The world approved them, they made rapid progress, and had many followers such as themselves; the world will love its own, and its own will love it. The true doctrine as to the Saviour's person, as leading men from the world to God, is a mark of the spirit of truth in opposition to the spirit of error. The more pure and holy any doctrine is, the more likely to be of God; nor can we by any other rules try the spirits whether they are of God or not. And what wonder is it, that people of a worldly s...

Verse 1 John 4:3. _EVERY SPIRIT_] Every teacher, _that confesseth not_ _Jesus, is not of God_ - has not been inspired by God. The words εν σαρκιεληλυθοτα, _is come in the flesh_, are wanting in AB, several others, both the _Syriac_, the Polyglot _Arabic, AEthiopic, Coptic,_ _Armenian_, and _Vulgate_; in _Origen, Cyril, Theodoret, Irenaeus_, and others. _Griesbach_ has left them out of the text. Spirit _OF ANTICHRIST_] All the opponents of Christ's _incarnation_, and consequently of his _passion, death_, and _resurrection_, and the benefits to be derived from them. _YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT SHOULD COME_] See 2 Thessalonians 2:7. Even now already is it in

AND EVERY SPIRIT THAT CONFESSETH NOT ... - That is, this doctrine is essential to the Christian system; and he who does not hold it cannot be regarded either as a Christian, or recognised as a Christian teacher. If he was not a man, then all that occurred in his life, in Gethsemane, and on the cross, was in “appearance” only, and was assumed only to delude the senses. There were no real sufferings; there was no shedding of blood; there was no death on the cross; and, of course, there was no atonement. A mere show, an appearance assumed, a vision, could not make atonement for sin; and a denial, therefore, of the doctrine that the Son of God had come in the flesh, was in fact a denial of the doctrine of expiation for sin. The Latin Vulgate here reads “qui solvit Jesum,” “who dissolves or divides Jesus;” and Socrates (H. E. vii. 32) says that in the old copies of the New Testament it is wri...

EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 4:1 - 1 JOHN 5:12 (2) _The source of son-ship. _Possession of the Spirit. 1 JOHN 4:1 Confession of the Incarnation is the assurance that the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth, is working in us, and not the spirit of error. The passage seems clearly to teach that there are two rival influences contending for power over the spirits of men. We must test men's spirits to see whether they are organs of the Spirit of truth or of the spirit of error. 1 JOHN 4:1 BELOVED (as in...

AND EVERY SPIRIT THAT CONFESSETH NOT,.... The proper deity and sonship of Christ, his true and real humanity, and his Messiahship; or any of his offices, doctrines, and ordinances; or his satisfaction and righteousness; or that peace, pardon, justification, life, and salvation, are by him; all which are meant by what follows, THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH: this clause is left out in the Ethiopic version, and that without hurting the sense, since it is easily supplied from the preceding verse; and the Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin version, only read "Jesus": and the latter reads the whole thus, "and every spirit that dissolves Jesus"; that separates the two natures, human and divine, in him, and makes two persons of them; or denies either of them, either that he is truly God, or really man, or denies him to be Jesus, the Saviour; who, as much as in him lies, destroys h...

1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world._ If John had need to say that in the early morning of Christianity, I am sure we ought to say it with greater emphasis today. It is certainly true in these days that «many false prophets are gone out into the world,» therefore we also must «try the spirits whether they are of God.» 1 John 4:2. _Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:_ If the doctrine of the incarnation of God in Christ is denied, as it was by the first heretics, we may conclude that the Spirit of God is not in such teaching. Any doctrine which dishonours Christ,-whether in his person, or his

WORLD Greek, "kosmos", means "world-system". (1 John 5:4); (1 John 5:5); (1 John 5:19); (John 7:7). (_ See Scofield) - (Revelation 13:8). _...

1 JOHN 4:3 mh. o`mologei/ {A} In place of mh. o`mologei/ several versional and patristic witnesses substitute the remarkable reading lu,ei (“Every spirit that _annuls_ Jesus is not of God”) or _solvit_ (“severs”). Although several scholars (including Zahn, Harnack, Büchsel [in Kittel], Preisker) have argued that lu,ei is the original reading, the Committee preferred mh. o`mologei/ because of overwhelming external support. The origin of lu,ei is probably to be sought in second century polemic against Gnostics who made a distinction between the earthly Jesus and the heavenly Christ....