What do you think this passage of scripture means?

Question

1 John 4
Test the Spirits
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Answer 1

1 John 4:1-6 means that we shouldn't believe everything we hear just because someone says it is a message inspired by God. There are many ways to test teachers to see if their message is truly from the Lord. One is to check to see if their words match what God says in the Bible. Other tests include their commitment to the body of believers, their life style, and the resutls of their ministry. But the most important test of all, says John, is what they believe about Christ. Do they teach that Jesus is fully God and fully man?
Some people believe everything they read or hear (as is evidenced by a lot of the FWD's I get in my E-mails) Unfortunately, many ideas printed and taught are not true. Christians should have faith, but they should not be gullible. Verify every message yu ehears, even if the person who brings it to you says it's from God. If the message is truly from God, it will be consistent with Christ's teachings.
The ant-Christ will be a person who epitomizes all that is evil and he will be readily received by an evil world. He is more fully described in 2 Thessalonians2:3-12 and Revelation 13.
It is easy to be frightened by the wickedness we see all around us and overwhelmed by the problems we face. Evil is obviously much stronger than we are. John assures us, however, that God is even stronger. HE will conquer evil, and His Spirit and Word live in our hearts.
False teachers are popular with the world because, like the false prophets of the Old Testament, they tell people what they want to hear. John warns Christians who faithfully teach God's Word will not win any popularity contests in the world. People dn't want to hear their sins denounced and they don't want to listen to demands that they change their behavior. A false teacher will be well received by non-Christians.

Answer 2

What it meant at the time was that John was countering gnostic heresy that was taking various forms. One of the forms was that Jesus was not really a man but a spirit being who looked like a man. One of the teachings of a sect of gnosticism was that everything physical and material was defiled and that only spiritual things could be pure. This led to cults that taught that things like sexual sin were inconsequential because the flesh was already defiled and only the spirit of a person was important.

The term anti-christ refers to a substitute or replacement Christ. While such a teaching goes against Jesus it doesn't openly oppose Jesus but tries to replace the actual Messiah or Christ with a substitute having the same name. So John was warning believers about false prophets who acted like they were super spiritual believers who had special knowledge not known to ordinary Christians and giving them a test to apply to these types.

Today it could refer to other cultists who follow the same pattern of false doctrine and preach a different Christ like the Jehovah's Witnesses who act like calling God Jehovah is some big deal and who claim that Jesus is really the arch-angel Michael.

Or it could refer to Mormons who follow the teachings of a false prophet and who believe that if you live a good life as a Mormon and go through all of their rituals that you can become like God and have your own planet to rule over and populate with "spirit children". They claim that Jesus and Satan were "spirit brothers" of God the Father and that God chose to implement his plan of salvation through Jesus rather than Satan.

Answer 3

I think it explains itself very well.
If some one comes to you and says that they are from God, but doesn't know or acknowledge Jesus then they are not from God, but you will know the ones who are, because they will acknowledge that Christ came in the flesh.If they acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh then they are of God. People that are of the world, speak the things that are of the world and people of the world will listen to them because they are also of the world. Because God is in all of His people, any one who knows God will listen and any one who is not filled with Gods Spirit will not listen. And God is telling us that this is how we will know (recognize) a true spirit from a false one. And any one that doesn't acknowledge Jesus they are not from God, well that spirit is of the antichrist. It is very plain as to what God is referring to. In my opinion.

Answer 4

The apostle John was not the only one that said to prove the things we hear. We are to go to the Word to see if these things people are saying is in the Word. We have to judge what the truth is according to the truth. Just because a preacher says something does not mean it is true. We are to test the spirits or the preachers that claim to be from God.

We are to judge the message to see if it is true. I did say JUDGE.

Answer 5

It means what it says.

If they answer from scripture and have a solid belief that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh then they are from Christ. And those who are lost and believe are also of faith. But those that are lost cannot hear the voice of God nor will they listen to you nor do they believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.

Answer 6

It means be careful there are decieving spirits all over the universe and be informed that testing in the name of Jesus is the only way to verify thier authenticity.

Answer 7

There are many messages out there. Only one is right. Use the Word and the Holy Spirit to discern truth from lie.

Answer 8

it particularly is incredibly a sword i exploit accepted to stroll interior the means of the holy spirit. Paul writes or weapons and thats linked with battling. however the weapons are DIVINE in means, meaning their is religious Authority and a duty with it. the place do arguments come from? what are they (stuff i pay attention, think of, see) So i see this scripture as a cost TO war, we are to combat because of the fact we've weapons, and we are given means. combat ability to contend the two mentally, bodily, stable warring parties prepare and prepare and have stamina and staying power, we are to be the comparable interior the spirit. We prepare our minds, to establish the strategies, the arguments, and we litteraly have a duty to TAKE CAPTIVE. (as you may a man or woman.. it would take alertness, attempt, AUTHORITY, and an alluring of WILL. To take a man or woman throw them on their abdomen and positioned their palms in the back of their back. (taking captive) We deliver them to the obedience of christ- by ability of doing this.. "in case you are able to administration the way somebody feels, you administration how they think of"

Answer 9

Jude
1 & 2 Tim
1 & 2 Thes

Answer 10

Uncle: it says nothing about the Bible, all it says is that if you are from God then you will be able to say that Jesus Christ is the Lord and the son of God.