1 John 4:3

Contextual Overview

¹ Dear friends, don't trust every spirit. On the contrary, test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ¹ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, if they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. ¹ Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ¹ Dear friends, stop believingdo not believe">[fn] every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.Jeremiah 29:8; Matthew 24:4-5,24; Acts 20:30; 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:18; 2 John 1:1:7; Revelation 2:2;">[xr] ¹ MY beloved, believe not all spirits, but discern the spirits whether they be from Aloha; because many false prophets have gone forth into the world. ¹ My beloved, believe not all spirits; but discriminate among spirits, whether they are of God: for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ¹ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. ¹ My loved ones, do not put your faith in every spirit, but put them to the test, to see if they are from God: because a great number of false prophets have gone out into the world. ¹ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ¹ Dearely beloued, beleeue not euery spirit, but trie the spirits whether they are of God: for many false prophets are gone out into this worlde.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and this: 1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 2 John 1:7

Reciprocal: John 1:14 - the Word Romans 1:3 - according Romans 10:9 - That if 1 Corinthians 12:3 - no man Hebrews 5:7 - the Hebrews 9:11 - Christ Hebrews 10:5 - but 1 John 3:10 - is 1 John 4:2 - come

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
And Man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man with Jehovah.

Genesis 4:1
Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Cain. Eve said, "With the Lord 's help, I have made a man!"

Genesis 4:1
The man knew Havah his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Kayin, and said, "I have gotten a man with the LORD's help."

Genesis 4:1
And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain, and said: 'I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.'

Genesis 4:1
And the man had connection with Eve his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have got a man from the Lord.

Genesis 4:1
And Adam knewe Heua his wyfe, who conceauing bare Cain, saying: I haue gotten a man of the Lorde.

Genesis 4:1
Afterwarde the man knewe Heuah his wife, which conceiued and bare Kain, and said, I haue obteined a man by the Lord.

Genesis 4:1
AND Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man for the LORD.

Genesis 4:1
Then Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she became pregnant. She bore a son and said, "By the Lord 's help I have gotten a son." So she named him Cain.

Genesis 4:1
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain and said, I have gained a man through God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 his person, office, and work, and makes void his obedience, sufferings, and death:

is not of God; neither he nor his doctrine are of God; his doctrine cannot come from God, being contrary to the word of God; and he himself is neither born of God, nor on his side.

And this is that [spirit] of antichrist: who is against Christ, or opposes himself to him; as he who denies his sonship, his deity, his humanity, his offices, and his grace, manifestly does; every doctrine that is calculated against these truths is the spirit and doctrine of antichrist:

whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it the world; in the false teachers, the forerunners of antichrist;

:-.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 written ὅ λίει τὸν Ἱησοῦν ho liei ton Hiēsoun, “who dissolves or divides Jesus;” that is, who “separates” his true nature or person, or who supposes that there were “two” Christs, one in appearance, and one in reality. This reading was early found in some manuscripts, and is referred to by many of the Fathers, (see Wetstein,) but it has no real authority, and was evidently introduced, perhaps at first from a marginal note, to oppose the prevailing errors of the times. The common reading, “who confesseth not,” is found in all the Greek manuscripts, in the Syriac versions, in the Arabic; and, as Lucke says, the other reading is manifestly of Latin origin. The common reading in the text is that which is sustained by authority, and is entirely in accordance with the manner of John.

And this is that spirit of antichrist - This is one of the things which characterize antichrist. John here refers not to an individual who should be known as antichrist, but to a class of persons. This does not, however, forbid the idea that there might be some one individual, or a succession of persons in the church, to whom the name might be applied by way of eminence. See the notes at 1 John 2:18. Compare the notes at 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ff.

Whereof ye have heard that it should come - See the notes at 1 John 2:18.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

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 the world. — Is working powerfully both among the Jews and Gentiles.