Try the Spirit by the Spirit? 5-28-26

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,  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 (1 John 4:1-3).

Many false people have surfaced throughout history, and in John’s day a group called the Gnostics (meaning knowledge or enlightened) was teaching that Jesus could not have come in the flesh because all flesh/matter was evil.

How to test spirits- Use discernment: for instance, see if what is said is consistent with the Word of God.

Caution! One must be mature to discern - 

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

Acknowledge the presence of false prophets and teachings in the world and be vigilant in identifying them. Somebody has to warn the body of Christ about false prophets because of the damage that can be done to baby Christians.

John was writing parenthetically to those he calls his little children (babes in Christ); he told them how to recognize false teachers.

There was a group of people called Gnostics (gnosis- meaning secret knowledge); who considered themselves the enlightened ones.  They believed in secret knowledge (gnosis) as the path to spiritual enlightenment. They believed that Christ could not have come in the flesh because all flesh (matter) was evil.

Although Jesus came in the flesh, He was not born in sin because the perfect Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and Jesus was conceived. He did not have a biological earthly father.

Testing the spirits to see if they are of God is nothing other than discerning who is who. Please don’t say “try the spirits by the spirits”

Remember this, Satan (spirit) cannot cast out Satan. A kingdom divided against itself will fall. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? (Matthew 12:26).

Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org