Knowing the Spirit of God (1 John 4:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-25C-2004

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Knowing the Spirit of God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  1 John 4:2

            Message of the verse:  “2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;”

            We continue with the notes from the John MacArthur Study Bible.

            “4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God.’  John gives a measuring stick to determine whether to propagator the message in a demon spirit or the Holy Spirit.  ‘Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.’  This is the first test of a true teacher: they acknowledge and proclaim that Jesus is God incarnate in human flesh.  The Gr. Construction does not mean that they confess Christ as having come to earth, but that they confess that He came in the flesh to the earth, i.e., His human body was physically real.  Both the full humanity and full deity of Jesus must be equally maintained by the teacher who is to be considered genuinely of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit testifies to the true nature of the Son, while Satan and his forces distort and deny that true nature.  John accentuates the crucial importance of the sound doctrine expressed in God’s Word as the only absolute and trustworthy standard (cf. Isaiah 8:20).”  “20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn (Isa. 8:20).

Propagator:  “someone who spreads ideas, beliefs, etc. to a lot of people.”

12/8/2017 8:01 AM