Introduction
1 John 4:1–6: In today’s reading believers are warned to ignore false teachers who deny that Jesus came as a human being. The writer describes how believers can distinguish between people who have God’s true Spirit and those with a false spirit.
Today’s Key Verse: 1 John 4:1a
Do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God.
Reading
4 My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere. 2 This is how you will be able to know whether it is God’s Spirit: anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being has the Spirit who comes from God. 3 But anyone who denies this about Jesus does not have the Spirit from God. The spirit that he has is from the Enemy of Christ; you heard that it would come, and now it is here in the world already.
4 But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world. 5 Those false prophets speak about matters of the world, and the world listens to them because they belong to the world. 6 But we belong to God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This, then, is how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Reflect
In today’s reading, the writer admonishes us to test the spirits. What guideline does the writer provide in verses 2–3? What does the writer say in verses 4–6 about false prophets? How is one to tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error?
Pray
Sovereign God, help me to recognize the difference between the Spirit that comes from you and a spirit that is false. Guide me in the ways of your truth, and help me each day to live according to your will and reject false teachings. In your holy name, I pray. Amen.
Tomorrow’s Reading
1 John 4:7–21: God is love.
