Testing the Spirits 1 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.
Irenaeus · AD 202 All, therefore, are outside of the [Christian] dispensation, who, under pretext of knowledge, understand that Jesus was one, and Christ another, and the Only-begotten another, from whom again is the Word, and that the Saviour is another, whom these disciples of error allege to be a production of those who were made Aeons in a state of degeneracy.
Didymus the Blind · AD 398 Just as in ancient Israel there were some prophets who spoke the word of God and others who did not, so also, as soon as the apostles appeared, speaking in Christ and having the Holy Spirit whom the Lord had given to them, many false apostles were sent by the devil to counterfeit the teaching of the gospel.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Having explained the teaching on love for one's neighbor, and having pointed to this love as a sign of the abiding of the Spirit whom we have received, the apostle now adds a criterion for distinguishing true brothers and neighbors, so that we, keeping this distinction in mind, might not on account of the commandment of love enter into close relations with false brothers, false…
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ having come in flesh is of God,
Polycarp of Smyrna · AD 155 "For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 There remains then the test by which it is to be proved to be the Spirit of God. He has indeed set down a sign, and this, be-like, difficult: let us see, however. We are to recur to that charity; it is that which teacheth us, because it is the unction. However, what saith he here?
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Next: every spirit, that is, everyone bearing the title of prophet or apostle, who confesses the Lord Jesus as having come in the flesh, is from God, and whoever does not confess this is not from God, but his dignity is from the antichrist, which you have also heard.
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God. And this is that of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.
Polycarp of Smyrna · AD 155 "For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.
Didymus the Blind · AD 398 If a spirit dissolves the divine-human unity of Christ and thinks that the pure Word of God is outside all flesh, and cannot really be a man, and states that everything done in his incarnation is a fantasy, then that spirit is not from God. But someone will say that there are many heretics who do accept the incarnation, the Montanists for instance.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 The Apostle says that the antichrist is already in the world; of course, not in person, but in the person of false prophets, false apostles, and heretics who precede and prepare his coming. And the antichrist himself will be a man bearing Satan within himself, "exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped" (2 Thess. 2:4).
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is the one in you than the one in the world.
Cyprian · AD 258 That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to protect than the devil to assault.
Oecumenius · AD 550 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Whereby he gave knowledge of the Lord to the prophets and apostles: he adds: But you, beloved, since you are of God, have overcome them, namely the false prophets. How?
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Above, the apostle indicated the mark of the prophets and apostles of the Lord. Now he adds: you, being children of God, have overcome them, that is, the false prophets. Why? Because God, who is in you, is greater than he who is in the world, according to whose spirit the false prophets chose to live.
5 They are of the world; because of this they speak of the world, and the world listens to them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "These are of the world." Who? The antichrists. Ye have already heard who they be. And if ye be not such, ye know them, but whosoever is such, knows not. "These are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." Who are they that "speak of the world"? Mark who are against charity.
Andreas of Caesarea · AD 614 Who are these but the heretics and Manichaeans? For they blaspheme, speaking evil words out of their evil minds.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Then he gives them yet another mark of the false prophets, in that it greatly distressed the simple ones among the faithful themselves. Some of them could naturally grieve, seeing that many received those others very eagerly, while they themselves were despised.
6 We are of God. The one knowing God listens to us; whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Didymus the Blind · AD 398 If we take the word hear literally, it is clear that this cannot be true, since everybody can pick up the sounds of the words. It is therefore clear that the word means something more than that—it means that we should do what we hear. If someone does not know that he is supposed to act, he has not really heard.
Oecumenius · AD 550 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. However, He listens to us who lives temperately, and whoever knows God, ready to give us hearing. Therefore, Christ also said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear," (Matt.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 But we, being of God and having departed from worldly lusts, become unpleasant to them. The one who lives chastely listens to us, and therefore knows God, and is ready to listen to us. About this Christ also says: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. 11:15), that is, He testifies that the one who has prepared himself to listen with obedience has ears.
Love Comes from God 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone loving has been begotten of God and knows God.
Didymus the Blind · AD 398 Just as the person who does not choose what he ought to choose has done wrong and does not love what he ought to love, so those who love only those who are worthy of love receive only that level of praise due to them.
Andreas of Caesarea · AD 614 What does it mean to say that love is from God? Surely this refers to the man who came from God, who was revealed according to the image and likeness of the one who made him? For when this man appeared, he was revealed as the beloved and as worthy of being loved.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Having shown that one must love certain people, namely those of like mind, he returns to what he said at the beginning. He says that love and the one who loves are from God, that the one who loves, and he alone, is born of God and knows God, while the one who does not have love does not know God either.
8 The one not loving has not known God, because God is love.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 "God," then, being good, "is love," it is said. Whose "love worketh no ill to his neighbour," neither injuring nor revenging ever, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God. "Love is," then, "the fulfilling of the law;" like as Christ, that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaching of, and discipline according to Christ.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 In what sense then was it said a while ago, "Love is of God;" and now, "Love Is God?" For God is Father and Son and Holy Ghost: the Son, God of God, the Holy Ghost, God of God; and these three, one God, not three Gods.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Why then does the one who does not love not know God? He confirms this in the following manner. God is love. For just as God is called goodness because in His goodness He created the intelligible and sensible world, so too, having sent His Only-Begotten Son into the world out of love for us, He showed through this that He is also love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us: that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him.
Polycarp of Smyrna · AD 155 Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, "who bore our sins in His own body on the tree," "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him.
Bede · AD 735 In this God's love appeared in us, etc. As the Lord himself says: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John XV); and thus the love of Christ for us is proven, because he died for us. The Father's love is also proven in us, because he sent his only Son to die for us.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 This is evident from the fact that He sent His Only-Begotten Son into the world so that He might grant us true life and we might live through Him.
10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he himself loved us and sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us:" we did not love Him first: for to this end loved He us, that we may love Him: "And sent His Son to be the Atoner for our sins:" "litatorem," i.e. one that sacrifices. He sacrificed for our sins. Where did He find the sacrifice? Where did He find the victim which he would offer pure?
Bede · AD 735 We come to God not by our own merits but by the bestowal of his grace alone, as John bears witness when he says that we did not love God but rather he loved us.
Bernard of Clairvaux · AD 1153 Good Jesus, the chalice you drank, the price of our redemption, makes me love you more than all the rest. This alone would be enough to claim our love. This, I say, is what wins our love so sweetly, justly demands it, firmly binds it, deeply affects it. Our Savior had to toil so hard in this, in fact in making the whole world the Creator did not labor so much.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 If any of you perchance wish to keep charity, brethren, above all things do not imagine it to be an abject and sluggish thing; nor that charity is to be preserved by a sort of gentleness, nay not gentleness, but tameness and listlessness. Not so is it preserved.
Bede · AD 735 Beloved, if God so loved us, etc. What then follows:
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 But if, he says, God so loved us, although we are by no means of the same nature as He, then much more ought we to love, to love those akin to us, and, having learned the surpassing quality of love, to show it to others.
12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Tertullian · AD 220 "And we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father; " that is, of course, (the glory) of the Son, even Him who was visible, and was glorified by the invisible Father.
Oecumenius · AD 550 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. We have also said before that it is customary for this blessed man to repeat the same things about them, and to wish to instill the habits of what is said in those who are being taught, and to lead the discourse to what is clearer and more perfect.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 We have noted before that the Apostle John has a habit of repeating the same things about the same subjects. So he does now as well. No one, he says, has ever seen God. Speaking of love for the brethren, he pointed to God as an example of love, Who out of love for us delivered His Only-Begotten Son to death.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us: because he has given us of his Spirit.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "In this we know that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." It is well: thanks be to God! We come to know that He dwelleth in us. And whence come we to know this very thing, to wit, that we do know that He dwelleth in us?
Bede · AD 735 In this we know that we abide in Him, etc. This very thing, because He gave His Spirit to you, how do you know? Ask your own inner parts. If they are full of charity, you have the Spirit of God, as Paul attests, who says: Because the charity of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Rom. V).
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 It is a sign of our abiding in Him and of His abiding in us, and also because He has given us of His Spirit. For the Pure One begets what is pure and unblemished.
14 And we have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And we have seen, and are witnesses, that God hath sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world." Set your minds at rest, ye that are sick: such a Physician is come, and do ye despair? Great were the diseases, incurable were the wounds, desperate was the sickness. Dost thou note the greatness of thine ill, and not note the omnipotence of the Physician?
Bede · AD 735 And we have seen and testify, etc. Let no one despair of salvation, because although the diseases of crimes that weigh one down are great, the omnipotent physician has come to save. Yet let each remember that the same Son of God who came gently to save, will come sternly to judge.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 And since through pure love we have communion with Him, from this we, who have seen Him in the flesh, have known and testify that the Father sent Him, the Savior of the world. In order to more perfectly establish us in such knowledge, He Himself also gave an explanation concerning His own Person.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.
Tertullian · AD 220 But "whosoever shall confess that (Jesus) Christ is the Son of God" (not the Father), "God dwelleth in him, and he in God. " We believe not the testimony of God in which He testifies to us of His Son.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God." Now we may say it in not many words; "Whosoever shall confess;" not in word but in deed, not with tongue but with the life. For many confess in words, but in deeds deny.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 This refers to what was said a little above (v. 2): every spirit that confesses the Lord Jesus, who has come in the flesh. The apostle has sufficiently proved that believers are children of God and that God abides in them; and he proved this by love for one another, because the Holy Spirit was given to them.
16 And we have known and have believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one abiding in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 He does not express the divine essence, but wishing to declare the majesty of God, he has applied to the Divinity what is best and most excellent in the view of men.
Bede · AD 735 God is love. He already said that above, behold he says it again. Love could not be commended to you more than by saying God. Perhaps you were going to scorn the gift of God: will you scorn God as well?
Bonaventure · AD 1257 If we consider the fruit, we shall find the union of God and the soul. For every artisan who makes some work either makes it so that through it he may be praised, or so that through it something may be procured or gained for himself, or so that he may delight in it, according to the three things that are among desirable goods, namely the honorable good, the useful, and the dele…
17 In this love has been perfected with us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because just as that one is, so also are we in this world.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The Lord in the Gospel saith, "If ye love them that love you, what reward shall ye have? do not the publicans this?" Then what would He have us do? "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you." If then He bids us love our enemies, whence brings He an example to set before us?
Andreas of Caesarea · AD 614 Jesus said: "The ruler of this world is coming, and he shall find nothing in me." We ought to be the same, so that nothing of this world may be found in us either.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 God is light, and His saints, according to the saying of the Gospel (Matt. 5:14), are the light of the world and are free from the fear of torment, because they are filled with love for God.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment; and the one fearing has not been perfected in love.
Shepherd of Hermas · AD 160 For, fearing the Lord, you will not do these deeds, but will refrain from them. For fears are of two kinds: for if you do not wish to do that which is evil, fear the Lord, and you will not do it; but, again, if you wish to do that which is good, fear the Lord, and you will do it.
Leo the Great · AD 461 The apostles had to ensure that no other truth would creep in and that no other doctrine would be taught. To do this, it was necessary to increase the capacity of those who were being taught and to multiply the constancy of that love which drives out all fear, not dreading the rage of persecutors.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 For, having attained perfection in love through good deeds, we shall be far from fear. In confirmation of this he also adds: perfect love casts out fear. What fear? He himself says that it is the fear of torment. For it is possible to love someone even out of fear of punishment. But such fear is not perfect, that is, it is not characteristic of perfect love.
19 We love, because he himself first loved us.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Hear the apostle Paul: "But God showed His love in us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us:" the just for the unjust, the beautiful for the foul. How find we Jesus beautiful? "Thou art beauteous in loveliness surpassing the sons of men; grace is poured upon thy lips." Why so?
Andreas of Caesarea · AD 614 God loves us so much that even the hairs of our head are numbered, as it says in the Gospels. It is not that God goes around numbering hairs but rather that he has exact understanding and complete foreknowledge of everything to do with us.
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 By fear here is meant the preliminary fear. Whoever sincerely loves God does what is pleasing to Him not out of fear of punishment, but out of an inclination toward virtue and out of love for God, not safeguarding himself even with the lawful fear that consists in love for what is good.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one not loving his brother whom he has seen is not able to love God whom he has not seen.
Cyprian · AD 258 Also in the same place: "If any one shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? "
Bede · AD 735 If anyone says, 'I love God,' etc. How do you prove that he is a liar? Listen:
JB Lightfoot · AD 1889 But I cannot dismiss this subject without calling your attention to the practical measures which flowed immediately from these gatherings for worship. The collection of alms to be distributed to the orphan and the prisoner, to the sick and the stranger, is regarded by Justin as an inseparable part of divine service.
21 And this commandment we have from him: that the one loving God love his brother also.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also." Marvellous fine talk it was, that thou didst say, "I love God," and hatest thy brother! O murderer, how lovest thou God?
Bede · AD 735 And this commandment we have from God, etc. For how can you love him whose command you hate? Who is it who says: I love the emperor, but I hate his laws? Not so the true lover of God, but: See (he says) that I have loved your commands, O Lord (Psalm CXVIII). And therefore he confidently adds: Quicken me in your mercy (Ibid.).
Theophylact of Ohrid · AD 1107 Therefore, whoever loves God and strives to be His disciple, by His commandment, loves his brother also.