CHAPTER 4
1 John 4:1-6 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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 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. They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 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 .
After John has completed his discourse on love for one's neighbor, and has demonstrated that this is a sign of the permanence of the Spirit we have received, he now adds a judgment concerning those who are truly brothers and neighbors, so that having this, we do not fall into the occasion of the commandment of love concerning false brothers, false apostles, and false prophets , bringing great harm upon ourselves from this.
Indeed, by embracing them as if they were of similar character, we will first harm ourselves while we communicate with those who are faithless, and we present holy things to dogs (Matt. 7:6): then, to those who associate with us, our love towards them will persuade many to take them as teachers and to believe what is said by them, while not observing, as if they were stealthily drawn away because of their conduct with us, and what is the indication of these, this is what follows:
" every spirit that confesses ." Every spirit, whether of prophecy or the dignity of apostleship, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is from God : but whatever does not confess this is not from God, but this dignity is of the Antichrist , of which you have heard .
When? From these words which he said a little earlier, that many antichrists are in the world, (1 Jn. 2:18) that is, forerunners of the Antichrist . Furthermore, he says that the confession of the Lord's coming is not made by the tongue, but by works. How? As blessed Paul says: "Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made evident in our body." (2 Cor. 4:10) Therefore, whoever has Jesus working in him, and is dead to the world, no longer lives to the world but to Christ, and carries Him not only in the flesh of Christ, but also in his own, he is from God . But whoever lives not for Christ, but for the world, that is, for the pleasures of the world, such a person is not from God. Therefore, Paul says, “When there are contentions and factions among you, are you not carnal and walking according to man?" (1 Cor. 3:3) He who walks according to the flesh does not have the spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9); that is, he who does not live according to Christ, in such a way that he has died to the world, this one is not of Christ.
" and now it is already in the world ." In the world, John says, the Antichrist is already present, not physically, but because of the presence of those who prepare the way for him, namely, false prophets , false apostles, and heretics. This Antichrist , however, will be a man who conveys Satan, exalted against all that is called God or divinity. (2 Thess. 2:4)
Therefore, he will also reject the worship of idols, which he signified as gods: moreover, by adding this: Every divine being also signifies Christianity: and he will only attempt to show himself as God. 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? Because the God who is in you is greater than he who is in the world , according to whom the false prophets chose to live. Then John adds another sign of their false prophets, which also greatly saddened the simpler believers. For it was likely that some of these found it hard to accept, while they saw that many held them in esteem, but they themselves were despised, and John said: “Do not be affected by sorrow if you are despised by many; they are indeed accepted by these.”
For a similar thing runs to its like. " They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world ." They are of the world, and when they speak of the world, that is, they teach according to fleshly desires, they have those who obey them, the perverse with the perverse. But we , being from God and alienated from fleshly desires, cannot be received by them.
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. 11:15) testifying that only he who is prepared for obedience has ears.
Having distinguished these, John then adds as a seal of those things already said, that through this (namely, what has already been said) we recognize those who have the spirit of truth or true prophetic dignity, and those who have the spirit of error or false prophecy.
From brotherly love to divine worship.
1 John 4:7-11 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was revealed in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another .
Again, after the aforementioned, John resumes the discourse on love . For when he had shown whom one ought to love, namely those who are conformed in character, he adheres to what was said at the beginning, stating that both love and the one who loves are from God , and that only he who loves is born of God and knows God : while he who does not have love also does not know God , confirming opposites with opposites. How, then, does he who does not love not know God ? He proves it in this way: " God is love ." And how will this be revealed? From the fact that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might have true life through Him , and that we might live through Him . For just as goodness is said to exist because it has produced the intellectual and sensible world for the sake of goodness, so that He who truly is, might have some participants in Himself; likewise, also for the love with which He sent His Only Begotten into the world for us, He shows, even through this, that love exists. Therefore, He Himself adds: " By this , is love ," that is, in this it is shown that God is love . Then, praising the goodness of God's love, he says: Not that we have loved Him, but that God did this, giving His Son for us, as if He ought to repay the beloved with an equal affection; but through love, first anticipating the benefit towards us, He sent His Son; and not only did He send Him, but also, for our sins , He was an atoning sacrifice by His own blood.
1 John 4:12-14 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son as the Savior of the world .
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. For by approaching in one way and another from those things that are seen in reality, and as if fulfilling what is lacking in the discourse, John makes a most perfect demonstration of what is said. According to this instruction, even now using discourse, he says:
" No one has ever seen God ." For in making a discourse about love for the brethren, he had brought forth God as an example, who gave His only begotten Son to death, because of the love He had for us: it was therefore fitting that someone would say: And how or in what way do you say this about invisible and incomprehensible things, and you confirm to us what no one has ever known? Therefore, responding to those who would speak thus, John himself says: Indeed, no one has ever seen God , and I also assert: but from mutual love for us, we know that God is in us . And he speaks rightly. For we certainly perceive many things that are invisible to us through actions. Indeed, just as no one has seen the soul, yet we discern its existence through actions and movements within us: in the same way, we recognize God's love for us, as if through a certain motion and operation. If this is not absurd, then this man also shows God to be present in us through actions beyond dignity. And what is this operation? Pure and sincere love for one's neighbor.
For this is effective and has no defect, when it is pure. This is the sign that we abide in Him and He in us , which He has also given us through His Spirit . For He who is pure grants us purity and is perfect from all filth. Therefore, since we communicate with Him through pure love, we also, He says, who have seen Him according to the flesh, have known Him, and we testify that the Father sent Him as the Savior of the world . But besides our own knowledge, He also instructed us, leading us more perfectly into this understanding, when He said: "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world." (Jn. 16:28) This pertains to the fact that He sent His Only Begotten Son into the world for our love. Again, He made it clearer to others: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish.” (Jn. 3:16) And: “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” (Jn. 12:47) Therefore, we have, from our own sight, He says, and from the teaching of the Only Begotten who is in the bosom of the Father (Jn. 1:18), as it is said in the Gospels, and from the operation through mutual love, that God is in us , and He has given us of His Spirit , and we participate with Him.
1 John 4:15-17 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. In this, love is made perfect with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
This refers to what has been said a little earlier, namely that every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. (1 Jn. 4:2) For John has sufficiently demonstrated that they are children of God and that God abides in them: this has been demonstrated through great love, which confirms that the Holy Spirit or spiritual gifts have been given to them: again, he refers to those words and says: " Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him ;" saying something of this kind: John said above, Everyone who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God (1 Jn. 4:2): furthermore, in the course of the conversation, something else was revealed, and therefore he proposed this: that those who confess these things also have the Spirit abiding in themselves, or God and his spiritual gifts, and they themselves abide in God. And this we do not say lightly, but with firm knowledge and faith through mutual love.
But having mentioned love, John also refers to all that he has said about love, attributing great faith to the discourse on love. " In this, love is made perfect ." He wishes, he says, for us to be perfect in love, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment , towards Him who was incarnate: for He himself will be the judge, according to his own statement, where he says: "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." (Jn. 5:22) And that there will be confidence towards him who was incarnate, John signified through what he said in the following, that just as he is, we are in this world , saying this: Since it has been shown before that God abides in us, and we are in God , he says, we attest to the perfection of love for ourselves. Just as he was blameless and pure in the world, he also said: "The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me (Jn. 14:30):" so also we, John says, will be in the world . For there is and we are placed through άντιχρονιαν (where one time is taken for another time), as is the custom of Scripture. Or it signifies something deeper through this. For John has often said that God is in us and we are in God. If this is indeed the case, He is holy in us, that is, the Leader and Prince of holiness: so we should also refer to him in this world sacredly and purely, dead to the world, always bearing his mortification in the body. (1 Cor. 4:10) Furthermore, he says, living this way, we will have confidence towards him, and we will be without fear then. For the “perfect love 6 ”, (1 Jn. 4:18) through good works, will be far from fear. And he adds this confirmation, namely that “perfect love casts out fear”. What fear? He himself says it is the “fear has torment”: for it happens that someone loves because of fear, lest he be punished: but this fear is not perfect, that is, it is not of perfect love. Having said these things about “perfect love”, he completely convinces that we should love God, for John himself first, he says, “loved us”. However, we must, since he has been the first good beginning for us, strive to repay, as has been said more broadly by us above. However, some have asked how, when David says: "Fear the Lord, all his saints, for nothing is lacking to those who fear him," (Ps. 34:9) he does not say: "perfect love casts out fear." Are the saints of God not perfect in love, to whom it is commanded to “fear”? And we say that there are two kinds of “fear”: one is indeed initial, which also brings with it “torment”, because of the evils perpetrated by oneself: fearing him because he approaches God, and therefore approaching lest he be punished, and this is indeed initial. “Perfect”, freed from such fear, is therefore called holy and endures forever: for "The fear of the Lord is holy," David says, "and endures forever." (Ps. 19:9) Since initial fear is neither holy nor enduring, but ceases to exist in “perfect love”. Who then and for what reason is fear called perfect? It is because, having been perfectly taken into love, it strives and fears that it may lack those things which are fitting for them to do towards the beloved, whom they love intensely.
1 John 4:18-21 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear: for fear has torment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also .
He who genuinely loves God does so not out of fear of punishment, but because of a passionate love for morality and love towards God; yet he does not consider himself safe due to a noble fear, which is the love of what is honorable. Equally, he who acts out of fear of falling into torment is the same as the former; therefore, he adds: " for fear has torment ."
" If anyone says, 'I love God .'" Where John shows with compelling reasons that love is transmitted from God to us, and from us to God, he adds again that if God has loved us in this way, we also must love one another: now referring again to this matter, he says that because it is our duty to love our brother , we fulfill the obligation by referring to the example of God's love for us, which we also return to God: it is necessary, he says, to love our brother exceptionally, as the most perfect sign of love towards God. For if this is not the case, neither would our love towards God be preserved, since the obligation that exists between us is interceding, which we have contracted out of love towards God.
" For he who does not love his brother ." Moreover, he adds a most effective saying to convince those who attempt to corrupt divine love, saying: Love , in any case, consists of the habitual relations towards one another: relations, however, has the aspect of a brother, and from this, it is especially gathered to that love . If this is true, whoever does not act on what more strongly attracts to love , and does not love the brother whom he sees, how can he claim to love God whom he does not see , with whom he has neither conversed nor can be perceived in any sense, how will he be found to be truthful? Therefore, if anyone shamelessly says that he loves God, but hates his brother , is he not found not only to corrupt divine love but also to be a transgressor of His command? Of whom? Of Him who says: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn. 13:35) Therefore, whoever loves God, and claims to be His disciple, must also love his brother according to His command.