Confessing Spirits

Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:3)

I am still exploring various facets of what it means and how to go about testing every spirit. John says just previous to this that we will know that God abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us. Then immediately we are told to not believe every spirit but to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Right after that John gives criteria by which we can discern the difference between spirits and determine what comes from God. This has to do with the attitude that a spirit displays toward Jesus.

One of the words in this text grabbed my attention this morning, the word confess. Again, this is one of those religious terms that has over time become confused, misused and too often abused. As with much in religion it has tended to move away from what is going on deep inside at the heart level to describe more of an external, artificial kind of profession. Given the way we think, particularly in Western societies, it is easy to assume that if we just say some words and sound rather convincing that we have fulfilled a requirement for confession.

Many of us were raised to practice just such an artificial way of confessing which trained us from a very early age to become good hypocrites. You might remember as a child being sternly instructed to tell someone you were sorry for something you did or said that hurt them. Never mind whether you actually felt any genuine sorrow or not, the strong implication by the one demanding an apology from you was that if you didn't comply there would be serious and possibly very painful imposed consequences if you did not 'confess' immediately. But unfortunately this kind of forced confession only tends to drive us deeper into confusion about the true nature of the original meaning of this word.

When I looked up this word in the Greek I was surprised to discover that it includes the aspect of giving thanks as well as having covenant implications. While it clearly does involve the act of assent and acknowledgement, it also involves promise. With all of these aspects included in this one word it takes on significantly more meaning than simply to utter a few words to satisfy the demands of some authority figure. It involves verbalizing externally what is really felt at a much deeper level of the soul.

Maybe I am seeing yet another hint about how to discern or test different spirits. John says here that many false prophets have gone out into the world. The fact that they are false parallels the idea of a surface confession only, which in the context of the true meaning of the word is not really confession but simply a profession. One way to unmask the false in contrast with the true Spirit that comes from God is to look for authenticity as well as similarity to the pure honesty that was seen in Jesus and will always be seen in any spirit in harmony with God.

Another verse that came to my attention while meditating on this passage was one that has been very helpful for me when it comes to discerning between spirits.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15)

As I looked over a number of other versions of this verse I found some very encouraging renditions that bring out different nuances that can resonate with my heart more clearly.

You didn't receive His Breath to make you slaves to fear again, for when you received it, it adopted you as His sons so by this Breath we can call out, 'Papa! Father!' (2001)

God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. (CEV)

The Spirit that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God's chosen children. And with that Spirit we cry out, "Abba, Father." (ERV)

For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, "Father! my Father!" (GNB)

What was given to you was not a spirit of slavery to terrify you again—what you received was the spirit of adoption into God’s family, so we can shout out, “God is our Father!” (WIKI)

You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness of being—a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted as sons—a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, "Abba! our Father!" (WNT)

From what I can see from these clear criteria in the Word, if someone comes along with an agenda of trying to make me afraid of God, it really doesn't matter how much they talk about Jesus or quote Bible verses, there is something false about their message and I can discern that their spirit cannot be trusted. A spirit of fear is not in harmony with the Spirit of Jesus. He did not go around trying to make people afraid of God but quite the opposite – He sought to reveal that God can be fully trusted and that it is our fears of Him that are the whole problem to start with, not any hangups or threats on the part of God.

The spirit of antichrist is always seeking to insinuate false beliefs about how God feels about us. There are so many of these false ideas mingled into many of our teachings and our assumptions about God that they constitute an enormous barrier preventing us from trusting Him with the confidence of a little child in a loving father. The true Spirit of God will always lead us toward relieving us of our fears, never seeking to amplify them. Only as we become relieved of our fears about God can we truly begin to enter into His rest and know what it means to joyfully abide in Him and He in us.

Love and fear are incompatible with each other. John makes this explicitly clear in verse 18. The Spirit that draws us into peace with God is free of all fear of the nature that the world experiences. The kind of fear that is not negative that is mentioned in many English Bibles is not this spirit of fear but rather an overwhelming awe, respect and wonder as we increasingly comprehend and appreciate the enormity and beauty and loving power of our great God. But in my opinion this should not even be associated with the word fear for it is too misleading.

As I confess in the way I am seeing this word to mean now, I will be expressing increasing gratitude and wonder as I see the glorious nature of how good God really is and how attracted I am feeling towards Him because of His revelation in Jesus. Counterfeit spirits, false spirits, deceiving spirits all tend to induce fear and try to make me pull away from God by any means possible. It may be through shame or terror or even by pride and a sense of self-sufficiency. But only God's Spirit will speak the full truth about Him and will always operate in complete agape love.

Papa, I want to learn better how to honestly confess the truth about You that I am learning as I meditate on what Jesus is like. Fill my mouth with gratitude, praise and joy as I come to let go of my fears and the many lies about You that still stymie my worship for You. Thank-you so much for continuously revealing more and more of Your beauty in Your Word. Let Your glorious light become more brilliant in my life, my family, my church and my community – for Your reputation's sake.

Spirit of the Anti-Christ

Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:3)

There is a great deal of speculation about this idea of antichrist swirling around the world. Many of these ideas inadvertently reinforce the very spirit they claim to be warning others against. Why is it so difficult to understand what the Bible is speaking of when it uses the term antichrist? Is antichrist simply a person that must be identified near the close of history, or is this a spirit that is pervasively infecting the spirit of everyone who misunderstands the true character of God?

I am coming to realize that again, it comes back to a basic misapprehension about the very nature of the atonement, of God's nature and character and the real reasons why Jesus came to this earth to die. Because we approach this issue of antichrist with false preconceptions about the whole plan of salvation and how it is revealed at the cross, we are bound to come to confusing conclusions about how to identify the antichrist or test a spirit to see if it is against Christ or from Him.

Unmasking the antichrist spirit requires far more than simply demanding a confession that one believes that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. That might work in some situations, but demons and deceived people alike can be very adept at lying; so to think that we can somehow simplistically determine whether someone is correctly representing Jesus or is against Him does not always hinge on whether they are willing to agree to this fact of history.

The great debate that so infuriated the Jewish leadership in the days of Jesus revolved around who had a more valid concept of what God was really like and how He relates to sinners. These religious people were very certain that based on their understanding and reading of the Old Testament Scriptures, they could explain how God felt toward those who were not in conformity to His instructions. And because it is a principle that we always reflect the kind of God we believe in, the way these men shunned and scorned and condemned those they viewed as deserving of God's reproach made it clear in practice and in teaching that their views of God were in stark contrast to the way Jesus perceived God.

Because Jesus showed consistent compassion and refused to ever condemn anyone and was always eager to demonstrate forgiveness and tenderness, the religious elite became enraged that this man would assert such preposterous claims as to represent the God that they claimed to serve. The God that Jesus claimed to reflect was so opposite to the God that nearly everyone else assumed Him to be that conflict was inevitable. Thus the real issue of whether a person's spirit is seen to be against Christ (anti means against) or is in harmony with Christ will always hinge on the core beliefs they have at their heart level of what God is really like. Every other proposed test to explain who is antichrist is peripheral to this central test.

In the context of this chapter in 1 John, it becomes explicitly clear that John is telling us that if any spirit we are testing is not full of God's kind of agape love, then immediately we can know that it is against Christ. The whole reason that Jesus Christ came to this world to start with was to reveal the radical, self-sacrificing, selfless, servant spirit of the agape love that resides in the heart of the Father. Indeed, it does not just reside there but is a description of the very essence of who God is in totality.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

An antichrist spirit will insinuate that God is good but will resort to using force, fear or threats when necessary to accomplish His will. But it is very dangerous to ascribe what the Bible declares as evil to God. Jesus, the explicit revelation of God, never resorted to such methods of His enemy. Thus anyone claiming to represent God but relying on methods of intimidation or fear to promote their message or anyone claiming that God is less that pure agape love cannot be trusted to be representative of the true spirit of Christ.

Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. (1 John 2:5-6)

The easiest way to detect a spirit of antichrist is to compare their spirit with the spirit exhibited by Jesus in the way He treated people. Only those who abide in Christ in spirit and in truth can reflect the spirit that pervaded the words and actions of Jesus.

The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:9-11)

A person with a spirit of antichrist may claim to be a solid Christian and have all the truth. Yet in their heart they can harbor animosity toward those who disagree with them. John calls this out and names it for what it is – hatred. We may try to soften it by claiming that we don't really hate anyone; but we are only deceiving ourselves and the real truth about our spirit can be seen by others and will sooner or later become exposed to all. When we harbor bitterness, resentment or hold onto offenses of any kind, we are cherishing a spirit of hatred to one degree or another and this spirit is always from the greatest antichrist ever, Satan himself.

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:22-23)

John here is clearly saying that the Son, Jesus, is exactly the same as the Father. He also notes that any spirit engaged in any kind of deception is not of God. This is what both the Jews and most people today cannot reconcile in their thinking. Many work very hard to rationalize away the discrepancies between their dark views of the Father and the clear revelation of love in the life of Jesus Christ. But anything that insinuates that there is any difference at all between them betrays a spirit of antichrist. Only as we come to see the extravagant agape nature of the love that Jesus revealed, particularly during the last hours of His life surrounding His death, can we begin to grasp the true nature of real love. Anything less than this is a counterfeit and comes from the spirit of antichrist.

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2:28-29)

There are two key points in this text. One is that shame is very much something very much associated with the spirit of antichrist and robs us of the necessary confidence that we must have to safely face the extreme intensity of love experienced in the presence of Jesus. The second is the issue of just how righteous God really is. Too often we make assertions about God as using force and fear to get His way, particularly in viewing stories from the Old Testament. All the while we give little weight to the explicit revelation of God in the life of Jesus that is the only authentic standard by which to see God. But attempting to define God relying on dark perceptions of Him from the Old Testament where everything is shrouded in shadows is a huge mistake. True righteousness is 100% pure agape love and nothing less. Only until we begin to believe this and use this as the starting point for examining everything else can we hope to know the real definition of this word righteous. And only as we begin to see God as truly righteous, pure agape love and not something less, will the corresponding results of true righteousness begin to be seen in our own reflection of Him.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; (1 John 3:10-11)

The spirit of antichrist puts more emphasis on 'being right' or any other number of priorities that elevates correctness of doctrine, keeping up appearances or conformity above loving others. Yet John clearly spells out here that love must be the core principle above every other issue if we are to be in agreement with the spirit of Jesus. The antichrist spirit will even attempt to redefine the word love to include attitudes that are out of harmony with the way Jesus revealed the Father. The antichrist spirit is extremely subtle in its deceptions to make us think we are on God's side while all the while we are living apart from the agape love that must mark the spirit of all who abide in Christ.

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)

How many people claiming to speak for God are urgently spreading warnings of impending doom or grand conspiracies yet are unwilling to esteem others more important than themselves? Are such ones willing to lay down their lives for others? People might claim they are willing to lay down their lives yet they fail to even understand what that very concept includes. Laying down one's life for others is not so much about death as it is about reflecting the humility and meekness demonstrated in the life of Jesus who forgave His torturers even while they were killing Him. The spirit of antichrist can never reflect the attractiveness that is seen in the life of Jesus. It is marked rather with an intensity more reminiscent of the force employed by those insisting that Jesus could not be the Son of the God they believed in. Their God was willing to resort to violence to get his way and so they were too.

This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from 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 from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 3:23 – 4:3)

John is bringing the focus ever more closely to the core issue of love being the single test issue between truth and falsehood. To believe in the name of Jesus means to believe that the character that Jesus demonstrated is exactly the same character as what is to be seen in the Father. That character is nothing other than pure agape love untainted by anything less. When someone insists on clinging to ideas about God that include attributing to Him tactics and methods of the enemy, then we can discern that this spirit is against Christ or antichrist. Only love untainted by any of the deceptions of Satan is of God.

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:4-8)

Agape love is greater than any other spirit in the world. It may not appear to achieve the immediate results that we desire, but in the long term it is always in the right. If we are not abiding in this kind of love, we may still assume we are on God's side but that does not mean we have His Spirit or view things the way He does.

Testing every spirit includes repeatedly testing our own spirit as well by comparing it with what we increasingly discover in the life of Jesus. If the world listens to us it is likely because our spirit is more in harmony with the antichrist spirit than with the agape love spirit of Jesus. Belonging to a church or having our heads filled with proof texts and effective arguments in no way assures us that we have the right spirit. Love is the only standard that can be safely used to detect whether a spirit is of God or is against Him. As John points out here, the only way we can live in love is to abide in God who is love. Those who are actively pursuing an intimate knowledge and an experience in the love of God beyond simply a head knowledge of the truth about God are the ones who will have a spirit that is reflective of the Spirit that is of God.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; (John 10:27)