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Dear Rev. Pastor, I am a Roman Catholic. In reading the Holy Bible I came across these verses: 1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. I asked my friends belonging to other sects. They all “confess Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." I can see we have different ways of salvation. I am wondering how the test exposes the false prophets. Our priest ignored my question. Your help discerning the false prophets will be highly appreciated. Respectfully, Cris

Cris,

When trying to decide what a Bible verse means it is very important to keep the verse in context.  Translators have divided the books of the Bible into chapters and verses but when the early Christians first read these words they looked a lot more like a letter that you might send to a friend.  To understand I John 4:1-3 we need to look at what John was saying in the verses before it, at the verses that follow it and at the book as a whole.

In I John 1:4 John tells us that he wrote the book “that your joy may be full.”  As we read the book we find that it is a very personal book.  It was written to Christians, but chapter one tells us Christians that we are sinful, but God will forgive us if we confess our sins.  Chapter two tells us more about what to do about sin in our life.  As the book progresses into chapter three we begin to understand that John is writing to a group of people who know they have sinned, and they are concerned that they may not be saved.  John lays out several things by which we can know if we are of God or of the Devil.  When he gets to chapter five he talking less about how a person can know that he is not of God and more about how the person can know that he is of God.

Since chapters one, two, three and five are all dealing with tests that we can apply to our personal lives, we must assume that chapter four is meant to be interpreted in that same context.  When we look at the last verse of chapter three we have a better understanding of the meaning of chapter four verse one.  It says, “And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him.  And hereby we know that He abideth in us: by the Spirit which He hath given us.” This tells us that John is on the subject of how we can know if the Spirit of God dwells within us.  In other words he is telling us how we can know if we are saved and will go to heaven when we die.

With this in mind we can finally begin to determine what the first verses of chapter four are telling us.  Certainly, a person who does not state that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, but John is talking on a much more personal level.  John is telling us how we can determine if our own inner thoughts are of God or if they are of Satan.  A person who has been saved has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a guide, but our sinful nature will allow a few thoughts that are contrary to what the Holy Spirit is telling us.  A person who frequently has thoughts that doubt that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh may have reason to believe he is lost and on his way to hell.

What does it mean to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?  As a Roman Catholic you probably go before a priest from time to time to confess your sins.  Many people’s understanding of what it means to confess comes from this concept.  Over time people have begun to equate confession with making a statement.  In the legal system it is possible for a person to confess to a crime that he did not commit in order to avoid a trial that he does not feel he can win.  In the Bible the word means more than just making a statement; it means that a person actually agrees with another.  In a biblical sense, if we confess our sin it means that we are agreeing with God that we have done wrong.  If we confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh it means that we agree that Jesus Christ really did come in the flesh.

Now let’s look at the meaning of the term “Jesus Christ.”  Who was Jesus?  Outside observers to the life of might tell us that Jesus was born to Mary who was pregnant prior to her marriage to Joseph.  He was a Jew that could trace his linage back to King David.  He was not well known for the first three decades of his life, but he began teaching and doing unusual things.  People flocked to him because they believed he could heal them.  The religious leaders of his day were strongly against him because he taught things that were different from what they were teaching.  He taught for a few years and then was killed by the Romans at the urging of the Jews.  Even some of the most skeptical historians have no problem agreeing that this man lived, but does that mean that they have confessed “that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?” No, it does not.

The word “Christ” means “anointed.”  This is the same meaning as the word “Messiah” in the Old Testament.  It is not enough to agree that Jesus has come in the flesh, but we must also agree that Jesus the Anointed One has come in the flesh.  If we have thoughts and beliefs that go against this then we know that these thoughts and beliefs have not come from the Holy Spirit but have come from something other than God.  To recognize Jesus as the Anointed One is to recognize him as the sinless Son of God.  It is to recognize him as being the Lord of our life.  We can not longer do the things that we want to do, but we must obey what Jesus has told us to do.  It is to recognize him as the person who died for our sins.  It is to recognize him as the only mediator between God and man that Paul told us about in I Timothy 2:5.  The Bible has a great deal to say about the “Messiah” and about “Christ.”  Any spirit that disagrees with any of these things is not of God.

In our frequent usage of the word “Christ” it has lost some of its meaning.  Many people have no idea what it means to say that Jesus is the Christ.  A few more have an understanding of that it means to say that Jesus is the Messiah, but in many ways both terms have become more of a name than being the descriptive terms they once were.  The Jews of Jesus’ day knew exactly what it meant.  They knew the scriptures referring to the Messiah backwards and forwards.  The woman at the well was quick to recognize Jesus as the Christ because he was able to point out the sin in her life.

Cris, as you study the book of First John, ask yourself these questions.  Have I personally recognized Jesus as the one person who will wipe away all my sins by what he has done?  Do I see Jesus as the promised Messiah or do I see the word “Christ” as just a name for a person who lived a long time ago and then went to heaven?

If you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven and you will go to heaven when you die then you should ask yourself what things in your life are contrary to what the word of God teaches and what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do.  Are you spending time with others who have placed their trust in Jesus or are you spending most of your time with those who have not?  Do you feel like you are closer to Jesus today that you were a year ago?  The Christian life is one of growth.  As we walk with God we will learn more about him.

I hope this has helped you understand the Bible better and especially how to recognize those spirits that do not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.