First John 4 - 5

First John 4-5

A Commentary on Chapters 4 - 5

For chapters 1 - 3  click here

This little book has

5 chapters.

This book

is my choice for

the MOST important Bible book

for Christians to read this year.

The purpose of

First John

is to bring us into

a strong, authentic relationship

with Jesus.

Chapter 4

New King James Version

Verses 1 - 3

say,

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.

² By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

³ and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

" test the spirits "  means .....  test people

Some people are listening to a spirit other than God.

Test people  - who say they are speaking for God.

Test what they say - to see if it agrees with the Bible.

We need to

protect our heart from people who speak

contrary

to the Word of God.

We also need to test spiritual experiences.

Many people are seeking

spiritual experiences that God prohibits.

For an example, see our page - The event

In this section of verses,

we read that

we must be careful

not to be deceived.

We must  guard against  being deceived.

If you think you cannot be deceived,

you are already

deceived.

The TLB version puts verse 1 this way,

"Dearly loved friends, don't always believe everything

you hear

just because someone says

it is a message from God:

test it first

to see if it really is. "

We are warned that at times,

we might be listening to a person

teaching about Jesus

who is not a godly teacher

(or preacher or prophet) 

from God. 

True Bible Teachers

present a

True Jesus.

Verse 3 says

if someone is claiming to speak

about God or speak for God

 and that person denies

that God became a man of flesh called Jesus of Nazareth -

then

that person is clearly not sent to you from God.

That is clear and we need to remember that.

Yet,

someone can say those words -  and still not be from God.

I'll explain...

Some people think that verse 3 means

that if a teacher, prophet, or preacher

CAN say the words,

"I believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh"

then

that person is automatically a person sent by God.

This idea is in error.

John

was just giving us one of the tests.

John was not giving us every test that we need to perform.

There are

other

tests.

In fact,

> > >   1 Thessalonians tells us to test everything.   < < <

That verse means

that we are to test everything

someone says

by the Bible....

Does this person's words  agree  with the Bible?

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

CSB translation

says,

"Test all things. Hold on to what is good.

 Stay away from every kind of evil."

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 ESV -

 " Test everything;

hold fast what is good.

Abstain from every form of evil. "

So we -

Hold fast to what is good.

And - Pitch out what is not good.

But

How do we define good?

Answer:

Good is

what agrees with Bible.

Those who claim to be speaking from the spirit of God yet who deny that God became a man - Jesus Christ - those are not speaking from the spirit of God. 

If

a message is

true,

it will

proclaim a biblical view of who Jesus is -

and agree with what he said.

John was dealing with people

who deny the True Jesus. 

In John's day

certain false claims about Jesus were being taught.

John was addressing and highlighting

specific problems

they were having in the early church.

And today

we have our own flavors of false claims about Jesus. 

Today one of our specific problems

is the false claim that

Jesus is not God. 

Another false claim

is that

Jesus approves of all religions.

In some false religions, 

Jesus is often spoken about in glowing terms.

Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Muslims, and New Agers

all claim

to believe in, follow  -  or admire -  Jesus.

Yet,

the "Jesus" they talk about

is NOT

the real Jesus of the Bible.

Satan is ok with

a person believing in

a false Jesus

just not THE True Jesus.

Verses 4 - 5

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them,

because

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

⁵ They are of the world.
Therefore they speak as of the world,
and the world hears them. 

People of the world

have the perspective of the world.

Christians are supposed to have God's perspective.

When you accept Jesus as Savior AND Lord of your life,

he comes to live inside you. 

You have the All Powerful God who is always there with you.

You do not need to fear the devil and his demons.

And

those human people

who intentionally or unintentionally follow the devil

are still not

a powerful force

compared to our God. 

As

we realize that

we love and serve

the ALL powerful and ALL knowing God -

who loves us dearly ...

we can begin to relax

and

allow the peace of God to permeate us and bless our steps. 

Let's often remind

ourselves of the Truths of the Bible

Let's pick up our Shield of Faith in God.

It is a

Shield of Confidence

to steady us and propel us forward!

So - 

I invite you to this uplifting and strengthening song.

Who is like the Lord?

There is no one!

Verse 6

⁶ We are of God.

He who knows God hears us;

he who is not of God does not hear us.

By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

In this verse,

I believe that the phrase

"we are of God"

is referring to John and the disciples

who had seen Jesus and were taught by Jesus.

In verse 6,

John says

that people who know God

will hear what the disciples have to say

and will accept those things. 

John says that true followers of Jesus

will be able to discern

that the words of the disciples are true. 

The words of the Bible

were written

under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

and

we can put our faith in those words. 

People who

read the Bible and believe it and obey God

" know " God. 

See - 1 Corinthians 8:3  and then read  John 14:23.

Real belief in Jesus

creates

a new lifestyle.

Verses 7 - 8

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God;

and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

A test of whether we love God or not

is -

Do we love people.... all people? 

Note:

First John chapters 4-5

build on what John wrote

in

chapters 1-3.

John spoke a lot

about

loving people in

Chapter 2  and  Chapter 3

Particularly chapter 2:9-11 and 

chapter 3:10-23. 

Verses 9 - 10

In this the love of God was manifested toward us,

that God has sent His only begotten Son

into the world,

that we might live through Him.

¹⁰ In this is love,

not that

we loved God,

but that He loved us

and

sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Propitiation

Propitiation for our sins -

This means that

the sacrifice of Jesus

saves us from the wrath of God. 

God

The Trinity

Sometimes people think of Father God

as the wrath part of the Trinity.

In one role of Jesus ( at the cross ) - that was true in one sense.

Jesus was the object of wrath given by Father God.

Yet Jesus WAS in agreement

that he be given the wrath that the world's people deserved.

There is always agreement in the Trinity.

They are ONE.

So I will state the obvious -

each member of the Trinity is in agreement

about giving wrath to a person after death - 

if

that person rejected the sacrifice of Jesus

by

never repenting and following Jesus as Savior and Lord.

We see the wrath of Jesus in the Book of Revelation.

In Revelation,  Jesus comes back to earth

with great wrath

to destroy the devil and his works and those who follow him.

Jesus - The Lion of Judah

We love God -

because he first loved us.

-

I always think of this song when I think of

First John 4:10 and 4:19. 

Verse 11

¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us,

we also ought to love one another.

As followers of Jesus,

we are called to receive God's love

and keep receiving

and

allow that love to overflow to others.

Overflow

like a life-giving waterfall.

Jack Frost, the deceased evangelist, put it this way,

"We are called to receive God's love and give it away."

As we receive God's love -

it will spill out to others in practical ways.

When we allow ourselves

to receive God's love in greater and greater quantities,

we will begin

to see our responsibility

to give away

that love to others in practical ways.

When we truly understand

what Jesus did for us,

true gratitude wells up in us. 

We realize

what an

empty, powerless, unsatisfied person

we would be without Jesus. 

Our love for Jesus,

helps us understand the meanness of others.

Mean actions and words come from a person

who does not know Jesus well enough.

That person needs Jesus.

That person needs our prayers -  not our disdain. 

Without the grace of God,

we would be as bad or worse

than that person who we do not like.

She needs....

Sadly,

some people need to be loved

from afar.

For some people,

our best and only appropirate choice

is to pray for them.

Verse 12

¹² No one has seen God at any time.

If

we love one another,

God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

God intends for us to KNOW him

and then to live our life

each day,

as a beautiful picture of God for others to see. 

None of us has seen God,

but we can become

a more and more appropriate picture

of our Lord

through growing in love and maturity with Christ.

-

God followers become God volunteers.

As we grow

to love the Word of God

more and more

and soak in it,

we begin to look more and more like Jesus.

Discover

how

to love God's Word deeply - Here

Verses 13 - 14

¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

We are called to "testify" to people about

Jesus

being God's son

and

Jesus being our Savior and Lord.

We are called

to

open our mouth

and speak

about our love for our Lord.

The Bible contains

many verses that

command us

to tell others about God.

Psalm 26:7 part B

" I will tell of all Your wondrous works.  "

Yes, Lord, I will tell... 

Psalm 9 NKJV

I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;

I will tell

of all Your marvelous works.

God wants us to

tell

Young and Old.

Psalm 96:2 b - 3 NKJV

" Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Declare

His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples. "

Verse 15

¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,

God abides in him, and he in God.

Again this is an important test

- but -

this is not the only test of a believer.

Verse 16

¹⁶ 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.

When believers show forth love to people,

we are flowing God's love through us

to others.

It is beautiful

to show God's love to a hurting world. 

Verses 17 - 19

¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this:

that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;

because as He is,

so are we in this world.

¹⁸ There is no fear in love;

but perfect love casts out fear,

because fear involves torment.

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love Him

because He first loved us.

God's Love

is

Amazing,

Inspiring,

And

Reassuring.

When we remind ourselves

that

God loved us

even before

we paid any attention to him,

that thought

uplifts our emotions.

-

When we dedicate ourselves to the

True Gospel,

then

we will not fear - but - 

we can have confidence that we will go to heaven when we die.

What is the true Gospel?

Christians believe that Jesus died for our sins in our place, and he rose from the dead - we repent of our sins,
we make Jesus the Lord of our life...
which means that
we practice righteousness as First John teaches us.

I explain in more detail what practicing righteousness is in   Part 1 

Also, please visit our page on : What do Salvational Bible Words mean?

Please take note that
many people will think they are going to heaven when they die
and they are not.

See this page 

And this page

I love you Lord,

and I lift my voice

to worship you. 

Verses 20 - 21

²⁰  If

someone 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?

²¹ And this commandment we have from Him:

that he who

loves God must love his brother also.

If you feel convicted,

it is God

urging you to repent

and take this teaching of God seriously.  

John began this topic in earlier chapters.

John repeated this from

1 John chapter 2 - especially verses 9-10

1 John chapter 3 - especially verses 23-24

I commented extensively on this topic and gave help

in chapters 2 - 3 of    Part 1

John uses

Repetition

as a type of

underlining or emphasis.

This concept is so vital and foundational

that John repeats

over and over

the need to truly...

Love Other People.

Ephesians 5:1-2

devotional

Chapter 5

Verse 1

Whoever

believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,

and

everyone

who loves Him who begot

also loves him who is begotten of Him.

The NLT translation puts it this way - 

" Everyone

who

believes

that  Jesus is the Christ

has become a child of God.

And everyone

who loves the Father

loves his children, too. "

Again

this is not the only test of a believer -

but it is an important test. 

To "believe"

in Jesus as Christ ( the long-awaited Messiah)

as a Christian

means

you trust Jesus who tells us it is important to obey the Bible.

If we truly "believe IN Jesus,"

our beliefs will lead to ACTION.

And our beliefs and actions will lead to us becoming

more and more like Jesus

over time.

Real Belief

creates a new Lifestyle.

To expand on this topic 

of believing -

see our page > Here

Verses 2 - 3

² By this we know that we love the children of God,

when

we love God and keep His commandments.

³ For this is the love of God,

that

we keep His commandments.

And His commandments are not burdensome.

In John 14:23-24 ESV

Jesus said...

 “If

anyone loves me,

he will keep my word,

and

my Father will love him,

and

we will come to him and make our home with him.

Whoever

does not love me

does not keep my words. "

The devil

has deceived many churches

into believing

that

obedience to God is not important.

John was one of the 12 disciples who lived with Jesus for
3 years.

John even appears to be the disciple who was closest to Jesus.

And John clearly tells us over and over in First John that obedience is the mark of a true Christian. 

None of us will ever reach perfection in obedience.

But

that is no excuse

for not trying to obey God daily.

That is part of our mission from God. 

A similiar verse was recorded by John

in

John 14:15.

Here

he quotes Jesus as saying,

"If you love Me, keep my commandments."

And in John 14:23,

Jesus continues by saying,

"If

anyone loves Me,

he

will keep my Word

and

My Father will love him

and

We will come to him and make our home with him." 

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 CSB 

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

“If

anyone wants

to follow after me,

let him

deny himself, take up his cross,

and

follow me.

"Modern" preaching

has in some churches

evolved into false doctrine.

See also that

John is emphasizing to us

to "Love one another"

in 2 John 1:5. 

Obviously

God is wanting us to get this vital message

not only in our head

but in our heart.

Verses 4 - 5

⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world -

our faith.

⁵ Who is he who overcomes the world,

but he who believes

that Jesus is the Son of God?

God tells us that

those who follow him

are

overcomers.

Overcomers stand STRONG in our Faith.

We learn

how to overcome by reading the Bible

and through

putting on our armor,

praying,

and

walking steadfastly with our Lord.

God has a message for us.

He tells us -

I have overcome the world.

I want to teach YOU to overcome the world.

Verses 6 - 8

⁶  This is He who came by water and blood—

Jesus Christ;

not only by water, but by water and blood.

And it is the Spirit who bears witness,

because the Spirit is truth.

⁷ For there are three that bear witness in heaven:

the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit;

and these three are one.

⁸ And there are three that bear witness on earth:

the Spirit, the water, and the blood;

and these three agree as one.

These verses are among the many verses

that teach us about the Trinity of God. 

Jesus is the Word - John 1:1

These three are one and they are three.

They are three personalities who are one God. 

There is no one like our God.

There is nothing to compare God to.

Some have tried to use shamrocks or the stages of water

(solid, liquid, and gas)

but God can only vaguely be understood as the Trinity.

See our Trinity page - Here

Verse 9

⁹ If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God
 which He has testified of His Son.

The NLT says,

⁹ Since we believe human testimony,
surely we can believe the greater testimony
that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.

We easily rely on what people tell us

even though they are fallible. 

We need to remind ourself that

the Bible is given to us by a God

who cannot make mistakes. 

We need to

easily

choose

what God says

over

what people say.

Verses 10 - 13

¹⁰ He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself;
he who does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because
he has not believed the testimony
that God has given of His Son.

¹¹ And this is the testimony:

that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life,
and
that you may continue to believe
in
the name of the Son of God.

The NLT translation puts it this way...

¹⁰ All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

¹¹ And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

¹³ I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

I am highlighting two verses.

First

Verse 11

¹¹ And this is the testimony:

that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

John emphasizes this fact in his writings.

For example,

in John 6:47

John told us that

Jesus said...

" Verily, verily, I say unto you,

he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. "

Another example,

John 3:36

" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, 

and

he that believeth not the Son

shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

Bottom Line -

This is a heaven or hell decision

that we must make.

Second highlighted verse

Verse 13

¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life,
and
that you may continue to believe
in
the name of the Son of God.

Conclusion:

John reminds us that 

a key concept in Christianity

is

Realizing that Jesus is the way to eternal life

(heavenly life after we die)

and that

he (John)

has as a main purpose

to give us reasons to help convince us

to believe

that Jesus truly is God

and

he does give eternal life. 

Verses 14 - 15

¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him,

that if we ask anything according to His will,

He hears us.

¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us,

whatever we ask,

we know that we have 

the petitions that we have asked of Him.

God hears everything.

Verse 14 does not mean that

God   literally   cannot hear us if we pray something

that is not his will.

The phrase "does not hear us"

means

he does not give in

to his children's requests

just because they ask.

God wants to give his children

- good gifts -

not things that will hurt them.

-

An example of an ungodly prayer - 

A woman prays for a married man to romantically notice her.

Below

are some helpful thoughts

on these verses.

Disclaimer: I endorse this video. I do not endorse everything he says in other videos.

Verses 16 - 17

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother

sinning a sin which does not lead to death,

he will ask,

and He will give him life for those

who commit sin not leading to death.

There is sin leading to death.

I do not say that he should pray about that.

¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin,

and there is sin not leading to death

What is the Sin unto death?

The Bible gives us very little on this topic.

I may or may not have clarity on this issue.

Next,

I will tell you what I firmly believe - at this time.

-

Nevertheless -

you should study for yourself and make your own assessment.

Here

is the only explanation

that makes any sense to me.

By that I mean

that

my explanation

does not go against other Scriptures

and it seems logical.

I believe there are times

when God has decided 

to not heal someone

who refuses to do

what God wants him to do to STAY well -

so

God decides not to do a big miracle

for the person.

Instead,

the person's sinful habit

becomes

a sin unto death. 

For EXAMPLE

I will explain by giving you an example.

Let's say you know a man who has cancer

and

needs to make lifestyle changes.

Let's say

the man is convicted by God

to make healthier choices....

Yet,

the man refuses.

Let's say that

someone in his church is praying for the man

to be healed.

And

God says,

"No, don't pray for him.

If I heal him, it will just return

 so I am not going to heal him."

Note:

I do not believe

that it means

that the person is going to

hell

for not choosing healthy choices. 

I just believe there are times

when God is not going to heal someone

who refuses to do

what God wants him to do to STAY well -

so God is not going

to do a big miracle for the person.

That is my OPINION.

There are no specifics in the Bible.

Please do your own research.

When you see God face to face, you cannot say,

"Beth told me such and such

and that is why I messed up." 

Roman 8:12-13 NKJV

 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die;
but if
by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.

Verse 18

¹⁸ We know that whoever is born of God does not sin;

but he who has been born of God

keeps himself,

and the wicked one does not touch him.

~ ~ ~

This is a repeat of a topic in Chapter 3 verse 6

and again in

Chapter 3 verse 9.

The NLT translation of

1 John 3 verse 9

says

" Those who have been born into God’s family

do not

make a practice of sinning,

because

God’s life is in them.

So they can’t keep on sinning,

because they are children of God. "

Practicing

- thus making progress and improving -

is what God is interested in us doing.

Practicing

results in improvement

with

musical instruments and with our spiritual growth.

I went into

more depth in First John chapter 3 of  Part 1 

We are in chapter 5.

At this point,

John is finishing up this book

and

he is repeating and emphasizing this vital point. 

The Lord knew that in our day

- 2026 -

there would be people

who would say that sinning is fine for a believer.

God knew that false teacher  Joseph Prince  in his book

would say that

it was a sin to try not to sin. 

First John and many other places in the Bible,

clearly tell us that believers do not pursue sin

but instead

avoid it.

The Bible is clear that we will never attain

perfection

on this earth.

For example, 

We know that

First John 3 verse 9

does not mean

that a

Christian never sins

because John gave us instructions

in 1 John 1:9 for

WHEN we sin.

Note:

True Christians

hear

the Holy Spirit

convicting their heart. 

-

If

you never hear the Holy Spirit convict you of sin,

you better re-check yourself

to see

if you are a Christian.

Re-read

First John 2:3-6.

Verses 19 - 20

¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life.

Verse 19 comments

We wrestle against his demonic ones

as we travel through life.

My verse 20 comments:

Jesus came to earth to redeem us from sin

and to

teach us truth.

It is our assignment from God

to read 

God's truth

and incorporate it into our life.

Verse 21

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Idols

Most people born in the United States have never seen someone worship a statue god or dutifully bring food to a statue god. 

But all people

sometimes

take things in our life

and

put them ahead of God.

That can be a spouse, a child, money, prestige,

popularity, a job, etc.

Here is a good definition for idol worship...

Idolatry

is when you take something

that is meant to be second (or third, etc.)

and you make it

first.

In other words,

you put it above God.

Being a Christian

means

being exclusive with God.

God comes first.

God

requires

that he come first every day. 

We often fall short of that.

Only through

walking with God for years

can we truly see

some of the

Amazing reasons

that God wants us to keep him first in our life. 

The best sermon

I have ever heard on Idols

is below.

Some of my comments about idols and idolatry came from that sermon.

Start the sermon

at 21 minutes 39 seconds.

I agree with this sermon. That does not mean I agree with all his sermons.

Mature Christians -

Believe

the Bible is a reliable, historical document from God.

We also

Believe

that the Bible's Words are...

God's loving instructions to us

to give us

the path to the best life -

which is a God-honoring life.

Beth's Prayer for You

Heavenly Father,

I rejoice with you about each person who visits this page.

You love each one. You want a deep relationship with each one.

You have a good plan and purpose for the life of each one.

You want each one to be in heaven with you for all eternity.

I pray that you would stir each one who visits this page - to read your Word each day. 

I pray that each one would yield to your guidance. 

May each person delight in you more and more. 

In the Life - Transforming name of Jesus, I pray,

Amen

See our pages Explaining Salvation.

Understanding Bible words and phrases about Salvation