Congruent Christianity: Holding Fast to Truth, Overflowing with Love
1 John 4:1-12 (ESV)
Test The Spirits
4 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.2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.4Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.5They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We 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.
God Is Love
7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Introduction: The Nicene Creed: 1700th anniversary.
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come. Amen.
The Christian life is never lived in abstraction. John’s pastoral
concern in 1 John 4:1-12 is precisely this. He warns against false prophets who distort the confession of Jesus Christ, reminding us that not every spirit is from God. The church must be discerning, testing every spirit by the touchstone of Christ’s incarnation and atoning work. Yet John does not stop at doctrinal vigilance. He presses us toward devotion: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God” (v. 7). The truth we confess must radiate in the love we display. To know the God who is love is to embody that love in sacrificial service, forgiveness, and compassion.
This passage, therefore, calls us to a congruent life: (1) Refusing deception by holding fast to the true Christ, and (2) Reflecting His love in the life of the church. In doctrine, we guard the confession. In devotion, we embody the gospel.
I. Doctrinal Test: Refuse to be Spiritually Gullible (1 John 4:1-6) A. The church must guard against false prophets.
The plural imperatives “do not believe” and “test” in 1 John 4:1 indicate a corporate responsibility to rigorously examine every spirit. False teaching is dangerous because of the spirit behind it, and discernment is essential for the health of the church. Scripture warns that not every spiritual or supernatural phenomenon originates from God. Without grounding in His Word, believers risk gullibility and exposure to deception.
B. The true confession of Jesus Christ is essential.
Christianity centers on the confession that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” This is not a casual remark but a profound, Spirit‑wrought declaration that unites divine and human in the person of Christ. As Lesslie Newbigin observes, in a pluralist society the gospel is often reduced to “one opinion among millions,” but the church must insist that the confession of Christ is universally true. What one believes about Jesus has eternal consequences, and this confession is the decisive marker of God’s Spirit at work.
C. Believers must trust in the greater Spirit.
The Spirit of God always glorifies Christ (John 16:14) and assures believers that “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1
John 4:4). Though Satan, false teachers, and worldly
ideologies oppose the church, their efforts are divinely
ordained to fail. The indwelling Spirit empowers believers to
live confidently, assured of victory, and to walk in sacrificial
service patterned after Christ. John Piper notes, we must
give credit to the Spirit for our confession and remind ourselves in every trial that “he who is in you is greater than he that is in the world.”
Illustration: Shai Linne (Christian rapper, “False Teachers”)
“Don't be deceived by this funny biz,
if you come to Jesus for money, then he's not your God,
money is!
Jesus is not a means to an end, the Gospel is.
He came to redeem us from sin, and that is the message
forever I yell!
If you're living your best life now you're heading for hell!
Turn off TBN, that channel is overrated.
The pastors speak bogus statements, financially motivated.
It's kind of like a pyramid scheme.
Visualize heretics Christianizing the American dream.
It's foul and deceitful, they're lying to people,
reaching that camels squeeze through the eye of a needle.”
(Source: Daniel Akin: CCE: Exalting Jesus in 1-3 John, 91-98)
II. Social Test: Radiate God’s Love (1 John 4:7-12)
John calls the church to radiate/reflect God’s love, grounding this imperative not in human sentiment but in God’s character and the prior, objective reality of His redeeming work.
A. Understand God’s prior love
John begins with the declaration, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God” (v. 7). The foundation is not that “love is God,” as if love itself were a deity, but that “God is love” (v. 8). This distinction is crucial. In contemporary culture, love is often reduced to subjective feeling, romantic
attraction, or vague benevolence. But John insists that love is defined by God’s character and revealed in His saving acts.
Christian love is not autonomous or self-generated: “We love because He first loved us” (v. 19). To understand love
biblically is to see it as God’s initiative, not humanity’s
invention.
- John Calvin: “God has loved us freely in Christ, and this love is the fountain from which all our love must flow.”
B. The Father reveals His love in the atoning death of Jesus
John makes the gospel concrete: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him” (v. 9). Love is not left undefined. It is revealed in the sending and sacrifice of Christ. Verse 10 clarifies: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
- Here, John uses the language of propitiation, underscoring that divine love is expressed in atonement.
- Fred T. Di Lella: “Propitiation means to quiet, to appease, to pacify someone’s wrath…if we believe that propitiation is necessary for our sins (1 John 4:10), we must also believe that God is angry with us.
- God’s love is not a sentimental indulgence, but a holy love that deals with sin through substitutionary sacrifice. Richard Gaffin emphasizes that the resurrection life believers share is inseparable from this atoning death: Christ’s love is both propitiatory and life‑giving. The cross is therefore the supreme detail of God’s love, costly and covenantal.
C. God’s love inspires us to love others
John concludes with the ethical implication: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v. 11). The church is called to embody a gospel culture where God’s love is displayed in word and deed. Jesus Himself declared, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). This love is not superficial.
John warns against contradiction: “If anyone says, ‘I love
God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar” (cf. 1 John 4:20).
- The term “hate” in Johannine usage signifies active
hostility, rejection, or refusal of fellowship. It is the
antithesis of love, which seeks the good of the other.
In the church today, this manifests in hate speech, grudges, and unforgiveness. Leaders who harbor resentment normalize what Scripture condemns. Such attitudes do not build up, glorify God, or evidence His transforming love. Love and hate cannot co‑exist; one expels the other.
1 John 4:7–12 presents love as the social test of the Christian life. To love one another is not an optional sentiment but gospel gratitude. God’s prior love defines love, Christ’s atoning death reveals love, and the Spirit’s work inspires love. The church that radiates this love becomes a living testimony to the new creation inaugurated in Christ. The depth of His love is in the details: the sending, dying, forgiving, restoring, and those details compel us to radiate His love to one another.
Illustration: Why must we labor to know this? Why is it important to understand this? Instead of simply stating that “God is love,” we should recognize that love is a covenantal reality expressed through actions.
- In our relationships, love is shown through remembering anniversaries, making sacrifices, and sharing burdens. Overlooking these acts means missing the true depth of love.
- In God’s providence, when friends cover hospital costs for our children or support ministry travel, their kindness is a tangible expression of love. Love is found in the small details: a flower given, a kind word, forgiveness offered, or a helping hand. These actions reveal that love is more than just an emotion. It is demonstrated through deeds.
Conclusion:
The Apostle John reminds us that the Christian life is measured by two inseparable tests: the doctrinal test and the devotion test.
1. Hold fast to the true confession of who Jesus is (1 John 4:2).
2. We must radiate God’s love, for “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
3. Practically, this calls the church to be vigilant in doctrine and vibrant in love. We guard the truth of Christ with clarity, and we display the love of Christ with action. Together, these
tests form the witness of the church: a community that confesses Christ faithfully and embodies His love visibly. In doing so, we prove to be His disciples, glorify the Triune God, and bear testimony to the new creation already breaking into the present age.