Page 77 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

The fourth confirmation that one is in the fellowship with God is the exercise of love for the brothers and
sisters (1 John 3:11-20). By pulling an example from the Old Testament, apostle John demonstrated to
his audience the nature of unloving your brothers and sisters. If Cain loved Able, he would not have
killed him. The fact that he killed him shows that he did not love his brother. So, he compared hating
your brothers and sisters to murdering. By pulling in an example of death on the cross by Jesus Christ,
apostle John is showing us the true definition of love. Love is action. That is, mere saying that you love
someone is not enough to confirm your love for your brothers and sisters. Sometimes, in order to show
that you love your brothers and sisters, you may die. In other ways, death may sometimes be one of the
results for the demonstration of love for your brothers and sisters. Putting out love into actions verifies
that we are God’s children, therefore, walking (or living) in the light but not darkness (walking or living in
falsehood and sin).

The Holy Spirit is important to us in that He continues to bring convictions in our hearts in order for us to
make righteous decisions that pleases God alone. If we are in tune with Him, He will make right our
requests from being selfish to being selfless and pleasing before God. As a result, God would be able to
give us what we would ask for as we would have also been keeping His commands. Those commands
include 1) believing in Jesus Christ’s name, 2) and loving one another. Doing so would demonstrate that
we are walking (or living) in Him and vice versa. The assurance that the triune God lives in us is the
presence of the Holy Spirit whom God the Father and God the Son gave us. The fifth confirmation that
one is in the fellowship with the triune God is the exercise of belief in Christ Jesus (1 John 3:21-24).

Acknowledgement of Jesus’ Incarnation (1 John 4:1-6).

Apostle John continues to encourage his dear friends, this time, not to believe every spirit. How? They
needed to test before they can commit to either believing or not believing. Why was this so? It was
because many (but not few) false prophets went out into the world. John could be referring to those
who had walked away from the community of professing believers (cf. 1 John 2:18-19). He laid down
indicators that should show that this person is speaking by the Spirit of God. 1) He/she should be able to
acknowledge that Jesus Christ added a human nature to Himself. Simply put, those with the Spirit of
God should recognize that the preincarnate Jesus Christ became flesh. Believing otherwise would
demonstrate that one does not belong to God. Such people should not be believed. The spirit that
causes them to deny Jesus’ incarnation should be denied. Apostle John exhorts his dear friends to realize
that they come “from and belong to God (v4). They have also gained and enjoy a decisive conquest (1
John 2:13–14) over the heretics in doctrine and morality. The reason for victory is that the power of the
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Holy Spirit (or the Trinity?) in them is greater than Satan’s power inspiring false prophets.”

Response to the Fellowship with God (1 John 4:7—5:12).

In order for his dear friends to confirm that they do realize that they are in the fellowship with God the
Father, they needed to continue living (or walking) as those who are in that fellowship. They needed to
continue to love one another (1 John 4:7-12). Just as God the Father demonstrated His love to us by
sending His one and only begotten Son, them also (John’s readers) needed to follow suite. If they
needed to demonstrate figuratively that they are seeing God, they needed to continue loving one
another. Why does the subject of love a big deal in John’s writing here? It is possible that false teaching
was exerting influence in the hearts of those who were in the fellowship with God. Hence, that
prompted apostle John to inculcate the significance of not only loving by words but also by deeds. Not

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