“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. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 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” (1 John 4:1-3).
The Demonic Source of False Doctrine
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible consistently blames the work of demons for false religions. Reflecting on Israel’s history in the wilderness, Moses says in Deuteronomy 32:16-17,
“They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. [17] They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear”.
John says corruptions of the gospel are attributable to demonic influence. Not every spirit is from God, John says, and demons influence the message of false prophets. Paul agrees:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).
Paul foresees a time when many will fall away from the truth—they will apostatize. In some measure, their apostasy will be due to the influence of demons. Demons will corrupt the simplicity of the gospel and lead people away from the Lord.
Why We Must Test the Spirits
Paul warned the Corinthians about those who claimed to be apostles:
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Paul frames this as a spiritual battle in Ephesians 6:10-12,
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. [12] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”.
When it comes to false teaching, our struggle is not against people but against the forces of darkness that influence them. This battle cannot be won through conventional military means—it is a spiritual battle requiring spiritual armor and weapons. And whatever victory is won will not be won by our power, but “in the power of (God’s) might”.
How to Test the Spirits
So, as we face false teaching and false teachers, it is useful to remember how God perceives them: they are tools of the demonic realm waging spiritual warfare against Christ and His church. As John composed his first epistle, new ideas about Jesus circulated among the churches. As I mentioned in a previous episode, John saw the early signs of a doctrine later known as Gnosticism.
The name Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge. Gnosticism promised a hidden knowledge accessible through its Gnostic teachings. This heresy came of age one hundred years after John’s epistle, but John and Paul both picked up on the early developments of Gnostic doctrine. One Gnostic claim was that flesh is evil, and spirit is good. Some Gnostics believed that since the flesh is evil, Jesus could not have been manifested in the flesh. So when John says, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,” he may describe a very early tenet of Gnosticism.
John declares this teaching a perversion of the gospel of Christ. He and his fellow apostles saw, heard, and HANDLED Jesus. John assures us that Jesus was clothed in a physical body and lived among us as a human being among us. Any version of the gospel that claims otherwise is NOT from God. Such a perversion is “anti-Christ”.
An antichrist is anyone who opposes the truth; the spirit of antichrist is a doctrine or ideology of demonic origin that opposes the truth. So, John isn’t referring to some sort of arch-villain like we would find in dystopian Christian novelizations. Rather, antichrist refers to the false teachers and false teachings that were corrupting the church. This antichrist was already in the world in the time of John. And so the church must be on guard. The Holy Spirit, John assures us, is the source of truth. When we hear something new about Jesus or the gospel, we must “Test the Spirits”—compare it with what the Holy Spirit has revealed in the Scriptures. If what we hear cannot be found in the word of God, it must be rejected.
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