But perfect love casts out fear
More than any of us would ever care to admit, we make almost all of our decisions based on fear. A thousand terrifying questions plague our minds, and so we throw ourselves at whatever sliver of security seems to present itself to us. “Will I ever find love?” “Will we have enough money to survive?” [...]
Whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him
In 1 John 4:7-12, John laid out the obligation that we have as Christians to love one another: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). Based on the facts that God is the source of love, that God is Love Himself, and that God demonstrated his [...]
If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another
In the letter we call 1 John, the Apostle has spoken at length on three subjects: Our sinfulness, which has infinitely alienated us from our God who is light, and in whom there is no darkness whatsoever. Our salvation, which was purchased by Christ Jesus who is the eternal Son of God, yet who became [...]
On The Discernment of the Saints
So, apparently “many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). John tells us to test the spirits, and he even gives us the single criterion by which to judge the spirits (This Jesus-Christ-Come-in-Flesh Jesus!), but if we are talking about spirits we cannot see who have recruited prophets skilled in lying, [...]
Confessing This Jesus-Christ-Come-In-Flesh Jesus
After John urges his beloved readers to “test the spirits” in 1 John 4:1, he reveals the specific truth he wishes them to embrace, and the specific error to avoid: 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 [...]
Testing the spirits in a world of Twitter
Once upon a time, there was little confusion as to what a person ought to believe about something. You could always count on either the king or the priest or the prophet to go out of his way to ensure that you knew what to believe on all the important issues. Certainly, other people had [...]
