The Spirit of the End Times False Prophet / Antichrist

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The Spirit of False Prophets/Antichrist (Deceit) (1 John 4vv. 1b, 3)

 In the early years of Christianity, before the New Testament was completed (AD 100) and before the first creeds of the church were formulated (AD 325), there were no official, universal theological benchmarks for evaluating Christian preaching and teaching. 

 To complicate matters, the early Christians were pneumatics; that is, they believed themselves to be filled with the Spirit of God, which provided divine backing for their messages. This is why Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 that Christians should, on the one hand, not despise prophecies of the Spirit, while, on the other hand, they should discern whether the spokesperson truly was inspired by the Holy Spirit. John is calling for much the same in 4:1–6: his community needed to discern whether a speaker was inspired by the Holy Spirit. 
For John, however, there was indeed at least one theological benchmark: if the person confessed that Christ was the man Jesus, the Son of God, then the spirit inspiring him or her was God’s Spirit. If not, the spirit was an evil spirit, one inspiring false prophets and the spirit of Antichrist.

 Just as the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the people of God was expected to happen in the end-time (Joel 2:28, 32; see Acts 2:17–21), so too was the spirit of Satan expected to inspire false prophets in the end-time (1 John 4:1 with Matt. 24:11; Rev. 13:11–18; 16:13), not to mention the Antichrist himself (cf. 1 John 4:3; 2 John 7 with 1 John 2:18–27; Rev. 13:1–10).

 Verse 3 spells out the reason for John’s condemnation of the secessionists—these false prophets and antichrists “do not confess Jesus” (NIV, “do not acknowledge”); that is, they deny Christ’s humanity.

 WHAT DOES THE WORLD THINK ABOUT THE SPIRITS? (1 John 4:4–6)

 The address to the letter’s recipients in verse 4—“little [NIV, ‘dear’] children”—suggests a development in the thought of 4:1–6, namely, a second test of the two spirits is offered: What does the world think about them?

A. The Spirit of Deceit (v. 5)

 Simply put, the world—that human system alienated from God and energized by Satan—accepts the spirit of deceit, who guides the secessionists. There is a hint in verse 5 that the secessionists were successful in propagating their Docetic message, drawing a larger following than those who remained in the Johannine community.

B. The Spirit of Truth (vv. 4, 6)

 The followers of John, however, possess the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth—so little wonder that the world does not hear their message (John 15:19; 17:14, 16). Not to worry, however, because the true believers belong to God (v. 6); not only that, but John’s followers have defeated the world (v. 4). There are probably two historical aspects to the Johannine idea that Christians have defeated the world and the secessionists. First, they defeated their spiritual enemy by remaining in the Johannine community during the church split (cf. 1 John 2:18–27). 

 Because these believers abide in God and Christ, they share in Christ’s victory over the Devil, the prince of this world, which happened at the cross and resurrection (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Thus John can say in verse 4, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
Pate, C. M. (2011). The Writings of John: A Survey of the Gospel Epistles, and Apocalypse (pp. 296–297). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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