Knowing God Through Love
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What Does 1 John 4:1 Mean?
1 John 4:1-5
Their message appeals to human nature, not to divine nature. The divine nature will recognize it for what it is and reject it! But human nature accepts it. To human nature—to the carnality within us—it looks logical and right, like something we can apply and use as a part of our personality and character.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Wisdom of Men and Faith
1 John 4:1
Jesus says in Matthew 24:24 that many false prophets and false christs will arise, and they will do signs and wonders so that it will be possible for them to deceive even the elect. The Bible, then, is clear that in the church era, spiritual power to do miracles is present in false ministers, but that it is evil and misdirected.
The spirit that power comes from is revealed in the teaching, the doctrine, of the prophet. Jesus says, "Depart from Me you who work lawlessness." Moses says that if they say anything about worshipping another god, they are not of God. Revelation 13 says that the miracles of the False Prophet will deceive people into worshipping the beast, a false god. His miracles will not witness to the truth, which always directs people to worship the true God. Thus, though we may see a miracle, we can tell its source through the doctrine, through what the miracle-worker is teaching. We have to ask, what is the doctrine of the prophet? The answer will reveal the source of his power.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Is God a Magician?
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing 1 John 4:1:
1 Corinthians 10:13
Jude 1:15-19
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Testing the spirits requires examining the doctrine of the prophet, for spiritual power to work miracles exists even in false ministers, though it is evil and misdirected. Jesus warned that false prophets and false christs would arise, performing signs and wonders capable of deceiving even the elect. The source of a miracle-worker's power is revealed through what he teaches. True miracles always direct people to worship the true God, while false ones, like those of the False Prophet in Revelation 13, lead people to worship a false god. Such messages appeal to human nature, which accepts them as logical, while the divine nature rejects them. Spirits, being supernatural beings, manifest their thinking through human beings called false prophets, many of whom have gone into the world.