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1 John 4:3
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1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but atest the spirits, whether they are of God; because bmany false prophets have gone out into the world.  
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: aEvery spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,  
3 and every spirit that does not confess1 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.  
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than ahe who is in the world.  
5 aThey are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and bthe world hears them.  
6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. aBy this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  

Knowing God Through Love

7 aBeloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who bloves is born of God and knows God.  
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
<< 1 John 4:2   1 John 4:4 >>


1 John 4:3

Confesseth not (mh omologei). Indefinite relative clause with the subjective negative mh rather than the usual objective negative ou (verse I John 4:6). It is seen also in II Peter 1:9; Titus 1:11, a survival of the literary construction (Moulton, Prolegomena, p. 171). The Vulgate (along with Irenaeus, Tertullian, Augustine) reads solvit (luei) instead of mh omologei, which means "separates Jesus," apparently an allusion to the Cerinthian heresy (distinction between Jesus and Christ) as the clause before refers to the Docetic heresy. Many MSS. have here also en sarki elhluqota repeated from preceding clause, but not A B Vg Cop. and not genuine.

The spirit of the antichrist (to tou antixristou). Pneuma (spirit) not expressed, but clearly implied by the neuter singular article to. It is a repetition of the point about antichrists made in I John 2:18-25.

Whereof (o). Accusative of person (grammatical neuter referring to pneuma) with akouw along with accusative of the thing (oti erxetai, as in I John 2:18, futuristic present middle indicative). Here the perfect active indicative (akhkoate), while in I John 2:18 the aorist (hkousate).

And now already (kai nun hdh). As in I John 2:18 also (many have come). "The prophecy had found fulfilment before the Church had looked for it" (Westcott). It is often so. For hdh see John 4:35; John 9:27.




Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing 1 John 4:3:

1 John 2:18
Revelation 16:13

 

<< 1 John 4:2   1 John 4:4 >>

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