Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ 1 John

[Black Like Me]

What exactly does 1 John 4:1 mean?

I'm a bit confused by it.

[jimwalton]

The first phrase is best translated as "Stop believing every spirit." They were to stop something they were already doing. They were accepting false teachers and false teaching along with reliable ones, and it was messing their minds. Robertson comments: "Some were clearly carried away by the spirits of error rampant among them, both Docetic and Cerinthian Gnostics. Credulity means gullibility, and some believers fall easy victims to the latest fads in spiritualistic humbuggery." Burdick adds, "They had naively been assuming the genuineness of every teacher who claimed to be from God."

Instead, they were to test the teachings. Examine, study, think, evaluate—be discerning for goodness sake! This was no blind faith. They should use their brains and discern between right and false. They needed to use wisdom and the Holy Spirit to discern what was from God from the instruction of false teachers. False teachers can sometimes blend almost indistinguishably from true teachers, so one must always be on the alert and always evaluating.