Gold merchants in Indian bazaars have always had a quiet test: a streak on the touchstone, a look at the colour, and they know whether the ornament in your hand is the real thing or plated brass. Something that glitters is not yet proven. 1 John 4 opens with a touchstone for teachers. Many voices claim to speak for God, so do not believe every spirit — test them. The mark is what they say about Jesus: did the Son of God really come in the flesh? And then, having tested the words, the writer tests the heart, with three short words that have become some of the best known in the Bible: God is love.
Where it sits in the story: Here the letter's two concerns meet at the centre of the Bible's story. The truth about Act 4 — that the Son really came in human flesh and was sent as the atoning sacrifice — is the ground of the love that should mark the church in Act 5. The chapter looks toward Act 6 too: love made complete gives confidence on the day of judgement.
What this chapter is doing: To give the community a test for true and false teaching — the confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh — and to ground all Christian love in God's own nature and his act of sending his Son.
- 4:1–6 — Do not believe every spirit; test them, because many false prophets have gone out. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; every spirit that does not is the spirit of antichrist. The readers have overcome them, because the one in them is greater than the one in the world.
- 4:7–12 — Love comes from God, and whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (4:8). God's love was shown in sending his only Son so that we might live through him — not that we loved God, but that he loved us. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us.
- 4:13–18 — The Spirit gives assurance, and the writer and others testify that the Father sent the Son as Saviour of the world. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God (4:16). Love brought to completion gives confidence for the day of judgement; there is no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear.
- 4:19–21 — We love because he first loved us. Anyone who claims to love God while hating a brother or sister is a liar, for whoever does not love the person they can see cannot love the God they cannot see.
Key verse: 1 John 4:8 · So what: 'God is love' is often quoted as a general sentiment, but the chapter gives it firm edges: it is defined by a specific act, the sending of the Son, and tested by a specific practice, loving the actual people in front of us. It also offers release from a religion run on fear, which many readers have known.