The Apostle John has become, for me, one of the most fascinating biblical writers, Clearly he had a special love relationship with the Savior. He referred to himself as the Apostle whom Jesus loved. Another has observed, "John leaned upon Jesus' breast - because He wanted to."

My view is that John came to be the Apostle of Discernment precisely because he was the Apostle of Love. Love, Paul explained, produces discernment.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ" [Phil. 1:9-10, NIV).

A frequent visitor to our summer conventions has been Rev, Armin Gesswein of California. He has often urged his hearers to "go deep" somewhere in the Bible. That has found a response in my heart, and I feel that if there is one place I'd like to "go deep" it is in John's first epistle.

Some of the observations that follow here are the result of an intense desire to understand John.

That understanding cannot be realized apart from an overview of the scene in which John found himself. The Gnostics were battering the new church. The initial glory and power of Pentecost had subsided. Then came the backwash; the church seemed caught in the undertow. False prophets and false doctrines were multiplying. The gates of hell had been let loose. Many of the apostles had been martyred. Perhaps John alone was left alive.

Under attack but unbowed, not defeated but in danger - that was the church in the latter years of century one. John, the perceptive apostle, was chosen by the Holy Spirit to record the Apocalypse. I believe he alone was perceptive enough among all the apostles really to see the future. And this same John addressed himself to truth and error.

While others will observe more here, I see John focusing in his first epistle on at least four important areas: true profession, true anointing, true discernment, and true love.

True Profession

True profession seemed eminently important to him. The express and written purpose of his epistle is found in chapter 5:13 (NIV), "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

He wrote to help believers know. He also wrote to help believers discern, to blow the cover off false professions. No less than thirty-nine times is know used in this epistle. That dominant emphasis is inescapable.

By chapter 2, after delving into the nature of sin and the necessity for walking in the light, John came down hard in verse 3. "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands" (NIV).

Some might think that this statement is the affirmation of the obvious. But there are literally millions in our day in North America alone who "believe" but who are apparently not at all interested in obeying. Satan's ancient strategy seems to be to separate faith and obedience. John was discerning enough to see that in his day. Whether we are discerning enough to see the same thing two thousand years later is another matter.

Another area John focused on is hatred and love. "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness" (2:9, NIV). He was still talking about profession devoid of possession, observing that love is the proof of light. False professors can be spotted, John said. when their hate shows.

A love for the world is another "dead giveaway," so far as John was concerned.

 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world. the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away. but the man who does the will of God lives forever (2:15-17. NIV).

Alarm over habitual sinfulness was still another warning flag that John hoisted. He said. "No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him" (3:6. NIV). So, he concluded, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God" (3:9, NIV). The church of Jesus Christ would be far more discerning about false professions, false prophets. and false anointings if serious attention were paid to these criteria which John so carefully laid down.

He added at least one more aid to discernment (3:24, NIV); it is subjective in nature. "And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." "We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit" (4:13, NIV). True believers will have the true inner witness of the Holy Spirit, and the false professors will not have it.

In Paul's writings, he described the work of the Holy Spirit thus, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8:16, NASB). And he had earlier stated, "And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (8:9, NIV).

While I am not suggesting I have exhausted John's list of criteria for distinguishing between true and false professors, these areas are vital: obedience, love, separation from the world, practical holiness, and the true witness of the Holy Spirit. They were the things to look for in John's day. They are the things to look for today, too.

John's words are helpful in evangelism. Many a seeking soul has come to the Savior through them, but we must not forget that the primary reason for the epistle is to counteract error, to protect the church, and to sweep away the pretense of false professors, false prophets, and falsely anointed ones.

True Anointing

John proceeded to warn against antichrists (2:18). So long as we mentally associate all antichrists with the Antichrist, we will miss the point of John's warning. We will completely miss the whole thrust of John's words unless we see the religious aspect of the Antichrist.

A christ is literally "an anointed one," An antichrist then, simply, has an anti-anointing.

As we have said earlier, we must not say that the anti-anointing is phony. It is as real as it is possible to be. But it is an anti-anointing, a substitute anointing, a demonic anointing. It is against Christ and His kingdom.

Antichrists tend to be in the assembly (2:19). But they finally leave, and their leaving finally shows them for what they are.

You will notice John talked about the anointing of his children, an anointing which is "real, not counterfeit" (2:27, NIV). The real anointing teaches believers to abide. And the apostle could be assuming familiarity with chapter 15 of his Gospel here since one of its key passages (John 15:1-17) has to do with the absolute necessity of abiding. At this point his. epistle clarifies his gospel. The Gospel says that abiding is essential. The epistle makes clear (2:26-27) that abiding and consequent fruitfulness come by an anointing which teaches believers to abide.

The world will never understand personalities like Jim Jones and his suicide cult in Guyana or the aging Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, who clung to power month after month when all the "political observers" felt sure he couldn't last. And surely there is no explanation for the power of these public figures unless one recognizes that there is an anointing that is real, but against Christ; spiritual, but against God; tremendously powerful, but satanically inspired.

The church needs to be reminded that there are "many antichrists" (2:18). They always start out from inside, but because their anointing is an anti-anointing they finally take a position against Christ.

There are many of them too. That would seem to indicate that only the discerning can detect those in the church with the anti-anointing. To see no antichrists today may be an admission of blindness. They are around, many of them.

Because the antichrist person is anointed, he will be influential, usually in a place of leadership. But he will finally be tripped up by his theology. He will deny the Father and that the Son, Jesus, is the Christ.

The real anointing, John concluded, will teach us, keep us from error, and teach us to abide.

Then he moved on to a more specific theme.

True Discernment

The discussion about antichrist led John naturally to the statement, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1, NIV).

It seems to me that only John could switch from talking about spirits to a discussion about false prophets without any sense of inconsistency.

John was able to see beyond the false prophet. He looked right past the human instrument involved, directly to the spirit at work.

The individuals through whom the evil spirits worked were practically ignored. The Apostle of Love just saw farther.

He also categorically stated that these spirits can be recognized. "Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" (4:2, NIV).

This apparently simple statement, inspired by the Holy Spirit as it is, is a four-sided trap.

What the person involved might say was inconsequential to John. What the spirit said was all that mattered. He distinguished between spirit-speaking and natural human speech.

He also made it clear that a denial that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is at once a declaration of falsehood.

But there is more. Silence on the part of the spirit involved is also an evidence of falseness.

And the verb, acknowledges is in a form in the original language which demands continual action.

In 1 John 4:2 and 3 the verb forms used indicate -

 that every spirit that continually and genuinely confesses that Jesus Christ is in the flesh is of God. Therefore reluctant admissions or occasional positive declarations that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh are not sufficient. The confession must be continual.¹

John, loving and discerning as he was, skirted a formidable pitfall into which all Christendom might have fallen had he not been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

He said, "Do not believe every spirit." Universal questioning is in order. Healthy, godly skepticism is a Christian virtue.

But he failed to say "Try every spirit." He simply said "Try the spirits." The implication is to try some, not all. An additional every at this point could have turned a loving Christian church into a twisted party of witch hunters.

In 1 John 4:4-6, John said some things about listening. The false prophet, the one with the anti-anointing, will not listen. Antichrists do not listen. True believers listen to John and to his words. Those not from God do not listen to John.

This ability to listen is so important that John capped it with the second major key text in his epistle: "This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood" (4:6, NIV).

Paul told Timothy essentially the same thing:

 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and arguments that result in envy, quarreling, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain (1 Tim. 6:3-5, NIV).

Argumentativeness and constant friction give the false prophets away. The anti-anointing produces quarrelsomeness and malicious speech.

True discernment ultimately is to know that a spirit is speaking and to know whether or not Jesus Christ's incarnation is continually acknowledged.

True Love

I find it fascinating that in consecutive passages on the anti-anointing and spirit-speaking, John felt it necessary to plunge immediately into a discourse on love. If my premise about this chapter is correct, John had to arrive at love. He had no other choice. His loving heart alone provided the sensitivity and discernment which enabled him to deal with the antichrists and false prophets.

In fact closer observation shows that John's most probing teaching on discernment is literally sandwiched between love passages.

3:11-24 - Love Passage

4: 1-6 - Discernment Passage

4:7-5:3 - Love Passage

To exhaust John's teaching on love will not ever be accomplished by any writer, much less can it be condensed to provide a part of one chapter here.

But I must observe that God's love flows. The word used in verse 7 of chapter 4, comes, implies this flow.

The nature of divine love is reflected in the word choice. Love is contagious; it runs from one to another; it explodes. Our Lord has literally shed it abroad into our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Rom. 5:5).

On the climactic Saturday of the Nakamun summer convention of 1971 through the ministry of Argentine evangelist Carmelo Terranova, all who were present will never forget, ever, that God's love was washing over the rolling contours of the Nakamun grounds in Northern Alberta. We were swimming in it. When the Canadian revival later exploded in Saskatchewan and the word went out, "We are knee deep in love," we understood.

In the days of that revival, 1971-1972, whole congregations learned to discern - how could they help but do so in a movement which gushed love?

The Apostle John was not oblivious to this quality inherent in love. And since logic cooperates with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he had no other choice than to counter the gnostic threat with love-discernment teaching.

John also used the phrase, "Love is made complete" (vv. 12, 17, NIV). This statement twice repeated reflects great importance.

Sociologists suggest that man has two very basic needs, to love and to be loved. If you will, love requires completion. It finds fulfillment in completion and response.

There are no Scriptures which directly say that women are to love their husbands. But there is the exhortation, "Teach the young women. . .to love their husbands. . ." (Titus 2:4).

Love, then, is something which can be taught. The fascinating thing for me here has been to discover that the passage has an implied meaning which is completely captivating. "Teach the younger women to respond in love to their husbands."

The husband is to love. He is the initiator.

The wife is to respond. She is the responder!! There is the urge to complete. God's love is completed in us. And our love is completed in Him.

Love is surpassingly important. It craves completion. It is the womb of developing discernment.

John also said, "So we know and rely on the love God has for us" (4:16, NIV).

God's love was known and therefore deemed to be reliable. Indeed, one might write "discern" every time John used "know" (thirty-nine times in the epistle) and not do an injustice to the Scripture.

This passage suggests also the possibility of spurious love. It. has been often said, "Satan cannot imitate love." But he surely does, though it should more correctly be called lust.

Again, there are constant biblical injunctions to couple love with obedience. Apparently even in New Testament times there existed a "no-obedience" brand of love.

In Chile I remember being in a service where the leader decided to encourage all present to go from one to the other, (abrazandonos) embracing one another. Essentially I agree with the idea that love needs to be expressed. I often have preached about it and have written a book about it as well.² Still, I was appalled. I wanted to run out of the building. There was something wrong.

While addressing college students in another situation, some of the young men seemed to want to respond to my message about love by embracing the young women, especially the most shapely ones. Again I was shocked.

Later my considered conclusion in both those cases was this: heart cleansing needs to precede and to be vitally associated with expressions of love. Otherwise that love may easily become twisted, grotesque. And Peter had said it first, "See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently" (1 Pet. 1:22).

John knew true and false love. He was discerning enough to insist repeatedly in the first epistle and elsewhere that love always is associated with obedience. "This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands" (1 John 5:2, NIV).

So, we are here saying, John's loving spirit, his intense love for the Master, his grasp and expression of the theology of love uniquely equipped him for the exercise of true discernment. He was the Apostle of Discernment precisely because he was the Apostle of Love.

This whole book then can be concluded with the words of another Apostle, Paul.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love," (1 Cor. 13:13, NIV).

And should our Lord make you a truly discerning Christian, do ask Him to help you wrap that discernment in a protective covering of love.

Clearly, the more loving you are, the more discerning you are certain to be. (Philippians 1:9).

1. Foster, Third View of Tongues. p. 110.

2. _____, Revolution of Love.

Epilogue & Bibliography