The Test John Gave

Start with a question The Apostle John commands us: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). But what exactly is the test? Is it merely a historical trivia question about what happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Or is it a test of a present, living reality in your own heart today?

The Mark of the Spirit of God John gives us the test in no uncertain terms. He writes: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist...” (1 John 4:2–3)

Notice the tense. John does not say “did come.” He says “is come.” Present tense. Why does this matter? Because the spirit of Antichrist is not just about denying the history of Jesus; it is about denying the present reality of Jesus. It admits that Jesus came then, but denies that He comes now to dwell in the flesh of the believer.

The Demons’ Confession vs. The Believer’s Confession To understand the weight of this test, we must look at the demons. When Jesus walked the earth, the unclean spirits fell down before Him and cried out with perfect theological accuracy: “Thou art Christ the Son of God” (Luke 4:41). “I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24).

The demons knew exactly who Jesus was. They knew He did come in the flesh. They knew His divinity, His sonship, and His authority. Their intellectual knowledge was flawless. And yet, they were lost. As James wrote, “the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19).

If all it took to have the Spirit of God was to admit the historical fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died on a cross, hell would be empty of demons. But it is not. The demons confess that Jesus did come. The Spirit of God confesses that Jesus IS come.

If a theology teaches that the Holy Spirit is a separate third person managing things on earth while Jesus stays in heaven, it has failed John’s test. It has received “another spirit” (2 Corinthians 11:4). It has separated the righteousness from the Righteous One. The true Spirit of God confesses that Jesus IS come in the flesh—meaning He has come by His Spirit to dwell in our very bodies right now.

The Denial of the Father and the Son John does not leave the test isolated in one verse. He connects it directly to the identity of the Father and the Son. In his second chapter, he writes: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” (1 John 2:22–23)

This is a devastating warning. You cannot separate the Father from the Son. If you reject the true identity of the Son—if you reduce His sonship to a metaphor, or if you replace His personal indwelling presence with a “third person” proxy—you do not just lose the Son. You lose the Father as well.

The spirit of antichrist does not always attack Jesus openly. Often, it works by redefining Him. It uses the language of truth to conceal a fundamental departure from the apostolic testimony. It honors the Father with its lips, but its heart is far from Him because it has rejected the Son's true identity and His literal, indwelling presence.

The Doctrine of Christ In his second epistle, John brings this warning to its sharpest point: “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist... Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 1:7, 9)

What is the “doctrine of Christ”? It is not a bare historical fact. It is the revelation of who He is and how He saves. John defines it explicitly: “he hath both the Father and the Son.”

A confession that gives us a Christ of history, but a Spirit who is someone else, has stopped short of the whole confession. It has transgressed the doctrine of Christ. It has abandoned the living union between the Father, the Son, and the believer. To abide in the doctrine of Christ is to abide in the reality that the Son of God lives in you by His own Spirit, and through Him, you have the Father also.

The Test is for Ourselves First There is a profound danger in how we use tests like this. The Bible’s warnings about deception and the spirit of antichrist are not weapons to be used to label our neighbors or to feed our own spiritual pride. As The Way of a Fool reminds us, the Word of God is a mirror before it is a stone.

When Jesus announced that one of the twelve would betray Him, the disciples did not point fingers at each other. They each asked the most important question: “Lord, is it I?” (Matthew 26:22).

John’s test is first and foremost for ourselves.

1. Do I confess the Christ who came in the flesh?
2. Do I confess the Christ who is come in my flesh today by His Spirit?
3. Does my theology leave room for “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” or have I settled for a distant Savior and a substitute spirit?

If we use this test to examine others while ignoring our own hearts, we fall into the exact trap of the Pharisees. They had perfect knowledge about the Messiah, but they crucified Him because they never let the truth examine them. Intellectual knowledge without relational indwelling is the knowledge of demons.