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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 4
Try the spirits—God is love and dwells in those who love him.
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1 BELOVED,
believe not every aspirit, but btry the
cspirits whether they are of God: because many
dfalse prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby aknow ye the
bSpirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the cflesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is anot of
God: and this is that spirit of bantichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should
come;a and even now already is it
in the world.
God in the Flesh
The full significants of Jesus Christ having come in the flesh in that
Jehovah, the spirit God of the Old Testament has come down, condescended, to
live in the flesh among men. And in consideration of the resurection, it
further makes of the once spirit God of the Old Testament to now be an
embodied God, Savior, Redeemer and Messiah of the New Testament, a glorified
immortal God of flesh and bones as well as spirit which the temporal
tabernacle houses.
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3a every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit
of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; We, even
though we are embodied in the flesh, are still spirits. But the stipulation
that 'every spirit' would apply to those who followed Lucifer as well who did
but remain no more than spirit beings. Thus stated, this statement refers to
all from the beginning whether we who have come to earth to obtain our body or
those who were cast from heaven without ever to receive a body. All who do not
accept Jesus Christ and his mission to come to earth in order to perform the
atonement for mankind is of the spirit of the antichrist, they stand against
Christ and thus also God the Father of Spirits as well. And this 'spirit' of
denial of Christ and his mission has been, is and will be present upon the
earth in those who oppose Christ. This is the testing or the trying of one's
spirit, whether it be of God or not, that is of the spirit of the devil who
is the master of denial of Christ.
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~ The Great and Fearful Antichrist ~
Some have made of the 'Antichrist' some great and grand fearful
figure and being who is yet to appear as an entity to stand against God. This
'Hollywoodized' perception is not completely correct. As verse 3 above points
out anyone who denies Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh to fulfill the
mission of the Redeemer is antichrist and of that spirit. True Lucifer as
Satan is the great antichrist, he being the one who led and leads such
movement against Christ and God. But any who have so followed after that
spirit of denial and non-recognition of Jesus as the Christ, is also
'antichrist', past, present and future. Thus rather than to await some great
fearful antichrist being, we ought to recognize the 'antichrist' for who it
really is, and that is any and all who deny and stand against Christ.
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4 Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world.
5 They are of the aworld:
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God
aheareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby
bknow we the cspirit of truth, and the
spirit of derror.
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7 Beloved, let us alove
one another: for blove is of God; and every one that loveth
is cborn of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not
aknoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God
toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that
we might alive through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he aloved us, and bsent his Son
to be the cpropitiation for our sins.
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11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought
also to love one another.
12 aNo man hath
bseen God at any time. If we love one another,
cGod ddwelleth in us, and his love is
perfected in us.
13 Hereby know we that we
adwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of
his Spirit.
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14 And we have seen and do
atestify that the Father bsent the Son
to be the cSaviour of the dworld.
15 Whosoever shall
aconfess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him,
and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love
that God hath to us. God is love; and he that adwelleth in
love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
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17 Herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he
ais, so are we in this world.
18 There is no a>fear in
blove; but perfect clove casteth out
fear: because fear hath dtorment. He that feareth is not
made perfect in love.
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19 We alove him, because
he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and
ahateth his bbrother, he is a
cliar: for he that loveth not his
dbrother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not eseen?
21 And this commandment have we from him,
That he who aloveth God love his brother also.
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