¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

John’s heart as a loving shepherd shines through this letter. His motivation is not that of a theologian lecturing his attentive students. The Christian life is not simply about knowledge but relationships. John truly loves the people to whom he writes. We would even venture that God’s love for us, as we read this epistle two centuries later, shines through every word. We are God’s beloved.

As His beloved, we take warning not to be gullible regarding those who present themselves as mouthpieces of God yet are not of God, not from God, and do not teach God’s truth faithfully. While John loves his readers, he has little sympathy toward false prophets and allows them no latitude. John is not alone in his denunciation; in fact, the apostle Paul states it even more strongly:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:13–14)

By this time in the history of the church, roughly fifty-five to sixty-six years since Pentecost, false teachers were proliferating, plying their trade to draw disciples into false teaching. Throughout church history, the movement of Christianity has had to ward off false teaching continuously. Simply put, we must be careful about any learning from any source because the consequences of false teaching can devastate Christians. We see it today in legalistic churches and false notions about Christ that undercut the saving work of God, which comes by grace alone through faith alone. False teaching at its core nullifies the true nature of God’s grace, replacing it with human-centered works-based salvation, which brings not hope and assurance, but fear and spiritual defeat.

So John warns us against unquestioned faith in what anyone teaches us. We must be discerning. Our faith in the truth of God is ourresponsibility, not the teacher’s, no matter how well respected that teacher might be. The Berean converts in Greece were commended for evaluating and testing the teaching of the apostle Paul:

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

For new (and all) believers, the main concern should focus on the teacher’s view of the person of Jesus Christ. That we will see next.

Lord, help me discern Your truth so that I might walk faithfully in Your ways.