| Geneva Study Bible {1} Beloved, believe not every {a} spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1) Taking occasion by the name of the Spirit, lest love and charity should be separated from the worship of God, which chiefly depends on his true knowledge, he returns to that which he spoke of in the second chapter concerning the taking heed of antichrists: He will have us here take heed of two things, the one is, that seeing there are many false prophets, we should not trust every man: the other is, that because many men teach false things, we should not therefore believe any. We must then observe, that we may be able to discern the spirits of God which are to be followed, from impure spirits which are to be avoided. (a) This is spoken by metonymy and it is as if he had said, Believe not every one who says that he has a gift of the Holy Spirit to do the office of a prophet. People's New Testament 4:1 Trying the Spirits SUMMARY OF I JOHN 4: How to Distinguish the Spirits of Truth and Error. Love a Proof That We Are Born of God. God's Great Love for Us. How We Secure the Indwelling of God. How Love Is Made Perfect. Believe not every spirit. The last chapter has closed concerning the Spirit, but some are moved by other spirits than that of Christ. But try the spirits whether they are of God. Test the spirit that moves teachers and see whether it be of God. 1Jo 4:2 tells how to test. Because many false prophets are gone out into the world. There were many false teachers in that age as well as in ours, and some claimed to be inspired. Wesley's Notes 4:1 Believe not every spirit - Whereby any teacher is actuated. But try the spirits - By the rule which follows. We are to try all spirits by the written word: To the law and to the testimony! If any man speak not according to these, the spirit which actuates him is not of God. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary CHAPTER 4 1Jo 4:1-21. Tests of False Prophets. Love, the Test of Birth from God, and the Necessary Fruit of Knowing His Great Love in Christ to Us. 1. Beloved-the affectionate address wherewith he calls their attention, as to an important subject. every spirit-which presents itself in the person of a prophet. The Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error, speak by men's spirits as their organs. There is but one Spirit of truth, and one spirit of Antichrist. try-by the tests (1Jo 4:2, 3). All believers are to do so: not merely ecclesiastics. Even an angel's message should be tested by the word of God: much more men's teachings, however holy the teachers may seem. because, &c.-the reason why we must "try," or test the spirits. many false prophets-not "prophets" in the sense "foretellers," but organs of the spirit that inspires them, teaching accordingly either truth or error: "many Antichrists." are gone out-as if from God. into the world-said alike of good and bad prophets (2Jo 7). The world is easily seduced (1Jo 4:4, 5). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 4:1-6 Christians who are well acquainted with the Scriptures, may, in humble dependence on Divine teaching, discern those who set forth doctrines according to the apostles, and those who contradict them. The sum of revealed religion is in the doctrine concerning Christ, his person and office. The false teachers spake of the world according to its maxims and tastes, so as not to offend carnal men. The world approved them, they made rapid progress, and had many followers such as themselves; the world will love its own, and its own will love it. The true doctrine as to the Saviour's person, as leading men from the world to God, is a mark of the spirit of truth in opposition to the spirit of error. The more pure and holy any doctrine is, the more likely to be of God; nor can we by any other rules try the spirits whether they are of God or not. And what wonder is it, that people of a worldly spirit should cleave to those who are like themselves, and suit their schemes and discourses to their corrupt taste? | 
