1 Giovanni 4:1-21
1 Diletti, non crediate ad ogni spirito, ma provate gli spiriti per sapere se son da Dio; perché molti falsi profeti sono usciti fuori nel mondo.
2 Da questo conoscete lo Spirito di Dio: ogni spirito che confessa Gesù Cristo venuto in carne, è da Dio;
3 e ogni spirito che non confessa Gesù, non è da Dio; e quello è lo spirito dell'anticristo, del quale avete udito che deve venire; ed ora è già nel mondo.
4 Voi siete da Dio, figliuoletti, e li avete vinti; perché Colui che è in voi è più grande di colui che è nel mondo.
5 Costoro sono del mondo; perciò parlano come chi è del mondo, e il mondo li ascolta.
6 Noi siamo da Dio; chi conosce Iddio ci ascolta; chi non è da Dio non ci ascolta. Da questo conosciamo lo spirito della verità e lo spirito dell'errore.
7 Diletti, amiamoci gli uni gli altri; perché l'amore è da Dio, e chiunque ama è nato da Dio e conosce ddio.
8 Chi non ama non ha conosciuto Iddio; perché Dio è amore.
9 In questo s'è manifestato per noi l'amor di Dio: che Dio ha mandato il suo unigenito Figliuolo nel mondo, affinché, per mezzo di lui, vivessimo.
10 In questo è l'amore: non che noi abbiamo amato Iddio, ma che Egli ha amato noi, e ha mandato il suo igliuolo per essere la propiziazione per i nostri peccati.
11 Diletti, se Dio ci ha così amati, anche noi dobbiamo amarci gli uni gli altri.
12 Nessuno vide giammai Iddio; se ci amiamo gli uni gli altri, Iddio dimora in noi, e l'amor di Lui diventa perfetto in noi.
13 Da questo conosciamo che dimoriamo in lui ed Egli in noi: ch'Egli ci ha dato del suo Spirito.
14 E noi abbiamo veduto e testimoniamo che il Padre ha mandato il Figliuolo per essere il Salvatore del mondo.
15 Chi confessa che Gesù è il Figliuol di Dio, Iddio dimora in lui, ed egli in Dio.
16 E noi abbiam conosciuto l'amore che Dio ha per noi, e vi abbiam creduto. Dio è amore; e chi dimora nell'amore dimora in Dio, e Dio dimora in lui.
17 In questo l'amore è reso perfetto in noi, affinché abbiamo confidanza nel giorno del giudizio: che quale Egli è, tali siamo anche noi in questo mondo.
18 Nell'amore non c'è paura; anzi, l'amor perfetto caccia via la paura; perché la paura implica apprensione di castigo; e chi ha paura non è perfetto nell'amore.
19 Noi amiamo perché Egli ci ha amati il primo.
20 Se uno dice: io amo Dio, e odia il suo fratello, è bugiardo; perché chi non ama il suo fratello che ha veduto, non può amar Dio che non ha veduto.
21 E questo è il comandamento che abbiam da lui: che chi ama Dio ami anche il suo fratello.
V. CON LA PRESENTE SAPPIAMO
Capitolo S 3:19-5:13
1. Da questo sappiamo che siamo dalla verità ( 1 Giovanni 3:19 )
2. Da questo conoscete lo Spirito di Dio ( 1 Giovanni 4:1 )
3. Da questo conosciamo lo Spirito di verità e di errore ( 1 Giovanni 4:5 Gv 1 Giovanni 4:5 )
4. L'Amore manifestato verso di noi ( 1 Giovanni 4:7 )
5. Le prove finali sul possesso della vita eterna ( 1 Giovanni 4:20 ; 1 Giovanni 5:1 )
Se l'amore di Dio abita nel cuore del figlio di Dio, deve manifestarsi in modo pratico. L'amore deve essere espresso nei fatti e nella verità, che è il frutto della vera fede. Se il credente fa questo sa di essere della verità. Se manca, non è che un credente che si professa vuoto. Ma se sappiamo di essere della verità, portando un tale frutto di fede, possiamo rassicurare i nostri cuori davanti a Lui, e possiamo avvicinarci con fiducia.
Poiché i nostri cuori non ci condannano, sapendo che siamo dalla verità, abbiamo fiducia in Dio e qualunque cosa chiediamo, riceviamo da Lui, perché osserviamo i Suoi comandamenti e facciamo quelle cose che sono gradite ai Suoi occhi. Dove non c'è una buona coscienza e lo Spirito Santo si addolora la reale vicinanza a Dio e la preghiera efficace che molto giova sono impossibili. È la stessa benedetta verità che nostro Signore ha detto in relazione alla parabola della vite.
“Se dimorate in me e le mie parole dimorano in voi, chiederete ciò che volete e vi sarà fatto ( Giovanni 15:7 ).
Ma qual è il suo comandamento? Strano che alcuni espositori vi abbiano letto i Dieci Comandamenti. Il contesto risponde alla domanda: “E questo è il suo comandamento, che dobbiamo credere nel nome di Suo Figlio Gesù Cristo e amarci gli uni gli altri, come ci ha dato il comandamento. E colui che osserva il suo comandamento dimora in lui, ed egli in lui. E da questo sappiamo che Egli dimora in noi, dallo Spirito che ci ha dato».
L'ultima frase del capitolo precedente dà l'assicurazione che il credente ha lo Spirito Santo. Non esiste un vero figlio di Dio senza lo Spirito Santo. Lo Spirito che dimora in noi è la prova che Egli stesso dimora in noi. Ma come sappiamo che è lo Spirito di Dio? Come si può fare un test? La sfera dello Spirito è il territorio in cui opera lo spirito dell'errore e delle tenebre e dove il bugiardo fin dall'inizio finge.
Molti falsi profeti ispirati dallo spirito delle tenebre erano usciti nel mondo e l'apostolo avverte di non credere ad ogni spirito ma di provare gli spiriti. La vera prova è la persona del Signore Gesù Cristo. Ogni spirito che confessa che Gesù Cristo è venuto nella carne è da Dio.
Ma questo significa più che una semplice confessione con le labbra, significa possedere la persona e la signoria di Gesù Cristo nostro Salvatore. I demoni sanno confessarlo eppure sono demoni ( Matteo 8:29 ). Lo spirito dell'anticristo Lo nega, non confessa che Gesù Cristo è venuto nella carne. Questo spirito che non è lo Spirito di Dio si manifesta nelle forme più sottili.
Si chiama “vera carità cristiana” ai nostri giorni fare causa comune in quello che si chiama “servizio sociale” con coloro che non confessano Cristo, che non lo possiedono come Salvatore e Signore. Questi tanti anticristi parlano di Lui come uomo, arrivano al punto di chiamare Cristo una manifestazione di Dio in forma umana, ma negano che Egli sia il vero Dio venuto nella carne.
As stated before the most prominent form of it is today the denial of His virgin birth. Anything which denies the full glory of the Lord Jesus Christ which in any way detracts from His glory, is the spirit of antichrist. About a hundred years ago a movement was in existence which claimed to be another Pentecost, just as there are movements today which claim the same unscriptural thing. The leader of that movement, Edward Irving, put great stress upon the incarnation, that Jesus came in the flesh.
But after a while the demons which stood behind the movement brought forth the horrible doctrine of the peccability of Christ, that He had a corrupt nature like any other man. Such is the subtlety of Satan, the old serpent. He always strikes at Christ and His glory.
“The false prophets are certainly no fewer in number at the present time than when the apostle spoke; yet, in general, we may say they assume less divine authority. We have sunk down so far into the wisdom of the world that man is credited with a place which God has lost. Inspiration is the inspiration of genius, rather than of God. We are more and more getting to lose the reality of the last, just as we are coming more and more to believe in the former.
We believe in brilliancy, in eloquence, in intellect, in whatever you please in this way, but the assumption of speaking in any direct way by the Spirit of God no more exists, for the mass, except as one may say that the Spirit of God is as liberal as men are, and speaks in very diverse fashion--in poets, philosophers, and all the acknowledged leaders among men” (Numerical Bible).
The fifth verse has a good description of these antichrists and their following. These men, with their boasted learning and scholarship, their great swelling words, called eloquence, their natural amiability and cultured, courteous manners are of the world. They were never born again. If they had ever seen themselves lost and undone, and found in Christ their peace with God, they would yield complete obedience to Him and not deny His glory.
When they speak they speak of the world. They speak of world conditions, and how they may be improved, of a better human society. Quite true they are even religious, but what they speak is not that which is of the Spirit, but what concerns the world system. The crowds want to hear that for it pleases the flesh, and thus the devil brings his audience to hear them. Such antichrists in cap and gown have multiplied by the thousands; they are found in the leading pulpits of all denominations.
The test as to the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error is stated in these words: “We are of God; He that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth us not. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and of error.” The test is the apostle's doctrine. The Epistles are the full revelation of the doctrine of Christ, they contain the “many things” which the Lord spoke of when on earth, and which should be revealed when the Holy Spirit came.
He has come and has made known the blessed things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him, but which are now revealed by His Spirit, the Spirit of truth (1 Corinzi 2:9). The spirit of error denies these doctrines. In our day the enemy has invested a most subtle slogan, “Back to Christ.
” It sounds well but behind it stands the father of lies. These men who speak of going back to Christ charge our beloved brother Paul with having a theological system of his own, which they claim Christ, on earth, never taught. They reject the great redemption truths made known by the Lord through the apostle to the Gentiles. Their cry “Back to Christ” is the spirit of antichrist.
These blessed words are addressed to the beloved, true believers. The great center of this passage is “God is Love.” Love is of God. But how do we know that God is Love? Such an antichristian system as “Christian Science” babbles about the love of God, but that which alone expresses the love of God, and by which it is known that God is love, they reject completely. The question, how do we know that God is love is answered in 1 Giovanni 4:9.
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Apart from this there is no knowledge of the love of God. He who is born again knows that love, for in believing it (Giovanni 3:16) he receives eternal life, and that love was perfect in Him when we had no love for Him--not that we loved God, but that He loved us. In His great love He has met every need.
This love, the nature of God, is in those who are born again, Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.” Love therefore is the very essence of the new nature and must be manifested towards all who are the objects of the love of God and are in the family of God by having believed that love.
“His presence, Himself, dwelling in us rises in the excellency of His nature above all the barriers of circumstances, and attaches us to those who are His. It is God in the power of His nature which is the source of thought and feeling and diffuses itself among them in whom it is. One can understand this. How is it that I love strangers from another land, persons of different habits, whom I have never known, more intimately than members of my own family after the flesh? How is it that I have thoughts in common, objects infinitely loved in common, affections powerfully engaged, a stronger bond with persons whom I have never seen, than with the otherwise dear companions of my childhood? It is because there is in them and in me a source of thoughts and affections which is not human.
God is in it. God dwells in us, What happiness! What a bond! Does He not communicate Himself to the soul? Does He not render it conscious of His presence in love? Assuredly, yes. And if He is thus in us, the blessed source of our thoughts, can there be fear, or distance, or uncertainty, with regarding to what He is? None at all. His love is perfect in us” (John N. Darby).
His love is perfected in us by loving one another. Once more he uses the phrase “Hereby we know.” “Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.” “The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the indwelling Spirit.” He proceeds: “We have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God dwelleth in Him and he in God.
” What wonderful words these are! Can there be anything greater and more wonderful than dwelling in God and God dwelling in us! And this is true of every believer. If we confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if we rest in His finished work as well, knowing the Father sent Him to be the Saviour, and our Saviour therefore, then the Holy Spirit dwells in us and as a result God dwelleth in us and we in God. There can be no question about it for God says so.
The enjoyment of it is a different matter. If it is not real to us and if we do not enjoy it there is something which hinders it in ourselves. If a great king should pay us a visit in our home and dwell there and we do not recognize the fact of the honor and privilege bestowed upon us, and if we do not trouble about it and show our appreciation of it, we would have no enjoyment in such a visit. To have the reality of it and enjoy the wonderful truth that God dwells in us and we in Him we must practise what our Lord said in Giovanni 14:23, “If a man love Me he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode in Him.
” We must dwell in love, the very nature of God, and that love is manifested towards Him and towards the brethren. 1 Giovanni 4:12 and 1 Giovanni 4:16 make this clear. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.”
Another important fact is stated in the verses which follow: “Herein hath love been perfected with us, that we have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear has torment; and he that feareth is not perfected in love.” It has nothing to do with our love, as some take it nor with seeking an experience of being “perfect in love.
” It is His love which casteth out fear, believing that love and dwelling in it. If we believe and know what God has made us in His infinite grace what Christ is, that as He is so are we, how can we fear anything! The coming day of judgment we await not only without any fear, but with boldness, for the day will only bring the full display of what Christ is and what we are in Him and with Him. The knowledge of His perfect love, the love which has reached down to us and lifted us so high, casteth out all fear.
(“It is a blessed love that Christ came into the world for such sinners as we are. But then there is the day of judgment. When I think of the love, I am all happy; but when I think of the day of judgment, my conscience is not quite easy. Though the heart may have tasted the love, the conscience not being quite clear, when I think of judgment I am not quite happy. This is what is provided for here.
‘As He is so are we in this world.' The love was shown in visiting us when we were sinners; it is enjoyed in communion: but it is completed in this, that I am in Christ, and that Christ must condemn Himself in the day of judgment, if He condemns me, because He is, so am I in the world, I am glorified before I get there. He changes this vile body and makes it like to His glorious body. When I am before the judgment seat, I am in this changed and glorified body; I am like my judge” Synopsis of the Bible.)
1 Giovanni 4:20; 1 Giovanni 5:1 .
Once more brotherly love is applied as the test. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” God is in the believer, he is the object of God's love, if therefore the brother is not loved, but hated, it is an evidence that God does not dwell in such a heart and again the beloved disciple brands such an one as a liar.
“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him.” This is very logical. Then he gives a counter test to show that it is genuine. “By this we know, that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.” If we love God and keep His commandments, we can rest assured that we love the children of God also.
If the soul goes out to Him in love, and it is shown by unreserved fidelity to His will, then love for those begotten of Him, the other members of the family of God, will be the result. “For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.” It is a different thing from the law which is called elsewhere a yoke which no one was able to bear (Atti degli Apostoli 15:10).
Keeping His commandments means to be obedient to His Word, being subject unto Him in all things, for love to God is the spirit of obedience. But the children of God are in the world, though no longer of it. There are hindrances all about in the world which knew Him not and which know not the children of God. All in this world is opposition to God and hinders true obedience. But that which is born of God overcometh the world.
Our faith is the victory which overcometh the world. What faith is it? It is the faith which is occupied with the Son of God, which yields obedience to Him, does His will. Such a faith is the victory that overcomes the world and its attractions. This is stated in 1 Giovanni 5:5 .
“And He, the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, came by water and blood-not by water only, but by water and blood.” “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Giovanni 5:6). How beautiful is this passage and what divine perfection it reveals! Only John in his Gospel gives the account of the opened side of our adorable Saviour and that water and blood came forth out of the pierced side.
“And he that saw it (John) bare record and his record is true and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe” (Giovanni 19:35). What the sinner needs is cleansing, a cleansing morally and a cleansing from guilt. The water is for cleansing, the blood telling of expiation cleanses from guilt. To make here of the water, baptism, and of the blood, the Lord's Supper, is as false as it is ridiculous.
It is purification and propitiation as accomplished and provided for in the death of Christ for the believer. As a result the Holy Spirit is here on earth. Note the Apostle John does not put forward his own testimony here as given in the above passage, but the Holy Spirit Himself beareth witness to it. He is on earth for this purpose to bear witness to Christ and the work of Christ. How awful the rejection of that witness appears in the light of these words--that rejection which is so widespread and pronounced in antichristian modernism!
The seventh verse (1 Giovanni 5:17)has no business in our Bibles. It must be stricken out. It is an interpolation and all the historical evidences are against it. The oldest manuscripts do not contain these words which we read in 1 Giovanni 5:7.
Leaving out this inserted verse we notice the connection which exists between 1 Giovanni 5:6 and 1 Giovanni 5:8. “And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three are one.” The Spirit is the abiding witness of accomplished redemption, and He dwells in the believer.
1 Giovanni 5:9 need no further detailed annotations. They are so plain and simple that only one wilfully blind can misunderstand them. God's witness is concerning His Son. The believer who believes on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, that is, by the indwelling Spirit, and by the salvation he possesses, the new nature, the eternal life.
Ogni uomo che non crede alla testimonianza di Dio riguardo a Suo Figlio lo ha fatto bugiardo. Pensa, caro lettore, la creatura della polvere rende bugiardo Dio, che non sa mentire! Questo è il peccato atroce del grande mondo religioso. La testimonianza che abbiamo è che Dio ci ha dato la vita eterna, che questa vita è in Suo Figlio, che se abbiamo il Figlio abbiamo la vita, se non abbiamo il Figlio non abbiamo la vita. 1 Giovanni 5:13 conclude l'argomento e l'insegnamento dell'Epistola sulla vita eterna.