The
beginning of the fourth chapter of the first letter strikes me as odd. Here are
the six verses:
1 Beloved, do not trust
every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because
many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2This is how you can know
the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the
flesh belongs to God,
3 and every spirit that
does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the
antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.
4 You belong to God,
children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater
than the one who is in the world.
5 They belong to the
world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens
to them.
6 We belong to God, and
anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God
refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of
deceit.
Again
we get a strong dichotomy, those spirits that acknowledge Jesus and those that
don’t. We are told that we need to test the spirits to make sure we are
“trusting” a spirit that belongs to God. I don’t have answers but I have a few
questions. How do you test these spirits? Does John literally mean spirit or is
this a metaphor for inspiration? Are these spirits angels, good and bad angels?
How are these spirits different than the Holy Spirit?
Joseph
Commented:
This
seems to be particularly a warning against Gnosticism, which denied that Christ
had a corporeal body. So, the spirit St. John is warning against is the spirit
of heresy, which is one of the forms the anti-christ takes to fight against the
Church. The way you test someone for the spirit of heresy is by comparing what
they say to Church doctrine. And, if spirit can be understood as inspiration,
one needs to check others’ or one’s own ideas in light of Catholic theology.
My
response:
Good
points Joseph. I lean to agreeing with you. Where I have trouble is deciding
whether he means "spirits" literally or as you suggest,
metaphorically.
Interesting
you bring up Gnosticism. Was Gnosticism an issue already in the first century?
The only false prophet directly identify in the New Testament (that I recall,
perhaps I missed someone) was Simon Magus in Acts. He was a magician, so I tend
to identify the false prophets as such. Perhaps John does mean those who are in
theological error. I'm not sure.
By
the way, that's why I'm taking "spirits" as literal. Magicians call
up evil spirits.
Joseph
Replies:
Hi,
Manny! Going off of the School and Church Edition of the NAB’s introduction to
the First letter of John, the heresy mentioned here is taken to be either
docetism or gnosticism. Gnostic schools of thought began to exist before the
Christian Era and started to latch onto Christianity in the first and second
centuries according to New Advent’s Encyclopedia. So, that’s why I think that
John is warning against Gnosticism, which claimed that Christ was a phantom
without a real human nature.
The
idea of magic being related to the spirit mentioned here is possible. I would
not be surprised to learn that Gnostics dealt in magic, but all I really know
about them is their flawed Soteriology.
I’m
trying to remember whether Catholic tradition states that Simon Magus really
repented of his ways or persevered in using magic.
My
Reply:
Thank
you Joseph. That is very helpful. I just looked up Simon Magus in Wikipedia and
and they cite that some considered him the founder of Gnosticism. But that is
disputed. Here is the Wikipedia link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_M...
Fascinating.
Joseph
Replies:
Thanks!
It sounds like Simon Magus probably met a bad end. I did not know of his
connection to Gnosticism, but it makes sense that a magician would be connected
to a sect boasting of hidden knowledge:
###
One
last point on the first letter. I found this reference to Christ’s coming in
the fifth chapter intriguing.
6
This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water
alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the
Spirit is truth.
7
So there are three that testify,
8
the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.
Actually
I was baffled by the coming of water, blood, and spirit until I read an
explanation. Here is the explanatory note on that passage from the NAB:
*
[5:6–12] Water and blood (1 Jn 5:6) refers to Christ’s baptism (Mt 3:16–17) and
to the shedding of his blood on the cross (Jn 19:34). The Spirit was present at
the baptism (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:32, 34). The testimony to Christ
as the Son of God is confirmed by divine witness (1 Jn 5:7–9), greater by far
than the two legally required human witnesses (Dt 17:6). To deny this is to
deny God’s truth; cf. Jn 8:17–18. The gist of the divine witness or testimony
is that eternal life (1 Jn 5:11–12) is given in Christ and nowhere else. To
possess the Son is not acceptance of a doctrine but of a person who lives now
and provides life.
Until
I read the explanation I thought water and blood referred to His human birth
and the spirit to His divine nature. I think that’s still a plausible reading,
but defer to the theologians.
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