Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
(1 John 4.1–6, ESV)
As I write, it’s the weekend of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Once again the two Mercedes cars have dominated qualifying for the race. Many would agree that, in Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes has the best driver – and one of the greatest drivers of all time. However, what has also set both cars apart over the last few years is that the engine in their car is just more powerful than the engine in other cars. What is in that car – both driver and engine – is greater than what is in the rest.
In today’s reading, the apostle John talks about the nature of contested truth in our world. Even in the early decades of the Church, what Christians believed was under attack, from both within and outside the Church. So how can we tell what is true spiritual wisdom? How can we prevail in the spiritual battle? His advice rests on one profound truth: ‘The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’ (verse 4, NIV).
In other words, it’s not a fair fight. Yes, there are competing spiritual forces in the world, and that will sometimes cause turbulence for followers of Jesus. But the Spirit of the Almighty God is just bigger and better, more loving and powerful, than anything else.
The fact that this divine presence dwells in us is even more significant. We are not just evaluating two external spiritual forces. Rather, God by his Spirit dwells in us and no other power can overcome that or take it away from us.
This is a huge encouragement. There are many days we feel weak. There are days we might doubt whether we can cope, or even whether we can hold fast to God. But the greater truth is that God holds fast to us, and that his Spirit in us is greater than anything that opposes us.
There is another footnote here. The particular challenge facing the followers of Jesus to whom John was writing was false teachers who denied that Jesus was a real, material human being at all (verse 3). The influence of Greek thought made it popular to believe that Jesus was just a spirit, because a good God simply wouldn’t lower himself to become flesh and blood.
But nothing could be further from the truth. God came into this ‘dirty’ world in real flesh and blood form, and in so doing gave it hope. This same God inhabits our own flesh-and-blood bodies too. God’s solution is not to avoid the mess of this world but to engage with it and to make it whole.
Today, let’s give thanks that God is slowly making us whole; that by his grace we can hold fast, because he holds fast to us; and above all, that ‘the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world’.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this crucial reminder of how I can test the spirits to see whether they are from you. I know that the truth of their testimony hangs on what they confess about Jesus. Help me never to forget this and to cling to the truth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh from you. No matter how persuasive, compelling or intimidating a person may seem, and no matter how many others they lead astray, help me to remember, and take heart, that it's your Spirit that lives in me and you are greater than the spirits of this world. Thank you that you will hold me fast.
These Pentecost reflections were written by Revd Matt Trendall, a minister working in Milton Keynes. Check out his blog at www.dailyinspiration.org.uk.
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