The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 4:4
The victory of the Christian over antichristian teachers. "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them," etc. Very suggestive are the words with which our text begins, "Ye are of God." As having communion with him; as heartily holding and confessing the truth which unites with him ( 1 John 4:2 ); as having been born of him, and being his offspring morally and spiritually, they were of God. The text suggests the following observations. I. THAT CHRISTIANS ARE ... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 4:4
Ye are of God. The ὑμεῖς is in emphatic opposition to the false teachers. They are on one side, and the apostle's readers on the other, and it is from this standpoint that they are to "prove the spirits." St. John knows nothing of any neutral position from which the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error can be criticized "with absolute impartiality." "He that is not with me is against me." This assumed neutral position is already within the domain of error. Ye have overcome them. ... read more