1 John 4:5

They are of the world: therefore speak they as of the world, and the world heareth them.

They are of the world ... This is another in a series of tests by which evil teachers could be recognized and refused. Significantly, in the early church, there were persons supernaturally endowed with the ability to "discern spirits," that is, the ability to know which were of God and which were not (1 Corinthians 12:10); but it appears that John had the succeeding ages in mind here, a period when all who might have had that apostolic gift no longer lived. Other tests already stressed in this first paragraph of the chapter were: (1) the test of confessing that Jesus was the Christ who came in the flesh; (2) the test of whether or not they were indwelt by the Father (1 John 4:4); and (3) the test of their life-style. The false teachers were worldly, concerned chiefly with material and temporal things, living in pride and ostentation, being "of the world." These tests are still valid.

And the world heareth them ... This is not surprising. "These false teachers speak from the same principle, wisdom, and spirit of the world; and, of consequence, the world approvingly hears them."[21] In our own times, the false teacher speaks the wisdom of the world, reasons from the worldly frame of reference, quotes its philosophers, heeds its authorities, accommodates to its theology, all the while neglecting to declare emphatically the precious teachings of the apostles of Christ as revealed in the New Testament.