1 John 4: 2-3 (ESV), “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.”

CONTEXT
Verse 4:1 tells us to test the spirits, and in verses 4:2-6, John provides us how to know the difference between the spirit of God and the devil. Of course, these are not the only ways to distinguish between the spirit of God and the spirit of the antichrist, but John was specifically writing about the false teachers of his day, the Gnostics. One of their teachings was that the human body was evil, therefore Jesus could not have come in a human body, but only appeared in the form of a human so that he could communicate with humanity. Therefore, the person who died and rose again was the human Jesus, not the Son of God. Today we know a lot about the belief of the Gnostics texts found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Some of the prominent documents included the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip and the gospel of Mary Magdalene, which were all written in the second century AD.

KNOWING THE SPIRIT OF GOD
The “Spirit of God” in this passage, does not necessarily mean the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity. Rather it is probably referring to God in His totality. For Jesus makes it clear that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." Matt 4:24. Also, as mentioned in the previous study, these verses are not talking about spiritual beings, rather the overall spirit that flows out of us.

TO CONFESS
The word to “confess” (homologeō) is an important word in this passage. It does not mean merely to admit or make a statement, rather it means being in agreement, outwardly acknowledging a belief or truth. It also has the connotation of declaring it openly as well – such as this statement by Jesus: “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.” Matt 10:32.

Romans 10:9-10 tells us about the importance of confession in our salvation: ”if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

JESUS HAS COME IN THE FLESH FROM GOD
In John 1:1 the apostle writes "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Word refers to Jesus Who has always existed and always been God. Then in John 1:14 he writes that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." This is basic doctrine 101. While John was dealing with a specific false ideal cropping up in the church, we have similar false teachings or churches today which deviate from the truth. Some make Jesus something less, such as a prophet, a great teacher, or a little god. Others make Jesus something entirely different, a mystic spirit, an alien, or even merely an ideal.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST vs ANTICHRIST
As we read through Scripture, we find that there are many black and white statements, with little room from gray area in between. Good/Evil, Light/Dark, Love/Hate, Spirit of God/Sprit of evil, children of God/children of Satan. For us, I like to say that the teachings of God are digital, not analog. Meaning they are one or the other, not multiple shades in between. If you are not for God, you are against Him. A sin is a sin, there are no big sins and little sins. While there might be different consequences in the world to different sins, they are all equally hated by God. Also, this verse is not talking about the Antichrist in the book of Revelation, rather it is describing those against Christ to antichrists. Again, John is talking about the either/or proposition. Either you are for Christ, or you are antichrist – there is not in between.
APPLICATION
So far in 1 John, we are provided 8 ways we can “test” ourselves to determine if we belong to God: 1- Walking in the Light (1:5-7). 2- Acknowledging we are sinners (1:8-10). 3-Obeying His commandments (2:3-4). 4-Loving our family in Christ (2:9-11). 5-Not loving the world (2:15-17). 6-Abiding in the Word (2:24-25). 7-Practicing Righteousness (3:10). 8-Confessing truth of Jesus and rejecting lies (4:1-6). Meditate on this list and pray about where you are most vulnerable for going astray. Ask God to give you insight, and strength to acknowledge your error, and make course corrections in your life.