(Continued from page 325 of Vol. 82.) (Chap. 4:1-6.)

In the New Testament we have the full revelation of God, and in connection with this revelation is unfolded to the children of God the nature and practical character of their relationship with God. It is by the" Holy Spirit come down from heaven that this knowledge is given them. In Old Testament times God's children were marked by the practice of righteousness and loving one another. The divine life in them was thus exercised; but they were not told these are the marks of divine life; they were not even told they possessed this life eternal. We can thus understand why the practical character of eternal life was never unfolded to them.

Thus those born from above in Old Testament times never were able to say, " Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us." The revelation in which such knowledge is found was not given them. They could not be in the conscious enjoyment of what had not been revealed to them; the Spirit that reveals it to us had not come to them. When the Spirit came, He gave the children of God not only the revelation that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but also what is the nature and character of the relationship into which new birth brings us. Hence we are able to say, "We know that He abideth in us." It is by the Spirit bestowed upon us that we know it (chap. 3'- 24).

But there are many false prophets who have gone out into the world claiming to be speaking by the Holy Spirit. In every age since the apostolic times, various systems of teachings have been urged upon the people of God. They are usually antichristian in character. They are usually commended as a perfecting of, or progress beyond, the Christian revelation. Their propagators claim to be taught by the Spirit of God. It becomes necessary therefore to test the teaching we are invited to receive. Our apostle warns against believing every spirit; he exhorts us to try them, to see whether they are of God (ver. i). He gives us also the infallible tests by which to try the claims or pretensions of all who profess to speak for God.

And what are these tests ? He gives us two sure rules by which we may judge whether a teacher or prophet is bringing the truth of God. If John tells us not to believe every spirit, he means that we must not accept as true the profession one may make that he is .speaking by the Spirit; and if he says, "Try the spirits whether they are of God," he would have us realize there is an absolutely sure way of detecting false claims, and exposing the pretensions of those who are assuming to be what they are not.

His first test is:" Hereby know ye the Spirit of God ; every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ come in the flesh, is of God" (ver. 2). If we apply this test to Christianity as apostolically established, it proves itself to be of God. In the "faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3), Jesus Christ come in flesh is fully acknowledged. He is the very center of the system of teaching which the apostles promulgated. The " form of .doctrine " which they delivered gives Christ His true place. In the form of "sound words," of which they were the human instruments to communicate to the Church of God, Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, is honored and exalted. Jesus Christ come in flesh is everywhere confessed in the New Testament Scriptures, and this one fact is evidence that they are of God. It is the proof that the Spirit of God has given them. The Christian revelation meets fully the test of the apostle. It is evident that the New Testament writings are a system of teaching which the very brightest human intellect could not have conceived. The Spirit of God is their true author. They are a revelation of things which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived." They are a revelation from God by His Spirit (i Cor. 2:9, 10), and the great proof of it is that everywhere they confess Jesus Christ come in flesh.

We should be reminded here it is not merely to confess that Jesus Christ did come in flesh; the idea of the verse in the original is the confession of Himself, the acknowledgment of who and what the Incarnate One is-the bowing of will and heart to Him-confessing the claims and rights of the Incarnate One. Now this, we may say, is the distinguishing characteristic of the New Testament writings. Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, is everywhere the theme:His rights, His claims, .His honor, His glory are, not simply recognized, but owned. Christianity, or what we call the Christian revelation, stands the apostle's test. It is a divine system in which God speaks by His Spirit.

No other system of teaching meets the test. Every other form of teaching betrays its human, or perhaps in some cases, Satanic origin; very high claims may be made; it may be professed that God is the source of what is being taught, that by His Spirit He is addressing Himself to men, while yet Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God is in various ways dishonored-in many cases even denied. His claims are not owned and submitted to; His rights are ignored and even refused. There are systems of teaching in which He is wickedly degraded and blasphemed.

Such systems of teaching are not of the Holy Spirit. Another spirit is at work in them. Our apostle tells us that every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, is not of God, but is the spirit of antichrist (ver. 3). The New Testament apostles and prophets warned the people of God that this spirit of antichrist would come. John, the last of them, now tells them that it has already come. It is not that the Antichrist himself has come, but that many have come who are characterized by his spirit-the spirit of insubjection to the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. We are justified, therefore, in rejecting as not of God, every system of teaching in which Jesus Christ come in flesh is disowned or dishonored.

The family are now assured that they are of God. The apostle would have them know that he is not implying that any of them are of the false spirit concerning whom he is warning them. Nay, the Spirit of God is dwelling in them ; He is greater than that which animates the false teachers that have gone out into the world; and, indwelt and led by the Holy Spirit, God's children have the victory over those of the antichristian spirit.

These antichristian prophets and teachers are of the world ; they speak according to the world ; therefore, the world hears them. The natural man receives not the things spoken by the Spirit and deposited in the Scriptures for the children of God. They that are of the world are not subject to the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, come in flesh.

But some one may say, This test was for apostolic times, to distinguish between the divinely-called apostles and impostors. But how are we to test those who have risen up as teachers since the departure of the apostles? How can we determine which of the many conflicting voices is really the voice of God?
The difficulty as to this is not so great as it seems. The apostle provides us with a sure test of the reality of all that professes to be of God. He shows us there is a spirit of truth and a spirit of error, and puts in our hands the means of distinguishing them. To test and decide upon the claims of those who profess to speak by the Spirit of God is thus very simple.

Let us turn to the rule he has given by which we are to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Notice that in the first place he insists on the divine origin of the apostolic mission. He says, "We are of God; " which means that those in apostolic times who had introduced and established Christianity had done it by the authority of God; that by divine sanction, by the Spirit of God, they had given the faith its permanent form-the form in which it was to be handed down to succeeding
generations. John teaches that the New Testament Scriptures are given to us by the Spirit of God, and to be held as such. If we speak of teachers, since the days of the apostles, we need ask but one question :Do they hear the apostles and prophets who by the Holy Spirit have given us the New Testament Scriptures? John says:"He that knoweth God heareth us" (ver. 6). The way to know whether a teacher or prophet is of God, therefore, is by the teaching he brings. Does he teach apostolic doctrine and practice ? Whatever his claim maybe, if he does not do this he has no claim to be received as sent of God.

All atheistic, pantheistic, and materialistic teachings are marked by the spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh. The many systems of so-called Christian philosophy, antagonistic to the faith proclaimed in the Scriptures, are excluded from the fellowship or support of the children of God. Unitarianism, as degrading the incarnate Son of God, is manifestly shown not to be of God. Universalism, as denying a part of apostolic teaching, is clearly not of the Spirit. In the same way Millennial Dawnism, Christadelphianism, and all kindred systems, are by our apostle's rules shown to be of the spirit of antichrist. Christian Science, Mormonism, Spiritualism, are stamped as anti-Christian. The many so-called holiness and Pentecostal movements fail to meet the test which John admonishes us to apply to them. Even many schools of thought existing among those who are undoubtedly to be recognized as Christian people, as for instance, the various unapostolic conceptions of the nature and character of the gospel, cannot establish their claim upon the confidence of the children of God.

But we need not enlarge on these lines. It needs not to enumerate all the systems of human or even Satanic origin; the great thing is that the apostle has given us infallible rules by which to detect what is of God and what is not-what is by the Spirit of God and what lacks the mark of His approval.

May we faithfully employ the rules of the apostle, and thus preserve ourselves from complicity with, and support of, what has not the endorsement of the Holy Spirit. May we remember it is by the Spirit that we have right knowledge. It is in what He has given in the New Testament Scriptures that we have the knowledge of our blessings from God and of the relationship in which we stand to God and its practical character. It is as having the Christian revelation – the common possession of all saints in this dispensation-that we have the knowledge which enables us to say, We dwell in God and God dwells in us. C. Crain

(To be continued.)