So far, the apostle John has given us two ways to test whether a prophet is from God or not. Now, he introduces the third test we may use to evaluate the spirit by which a ‘prophet’ speaks. If a prophet really speaks for God, this will first be evident in what he teaches about Christ. Secondly, it will also be obvious in the respect he shows for the teaching of Christ’s Apostles. In the third place, it will be evident in the reflection of the nature of God in his life and teaching. So John tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.” (1 John 4:7 ASV)
Love is supreme among the virtues of God’s character. Thus, “love is of God.” (1 John 4:7) The ‘antichrists’ (1 John 2:18) who are also called “false prophets” (1 John 4:1) had created a faction which ultimately had split off from those who followed Christ (1 John 2:19). Here John tells us that “every one that loveth is begotten of God and knoweth God.” The prophet, if he is qualified to speak for God, must manifest the character of God in his teaching and in his life. If he doesn’t show the love of God in his life and teaching, he doesn’t even know God! How, then, can he do the work of a true prophet of God?
The character traits of those who had caused a faction among those who followed Christ are in stark contrast to love. Those who instigate faction among the followers of Christ are not begotten of God and do not know God even though they may claim to be prophets of God!
There is a simple direct rule to apply when testing those who claim to be prophets of God. The rule is, “He that loveth not knoweth not God.” (1 John 4:8 ASV) Those who had claimed to be prophets and, thus, to be spokesmen on behalf of God had revealed the truth about themselves. They had not shown love. On the contrary, they had been the perpetrators of faction (“They went out from us.” 1 John 2:19) They were still trying to lead the children of God astray (1 John 2:26) Such people do not even know God, much less speak on his behalf!
The highest pinnacle of the verbal revelation of God tells us that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) This characteristic of God’s personality is so important that it is repeated in 1 John 4:16. Only the personal revelation of God in Christ transcends this high verbal revelation.
Through John God has given us three ‘God-is’ statements [three predicate nominative statements] about himself: First, in the gospel of John 4:24 we learn, “God is a Spirit.” Then, in 1 John 1:5 we are told, “God is light.” Finally, here we reach the apex when it is revealed that, “God is love!” If those who claim to be prophets do not even reflect the highest and most pervasive of God’s attributes, how can they claim to speak on behalf of God? Obviously, such people are false prophets!
God’s love was in existence before he created man. We know this because love is the essence of God’s nature. God is love. Therefore, from the moment of creation there have been many expressions or manifestations of God’s love. For example, one who thinks deeply on the endless variety of foods with their visual, olfactory and gastronomical delights knows they were created by one who loved their recipients. Similarly the regularity and predictability of the seasons, the tides, and the planetary cycles tell us of the love of the Creator. In this way he made it possible for man to plan and to predict. But, in general, man has brutalized himself (Psalms 73:22) to the point that God’s message through such natural revelation has not been able to make an adequate impact. Therefore, there had to be a greater manifestation of love. God made that greater manifestation of his love by sending “his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9 ASV)
Here in verses 9 and10 the expositions of divine love by the Apostles Paul and John meet. In order that we might understand the magnitude of his love, God through the Apostle Paul has reminded us that, “scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8 ASV) In a very similar way God’s Spirit, through John, tells us, “Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9 ASV) In spite of all God has done for us we are still, because of the consequences of our rebellion against God’s love, under a death sentence. To nullify that sentence of doom and grant us life “God hath sent his only begotton Son into the world!”
It is amazing that we human beings have not reached out in reciprocal love to God! We are, obviously, not self existent. We are created beings. Obviously, too, we are not self sustaining. Our sustenance comes from above. Our lives depend on conditions which we could neither create nor control. Obviously, then, “he loved us.” Still, we have taken no initiative to respond toward God in love. It is God who at every step has taken the initiative in reaching out to us in love! God has taken one final, ultimate step in love toward us, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10 ASV)
God’s love has even gone to the ultimate extent that he has “sent his Son.” He had previously sent so much else that it is incalculable. But as the climactic expression of divine love God “sent his Son!” He did not send him to judge and condemn which he could have justly done. (See John 12:47) Neither did God send him to impose a begrudging acknowledgment of divine goodness upon man. Obviously, he didn’t send him to receive honor. Rather, he sent him “to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) That means he sent him to make peace by meeting the demands which divine justice requires in order that man might have peace with God! Thus, he sent “his Son” as the ultimate and climactic expression of his love for us!
The basis of moral behavior is the character of God, because “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11 ASV) This principle was powerfully stressed in Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35). The merciless servant was asked, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Verse 33 NIV) The false prophets who claimed to speak on behalf of God had not shown the character of God in their personal conduct. In this way, that is by looking for evidence of the influence of God’s character in their behavior, we may prove the spirits by which anyone who claims to speak for God operates and teaches.