Chapter 8
Test The Spirits
The disciple who sat closest to Jesus at the Last Supper left us a gospel of His life and three short letters of spiritual instruction. Many New Testament scholars believe that the letter of 1 John had an ancient form of Gnosticism in view when the apostle wrote:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 Jn. 4:1-4).
John’s confidence in Christ is as compelling today as it was in the ancient world. He had come to know Jesus not only as a wonderful friend (Jn. 21:20-24), but as the Creator of the world (Jn. 1:1- 3), who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6).
SUGGESTED READING
The Truth Behind The Da Vinci Code by Richard Abanes (Eugene: Harvest House, 2004).
Breaking The Da Vinci Code by Darrell Bock (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004).
Cracking Da Vinci’s Code by James Garlow and Peter Jones (Colorado Springs: Victor, 2004).
The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin W. Lutzer (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2004).
Jesus & Christian Origins Outside The New Testament by F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).
The New Testament Documents—Are They Reliable? by F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973).
