Saturday after the Last Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 28, 2020 by under
Scripture: 1 John 4:1-8 (NKJV)
4:1 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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 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.
4 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. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Devotion
Simply admitting Jesus lived is not the “confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” Teaching us to “test the spirits,” Luther identifies the spirit of Antichrist working in John’s day: “The Jews deny constantly that Christ came in the flesh, and Cerinthus kept denying that Christ existed before Mary. If He came into the flesh, it follows that He existed before the flesh. He who denies that He came into the flesh denies that He is God and man. Accordingly, he is not of God but is of the devil.” Further detailing Antichrist’s teaching, Luther continues, “Nor is the spirit of the pope of a better sort. For the pope confesses the statement that Christ came in the flesh, but he denies its fruits. But this is the same as saying that Christ did not come in the flesh. For Christ’s coming in the flesh did not take place in order that He might be made man for His own sake; it took place in order that He might save us.” (Luther’s Works, CPH, vol. 30, p. 285)
Once again, we see the standard: whoever denies that Jesus is true God, born of the Virgin Mary to fulfill all righteousness so it could be credited to us, and to die on the cross to atone for our sins so they would not be credited to us, is in league with the Antichrist. The world loves such preachers and false Christians, because neither know what true love is: God’s love for us in Christ Jesus.
Prayer: O Triune God, beyond all bounds, yet dwelling within us, grant that we always take comfort in Your being greater than this world’s false prince. Though all despise and forsake us, You remain with us ever, strong to save, by grace alone. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
