Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for 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 from God, 3 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. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4:1-6
“Truth” without love is cold and ungodly. “Love” without truth is lust, indulgence, and unwise.
Love is a word that has been seriously abused. People think that everything they do in the name of love is right. People define love by what they think it is, but in 1 John, John mostly referred to “love” as the love of God, which, I think, is quite different from the understanding of many people.
To understand the love of God, we have to know God Himself in truth. God gives us the Holy Spirit so we can understand the truth, but Satan also gives people the spirit of the error to confuse the truth. That was why John asked brothers and sisters to test the spirits.
Back then when John was writing the epistle, the New Testament has not been completed nor compiled. Today we have the complete Bible that can be used to test the teachings of spirits. We do not just do things that we feel is “love,” but read the Bible to see how God loves and love other accordingly.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith.
Jude 1:20
Raisins & Apples Bible Devotional & more 