1Jo 4:2 | JFB | STEP | 2. Hereby-- "Herein." know ... the Spirit of God-- whether he be, or not, in those teachers professing to be moved by Him. Every spirit-- that is, Every teacher claiming inspiration by the Holy Spirit. confesseth-- The truth is taken for granted as established. Man is required to confess it, that is, in his teaching to profess it openly. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh-- a twofold truth confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is come (the Greek perfect tense implies not a mere past historical fact, as the aorist would, but also the present continuance of the fact and its blessed effects) in the flesh ("clothed with flesh": not with a mere seeming humanity, as the Docetæ afterwards taught: He therefore was, previously, something far above flesh). His flesh implies His death for us, for only by assuming flesh could He die (for as God He could not), , , ; and His death implies His LOVE for us ( ). To deny the reality of His flesh is to deny His love, and so cast away the root which produces all true love on the believer's part (1Jo 4:9-11, 19). Rome, by the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, denies Christ's proper humanity.

‏ 1 John 4:2

2. Hereby--"Herein."

know ... the Spirit of God--whether he be, or not, in those teachers professing to be moved by Him.

Every spirit--that is, Every teacher claiming inspiration by the Holy Spirit.

confesseth--The truth is taken for granted as established. Man is required to confess it, that is, in his teaching to profess it openly.

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh--a twofold truth confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is come (the Greek perfect tense implies not a mere past historical fact, as the aorist would, but also the present continuance of the fact and its blessed effects) in the flesh ("clothed with flesh": not with a mere seeming humanity, as the Docetæ afterwards taught: He therefore was, previously, something far above flesh). His flesh implies His death for us, for only by assuming flesh could He die (for as God He could not), He 2:9, 10, 14, 16; and His death implies His LOVE for us (Joh 15:13). To deny the reality of His flesh is to deny His love, and so cast away the root which produces all true love on the believer's part (1Jo 4:9-11, 19). Rome, by the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, denies Christ's proper humanity.