Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 John 4:1

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." — 1 John 4:1 (ASV)

The opponents not only lay claim to God but boast of their inspiration by the “spirit” (GK 4460). Likely they gave evidence of their inspiration through “prophetic utterings” and perhaps even other signs, such as ecstasies and glossolalia. Such “signs” were present in the religious milieu of the Greeks and Romans and most persons took them seriously. That they sometimes caused special problems in the early church is attested by Paul (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3; 14; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). John’s warning here is not against those who pretend to have the Spirit’s presence but against genuine evil spirits’ inspiring of false prophets. Outwardly these people were no less inspired than members of the faithful community. They were zealous in proclamation (cf. 2Jn 7) and may have been even more successful than the faithful community in making converts from the world (4:5). Likely John saw in them the fulfillment of Jesus’ warnings (cf. Mark 13:22) against false prophets in the “end times” (cf. 2:18). His readers needed some test to discern the presence of false prophets.