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1 Jn 4:1)
The New Testament > 1 John > Chapter 4
Questions
- What is meant by spirit in verses 1 and 2?
Lexical notes
- Spirit The references to spirit in these verses is a translation of the Greek word πνεῦμα (pneuma). Pneuma is the standard word used for spirit throughout the New Testament. As such its meaning is similar to how we use the word spirit in English and therefore doesn't shed much additional light on the odd use of spirit in these verses. See commentary for suggestions on how to interpret spirit in these verses.
Exegesis
Spirit
We could substitute "teacher," "prophet" or "doctrine" for spirit in verse 1 as any of these would give us a good understanding of the point John is making--don't trust what someone says just because they claim divine inspiration. But this leads to the question why spirit is used in verse one instead of one of these other words. Maybe the answer is that John calls these teachers spirits as a way of emphasizing their most important feature for his discussion--that they claim to teach by the spirit. Following the same reasoning, one could interpret "Spirit of God" in verse 2 as meaning actually "a teacher inspired by the true Spirit of God." Some have interpreted it this way, but more commonly spirit of God here is interpreted as actually referring to the Spirit of God. (See related links below for examples of each interpretation.) Given that the point of the verse ends up being the same under either interpretation, it doesn't seem to much matter. Maybe, in fact, John purposely is ambiguous at times as to whether spirit means the individual inspired by the spirit (either of God or of antichrist) or the actual spirit of God or of antichrist in order to make his point without having to fuss over the distinction between the two since it doesn't much matter to his point.
Related links
