Hi, Pastor John –
I had a question about the translation of 1 John 4:2 that was on the first page of the “The Spirit of Antichrist” chapter that we went over a while back.  (The real spirit of God confesses Christ whenever it enters someone’s fleshly temple:

By this, the Spirit of God is recognized: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ when he has come into the flesh is of God…”)

I was reading through that chapter again the other day, and I had just seen that verse in ESV not long before, and the difference struck me.  I poked around on the web and came across the http://scripture4all.org/  website, which gives the original Greek and the literal and figurative translations. It showed elEluthota (“having-come”) as being masculine, so it doesn’t seem that it could be referring to “the spirit having come into flesh” but would have to be referring to “Jesus Christ having come in flesh” (since pneuma is neuter, which I learned from the Pneuma study that Amanda gave me a copy of a while back).  

Can you clear up my confusion on this?
Thanks!

 joe

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Hi Joe, and thanks for writing.

First, notice the phrase leading up to that Perfect Tense verb to which you refer.  “Every Spirit that confesses”.  “Every”, and “that”, and “confesses” are all neuter. So, we can be assured that it is the Spirit of God that is doing the confessing. John is not talking about a person claiming that he has Jesus in his heart.

Secondly, Jesus told his disciples that the Spirit was with them but would soon be in them (Jn. 14:17) and that when the Spirit came into them, both he and the Father would come into them, too (Jn. 14:23).  That is why John used a masculine verb instead of a neuter one when he said “has come”. He was talking about the spirit confessing that the Father and the Son have entered the heart.  In speaking of the Son of God entering a heart, of course a masculine verb should be used.

It should be pointed out that John’s entire point in those opening verses from 1John 4 was that without the Spirit testifying to the entering of Jesus in a heart, the confession of people that Jesus has come into them is evil.  No human being has authority to make that claim.  In the very next verse, John wrote,

Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world.”

So, John leaves the reader with two choices: (1) receive the real Spirit of God that confesses that Jesus has come or (2) just claim it and be among the antichrists. Christianity is the religion that promotes the second of those choices.

Lastly, and on a lighter note, let me point out the obvious fact that Jesus himself is inside nobody’s flesh, no matter what kind of verb John used. (One person per body, please.)  I heard my father once say that the only person who has ever had Jesus on the inside was Mary his mother, and after about nine months, she was greatly relieved to get him out!

Do keep up the search, and stay in touch.  It is an important issue that you raised, one that everybody who cares about his soul will consider.

Pastor John

Pastor John,

The word, “Christian” is mentioned three times in the KJV. Then, why is it evil? And if it is in the word why is it wrong?

Jacob F  ======================

Jacob,

You can learn much about the term, “christian”, and why we do not call ourselves by that name from this:

http://www.pastorjohnshouse.com/comingout/allcomingout.html

Pastor John

Pastor John,

I do want you to know I received the Baptism and so confused at times with the so called preachers that say we must be saved before receiving the Baptism. John, Satan is taking me for whatever he can! I need help!!!

Jacob F

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Hi Jacob.

I assume that you received the real baptism of Christ and spoke in tongues when you received it. If so, I am very happy for you. It is a wonderful thing to be born of God. I hope that you give God and His Son all the glory for it and that you escape the trap of thinking that the religious system called Christianity had anything to do with it. It did not. The holy Ghost is the gift of God, not of man.

You will feel better and avoid a lot of poison if you forget about church religion and just stay at home and have peace with God. I pray that Jesus will give you someone with whom you can have fellowship in the light, but even if you can find no one, it is better than volunteering to sit in a pew and listen to false doctrine taught in the name of Jesus. I know some precious saints who live happy and godly lives with no one near them who understands the truth. You can do it, too, if you have to. Christ is sufficient.

Pastor John

Name: Paul W

Comments: My wife left me and there is no contact at all. she goes to church and claimed to be a believer when I married her 2 years ago, but i see no evidence of salvation. there is no conviction of the Holy spirit in her life and I see none of the fruit of the spirit especially the fruit of love. She has dumped all the financial responsibility on me and will never answer any e-mails or texts. am I free to divorce her or do I have to wait until she divorces me. I have never been so degraded and dehumanized by a person in my life. cna you give me some guidance on this? Thanks allot, Paul

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Hi Paul.

Without more information, it would be impossible for me to know how to advise you on this. I know that you and your wife say that you believe, but Jesus has never accepted man’s testimony of faith (see. Jn. 2:23-25; 6:66-71;16:29-32). I’d have to know if God has borne witness to your faith by giving you the holy ghost (see Acts 15:8).

Secondly, I would caution you from ever judging by what you see and hear (see Jn. 7:24; Isa. 11:3). Just because someone claims to believe and just because a person “goes to church” does not mean that person belongs to God, or even cares about Him, for that matter. In fact, going to church may be a big part of the problem, since our heavenly Father despises church religion and is calling His children out of it (Rev. 18:4).

Jesus will take care of your finances. That is just one of the things God has promised to do for those who seek, first of all, His kingdom of God (the holy ghost – Rom. 14:17) and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33).

Have you or your wife ever been baptized with the Spirit, with the evidence of “stammering lips and other tongues”? (Isa. 28:11-12; 1Cor. 14:21-22). If not, neither of you are in the kingdom of God, and the first thing you should do is seek it. Otherwise, none of the instructions for married people found in the scriptures apply to your situation. If you have received that new birth experience, let’s keep this conversation going, and Jesus will show you his way of peace.

I hope that Jesus will give you and your wife peace. I know that he can, if we do our part.

Pastor John

http://www.goingtojesus.com/tongues-at-spirit-baptism.html

Pastor John,

I have experienced in several Pentecostal churches where members were speaking “tongues” another language to me, but there was no interpreter as Paul tells us must happen.  Just trying to get your advice and counsel and mean no harm.  God Bless you for serving Our LORD.

May God Bless you with his grace

Evangelist Stephen

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Hi Stephen,

I believe you have misunderstood Paul’s instruction, which is not unusual.  If you will, check out the following.  It may help clear things up.

May God bless you and those with you.

Pastor John

www.PastorJohnsHouse.com

http://www.goingtojesus.com/tongues-at-spirit-baptism.html

http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/speaking-in-tongues.html

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Thank you for your quick reply. But my confusion is still why people in great numbers just stand up during the sermon and speak in tongue. What was it they were saying I have to ask myself. Now I am guilty of speaking during a sermon by an occasional amen. At least everyone knows what was said. I understand the gift of tongues and having that great one on one with God. What about new visitors to the Church? Will they run out the door in fear that evil dwells there?

Thank you again for kindly having this in Christ discussion. In my 60’s I have turned into a human sponge for God’s word.

May God Bless you with his grace
God’s Preservation Ministry

Evangelist Stephen

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Hi Stephen,

The portion of scripture you are thinking of is from

1Corinthians 14:26-31:

 [26] How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.[27] If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.[28] But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. 

Because Christian translators mistranslate the Greek word, ekklesia, as “church”, most people have the same misunderstanding as you do concerning what Paul was saying.  The phrase, “in the church” should be “in the assembly”.  In other words, Paul is referring to someone standing up and addressing the assembly of saints; he is not forbidding people to speak in tongues in the building where the saints are meeting unless there is an interpreter.  Here is what Paul actually wrote:

 26. What is it then, brothers?  When you come together, each of you has a song of praise, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation.  Let everything be done for edification.

27. If anyone in an assembly speaks in an unknown tongue, it should be by two, or at the most, three, each in turn, and let one interpret,

28. but if there be no interpreter, let him be silent in an assembly, but, let him speak to himself and to God.

In verse 34, it becomes even clearer that Paul is referring to someone addressing the assembly when he says that women are to be silent “in the assembly” (that is, “to the assembly”).  He made this point even clearer when he wrote to Timothy that women are not to “usurp authority over a man” to teach in an assembly of saints (1Tim. 2:12).  We know that here in 1Corinthians, Paul was not issuing a blanket commandment forbidding women ever to speak when an assembly of saints met because he commended both Aquila and his wife Priscilla for the work they both did for the assembly of God, including the assembly that met in their home in Corinth (1Cor. 16:19), and even into his old age (2Tim. 4:19).  Paul also called both Aquila and Priscilla “my fellow helpers in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 16:3), and they both helped Apollos understand the truth of the gospel more perfectly” (Acts 18:26).  We also know that the apostle Philip had four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:8-9), and it is impossible to think that those daughters prophesied without speaking “in an assembly” when the Spirit moved upon them.

So, we have to take all the scriptures together in order to get the whole picture.  When Paul forbids anyone, male or female, to speak “in the assembly”, he is forbidding any person to speak to the assembly as one who is addressing and teaching the assembly.  He never forbids anyone to speak in tongues while an assembly is together.  And as to whether or not some visitors will think God’s people are crazy for doing so, the answer is, yes; they will.  And some will run out, thinking something evil is taking place there.  John Sherrill did, for example (but he later received the Spirit, and wrote a famous book about the experience).  But so what?  Paul himself never says God’s people are crazy for speaking in tongues during a meeting.  In fact, he forbids anyone to tell God’s people not speak in tongues and says in 1Corinthians 14 that he speaks in tongues more than anyone in Corinth does.  But his point is that when addressing the assembly, he speaks in a language the people can understand:

 18. I thank my God, I speak in tongues more than all of you;

19. however, in an assembly, I prefer to speak five words with my understanding so that I may benefit others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

Finally, let me point out that there is no such thing as “the gift of speaking in tongues”.  All of God’s people speak in tongues because the evidence of receiving the Spirit is “stammering lips and another tongue” (Isa. 28:11 and 1Cor. 14:21), but only a few have the gift of “diverse kinds of tongues” (1Cor. 12:10); that is, the gift of ministering to an assembly (“in an assembly”) in a language other than their own.

I have seen people be out of order by speaking in tongues when the preacher was preaching, but it was not the speaking in tongues that was out of order; it was the people themselves, and their speaking in tongues at that time was only the evidence of it.  As a rule, there is nothing wrong with it, and you will damage a congregation by commanding them never to do so.  You will quench the Spirit, which Paul absolutely forbid us to do.

I suspect that the basic reason you are confused about this issue is that you believe that all speaking in tongues is the gift of “diverse kinds of tongues” and that you do not understand what the new birth really is.  Please read my gospel tract, “The New Birth” at:

http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/the-new-birth.html.

Pastor John