What Is "From God"?

Most people aren’t really looking for truth. They are looking for quick and easy fixes – based on four or five points that they can see and remember - soundbites that will give them a “breakthrough” or even a justification to enable them to do whatever it is they want to do. The big problem comes when people apply the same ideas to spiritual enlightenment. They don’t want to study and ponder for years. They want enlightenment now. A breakthrough. A shortcut. Perhaps a quick, repetitive prayer that promises to “enlarge their boundaries.”

Many people don’t want to read slowly and study through the Bible. They want it pre-digested and spoon-fed to them. And so they run out and buy every book that comes along that offers them oversimplified “solutions” in their spiritual growth – and then they buy the next one and the next one.

In other words, many Christians often don’t want to take the time to do the serious work required to confront serious issues. Or - another way of stating it - we don’t have the patience to let Christ do His work of growth in us.

The New Testament does not reduce our relationship with God to a few easy points. Instead it points us to the person of Christ so that we may come to know Him. He is, of course, of infinite depth. It takes time - years and decades - for us to come to fully know comprehend, apprehend and appreciate Him. And because we are not infinite, in our flesh we can never completely or perfectly know Him. That’s why our salvation is based on Christ knowing us (see Galatians 4:9). But we might say that our spiritual maturity is based on us knowing Him.

Here’s a scriptural case in point. The book of 1 John tells us how to know what spirits are from God. How can you tell a “false prophet” from a “true prophet?” Is there a list of questions you can ask? Is there a stack of doctrines for which you can test? Is there statement of beliefs you can request? Can the question be reduced to a simple series of points?“

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” 1John 4:1.

I must confess that this passage has baffled me a little. Is this really the only question you can ask? Shouldn’t the criteria be more extensive? Shouldn’t there be a formula or checklist? In fact, just the opposite is true. If John had reduced this major question to an easy-to-remember series of points, he would have oversimplified it. In fact, John tells us, the one big question to ask for spiritual truth is - has Jesus come in the flesh? In other words - Is Jesus God? Did He come to earth? Did He live among us? Was that Him who died on a cross? Did He rise again and does He live His life in us today? That’s the criteria for spiritual truth. It’s not an easy criteria. It’s not a shortcut. It’s not an easy, simple, 1 – 2 – 3 thing.

It’s the person of Jesus. And the person of Jesus is by no means a simple thing. The person of Jesus is the road to understanding the complex issues of spiritual maturity.

Remember the words to that old Christian hymn:

In Christ alone, I place my trust.
I find my glory in the power of the Cross.
In every victory, let it be said of me:
My source of strength, my source of hope,
Is Christ alone.

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