1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
Why did John write this? What does it mean to you? Why? How can we live this verse?
There are no wrong answers please share your thoughts they will be much appreciated.
4 comments:
I can look at this two ways:
1. He who is in you, meaning the Holy Spirit, is more powerful and greater than the physical body and mind that we have. In other words, don't forget to lean on those intuitions that we get when we are tempted by this world. We all feel that tug in our gut when we are contemplating a sin. Fight to do what is right, which as we know is a daily grind
2. You might also be able to look at it in the worldly sense of good vs evil. He who is in us (Holy Spirit) is stronger and greater than he who is in the world (Satan). This world belongs to the devil, but we the people belong to God.
Tyler has some good comments here and insight here. I would suggest a third possibility as an extension of Tyler's second observation. It can apply to the philosophies of the world. For years prior to conversion we were unable to avoid the subtle and not so subtle influences of the world. However, now by the power of the Spirit we are able to be renewed and resist the conforming pressures of this life. We can truly be free from being a slave to sin (Romans 6).
For me, in view of the whole context of the verse, I feel this is speaking of discernment. John tells us to test the spirits to make sure they are of God. Because we are of God and have the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we are equipped to recognize false doctrine taught through false prophets by false spirits. As children of God, we should be aware but not fearful of these false spirits because the Holy Spirit is greater.
-Terry
This is interesting, look how we have far we have dug here. Tyler started with two basic ideas that I feel are most relevant for our individual territory of influence, Jackie digs a little deeper with elaborating off of Tylers second observation and then Terry goes even further as to address the implications of discernment in the influence of the world. Awesome, I hope other people are reading this and seeing how different perspectives help enlighten the group. Thanks for your participation.
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