ACC ~ 1 John 4 v2

THE SPIRIT OF GOD TESTIFIES. POLYCARP OF SMYRNA: Everyone who shall not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist. Whoever shall not confess the testimony of the cross is of the devil. Whoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say that there is neither resurrection or judgment, that man is the firstborn of Satan. So let us forsake the vanity of many and their false teachings, and turn to the word which was delivered to us from the beginning. LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS 7.

IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: A spirit which comes from God will confess that Jesus Christ, although he was in the form of God, took upon himself the form of a servant and came in the flesh. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

MANICHAEAN DENIAL. AUGUSTINE: The Manichaean denies that Christ has come in the flesh. There is no need to labor the point or to persuade you any further that this error is not from God. SERMONS 183.

ANTICHRIST DENIES CHRIST IN THE FLESH. ANDREAS: It is characteristic of the antichrist, who is coming into the world and has indeed already come, to deny Christ through false prophets and spirits by saying that he never came in the flesh. There are many different heretics, but on this point they all speak with the same voice. To confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh does not just mean that he has come in his own flesh but that he enters my flesh as well. CATENA.

CONFESSION THROUGH BEHAVIOR. BEDE: It is to be understood that the word confesses here includes not merely the profession of an orthodox faith but also the practice of the good works which ought to accompany faith. If it were not so, then there would be some heretics, many schismatics and many pseudo-orthodox who would confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh but who would deny that confession by their behavior, for they have no love. For it was the love of God toward us which induced his Son to come in the flesh. God showed his love to us not in words but in deeds, not by talking but by loving. ON 1 JOHN.

SUCH A ONE IS OF GOD. OECUMENIUS: The confession that the Lord has come is not made in words but in deeds. Paul said: “Always bearing about in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus might also appear in our body.”Therefore whoever has Jesus at work inside him and is dead to the world, and who no longer lives for it but for Christ, and who carries him about in his body—this person is of God. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

1 Jn