The warning within these verses comes from a foundation of love. Firstly, Gods love for his children. Secondly, John the authors love for his brothers & sisters who he doesn’t want to see fall into believing these falsehoods.
These verses contain two warnings. Firstly, that there are spirits operating that are not to believed. Secondly, these spirits should be tested to establish whether they are from God. We test by seeing whether these spirits declare Jesus came in the flesh and confess Jesus as Lord & Saviour. Any spirits and/or people that declare these falsehoods are false prophets and not to be believed.
At the centre of Christianity is the doctrine of incarnation which false prophets seek to undermine. This is the theological truth that Jesus the Son of God who has existed eternally came to the earth taking on human flesh. All part of the perfect redemptive plan to restore our relationship with God in the most beautiful way.
So, believing this doctrine is important because it guards us from erroneous beliefs about who Jesus is. It also means we have a saviour who can relate to our bodily experience. Jesus has experienced temptation, hunger, tired, and pain. Finally, it means our bodies matter protecting us from the harmful view that we should seek to do away with and/or distort our bodies to mirror the current popular worldview.
This warning from John is just as relevant for us today as it was for the first hearers.
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