In John 4:4 the author of this epistle addresses his readers as little children, who are of God, or, in other words, he is saying his readers are God’s own children, shown elsewhere to have been begotten by him through the Gospel (1Corinthians 4:15; James 1:18; 1Peter 1:23). Notice, that John claims his readers have overcome the antichrists. Nevertheless, how should we understand this? Have the believers and the false teachers faced one another in battle, with the end result being that the false teachers have run away, or that their threat no longer exists? No! That simply couldn’t be true. John’s readers have overcome their enemies in the same way Jesus had overcome his enemies, even though the Jewish authorities had him crucified.
So, how could a crucified Jesus have overcome his enemies (the Jewish authorities)? They crucified him and had him killed by the command of Pilate and his body was placed in a grave. However, Jesus triumphed over all of them, i.e. what they did to him, and his victory came in the form of his resurrection out from among the dead (Acts 2:23-24, 32-36; Colossians 2:15). He exposed their authority for what it was: weak and powerless in the face of God. They were simply unable to keep him in the grave where they put him. Nevertheless, even if Christ was raised from the dead, how does this have anything to do with John’s argument that his readers have overcome their enemies?
We need to keep in mind that, previous to our coming to Christ, we had been in rebellion against God, together with the rest of the world (Ephesians 2:2-3). However, through the mercy of God and his love for us, he raised us up out of the death of our rebellion to abide in Christ who is seated in the highest authority in heaven (Ephesians 2:4-6). So, we reckon ourselves dead to sin (i.e. our old life of rebellion) but alive to Christ (Romans 6:11; Colossians 2:13). In other words, we have been born again to life in the Kingdom of God, for by grace we are saved to eternal life through being in Christ (Romans 6:23).
If we hold these things to be true and stand in them, how could the antichrists gain a hold on us, for their teaching is logically opposed to the faith, in which we stand. In the world we may have extreme difficulty, but in Christ we have the peace of knowing we’ll spend eternity with him (cp. John 16:33). Yes, and even in a context of persecution, we would be more than overcomers, because for all intents and purposes the authorities of this world would be able to crush us, yet we don’t surrender; we maintain our stand in Christ (cp. Romans 8:35-37).
They, the antichrists or the false teachers, are of the world, and the world believes them, because they speak in a worldly context (1John 4:5; cp. John 5:43). In other words they speak only in the context of what they are able to see, hear, touch, taste or smell. They speak in the context of worldly understanding, therefore the world believes them, because worldly understanding isn’t challenged.
On the other hand, John’s readers were **of** God. That is they were other worldly—not **of** this world’s understanding (1John 4:6). What we preach, eye has not seen nor ear heard (1Corinthians 2:9), so how can anyone **of** this world, who has no context for spiritual matters, understand and believe what we say through the Gospel of Christ? Logic demands that the only folks who would hear or believe us, are people who are like us (1John 4:6), i.e. other believers or disciples of Christ, whom he has called out of this world (John 15:19). In other words, the world will understand and believe only a message that is physical, which is one it can see, hear, touch, taste or smell. All else is foolishness, according to their understanding (1Corinthians 2:14). Nevertheless, the spiritual man would be ready to hear and understand the things of God, which can be understood only by those who are believers, for they have been given such a Spirit of understanding (1Corinthians 2:12-13). Therefore, in this we are able to identify the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1John 4:6).
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