First John 2:13 and 14 speak of the overcoming of the evil one. “I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, young children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” The Greek word translated “evil one” is poneros. This word differs from kakos, which refers to an essentially worthless and wicked character; it also differs from sapros, which indicates worthlessness and corruption, degeneracy from original virtue. The word poneros denotes one who is pernicious, harmfully evil, affecting and influencing others to be evil and vicious. Such an evil one is Satan, the Devil, in whom the whole world lies.
According to 1 John 2:13 and 14, the believers who are “young men” overcome the evil one. These are the believers who have grown up in the divine life. One characteristic of these grown-up and strong believers is that they overcome the evil one. This is possible because the young men are nourished, strengthened, and sustained by the word of God which abides in them and operates in them against the Devil, the world, and its lusts. Overcoming the evil one is a strong evidence that a believer has grown to be a young man.
Concerning the young men, in 2:14 John says not only that they have overcome the evil one, but also that they are strong and that the word of God abides in them. The word ending with “abides in you” strengthens the word “you have overcome,” which was written in the previous verse to the young men. Many in the church life are strong young men who have overcome the evil one and who have the word of God abiding in them. Through the word of God that abides in them, they are strengthened, nourished, sustained, and invigorated.
By overcoming the world the believers also overcome the evil one, Satan, who has formed the satanic world system and who is now instigating the world to rise up against the followers of the Lord Jesus.
First John 4:3 and 4 say, “Every spirit which does not confess Jesus, is not out of God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now is already in the world. You are out of God, little children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” These verses indicate that the overcomers in the church have also overcome the antichrists through the indwelling Christ. There are many antichrists. Among the antichrists, the strongest and greatest one will be the Antichrist, who will rise up during the last years of the church age. But before his coming, there will be many antichrists, such as the Modernists, who deny the deity of Christ. Whoever brings in something as a factor and element of the degradation of the church is an antichrist. We must overcome the antichrists, not participating in their teachings, practices, or activities.
According to 1 John 4:3, the spirit which does not confess Jesus is not out of God, but is the spirit of antichrist. This is the spirit of a false prophet actuated by the spirit of deception, the spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
In 4:4 John continues, “You are out of God, little children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” The believers are “out of God” because they have been begotten of God (1 John 4:7; 2:29; 3:9). Those who are overcome are the false prophets (4:1), the antichrists, those who teach heresy concerning Christ’s person. The believers have overcome them by abiding in the truth concerning Christ’s deity and concerning His humanity through divine conception, according to the teaching of the divine anointing (2:27).
In 4:4 John tells the believers that He who is in them is greater than he who is in the world. The One in the believers is the Triune God who dwells in the believers as the all-inclusive, life-giving, anointing Spirit, and who strengthens them from within with all the rich elements of the Triune God (Eph. 3:16-19). Such a One is much greater and stronger than Satan, the evil spirit.
The words “he who is in the world” in 1 John 4:4 refer to Satan, the fallen angel. Satan as the evil spirit usurps fallen mankind and operates in evil persons, who are the components of his world system. Such a one is less than the Triune God and weaker than He is.
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