(1 John 3:22–4:6) - Jan 5, 2026 - Monday after Epiphany
In today’s first reading, we hear about three closely connected realities: faith, love, and discernment of spirits.
We believe in the name of Jesus. We are called to love one another. And we are invited to discern which ideas and voices shape our choices in life.
“This is his commandment,” John writes: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another.
Biblical faith is not first of all knowledge; it is a relationship. To believe is to trust. And whom we trust matters greatly.
In the Bible, a name is never just a sound. It means identity. It means character. It means the way someone chooses to live.
To believe in the name of Jesus means trusting his way of being human— self-giving rather than self-protecting, faithful rather than violent, open rather than controlling.
That is why Jesus warns us: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). To believe in Jesus’ name is not only to speak it, but to live as he lived (see 1 John 2:6).
From faith, the commandment to love naturally follows. John echoes Paul’s teaching that “faith works through love” (Galatians 5:6).
Faith that truly reaches Christ always flows toward people. That is why John binds belief and love so closely together. Love is not an optional extra. It is the visible sign that faith is alive.
If faith does not change how we treat others— how we speak, how we judge, how we include or exclude— then something has gone wrong at the very center.
Finally, John speaks about discernment.
“Do not trust every spirit,” he says. Not every voice deserves our loyalty. Not every confident message speaks the truth.
For John, discernment is not mysterious or dramatic. It is practical and concrete. It asks one simple question: What kind of life does this spirit produce?
In John’s time, the great test was Christmas itself. Some refused to accept it. Some could not bear its scandal.
The Word became flesh.
Not an idea. Not a theory. Not an escape from the world. Flesh. Vulnerable. Mortal. Human.
To deny this, John says, is the clearest sign of a false spirit.
Today, the spirits of the age sound different, but the test remains.
Today, the human being is tempted to become homo deus. Love is replaced by selfishness—“me first.” And Jesus in the manger is replaced by Santa and a festival of consumption.
John would say to us: test this spirit.
Does it lead us toward life—or toward emptiness? Does it deepen love—or make it thinner? Does it draw us closer to one another—or turn us inward, alone and anxious?
The Spirit of God always points to the Word made flesh. The Spirit insists that faith needs a body, that love needs time, that truth needs responsibility.
Faith toward Christ. Love toward people. Discernment toward the spirits of the age.
This is not a complicated path. But it is a demanding one.
And John assures us: where these three move together, the Spirit of God is already at work.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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