1 John 4:4 You yourselves are from God, children, and you have overcome them, because greater is the one in you than the one in the world.
This verse provides further assurance to the readers of this letter. It begins with an emphatic you yourselves and the direct address children, which distinguish the readers from the false prophets and the antichrist of the previous verse. Verses 2-3 already drew the line of orthodoxy. Now the readers are given confidence and reminded of the divine resource to overcome any false teaching about Jesus, social pressure to conform, or persecution because their faith. Their source of life, purpose, and direction comes from God. The false prophets and teachers got their directions from the one in the world. To whom this refers is unstated, but anyone who rejects Jesus is of the world. It could refer to the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), who is usually interpreted as Satan. The readers got their identity as children, dependent upon their heavenly Father and like Jesus, the Son of God in human form (3:2).
This orientation and relationship with God ensure that we can overcome any snares, temptations, or lies that the devil, antichrists, and those who associate with them can throw our way. We do not have to go around defeated and discouraged because of the opposition we all experience. Many things seek to discourage us, and not all of these can be attributed to the devil. Some come from our own choices or the choices of others. We should not be ignorant about the devil’s schemes or unprepared to face people who are angry at God, reject God, or distort the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our identity as God’s children connects us to a greater power source than what is found in the world, where people rely on their own understanding, interpretation, science, and relativism.