Error, Parting from the Apostles' Gospel

“I have written these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1John 5:13)

There are several Johns mentioned in the Bible, five for certain, the John who wrote the three John epistle letters, the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation is the Apostle John, son of Zebedee. The epistles were written long after the resurrection of Jesus. John probably wrote the Gospel when he was 85 and the epistles and the book of Revelation when he was 90. He died in his 90’s. He was also known as the beloved apostle. He is the one reclining on Jesus at the Last Supper (John 13:23) and the one to whom is given the responsibility of taking care of Mary, the mother of Jesus (John 19:26,27).

Our Scripture of study, 1John 5:13, summarizes the whole reason for writing the letter. But throughout the epistle, he explains why he is writing it. “And we write these things to you so that your joy may be full.” (1John 1:4) “My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1John 2:1) “I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. 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, little children, because you have known the Father. I write 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.” (1John 2:12-14) “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth.” (1John 2:21) In the Gospel that John wrote, he also explains his reason for writing. “But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name.” (John 20:31) We see that John is very concerned about what we believe and that it should be in the Gospel of Jesus as was preached by the apostles. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life, (for the Life was revealed, and we have seen it and bear witness, and show to you the everlasting Life, who was with the Father and was revealed to us), that which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1John 1:1-3)

Gnosticism was creeping into the church and adding error to the Gospel. This quote from Johnny Lyndale, a Bible blogger, clarifies what Gnosticism believes. “...a teaching which declared that all material things, the things of this world, were bad and everything spiritual was good. The name comes from the Greek word gnosis, “to know”, and taught that the most important thing one can do is to obtain a higher level “mystical” knowledge of God. Because of the insistence that everything material is bad, this led to a lot of false teachings about Jesus. The Bible clearly states that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus was born Emanuel, God with us, when He was born. He died on the cross and rose again, living His whole life as one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. But the Gnostics rejected all this because they taught that God and material things, the things of this world, do not mix, so it only “appeared” that Jesus had a body.”  Among other beliefs of Gnosticism is that God could not have created the world because it’s material. They believe a lesser god, a demi-god created the world. They also believed that if Jesus was flesh, He didn’t come from God and He was not God’s Son nor was He the Christ. They reject the resurrected body of Jesus and the resurrection of the saints. They believe that Jesus was an ordinary man on whom the Spirit of the Son of God came upon him at his baptism but left before being crucified. John repudiates every one of their beliefs in his first letter.

Concisely then, our verse of study is the summary of his letter, “that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God” (and not the nonsense of Gnosticism) as all the apostles have experienced and share. (1John 1:1-3) This brings us to a very important point. We must read the Bible in order to keep from being dragged into error. The Holy Spirit and leaders of Bible believing churches can help us understand those things which we don’t know. If we can remember that all things must agree with the Word of God, must glorify Jesus and bring us peace, we cannot be deceived. The enemy is slick, and error may sound right and may make sense to our carnal minds, but if you know the Truth through reading the Bible and communing with the Holy Spirit, you will not be deceived.