Hitting false teaching hard and head on!
John gave his personal witness to the physical and spiritual truths about the Lord Jesus Christ ~Jesus had a physical body and is the Son of God.
1 John 1:1-3
John called out liars, the false teachers and their teaching concerning the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:6-7
John called out deception of having no sin. We, every person, sin and will until we are in the presence of God in heaven. As a Christian, Jesus is my Savior – He died with my sins and yours on Him on the cross.
Followers of Christ, do you recognize that Jesus bore your sins when He was on the cross so that when you ask for forgiveness, you were, and are, forgiven because of His sacrifice in your place?
Does this mean that I have now no sin? No! I still live in this body and until I have been taken to heaven through death or the return of Jesus, I will sin.
Does this mean that I can willfully sin? No!
Sin, without meaning to, is still sin. This is why I need Jesus as my Savior, and this is why you need Jesus as your Savior, also.
How do I deal with the sins I commit?
1 John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
Jesus is on the side of those who believe in Him as their Savior – He is our Advocate with the Father. 1 John 2:1
John hits hard at the false teachings of Gnosticism in this short letter. He does not hold back! He meets false teaching and teachers head on.
Think about this!
Do you know God’s word and His teachings, so well you also can by faith, meet false teaching and teachers head on?
1 John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.
5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”