Wednesday: A Historical Faith

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The second purpose that John had in writing his letter is related to the first one, but it is rightly considered a distinct purpose, in that by it John was dealing with a new and dangerous movement in his day and was warning Christians about it. The movement was what today we would call an early form of gnosticism, and John’s objective in writing against it is to stress the historical origins of Christianity. 

It is hard to speak of the precise nature of gnosticism in John’s day because the only documents which we have concerning gnosticism date from a much later period in church history. Nevertheless, from the statements in the letter and from traditions which relate to this period several characteristics of the movement seem certain. First, there was the principle which we might call “salvation by intellect.” The Gnostics put themselves forward as being “the knowing ones,” which is the essential meaning of the word “Gnostic,” while at the same time insisting that salvation was primarily by knowledge, that is, by an initiation into the mystical and allegedly superior knowledge which they possessed. In most forms of gnosticism this meant that the importance of moral conduct was denied. The Gnostic might say that he had no sin, that what he did was not sin, or that he could have fellowship with God even though he continued sinning. In view of this characteristic John insists that Christians are the true “knowing ones” and that their lives must be marked by righteous conduct. 

The second characteristic of the Gnostic system was its belief in the radical distinction between spirit and matter coupled with the conviction that matter was inherently evil and that spirit alone was good. This view was held in common by most other systems of thought at this period. On the one hand, it clearly accounted for the denial of the importance of the moral life, as already noted; for salvation was in the realm of the spirit or mind, which alone was good. On the other hand, it produced a type of philosophical religion which was divorced from concrete history. Here, quite obviously, gnosticism came into conflict with authentic Christianity. For, given this system, any real incarnation of the Son of God was impossible. If matter is evil, then God could not have taken a human body upon Himself. And if this is so, then the incarnation of God in Christ must have been in appearance only. In some forms of allegedly Christian gnosticism the incarnation was therefore expressed by saying that the spirit of God merely came upon the man Jesus at the time of His baptism, remained with Him during the years of His ministry, and then deserted Him just before His crucifixion. 

To have adopted this view would have made Christianity popular in the Greek world of the first century, no doubt. But John correctly saw that to do so would have destroyed the essential content of the faith. If Christianity is no more than a set of ideas, then it is no more valid than any other philosophy. Its truths are relative (true now or true for some people, but not true in any absolute sense); and its values are pragmatic (good only if they help). Such a system can obviously be phased out. On the other hand, if, as John teaches, Christianity is more than ideas—if it is something unique which God has done in history—then it has a claim to being true for everyone and true for all time. Moreover, it requires that a person become conformed to the revelation of God which it embodies rather than that the faith constantly be readjusted to the individual or to “modern” thinking. 

This concern is uppermost in John’s mind at many points throughout the epistle, but nowhere more than in the opening verses in which he stresses faith’s historical character. “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, of the Word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)—that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us” (1:1-3). 

This same note needs to be sounded today, whenever the historical basis of the faith is questioned or salvation is imagined to consist in anything other than that which God has done in Jesus for the redemption and sanctification of those who believe on Christ and follow Him.