What Is Authentic Faith In Jesus Christ pt. 2 | Roche Coleman, Ph.D.

Text: 1 John 2:1-14 Pt2
Title: What is Authentic Faith in Jesus Christ?

Vital Verse: If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:6-7).

Nuggets to Nibble:
Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis meaning knowledge. The concept is a philosophical system built on Greek philosophy that stressed matter is evils but spirit is good. Key points of interest are noted:
1) God could not have created the material world.
2) Jesus did not come from human form.
3) The divine logos came upon Jesus and departed before the crucifixion.
4) Salvation is philosophical in the sense of knowing the truth.
5) Sin and evil are associated with ignorance or lack of knowledge.
Gnosticism is a mystical knowledge beyond what is experienced or seen. It is a spiritual or intellectual state that only select individuals achieve. Tertullian suggests, “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church? What between heretics and Christians?... Away with all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoics, Platonic, and dialectic composition” (On Prescription Against Heretics 7). Adolf Harnack defined Gnosticism as the “acute secularizing of Christianity.”

Now, John writes to the Christians to remind them of their role as people of the light. He explains, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Heresies - doctrines that are inconsistent with orthodoxy teaching in the church.

Outline of Text
1. The Advocate for the believer. 1 John 2:1-5

2. The abiding of the believer. 1 John 2:6-11

3. The abiding word in the believer. 1 John 2:12-14

Impact Fact: 
Abiding and fellowshipping with God and His people will enable you to avoid the snares of sin.