Friday 14 November 2008
- Bible Book:
- 2 John
"Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son." (v.9)
Background
This letter was written to address two heretical teachings whichwere threatening the unity of the early Church.
Docetism - from the Greek word 'dokeo' meaning 'to seem' - claimedthat Jesus only appeared to have a physical body and that hisphysical death was therefore an illusion.
Gnosticism - from the Greek word 'gnosis' meaning 'knowledge' -claimed that human beings needed to acquire a special spiritualknowledge in order to free themselves from the imperfect materialworld in which they were trapped. Gnosticism was based on adualistic principle which stated that material matter is evil andspiritual matter is good.
John urges the Christian community to which he is writing tocontinue "walking in the truth" which means that they will "loveone another" and not be deceived by "those who do not confess thatJesus Christ has come in the flesh".
To Ponder
How do you respond to people who claim to bespiritually superior to you because of the special knowledge theyhave or think they have?
What do you think is the relationship betweenbody and soul? Are they connected or opposed to one another?
How do you experience God through physicalmatter/the material world?