1 John 1:1-4: That Our Joy May Be Complete

We are diving into the first epistle of John, a series I've titled, "Believing, Obeying, and Loving," since those are the themes that permeate this entire letter.

In these first few verses, John demonstrates that Jesus is the focus of our worship, the fulcrum of our fellowship, and the wellspring of our joy. At the same time he counters some of the heresies about Jesus that had already sprung up before the apostolic era even came to a close. I briefly discuss three of these heresies in relation to John's first epistle: proto-Gnosticism, Docetism, and Cerinthianism.

There's nothing new under the sun, and so we would expect to find these same heresies (and others like them) rearing their ugly heads today, and we absolutely do. Getting your belief about Jesus Christ correct is the first priority for the church and for individual Christians, so that we can have Jesus as the focus of our worship, the fulcrum of our fellowship, and the wellspring of our joy.