God Is LoveSample

Jesus isn’t a Gnostic

Have you ever heard of the Gnostics before? Gnosticism was a very popular religion that exploded with growth in the early second century, making it a fierce contender with Christianity. The Gnostics claimed that what really mattered spiritually was not what you did but what you knew. If you could tap into the secret knowledge of their religion, you could essentially treat people like trash and still feel good about yourself (like a Ph.D. professor who is kind of a jerk to his students).

The apostle John wanted nothing to do with that kind of religion. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:8-9).

John slapped every Gnostic in the face with these words. Do you want to know what love is? It’s not that God knows everything. It’s that God did something, sending the Son who would imitate his Father and do something too—giving his life as a sacrifice for our sins. Do you want to know what real religion is? The kind that loves others with our hands, our actions, and our choices, motived by the God who loved us first.

Thank God that Jesus wasn’t a Gnostic! May you or I never become one either.