In Reply to: Re: some ramblings about sexuality & spirituality & Berg posted by Alan on January 12, 2004 at 02:52:41:
In a Ryrie Study Bible,I found the following information in the introduction to 1st John:
The heresy of Gnosticism had begun to make inroads among churches in John's day. Among its teachings were:
(1) Knowledge is superior to virtue.
(2) The nonliteral sense of Scripture is correct and can be understood only by a select few.
(3) Evil in the world precludes God's being the only Creator.
(4) The incarnation is incredible because deity cannot unite itself with anything material such as a body (Docetism).
(5) There is no resurrection of the flesh.
The ethical standards of many Gnostics were low, so John emphasized the reality of the incarnation and the high ethical standard of the earthly life of Christ.