B U I L D I N G     L I V E S

W E E K     S E V E N
By Missy Iley, Associate Music Minister

Monday
1 John 2:20-22

In Matthew 16:15-19, Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s confession is the truth upon which Christianity was built. If someone was to take anything away from that statement or add something to it, it would no longer be true. Sadly, many people down through the centuries have tried to add and subtract from who Jesus is, and as a result, many have been led astray.

In the context of 1 John, Gnosticism had become a “prominent heretical movement” of the early Church that diminished Christ’s role in the salvation process by claiming salvation was the escape from the body, achieved not by faith in Christ but by humans who were able to achieve a certain degree of “special knowledge.”

As Christians, we must stand firm in the truth Jesus spoke in John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father except through me.” Salvation only comes through Christ. There is no gray area to navigate; there is no wiggle room.