The Gnostics believed that it did not matter what the body or the flesh did. All that mattered to God was the soul or Spirit. God looked on the heart only. That kind of thinking is evidenced by the shallow Christianity of many professing Christians in our culture.
God is righteous. If a person is born again he is clothed with the righteousness of Christ. His life is changed as evidenced outwardly by his righteous deeds. When Zacchaeus came down from the sycamore tree and met Jesus he said, “Behold Lord, the half of my goods I give to feed the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him four-fold.” (Luke 19:8) His actions gave evidence to the change in his life. In the next chapter of this epistle, in I John 3:8, we read, “He that keeps on sinning is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.”
The Gnostics claimed to have more knowledge than everyone else. But, like so many modern day cults they totally missed the truth at this point. I am reminded of a song that says, “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart!”
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