Guard and Contend: Know Thy Enemy

John writes to help the church recognize the Gnostic heresy. The Gnostics are trying to take away our confidence that we can know God through reading scripture, and are claiming that there are only a few elite spiritually sensitive people who can lead others into enlightenment. This creates an inner circle at church that everyone must try to get into in order to have spiritual knowledge. This creates a lot of church hurt. However, by putting our confidence in scripture and in Jesus, we can contend with the Gnostics and show how we can thrive as humble Christians.