Jason Helopoulos

He gives us the cause for his letter in verse 4, ungodly teachers teaching error.

He gives us the purpose of the letter in verse 3, contend for the faith.

And his overriding concern is he doesn't want these churches lost by this ungodly, false, heretical, divisive teaching.

So let's walk through that.

His overriding concern is he doesn't want these churches lost.

So let's consider the cause of this letter, ungodly teachers teaching error.

They were doing two things.

If you look there in verse four, they were perverting the grace of our God into sensuality.

And second, they were denying Jesus Christ as master and Lord.

So first, they were perverting the grace of God into sensuality.

That is, they were living as if there was no moral law for the Christian life.

They were what we will call in theological circles antinomians.

They were anti-namas, anti-against-namas the law.

They were against the law.

They believed because they had received the grace of Christ that they could live any way that they wanted to live.

We'll know that in the Christian life, the law leads us to grace, and the grace of Christ leads us back to the law.

Not to earn favor with God now that we have the grace of Christ, but rather now because I have the grace of Christ, I could not fulfill the law, so I'm led to grace.

I know that I can't do the things that God has prescribed for me.

I have inability because of my fallenness in Adam.

And so I need grace.