John offers counsel on avoiding apostasy
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By the time the epistles of John were written (about A.D. 100), the apostasy was well under way. The flame of faith initially lit by the Savior flickered and dimmed, and the long night of darkness foreknown and foretold by the Savior and His apostles began to engulf the early Church.
Apostles were slain, "ordinances were changed or abandoned. The line was broken, and the authority to confer the Holy Ghost as a gift was gone. The dark ages of apostasy settled over the world." (See President Boyd K. Packer, Conference Report, April 2000.)
False teachers rebelled against Church authority, and their heretical ideologies were used to renounce the original doctrines established by Jesus Christ. Evidence for the apostasy is found in the New Testament record itself. The writings of the ancient apostles, including those of John, predicted the mutinous falling away and declared that it was already upon them. The scriptures also foretold of a future restoration, an event to occur in the latter days. Perhaps the best evidence an apostasy occurred is the fact that there was a Restoration. By 1820, Joseph Smith was told in his First Vision that God no longer acknowledged any church on earth as resembling the one He had established.
The epistles of John were the last letters written by the sole-surviving leader of the early Church. They were penned to counter the apostate heresies which had already appeared in the Church by the end of the first century.
The New Testament record makes it clear that Peter was given the keys of the kingdom and called to lead the early Church after the death of Jesus Christ. Who, then, succeeded Peter? Modern Christianity is at a loss to explain. None of the charts showing succession in the early Church lists any of the Twelve as presiding after Peter's death — based on the assumption that all of them were killed.
One by one, the original apostles called by Jesus were slain. In Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World, the deaths of all the original apostles are chronicled except for John.
John was apparently the only surviving apostle in the Church after A.D. 100. None of the early Christian bishops nor early Church historians point to any other leader.
John the Beloved presided over the early Church from the death of Peter to the apostasy. He continued to minister on earth for the Lord until the time of the Restoration in the latter days. Thus, John witnessed the birth, loss and restoration of the gospel over a span of two millennia.
The epistles of John are filled with counsel about avoiding personal apostasy:
- He cautioned that it is impossible to claim to be in the light, and
hate other Church members (1 John 2:9-10).
- He warned about being deceived by false spirits and gave counsel about
the need to discern truth from error (see 1 John 4:1-3).
- He noted how pride can lead to self-deception (1 John 1:8).
- He further testified that when we are filled with Christ's perfect love
(or charity), that we may "have boldness [spiritual confidence] in
the day of judgement. . . . There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casteth out fear" (1 John 4:17-18).
John wrote to counteract the apostasy that was already under way at the end of the first Christian century. His epistles describe the rebellion against true priesthood authority and the rise of false teachings that drove the Church into obscurity and darkness. The fact that the Lord described His restored gospel as having come "out of obscurity and out of darkness" indicates how complete the apostate darkness was.
His letters denounced the apostate heresies being taught, made declarations about God's love and testified that God's plan for our salvation is based on that infinite love.
John bore testimony that he was an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. He challenged us to stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ ourselves and reminded us that "whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God" (1 John 4:15).
John's greatest joy was to know that those he loved lived by the truth: "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father" (2 John 1:4). "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 1:4).
This article was excerpted from W. Jeffrey Marsh's address given at the 2002 Sidney B. Sperry Symposium at BYU. Brother Marsh is an associate professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
