This Epistle contains no reference to any outward dangers. Domitian's persecution had not yet affected the Church, and the controversy with Judaism had closed. There is no trace of any conflict between Jew and Gentile, and St. John, in asserting the truth of the incarnation of the Son of God, is not opposing any heresy resembling that of those semi-Christian Jews of the 2nd century who declared Christ to be _merely_ the best of men. He is combating a form of error taught by Cerinthus, who said that {259} Jesus was a man born of Joseph and Mary, and that on this man there descended a divine element named Christ, who left him before the crucifixion. Thus _Christ_ never suffered, though the _Jesus_ who seemed to be Christ did suffer. In face of these false views St. John asserts the truth. He asserts that One who is both Jesus and Christ came in the flesh (iv. 2), and that He came, that is, was manifested as Christ, both in the water of His baptism and the blood of His cross (v. 6). By this blood He cleanses man from sin (i. 7). We may be sure of His help, for He lives as our Advocate with the Father. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny the Father, to deny God altogether (ii. 22; iv. 3). St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp inveigh in similar language against the Docetists, who flourished between A.D. 110 and 120. It is important to notice that St. John's opponents do not appear to have been Antinomian in conduct. He says, "Every one that doeth sin, doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness" (iii. 4). If he had been blaming Antinomianism it would have been more natural to say, "Every one that doeth lawlessness, doeth also sin."