Gnosticism

The following are excerpts from: Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, by Norman L. Geisler

The word “gnosticism” comes from the Greek word “gnosis” which means “knowledge.” There were many [ancient] groups that were Gnostic, [thus] it isn’t possible to describe the nuances of each variant of Gnostic doctrines [in this short lecture]. However, generally speaking, Gnosticism taught that salvation is achieved through special knowledge (gnosis). This knowledge usually dealt with the individual’s relationship to the transcendent Being. (carm.org)

No one is certain of the origins of Gnosticism. Some believe it was rooted in a heretical group within Judaism. Others give it a Christian context. An incipient form may have infiltrated the church in Colosse. Or it may have had a totally pagan root.

 

What we know about Gnosticism is gained from the writings of [the early church fathers] (Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Origen), and some later manuscripts discovered in the eighteenth century such as the “Codex Askew, Codex Bruce, the Berlin Gnostic Codes and, most recently, the Nag Hammadi collection. (carm.org)

These early fathers of the church held that Gnosticism had first-century roots and that Simon the Sorcerer of Samaria (Acts 8) was the first Gnostic. According to church fathers, Simon practiced magic, claimed to be divine, and taught that his companion, a former prostitute, was reincarnated Helen of Troy.

One of the more controversial, though atypical, Gnostics was Marcion of Pontus. He believed that the God of the Old Testament was different from the God of the New Testament and that the canon of Scripture included only a truncated version of Luke and ten of Paul’s Epistles (all but the pastoral Epistles). His views were severely attacked by Tertullian (ca. 160 s–ca. 215). Marcion became a stimulus for the early church to officially define the limits of the canon.

Valentinus of Alexandria was another prominent Gnostic. He came to Rome in 140 and taught that there were a series of divine emanations. He divided humanity into three classes: (1) Hylics or unbelievers, who were immersed in material and fleshly nature; (2) psychics or common Christians, who lived by faith and pneumatics; and (3) spiritual Gnostics. His followers included Ptolemaeus, Heracleon, Theodotus, and Marcus. Heracleon’s interpretation of John is the first known New Testament commentary.

The Gnostics followed a variety of religious movements that stressed gnosis, especially of one’s origins.

“Gnostics were dualists, teaching that there are two great opposing forces: good versus evil, light versus darkness, knowledge versus ignorance, spirit versus matter. Since the world is material, and leaves much room for improvement, they denied that God had made it. “How can the perfect produce the imperfect, the infinite produce the finite, the spiritual produce the material?” they asked. One solution was to say that there were thirty beings called AEons, and that God had made the first AEon, which made the second AEon, which made the third, and so on to the thirtieth AEon, which made the world.” (apologeticsindex.org)

The Gnostics were Docetists. This word comes from the Greek word meaning “to seem.” They taught that Christ did not really have a material body, but only seemed to have one. It was an appearance, so that he could communicate with men, but was not really there. (If holograms had been known then, they would certainly have said that the supposed body of Jesus was a hologram.) They went on to say that Jesus was not really born, and did not really suffer or die, but merely appeared to do so. It was in opposition to early Gnostic teachers that the Apostle John wrote (1 John 4:1-3) that anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of antiChrist. (apologeticsindex.org)

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Gnostics claimed to be Christians, but Christians with a difference. They said that Jesus had had two doctrines: one a doctrine fit for the common man, and preached to everyone, and the other an advanced teaching, kept secret from the multitudes, fit only for the chosen few, the spiritually elite. They, the Gnostics, were the spiritually elite, and although the doctrines taught in the churches were not exactly wrong, and were in fact as close to the truth as the common man could hope to come, it was to the Gnostics that one must turn for the real truth.

Since Gnosticism lacked a common authority, it encompassed a variety of beliefs. Central to many, if not most, were:

1. a cosmic dualism between spirit and matter, good and evil;

2. a distinction between a finite Old Testament God, Yahweh, and the transcendent God of the New Testament;

[thus, they believed in 2 different Gods]

1. a view of creation as resulting from the fall of Sophia (Wisdom);

2. an identification of matter as evil;

3. a belief that most people are ignorant of their origins and condition;

4. an identification of sparks of divinity that are encapsulated in certain spiritual individuals;

5. a faith in a docetic Redeemer, who was not truly human and did not die on the cross. This Redeemer brought

salvation in the form of a secret knowledge (gnosis) that was communicated by Christ after his resurrection.

1. a goal of escaping the prison of the body, traversing the planetary spheres of hostile demons, and being reunited

with God;

1. a salvation based not on faith or works, but upon special gnosis, of one’s true condition;

2. a mixed view of morality. Carpocrates urged his followers to engage in deliberate promiscuity. Most Gnostics,

however, took a strongly ascetic view of sexual intercourse and marriage, contending that the creation of woman

was the source of evil and procreation of children simply multiplied the number of persons in bondage to the

evil material world. Salvation of women depended on their one day becoming men and returning to the

conditions of Eden before Eve was created. Oddly enough, women were prominent in many Gnostic sects.

1. an interpretation of baptism and the Lord’s supper as spiritual symbols of the gnosis;

2. a view of the resurrection as spiritual, not physical.

Gnosticism as an organized movement [has] all but died. The sole surviving remnant is in southwestern Iran. However, many Gnostic teachings live on among new agers, existentialists, and Bible critics. The revival of interest in the Gospel of Thomas by the Jesus Seminar is a case in point. There is also a tendency, even among some evangelical scholars to deny the physical nature of the resurrection.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, wrote extensively on Gnostic ideas. A compilation of her writings on Gnosticism is over 270 pages long. (Wikipedia)

It appears that Gnosticism became popular with the interest in The Da Vinci Code. Because its teachings are striking a responsive chord with us today, it continues to grow in interest.. For example, since January, 2005, there have been over one million visitors to the Gnostic website Gnosticteachings.org. (suite101.com)

 

 

[Gnosticism might have been born out of the earlier days of the Epicureans and the Stoicks –

Acts 17:18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.]

“This sect of philosophers, The Epicureans, was so named from Epicurus, who lived about 300 years before the Christian era. They denied that the world was created by God, and that the gods exercised any care or providence over human affairs, and also the immortality of the soul. Both in principle and practice, therefore, they devoted themselves to a life of gaiety and sensuality, and sought happiness only in indolence, effeminacy, and voluptuousness.

The doctrines of the [Stoicks] were – that the universe was created by God; that all things were fixed by Fate; that even God was under the dominion of fatal necessity; that the Fates were to be submitted to; that the passions and affections were to be suppressed and restrained; that happiness consisted in the insensibility of the soul to pain; and that a man should gain an absolute mastery over all the passions and affections of his nature.’ (Barnes’ Notes)

Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

1 Cor 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.