Gnosticism: (GNAW stih sizm) What really is Gnosticism? What did it teach? How can I readily and easily identify it? Are there different kinds of Gnosticism? Are they still found today?
GNOSTICISM TAKES DIFFERENT FORMS BUT CONTAINS SIMILAR PRINCIPLES
Gnosticism is an ancient Heresy that has its base in Babylonian and Greek pholosophy and mystic rites. It took pn the name Gnosticism from gnosis: (NOH sis) the Greek word for "knowledge". It served as a "philosophical and rational religion" for those who considered themselves the "spiritually elite" of the ancient world. It had many teachers and followers. It remains the highest expression and is sometimes called a Humanistic Religious System of Salvation. The highest ever devised by the mind of man. It is still in existence today couched under various religious cults, but the principles are still retained.
There were and are many different forms of Gnosticism. We could classify them as Gnosticism in general, pagan Gnosticism, Jewish Gnosticism. Later it grew into Christian Gnosticism, Pelagiamism and Arminianism. Gnosticism can also be Secular and Cultic and can also be found in other religions. Its ideas have a "mass appeal" to false teachers.
Principles containing Gnosticism or Gnostic thought can be found nearly everywhere except in True Biblical Christianity.
COMMONLY, NEITHER TEACHERS NOR STUDENTS KNOW WHAT GNOSTICISMK REALLY WAS
Many know that Gnosticism is not a good thing, in fact, they may understand it was a Heresy, but are never told exactly what it was, or is. It is surprising that many so-called "teachers" don't actually know what it is. Hopefully, this page will change that for you, you will know what it is, and you will have a checklist to be able to quickly and easily identify it anywhere you see it.
Here are some of the main principles that are found in Gnosticism and which later appeared in Pelagianism. These are found to a greater or lesser extent in all false teachings, including Arminianism. Some principles are exalted, while others may be wholly absent within different variant false teachings.
2. Rejection of Predestination and Election. That would be arbitrary and unfair. The "good god" would never do that. This is found within about all Gnostic presentations.
3. No Eternal Security in Gnosticism unless you continue fully in its principles, and those principles may vary from group to group. This is found in all Gnostic presentations..
4. The introduction of empowerment of women over adult men as "priestesses" or "teachers of the mysteries". This is found in most Gnostic presentations.
5. The "life in the spirit" knowledge given by "revelation knowledge" by "priestesses" or "priests" to the initiates. You were saved by practicing this "revelation knowledge". This is found in about all Gnostic presentations.
6. Mystical Rites and Mysticism. "Special annointing" to "enter the spirit realm". This is found in most Gnostic presentations.
7. All flesh is always evil. No Resurrection of the flesh. This is found in fewer Gnostic presentations.
8. There still remains a "spark of light" in the soul of unregenerate man even though he is fallen. Unregenerate man is not Totally Depraved or totally "dead in trespasses and sins". Children born "innocent". Some form of "Age of Accountability" suggested. A possiblity of "sinless perfection" in this life. This is found in nearly all Gnostic presentations.
9. Unregenerate mans' will is only "slighty damaged" by the Fall. Unregenerate man still retains some power in himself to effectively resist the Grace of G-ds' Holy Spirit. Fallen man is his own "arbitrary power" able to "will" Divine Good regardless, with the power (the "undamaged" or "divine spark" part is still there) retaining the ability in his own "slightly fallen" flesh to "choose" his own Salvation, or not. Denies G-ds' Irresistable Grace in John 6:44. This is found throughout Gnostic presentations.
Here are two of the first Christian Gnostic presentations:
DOCETICISM
The Book of First John was written to warn and instruct the readers about a kind of false teaching that denied Yeshua (Jesus Christ) had come in the flesh (4:2,3). The teaching that Moshiach (Christ) only appeared to be human, so that there was no real Incarnation, and no Divine Saviour who was able to die for sinners. Moshiach only "seemed" to die. Such teaching is known from early Christian history and is called "Doceticism" (from the Greek dokeo, "to seem").
This was an early form of Christian Gnosticism, a religious movement that connected Salvation with an experience of an individual, esoteric "revelation knowledge", which "revelation knowledge" made them superior to other Christians. An example would be the teaching of the late first century teacher Cerinthus.
"(An) indication of the date of First John comes from comparison with Ignatius (about A.D. 110) and Polycarp. These writings criticize false teachings similar to but more developed than those addressed in I John. To accomodate this development, I John should be dated sometime before 110 A.D."
MARCIONISM
Another form of Christian Gnosticism was Marcionism. It denied Predestination and Election saying it originated from the "lesser god of the Old Testament". It promoted "female pastors" as Gnostically-promoted "unisex" teachings. Marcion was Ruled a Heretic in 144 A.D. and Excommunicated from the Assemblies.
Marcion replaced the Sovereignty of G-ds' Decree in Election with Foreknowledge; saying G-d did not Choose one person from another but merely "foreknew" who would later "choose" Him. The "good god" of the New Testament would never Pre-Choose anyone to Salvation and exclude others. That would be "arbitrary, capricious and unfair". The Old Testament verses were undeniable, and so Marcion placed this type "choosing" mentioned in Old Testament Scripture on the "evil god" of the Old Testament.
In I John, the ideals of purity and love that are held out to the reader are Gifts of G-d, Communicated from His Self-Revelation. At the same time, they are real only in action. This reality is possible through being Born Again and through forgiveness of sins.
GNOSTICISM ATTACKS TRUE DOCTRINE AT EVERY POINT
"The enemy of the Gospel attacks at every point. He impugns the Self-Revelation of G-d by trying to deny that Yeshua (Jesus Christ) was Incarnated. With this he threatens to undermine the Believers' confidence before G-d. Moreover, the adversary tries to make the case that someone can believe in G-d without taking part in the Love and Kindness that are part of G-ds' Nature. This would make Salvation also a mere appearance. To the Light and Truth of the Gospel, the antichrist opposes with darkness and lies, or the rule of hatred and mental confusion."
In this way, Gnostic teaching made "the antichrist" the Demiurge. The "evil god" which battled the "good god".
ORIGINS OF GNOSTICISM
"There are indications in the New Testament that an incipient Gnosticism was already making its' appearance in the days of the Apostles. There were heretical teachers even then who drew their immediate impulse from [first century] Judaism, engaging in speculation respecting angels and spirits, and were characterized by a false dualism, leading to asceticism on one hand, and to an immoral libertinism on the other hand, who spiritualized the Resurrection, and made the Churchs' hope the object of derisive mockery. (Col. 2:18, ff., I Tim. 1:3-7, 4:1-3, 6:3 ff., II Tim. 2:14-18, Titus 1:10-16, II Peter 2:1-4, Jude 4:16, Rev. 2:6, 15:20, ff).
"From the early part of the second century, these errors assumed a more developed form, were openly proclaimed, and at once had an amazingly wide circulation. This can be understood in light of the general syncretism[2] of the period.
THE "DEEPER KNOWLEDGE" CLAIM
"The speculative element was very much in the foreground. The very name, 'Gnostikoi', adopted by some of its' adherents, indicates that they laid claim to a 'deeper knowledge' of divine things than could be obtained by 'common believers'. The Gnostics grappled with some of the deeper problems of philosophy and religion, and suggested solutions totally at variance with the truths of revelation. Their two greatest problems were those of Absolute Being, and the Origin of evil, problems not of Christian, but of heathen religious thought. They developed a fantastic cosmogony, in which they borrowed freely from the oriental speculation, and with which they sought to combine the truths of the Gospel.
"In spite of its' speculative character, Gnosticism was also a 'popular movement'. In order to sway the masses, it had to be something more than mere speculation. Therefore attempts were made in special associations to popularize the general cosmical theory by symbolic rites, mystic ceremonies, and the teaching of magic formulas. In the initiation into these associations strange formulas and rites formed an important part. These were supposed to form a necessary and effective protection against the power of sin and death, and to be a means of gaining access to the blessedness of the world to come. In reality, their introduction was to transform the Gospel into a religious philosophy and into mystic wisdom. Yet Gnosticism claimed to be Christian in character. Whenever possible, it appealed to the words of Jesus in an allegorical way, and to a so-called secret tradition handed down from the times of the Apostles [supposedly the "deeper revelations" of secret knowledge the early Assemblies possessed, but was lost, and now rediscovered]. Many received its' teachings as genuine Christian truth.
"The world of matter as a product of a lesser and possibly an evil god, is essentially evil. There is found in it, however, a remnant of the spirit-world, namely, the soul of man, a spark of light from the upper world of purity which in some inexplicable way became entangled in the world of matter. Its' deliverance can only be obtained through the intervention of the good G-d. A way of deliverance has been provided by the sending of a special emissary from the kingdom of light into the world of darkness. In Christian Gnosticism, this emissary is regularly identified with Christ [or sometimes 'Christ consciousness']. He is variously represented, either as a celestial being appearing in a phantasmal body, or as an earthly being, with whom a higher power or spirit temporarily associated himself. Since matter is in itself evil, this higher spirit could not have an ordinary human body." (Berkhof)
THE HUMAN SPIRITUAL HIERARCHY OF GNOSTICISM
Participation in redemption, or victory over the world, was gained through the secret rites of the Gnostic associations. Initiation into the mysteries of the marriage of Christ, of peculiar baptism, of magic names, and of special annointing, by which the secret knowledge of Being was secured, formed the path of redemption. At this point, Gnosticism became more and more a system of religious mysteries.
In this system, men are divided into three classes:
"The Pneumatic"
These constitute the "elite" of the Church
"The Psychic"
Consisting of ordinary Church members.
"The Hylic", or the Gentiles
This group is hopelessly lost[2]
MORE FOLLOWING SOON!
FOOTNOTES
[1
"It (their Councils' decision) proceeded from the combined influence of the pre-Augustinian synergism and monastic legalism. Its (the Councils') leading idea is, that divine grace and the human will jointly accomplish the work of conversion and sanctification, and that ordinarily man must take the first step. It rejects the Pelagian doctrine of the moral soundness of man, but rejects the Augustinian doctrine of the entire corruption and bondage of the natural man, and substitutes the idea of a diseased or crippled state of the voluntary power. It disowns the Pelagian conception of grace as a mere external auxiliary; but also, quite as decidedly, the Augustinian doctrines of the sovereignty, irresistibleness, and limitations of grace; and affirms the necessity and the internal operation of grace with and through human agency, a general atonement through Christ, and a predestination to salvation conditioned by foreknowledge of faith."
Council of Trent. See Canons IV, IX, XVII. 6th Session on Justification.
[2
[2
Sometimes, this type of Gnosticism uses "kabbalah-oriented" explanations that are represented as being "deeper knowledge" or "gospel truth" within whatever system they are promoting.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CREDITS
Berkhof, Louis. The History of Christian Doctrines. Banner of Truth. 1937. repr. 1991.
"The New Geneva Study Bible". Nelson. 1992. p. 1985.
