____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ June 8, 2003 ____________________________________________________ Gnosticism by Tom Edwards Though not really developed until the 2nd Century (when it became prominent), many Gnostic beliefs were already beginning to form during the time of the 1st Century; and their corrupting influence was a pervading threat to the early church. As defined, Gnosticism was "a syncretistic religious dualistic belief system that incorporated many Christian motifs and became one of the strongest heresies of the early church...[mixing] Christian and pagan ideas.... While Gnosticism drew from and influenced in turn many traditional religions, its effect was most clearly felt on nascent Christianity" (Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite CD-ROM). John Rutherfurd writes, "The difficulty in dealing with Gnosticism is that it was not a homogeneous system of either religion or philosophy, but embraced many widely diversified sects holding opinions drawn from a great variety of sources" ("Gnosticism," International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 1,240). The Gnostics were a group who believed that they had a special "claim to knowledge" from God, of which the common believer was exempt. "Gnostic" is a term derived from the Greek word "gnosis," which means "a knowing" or "knowledge"; and closely related to the Greek word "ginosko," which Bullinger defines as, "to perceive, observe, obtain a knowledge of or insight into. It denotes a personal and true relation between the person knowing and the object known...." Bousset writes, "These little gnostic sects and groups all lived in the conviction that they possessed a secret and mysterious knowledge, in no way accessible to those outside, which was not to be proved or propagated, but believed in by the initiated, and anxiously guarded as a secret." To most of the Gnostics, Jesus was their source for secret or mystical knowledge, but their beliefs and practices were a mixture of only some of the gospel (especially concerning redemption through Christ), along with also various pagan philosophies and beliefs -- even basing some of their doctrines on the myths of Greece, Persia, India, and Egypt. So they had incorporated many man-made ideas into their teachings. Plus, there were various Gnostic sects who held to some of their own distinct beliefs, which caused them to differ somewhat from other Gnostic groups. Therefore, not all Gnostics believed everything the same. However, one major belief among many of them pertains to spirit and matter: they viewed spirit (such as God) as being good, but they also viewed all matter (such as the flesh) as being evil. (Though there were also those who took a different position on this by seeing matter not as "evil," but as "an illusion.") Therefore, many of them could not conceive Jesus actually taking on real human flesh. Because of this belief, they were also given the name "Docetists" -- a term derived from a word which literally means "to seem" or "appear." For to them, Jesus did not take on a real human body, but only one that "seemed" like real flesh, a "phantom" body. Therefore, they also did not believe that Jesus suffered on the cross, but that it only appeared that He did (though a few of them did believe in the Lord's suffering -- such as the sect of Marcion). William Barclay writes, "So the Gnostic romances say that when Jesus walked, He left no footprints on the ground, because He had no body to leave them. This, of course, completely removes Jesus from humanity, and makes it completely impossible for Him to be the Savior of men. It is to meet this Gnostic doctrine that Paul insists on the flesh and blood body of Jesus, and insists that Jesus saved men in the body of His flesh" (The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, p. 119). In addition, for those who would reject the Lord's incarnation, the apostle John writes, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist" (2 Jn. 1:7). It was also John who speaks of Jesus as being "the Word" who "became flesh and dwelt among us..." (Jn. 1:14); and while He walked on our planet, He was the "Word of Life" that had been "heard," "seen," and "handled" (1 Jn. 1:1-3). The Hebrew writer also declares this truth of the Lord's incarnation when he states, "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives" (Heb. 12:14,15). Jesus had to become flesh in order to be our sacrifice. (See also Heb. 2:9, Ephesians 2:14-16, and Heb. 10:19,20.) One might wonder, "If Spirit is good, but all matter is evil, how could God remain pure in creating the physical realm?" The Gnostics' answer to this was through the Lord's use of a "series of aeons [in Gnostic doctrine, a class of powers or beings conceived as emanating from the Supreme Being and performing various functions in the operations of the universe] or emanations; each of these aeons was farther away from him. At the end of this long chain, remote from God, there was an aeon who was able to touch matter; and it was this aeon [the demiurge], this distant and secondary god, who actually created the world..." (William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude, p. 164). Barclay also points out that in this long series of aeons, the farther the aeon was from God, the less like God that one would be -- and even becoming more hostile toward God and losing more knowledge of Him, as the distance increased. At the end of this series, the creating aeon is said to have been totally ignorant and totally hostile toward God. The creating aeon is also the one the Gnostics identify with the God of the Old Testament, while they view the true God as being the God of the New Testament. "This was the Gnostic explanation of sin," Barclay writes. "It was because creation was carried out, in the first place, from evil matter and, in the second place, by an ignorant god, that sin and suffering and all imperfection existed..." (ibid.). "The Gnostics regarded Jesus Christ as one of these aeons. They did not regard him as our only Master and Lord; he was only one among the many who were links between God and man, although he might be the highest and closest of all" (ibid. p. 165). It was also because of this belief (of all matter being evil and all spirit being good) that engendered two opposing views among the Gnostics. One was that the only way that man could draw near to God would be to punish his flesh. These were the ascetics. By denying themselves of creature comforts (even those that God would allow) and inflicting their bodies with punishment and pain, they believed they could be more spiritual and, thus, closer to the Lord. We considered recently (in "Thoughts Drawn from the Scarlet Letter," part 2) of the religious practice of flogging oneself to "atone" for one's sins -- a practice that had continued for centuries. The New Testament also addresses false ascetic practices by saying, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!...These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence" (Col. 2:21,23). Furthermore, Paul warns of the "deceitful spirits" and "doctrine of demons" that would cause some to "fall away from the faith" (1 Tim. 4:1). What would they teach? Two ascetic practices are mentioned: "men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth" (v. 3). While asceticism seemed to answer the problem of dealing with the flesh (evil matter) to many of the Gnostics, there were also those who found a direct opposite solution to this problem. These were the antinomians. Since they viewed the soul (spirit) and body as being two separate entities, they believed that they could commit sin with the body, while at the same time it would not mar or corrupt the soul. "Let the soul go its way on the wings of spiritual thought, while the body may indulge its fleshly desire. For, so it was held, as body and soul are entirely distinct in nature, the spiritual cannot be defiled by anything, however carnal and gross, that the body can do" (John Rutherfurd, ISBE, Vol. 2, p. 1,242). The term "antinomian" literally means "against law." As defined in the Random House Webster's College Dictionary, an antinomian is "a person who maintains that Christians are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace and faith." There are many antinomians in our day: people who feel that because they are saved by "grace" that no matter what sin they commit, it's as if that law doesn't even apply to them. In his epistle, Jude was compelled to exhort the brethren to contend earnestly for the faith, in view of the false teachers who might lure believers away from the sound teachings of the gospel. He refers to these specific individuals who were perverting the truth as being "ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:3). The NIV translates this as "godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality...." How can God's grace be changed into "licentiousness" or to "a license for immorality"? It appears obvious that the false teachers whom Jude is referring to in verse 4, who "turn the grace of God into licentiousness," would be antinomians. They felt as if God's grace would exempt them from the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23) -- even without having to meet God's plan for pardon for the erring Christian (See Acts 8:22; 1 Jn. 1:9). This concept had permeated the thinking of some Christians. Perhaps, too, some had simply misunderstood what Paul states in Romans 5:20, "...but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Does this mean that God's grace gives one a license to sin? That the more he does, the more that grace will simply cover? Some people were actually saying that Paul was teaching this type of false doctrine -- some individuals out of slander, but others who probably just misunderstood: "And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say), `Let us do evil that good may come'? Their condemnation is just" (Rom. 3:8). As Paul also shows in Romans 6:1,2: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" Though Paul would teach that no matter how great the sin, God's grace can cover; he would never teach that God's grace covers sin unconditionally. For just as there is a plan for the alien sinner to become a Christian, there is also a different plan for the backslidden Christian to be restored. May we always realize that God's grace does not give us a license to sin; but it can give us a freedom from it when we meet God's conditions. There were many different Gnostic sects with their own peculiar beliefs that were soon springing up in the 2nd Century: the Valentinians, for example, were formed by Valentinus, an "Egyptian, religious philosopher, founder of Roman and Alexandrian schools of Gnosticism" (Britannica). Basilides, from whom came the Basilidians, was also in Egypt during the 2nd Century with his Gnostic teachings. As mentioned above, Marcion and the Marcionites. Another group that had also flourished in the 2nd Century is the Ophites. They "attached special importance to the serpent in...Genesis because he enabled men to obtain the all-important knowledge of good and evil that Jehovah withheld from them. Accordingly, the serpent was the true liberator of mankind since he first taught men to rebel against Jehovah and seek knowledge of the true, unknown God" (ibid.). Can you imagine that? Their special "knowledge" had told them that this sin against God was a good thing. How could one possibly think that way?! The Ophites, however, apparently did. Their very name comes from the Greek word "ophis," which means "serpent," so it appears to be part of their teaching that they gloried in. Another sect were the Simonians, who, were followers of Simon Magus, as mentioned in the next paragraph. Gnosticism has been described as a "religious philosophy" -- "the fantastic product of the blending of certain Christian ideas...with speculations and imaginings derived from a medley of sources (Gr, Jewish, Parsic; philosophies, religions, theosophies, mysteries) in a period when the human mind was in a kind of ferment, and when opinions of every sort were jumbled together in an unimaginable welter" (Dr. Orr, quoted in ISBE, Vol. 2, p. 1,240). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 2003, "The first Gnostic about whom something can be said with confidence" is Simon Magus. "How much actually stemmed from the historical Simon's travels and teachings will perhaps never be known. The cult became part of wider 2nd-century Gnosticism, and no doubt the Church Fathers tended to ascribe too much to Simon himself. He became the arch-symbol of heresy" (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 5, p. 443). Paul's teaching in Colossians 2:18,19, which refers to ascetic practices and man-made religion, can certainly be applied to Christians who accept Gnosticism. For they, too, would then be those who are "not holding fast to the head" (v. 19) -- and that "head" being Christ (Eph. 5:23). When that happens, the Christian will lose the right direction, will cease to grow in the Lord, and will waste away to destruction (cf. Heb. 10:36-39), which is where all man-made religions will lead. In conclusion, Gnosticism consists of various sects whose systems of beliefs and practices are compiled by man -- and derived from many man-made sources, including various philosophies, myths, and different religious beliefs. The Bible, however, has been given to the world by God Himself that His people be one in the truth, which has been delivered one time for all time, and that which we are to "contend earnestly for" (Jude 3). May we always look to the Lord (through His word) for the guidance we need in all spiritual matters, and live it; for that is the only way for faith to be effectual and salvation to be obtained! ____________________________________________________ News & Notes We were sorry to hear of the tragic death of Daniel Rudd who was struck by a car last Sunday, while he was walking home on a dark, country road. Let us continue praying for his family, relatives, and friends. His father (Steve) and mother live in Hamilton, Ontario. Let us also be praying for Earl Robertson who recently had triple-bypass surgery because of three 100% blockages. He is still in the hospital due to an infection, which they will be doing another operation for. Plus, he also has a blood clot in his leg; and a spot (which has not yet been determined) was detected (by X-ray) on one of his lungs. On a happy note, I am glad to report that everything checked out fine for Carla Hartwyk. There is no cancer! She is thankful for all the prayers of the brethren. ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________