Gnosticism and Colossians
This blog entry is the result of research I did about 12 yr ago for a Bible study I taught on the book of Colossians. I am reposting it with a few enhancements because I will likely need to refer to it in some upcoming blogs.
What was and is Gnosticism? The simplistic answer to that question is that Gnosticism taught, and still teaches, that salvation was achieved through a special knowledge (gnosis), but the philosophical concept is much deeper and broader than that. It is a radical dualistic cosmological belief system that held that the created world was evil and separated from, as well as in opposition to, the spiritual world. However, before beginning an investigation of this topic, the scope of the Gnosticism to be discussed needs to be defined.
Any readings on the subject of Gnosticism will very quickly become confusing and overwhelming. The broader subject of Gnosticism began well before the time of Paul, and his Epistle to the Colossians. As is summarized in the “New Bible Dictionary”[1] there are two schools of thought: the first takes a narrow definition of Gnosticism [2] that restricts the term and its definition to the 2nd century Christian heresies. The other group takes a wider definition [3] that encompasses many of the related groups that held similar thoughts. Gnosticism began to germinate some 500-yr. before Christ. As H.T. Drivers wrote, “Nowhere do we find a pure form of Gnosticism; always it is built on earlier, pre-existing religions or their traditions.” [4] So, the problem with the wider viewpoint is that it makes defining precisely what Gnosticism is extremely difficult.
... for under this usage the word “Gnosticism’ comes to have such a broad connotation that it almost ceases to have any specific reference at all, and simply denotes the lowest common denominator of Hellenistic thought, in which dualism of one sort or another was often a prominent feature. [5]
However, the narrow approach has the same definition problem because none of the early church Fathers agreed on how to define what the common beliefs of these groups were. The 2nd century apologist Irenaeus said it well, “there are as many systems of redemption as there are teachers of these mystical doctrines” (Adv. Haer. 1.21.1). And his statement is still true today as even a cursory survey of Gnosticism will reveal this as true. So, in light of these two viewpoints and their respective difficulties, only the views that threatened the Orthodox doctrines of Christianity will be examined, because these are the only ones that Paul was addressing in his letter.
Webster’s Dictionary defines a Gnostic as, “a member of any of certain heretical early Christian mystical sects that claimed that matter was evil and denied that Christ had a natural corporeal existence.” Gnosticism comes from the Greek word, ‘gnosis’ which means knowledge. To the Gnostic it was used “… to mean knowledge gained not through intellectual discovery but through personal experience or acquaintance which initiates one into esoteric mysteries. The experience of gnosis reveals to the initiated the divine spark within.” [6]
Gnosticism taught that something was terribly wrong with the universe and then described the way to explain and rectify that problem. It taught that God was unapproachable and unknowable (not a personal being), and had no dealings with the material world of matter, yet still demanded worship. Matter was the creation of an inferior being, who along with other inferior beings, held mankind in the prison of their material existence, and prevented mankind from ascending to the spiritual world after death. Only a select few, not the masses, could receive the enlightenment of the gnosis, the inner knowledge that could make them aware of their spiritual condition so that they would be able to escape on death from the material world to the spiritual world.
Gnosticism as a philosophy refers to a related body of teachings that stress the acquisition of "gnosis," or inner knowledge. The knowledge sought is not strictly intellectual, but mystical; not merely a detached knowledge of or about something, but a knowing by acquaintance or participation. This gnosis is the inner and esoteric mystical knowledge of ultimate reality. It discloses the spark of divinity within, thought to be obscured by ignorance, convention, and mere esoteric religiosity. [7]
Gnosticism had no concept of a redeemer. As J.P. Arendzen put it, “… Gnosticism … places the salvation of the soul merely in the possession of a quasi-intuitive knowledge of the mysteries of the universe and of magic formulae indicative of that knowledge.” [8] The focus of Gnostic salvation was a cosmic process to return all things to what they were before the inferior beings created the evil matter that has imprisoned the human spirit. Jesus was not the crucified and resurrected incarnate God who created the universe. Jesus was a dispenser of wisdom that cures mankind of the sickness of ignorance. For the Gnostic Jesus to be God, He had to be spirit only, with no physical being, which means that He could not have created matter, which was evil, and could not have suffered and died on a cross and could not have atoned for sin.
Gnosticism’s high point was around 200 to 300 AD when it attempted to incorporate certain Christian beliefs, while significantly modifying others. It may not be a coincidence that Irenaeus wrote his five volumes of “Against Heresies” during their peak and that their influence began to fade from that time. It died out within the next 200 yr. Up until 1945, what little was known about Gnosticism came from the 2nd and 3rd century Christian Apologists, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Irenaeus. “They show that the refutations written by the Church Fathers in the second and third centuries – the source of almost all that had previously been known about Gnostics – included remarkably fair and comprehensive accounts of Gnostic teachings.” [9]
So, why is the understanding of Gnosticism important today? In 1945, in a cave near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, a collection of Gnostic writings were discovered that had been lost for nearly 1500 years. Overnight Gnosticism had made a comeback, becoming entrenched in the New Age Movement as well as in the liberal ‘christians’ denominations. Today, the leaders of the Jesus Seminar are convinced that these writings were written earlier, and are more important, more historical and more accurate than the Bible. The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter and the Gospel of Mary to name only a few are considered by some to be the ‘lost books of the Bible.’ “The DaVinci Code”, written by Dan Brown, is based in large part on the Gospel of Thomas. These writings are said to contain the secret sayings of Jesus that, if interpreted correctly, will prevent the reader from experiencing death (the Gospel of Thomas). That very statement emphasizes that redemption is found in understanding the secret sayings, not in the person and the work of Christ.
But on closer examination of some of these texts, it is quite easy to eliminate them as inspired in any way, and would offend most everyone if they were informed of some of the contents of these so-called ‘lost books’. One of the worst is the following:
In the last verse of the Gnostic text the “Gospel of Thomas”, Peter asks Jesus to send Mary Magdalene away because “women are not worthy of life.” Jesus replies, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too might become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” [10]
For all the fawning over this document a few years back, you’d think this one line would have disqualified it from serious consideration as a “missing gospel.” This promotes the same belief about women in the Greek and Roman world of the time. Ironically, it was Christianity that promoted women; Jesus: 1) encouraged their discipleship (Luke 10:38-42), 2) disclosed Himself as Messiah (John 4:25-26), 3) treated women with dignity (Mat 9:20-22; Luke 7:37-50; John 4:7-27), and 4) restored their honor and virtue (John 8:4-11).
The Book of “Thomas the Contender” states, “For he who has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has at the same time already achieved knowledge of the depth of the all.” [11]
This sounds a lot like modern day secular psychology and something for which I don’t have a lot of nice things to say because of its effect on the church for the last 30 yr. Far too many Christians have focused on their own ‘navel gazing’ like reliving past hurt from the womb until their current age, or what their personality type is and how it should somehow then excuse their behavior (2 Tim 3:2, 5), when what Christians should have been focusing on pressing into Christ and His Word (Luke 9:23; 14:27; John 3:30; Mat 16:24; Mark 10:21 2 Tim 3:12). And worse, they were enabled by far too many “christian” authors flooding the market with books to go even farther into this narcissistic behavior (Titus 1:16). God takes broken people and heals them and changes them into the person that He prepared them to be before the foundations of the world were even laid (Eph 2:10; 4:12; 2 Cor 5:17; Phil 1:6; Heb 13:21). The very last thing we need as Christians is to replace Jesus with Sigmond Freud (a pervert) or Carl Jung (channeled a demon) (Mat 7:15; 23:27).
In the “First Apocalypse of James”, James is consoled by Jesus with these words, “Never have I suffered in any way, nor have I been distressed. And this people has done me no harm.” [12]
In the “Second Treatise of the Great Seth”, Jesus says, “I did not die in reality, but in appearance.” Those “in error and blindness ... saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. I was rejoicing in the height over all ... And I was laughing at their ignorance.” [13]
Both of these deny the substitutionary death of Christ on the Cross. It means that Jesus lied and therefore was NOT sinless. That in turn then means that His death did NOT take away our sins and that Judaism and Christianity have been lies from the very beginning, from creation until today. There is no redeemer and there is no such thing as salvation for mankind. Either Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not lord at all. There is no middle ground.
The Gospel of Philip says, “the world came about through a mistake. For he who created it wanted to create it imperishable and immortal. He fell short of attaining his desire.” [14]
This denies the omnipresence (Ps 33:13-14; Jer 23:24; 1 Ki 8:27), omnipotence (Job 42:2; Gen 1:3, 6, 9; Ps 33:6; Luke 1:37), and omniscience (1 John 3:20; Ps 44:21; John 2:24) of God, a God that designed the most intricate world and universe - from the smallest particle to the deepest ocean or the most distant star, yet all of it was an accident, a mistake. If it was a mistake, then how do you and I even exist?
The Gospel to the Egyptians, God is described as the “unrevealable, unmarked, ageless, unproclaimable Father.” And in another spot the Trinity is defined as “the Father, the Mother, and the Son. [15]
The Sophia of Jesus Christ says of the Father, “ He is ever incomprehensible.” [16]
This sounds a lot like that god of the Muslims, but not the God of the Bible. From Genesis through Revelations, God has continually revealed Himself to mankind. From walking and talking in the Garden with Adam and Eve, to Moses on the mountain with God, to David and the Prophets, to Jesus with His disciples, to meeting Paul on the Road to Damascus, and even to each one of us on our own road to Damascus. God has always been and will always be a knowable and personable God.
As you can see, these ‘lost books’ should have stayed lost. They provide nothing of value to the Christian, or the world around us, other than showing that Gnosticism tried to be 'all things to all people' and gave them nothing at all. But now that they’ve been ‘found’, Christianity must answer their heretical beliefs as Paul did in the Epistle to the Colossians, and as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus did. We see this new "gnosis" in everything around us and we Christians have to be ready "in season and out of season" (2 Tim 4:2), always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks us to give an account for the hope that is within us (2 Pet 3:15). We need to take Paul's exhortation to Timothy to heart,
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Tim 4:1-4)
That is our charge too. As believers in Christ, we must make it our daily goal to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” – (Jude 1:3)
Footnotes
[1] “Gnosticism”, The New Bible Dictionary: 2nd Edition, (Inter-Varsity Press: Leicester, England: © 1982), pp. 424-426.
[2] This definition would be represented by more conservative scholars such as R. McL. Wilson.
[3] This definition would be represented by more liberal scholars such as Rudolf Bultmann.
[4] H.T.W. Drivers, Origins of Gnosticism, as quoted by Joan O’Grady, Early Christian Heresies, (Barnes & Noble Books: New York, © 1985), p. 18.
[5] The New Bible Dictionary, p. 424.
[6] Douglas Groothuis, “Gnosticism And The Gnostic Jesus”, Christian Research Journal, Fall 1990, © 1994 Christian Research Institute, http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0040a.html.
[7] Ibid.
[8] J.P. Arendzen, “Gnosticism”, New Advent, Internet article, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06592a.htm
[9] Joan O’Grady, Early Christian Heresies, (Barnes & Noble Books: New York, © 1985), p. 18.
[10] Lorenzo Albacete , “Christianity and Gnosticism: A Conflict About Method”, GodSpy 07/14/2004,
http://www.godspy.com/reviews/Christianity-and-Gnosticism-A-Conflict-About-Method.cfm
[11] “Gnosticism And The Gnostic Jesus”, Christian Research Journal, Fall 1990.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
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