by Jon R. Welker

For several years I had contemplated devoting a Shepherdsfield Update to an analysis of modern forms of Gnosticism. However, when I got down to the moment of attempting to put my thoughts into an article, I realized the enormity of the task. Moreover, most people have had little, if any, familiarity with the concepts of Gnosticism, and fewer still have any awareness of how strains of Gnostic thought have found their way into our modern culture and even into many Christian circles, and Christian theology. I am also persuaded that among many Christians who perceive themselves to be devout and orthodox in their beliefs, such would be offended, shocked or "scandalized" to hear that someone would suggest that their theological concepts have been influenced by Gnostic beliefs.

Many who exhibit Gnostic tendencies could correctly claim that they have never studied Gnostic teachings and eschew any "heresies." Yet, I would like to share some background regarding Gnosticism and issue a warning to some of our Christian brethren, as well as to others, even as the Apostle Paul warned of the influence of Gnostic teachings on early Christianity. And here is my warning: Be careful to not overly spiritualize the Christian gospel. Be careful not to make the revelation of Jesus Christ merely a spiritual event; nor the glorification, nor baptism, nor communion, nor the resurrection, nor the incarnation, nor any of the miracles or other events as declared in Scripture. The physical must be balanced with the spiritual or you are in danger of being snared in Gnostic thought. It is one thing to teach the inner revelation of Jesus Christ and the spiritual nature of Christ being formed within the believer, but it becomes Gnostic thought to leap into the mind-set that the physical does not matter or has no part in the Lord's unfolding "plan of the ages" and fulfillment of His Word.

To envision Biblical teachings regarding Lucifer, the resurrection, immortality, Heaven and Hell, the Lake of Fire, and "such like," as spiritual imagery only is tantamount to confining the "plan of God" and His act of creation to the Gnostic concept of the "manifested Power of God," or the "self" or "I," which belonged to the divine world as a "spark of God." It was that, the Gnostics claimed, which had fallen into the visible world and had become imprisoned and `drugged' into slumber by it.

Therefore, it could only be freed by accepting the call of a "Divine Messenger" (Christ), and after being enlightened and emancipated from the material and physical world and its demands, it could then return to its true heavenly home at the end of time. There are many Christians of different persuasions who are being deceived by the greatest challenge that ever came against Christianity - Gnosticism. It has simmered and reemerged throughout the history of the church, and it has now found, once again, fertile soil in which to grow.

As greater numbers of the world's population have obtained more "education" (so-called), basic Christian beliefs such as belief in the physical resurrection of the dead, a literal return of Christ, and a real Devil, a real Heaven and Hell, etc., are ridiculed and rejected. In an effort to reconcile modern thought and philosophies with Christianity, many have (maybe unwittingly) turned to an over-spiritualization of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. Using certain selected Scriptures, wrenched out of context, there has been a subtle infiltration of Gnostic thought. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27), "all creation groans for the manifestation of the sons of God" (see Rom. 8:19, 22), and similar Scriptures, become the springboard to Gnostic-like teachings of a purely spiritualized version of the Gospel, wherein the individual becomes a manifested or revealed "Christ" of God, once he/she has become enlightened or taken "beyond the veil."

(These statements are not intended to cast doubt or suspicion on anyone or everyone who uses these legitimately Biblically based phrases or concepts. Rather, I'm here attempting to caution against an over-spiritualization of these concepts to the exclusion of a balanced, literal and spiritual understanding of the Scriptures.)

I'm probably running the risk of oversimplifying the various strains of Gnostic thought which have infiltrated secular and religious thinking in our modern era. But remember, be careful with the trends of thought or philosophies which emphasize the spiritual aspects of the Christian message to the exclusion of the real and physical manifestation of the promises and fulfillment of God's Word.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GNOSTICISM

Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, early Church fathers, placed the origins of Gnosticism at the door of Simon Magus. Irenaeus claimed that "all sorts of Heresies took their rise from him."¹ There is a brief account of Simon Magus in

Acts 8:9-11:
"Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, This man is what is called the Great Power of God. And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts."

Simon had "for a long time" been active in his teaching concerning "the Great Power."² It seems evident by the lack of further comment that the teaching concerning "the Great Power" was acceptable throughout Samaria at that time. Behind the religious rivalry between Jews and Samaritans regarding Jerusalem and Mt. Gerazim as religious centers, an elaborate system of speculation developed which combined Jewish, other Semitic, and Greek (Hellenistic) elements.

Simon was accepted as a manifestation of the "Great Power." The "Great Power" was believed to have emanated thought, and thus a succession of spiritual beings that made the Universe. Because of their desire to be regarded as supreme, these powers had imprisoned their mother Thought in a succession of female bodies, beginning with Helen of Troy and ending with a prostitute of Tyre, also named Helen, the true "lost sheep" (Irenaeus Against Heresies I. 23.2). It has been written that the female companion of Simon Magus was identified as Helen of Troy emanating from God in the same manner that Athena had emanated from Zeus.

(It is interesting to note that a modern form of Gnostic influenced teaching, The osophy [theo = God; sophia = wisdom] was founded by a woman named Helen - Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.)

Simon Magus' disciple, Menander (60-100 A.D.) also believed himself to be "Christ," as did Simon. And, he shared a belief in a Supreme God, "One Father, unknown to all," and in creation by angels. He believed that the world was composed of evil matter and that the purpose of Christ was to set humankind free from the evil design of seven angels - one of whom was the Yahweh of the Old Testament, and the one who created the Universe. This is important to grasp, since it captures two essential tenets of Gnostic belief, i.e., the dualistic interpretation of reality, and the association of the God of the Jews with the creation of an imperfect Universe from which humans need to get set free.

In their view, Christ had been sent "to destroy the God of the Jews, and to save them that believe on Him."³ Also, in their system of belief, the Gnostics taught that the human body belonged to the evil world of matter. Thus it is through knowledge (gnosis) that one can become enlightened and unveiled and/or manifested in the power of God - "which is called the Great" (Acts 8:10).

The Apostle Paul had provided an interpretation of the contrast between spirit and flesh, law and grace, Adam and Christ and being saved from the evil powers of "spiritual wickedness in heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12), etc. And, the writer of Hebrews wrote of Christians being "enlightened" and having "tasted the heavenly gift," of becoming partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasting of "the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:4-5).

But the Gnostics took these questions further. They wanted "to know" what were enlightenment and perfection, and how were they achieved. There were many facets of Gnosticism. It was not a single religion, but, all Gnostic sects shared a common world view, especially regarding mankind's relationship to God and the means of human salvation.

They believed that between God and the visible world was insuperable antagonism and division. God was incomprehensible to our thought but the ultimate cause of all things. The powers that ruled the Universe were Yahweh, Lord of Creation, and the goddess Fate (Tyche) as well as the astral powers of the Planets, Sun, Moon and stars. It was through an evil influence that these forces exercised power over the material world. Thus each individual was born into a hostile world.

However, the Gnostics believed that the individual cannot resist the power of grace brought by the Divine Messenger to those able to receive it through the illumination of true knowledge. Such knowledge freed the possessor from Fate, from Error (Plane), from Oblivion, and the karmic wheel of reincarnation.

THE GOD OF KNOWLEDGE

In the Septuagint version, God was indeed the "God of knowledge."

"Boast not, and utter not high things; let not high-sounding words come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and God prepares His own designs." I Kings 2:3 LXX

"Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; for Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. " I Samuel 2:3 ASV

The Greek word "gnosis" is used to express this thought. But to "know God" meant to acknowledge that Yahweh was God and to recognize His acts. The Biblical view is that the teacher or representative of God and His Gnosis is the Faithful Servant of the Lord.

"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities." Isaiah 53:4

But true knowledge is denied the worldly-minded and sinners;

"...and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him...." Colossians 3:10

However, the Gnostics speculated about the connections of the origins of the Universe and the nature of the "knowledge" acquired by Adam in the Garden of Eden and what He had passed down to his children. Here it is interesting to note that the Serpent is recorded as having tempted Eve with knowledge:

"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5

Notice that it was the knowledge of good and evil! The Gnostics should have considered that Scripture more seriously....

In c. 95, the Jewish historian Josephus describes, at the beginning of his Antiquities, how Adam's son, Seth, had been given power to teach the secrets of the Zodiac and the stars (Antiquities 1.2.3). In the fragments of the writings of the Gnostics uncovered at Nag Hammadi, the Sethites are frequently mentioned.⁴

This was the secret knowledge that the Gnostics claimed to have in their possession. But this knowledge was not acquired by any personal perseverance in moral rectitude. Instead, they believed that it came by sudden illumination that enabled them to understand the ways of God, the Universe, and themselves. It was gnosis, knowledge, that freed and revealed the mysteries of truth and that "rent the veil" that concealed how God controlled His creation.

Gnostics attempted to prove that ancient pagan religious ideas, expressed in mysterious vocabulary and cult acts, corresponded with the truth which they as perfected beings claimed to possess. They believed that by combining and fusing together these various religious beliefs they could arrive at the means of perfection which they insisted was knowledge of God (gnosis).

By their very nature Gnostics were (and are) spiritual elitists. The spiritually illumined, or spiritual beings (pneumatiko), were destined for salvation for they had "made themselves free, awakened from drunkenness, returning to themselves," "knowing the knowledge of the Father and the revelation of His Son."³ Then they believed that a larger group which they called psychics (psychikoi), or ordinary Christians, were only capable of receiving knowledge but were earthbound and slaves of matter (hylikoi). As a result, they were destined to oblivion and death. To the Gnostics, the illumined soul, after receiving the grace of knowledge and spiritual baptism, would continue its journey through the seven spheres that surround earth until it reached Ogdoad, the seat of spiritual immortality and perfection (in a sense, a form of pure thought).

"The Lord has done everything in mystery,"³ they taught. Their leaders were both men and women, but not church leaders - whom they regarded as "servants of the Demiurge" (the evil god of creation). They believed that as true sons of the "Bridal Chamber" their freedom through knowledge gave them freedom from constraints, ignorance, Law, and from fears of the coming, or of judgment. What was the use of attempting moral excellence when one might be swept away overnight? Their teachers claimed to provide "spiritual resurrection that devours the psychical as well as the fleshly resurrection," and the promise, "If you have Christ you will conquer the entire world" and outwit the powers the soul would encounter on its upward flight through thought (gnosis).³

Moreover, because they believed that their "spiritual baptism" was superior to the orthodox Christians' literal baptism, they also believed that the sacraments dispensed by the clergy were limited in value, being "psychic" as compared with "spiritual, and that anointing was superior to the baptism, etc. Everything became spiritualized - thus superior and fit for the spiritual elite. The synoptic Gospels were only a partial revelation of Christ. "Jesus is a hidden name; Christ is a revealed name."³ Scripture was to them a vast repository of mystic and secret teaching only understood by the illumined.

HAVE YOU EVER ENCOUNTERED GNOSTICISM?

If you are a Christian, have you encountered those who emphasize a spiritualized Gospel message, such as "entering in behind the veil" to suddenly become illumined to the "real power of God" and to become a "son of the Bridal Chamber"? Maybe many others of our readers have encountered secular forms of modern Gnosticism such as is found in many New Age religions, especially A Course in Miracles. It is important that you reason carefully with the Lord.

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20

Any teaching must agree with the standard of God's Word or it has no real or true light (enlightenment) in it.

"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." John 5:39

And remember again what the serpent offered Eve - to know good and evil:

"...and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5

I am not seeking to instigate a "witch-hunt" among Christians. We have enough of that. I believe that there are many sincere people who have embraced elements of Gnostic thought without even being aware of it. If this article provokes such to rethink their position, it will have served a good purpose.

And, there may be others who have or have had leaders who have knowingly absorbed some aspects of Gnostic thought. As a result, their followers may be ignorant to such things as covered in this article. May this shed some true light in previously darkened corners.

It wasn't too long ago that I encountered such a leader and those who had gravitated around that teacher. Yes, they were sincere, dedicated people, but I was burdened in spirit as the message of their leader became more clear to me. To them, Jesus was not the personal Savior I have come to know, but rather a Divine Messenger leading the way to perfection and knowledge. "Law" was unimportant, the physical body was a hindrance to true spirituality, being a part of the evil world and matter. And, the physical return of Christ or any other such literal fulfillment of the Scriptures, were held in disdain or was of use only for those of "lesser spirituality." Obscenities were not uncommon among these people, since whatever was considered as necessary in dealing with this material world (and those "unillumined") was permissible, even lying (see also smaller note on `Mental Reservation' following this article). After all, when one has gone beyond this realm to higher realms of thought and been "resurrected" out of the material realm, such things were considered unimportant or but legalistic, etc.

I have met others who have spiritualized away Lucifer, demons, the anti-Christ and the rapture (or any literal "taking up" to Heaven in physical bodies). To such groups and people the resurrection is accomplished in the life of the believer; to be caught up (or raptured) is an ecstatic revelation of God, etc.; Heaven is merely a state of being as is similarly Hell; and the Millennial Reign is also but an estate that is realized within the individual. To such people, all or most of Scripture is relegated to a spiritual fulfillment, while the physical realm and its present and future history is either ignored or treated with disdain. Sound familiar?

GNOSTICS CONSIDERED THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS

Gnostics fervently proclaimed they were Christians, and many of the Nag Hammadi writings are Christ-centered. But their understanding of Christ and the Scriptures was quite different from agreeing with the "law and the testimony" (Isa. 8:20). They hotly debated any relationship between the Old and New Testaments, since they believed the Old Testament was the work of an inferior being or an evil archon. Would not most of our readers be able to agree that there are large numbers of Christians and non-Christians who are uncomfortable with the "Tribal God of the Jews" as they perceive the Old Testament Yahweh, versus the New Testament depiction of Jesus?

A remnant of Gnostic thought has been carried over into Christianity right up into this day. It is most often evident where there is a greater depth of spiritual teaching and where people have sought to be true to the Word of God. The reason is probably that such people become careless about assumed spirituality which exalts that which is "spiritual" and denigrates everything of the material and earthly order into something worthless.⁵ But, the material part of our being, our body, is important to spiritual wholeness. Scripture never discounts the material order while exalting the spiritual order alone. The word of God does not present the spiritual order as alone being the only, absolute and ultimate reality.

Even though the present fallen world order is going to pass away (I Pet. 1:24-25; Rev. 21:1), the Scriptures do not speak of there becoming a spiritual nothingness, but rather, the present order will be replaced by a new creation - or new heaven (spiritual) and a new earth (physical).

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." Revelation 21:1

Finally, meditate long on these Scriptures:

"For not the hearers (gaining knowledge by hearing) ..., but the doers (putting into practice in this earth realm) ...." Romans 2:13

"But be ye doers of the word , and not hearers only , deceiving your own selves." James 1:22

If you want to know if something is truth, do it.

"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself." John 7:17

In the previously quoted Scripture, we are given the balance between acquisition of knowledge (gnosis) here called "doctrine," and the physical (or literal) application of that knowledge. Jesus, the Divine Logos, incarnated into the physical world to show forth that spirit and thought could, and can, be lived out in the physical world. It is through this earthly experience that we work out our salvation, not just acquire illumination and perfect our thought processes through learning of hidden mysteries "beyond the veil."

ENDNOTES & BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Irenaeus, Heresies, pg. 7

2. "The Great Power" - Philo called God "the heavenly and greatest Power" (De Vita Moses [On the Life of Moses] I. iii), and "the power of God also was identified with the Logos according to Blyschlag, Simon Magus, pp. 108-9 and references.

3. Frend, W.H.C., The Rise of Christianity, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1984.

4. Robinson, James M., General Editor, The Nag Hammadi Library, Harper, San Francisco, 1990.

5. Kennedy, John, The Torch of the Testimony, Christian Books, Goleta, CA, 1965.
Origen, Contra Elesum (Against Celsus) V. 62-63
Eusebius, HE III. 39 13
Origen's John's Gospel, see Foerster, Comp. Gnosis, Vol. 1, pp. 162-183
Encyclopedia Britannica, © 1964, Vol. 10, Gnosticism, pp. 505-506