Gnostics:
I. In general they believed:
A. Matter is evil and spirit is good,
B. No resurrection of the dead,
C. Christ did not come in the flesh, and
D. God is in heaven and has no contact with the world.
II. Gnosticism WAS NOT a homogeneous system of either religion or philosophy. It actually consisted of many groups holding different opinions drawn from a great variety of sources.
III. The Gnostic replaced the question, "What must I do to be saved," with other questions requiring special knowledge such as:
A. What is the origin of evil?
B. How is the primitive order of the universe to be restored?
IV. They addressed the problems of:
A. God and the universe,
B. God and providence,
C. Christ,
D. Intermediaries,
E. Redemption, and
F. Revelation.
V. The Gnostic understood salvation to be the "knowing" of these questions and problems along with others. But they also had to know their answers.
VI. For a time Christians had referred to themselves as "true gnostics" with the implication that through Christ they had learned the true wisdom.
VII. Many Christians were led away by their teachings.
VIII. Gnosticism reached its greatest height about 150.
IX. They were finally defeated about 200 and then began forming their own societies outside the church.
X. In meeting their threats, the Christians were forced to distinguish very carefully between genuinely inspired letters and forged works as well as heretical writings.
XI. The Greek and Roman gods were identified with their beliefs.
XII. Cult practices from all parts of the empire were either adopted or adapted.
XIII. Some of their theories go way back into antiquity from Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India.
XIV. Some of their beliefs can be traced back to Zoroastrianism.
XV. They pictured the spirit of man, stripped of all foreign accretions, finally reaching God. This is an idea which is comparable to the Hindu doctrine of Nirvana.
XVI. Add to the Greek mythology and philosophy, the Old and New Testaments, along with the body of apocryphal and pseudopigraphal literature (which developed immediately before and after the time of Christ) and you have the immediate
background for Gnosticism.
XVII. It appears no Gnostic group claimed any exclusiveness as opposed to any other group.
XVIII. They also adopted the Docetic teaching which claimed Christ only "seemed" to dwell in a body of flesh and blood. He only had the appearance of being human. His earthly life and the suffering on the cross were unreal.
XIX. They divided men into three categories:
A. Animals (or material men) predestined to destruction (non-Christians).
B. Psychic men who could attain salvation with the help of ordinary Christians, and
C. The spiritual men who were destined to eternal life.
XX. Jesus is the revealer of gnostic wisdom. He taught these secret traditions to the elect (apostles).
XXI. They claimed their secret knowledge was superior to the Old and New Testaments.
A. They also claimed the ordinary believer was not capable of this knowledge.
B. You could receive salvation only after you had received this special knowledge.
C. This special knowledge was based on special revelation.
D. The Gnostics, in their pride, turned the gospel into a new philosophy.
E. Gnosticism puts "knowledge" in the place of "faith."
XXII. Man was saved by specific knowledge NOT by faith; NOT general knowledge BUT knowledge of the Gnostic Myth. THIS WAS ESSENTIALLY SELF-KNOWLEDGE!
XXIII. All Gnostic teachings were a part of the redeeming knowledge which gathers together:
A. The object of knowledge (the divine nature).
B. The means of knowledge (the redeeming gnosis), and
C. The knower himself.
XXIV. Many Gnostics insisted that ignorance, not sin, was what involved a person in suffering.
XXV. Sin is not the act and the disposition of the human will in rebellion against God.
A. It is only a physical fact or quality inherent in the body and in matter everywhere.
B. Redemption, therefore, does not consist in the work of Christ for us on the cross, nor the applying of the benefits of that work by the Holy Spirit in the renewal of the man.
C. Redemption is simply each man's efforts to secure emancipation from the flesh (from physical evil).
XVI. All who had gone beyond and into Gnosis had gone beyond the church's teaching and had transcended the authority of the hierarchy.
XVII. Whoever achieves Gnosis becomes "no longer a Christian, but a Christ."
XVIII. Only one's personal experience offered the ultimate criterion of truth. AND this took precedence over all secondhand testimony and all tradition - EVEN Gnostic tradition.
IXXX. All of this is comparable to the modern Pentecostals, Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons etc. who claim guidance from the Holy Spirit apart from the Scriptures, or those who would rather be guided by their feelings rather than God's word.
XXX. Jesus was also in need of salvation in order that He might not be held back by the "deficiency in which he had been placed."
XXXI. Doctrines common to most Gnostics (from the "Gospel of Truth"):
A. Not-knowing, forgetfulness, oblivion of the Father was the "original sin."
B. Jesus is a savior, a savior by Gnosis NOT by vicarious suffering.
C. Man is saved by knowledge - "Whosoever has knowledge understands from whence he come and whither he goes."
XXXII. Their god was an ineffable, transcendent god - "Above the universe dwells the prime Father who is also called Bytthos and Chaos. He is invisible, incomprehensible, above time, and dwells unbegotten in eternal peace."
XXXIII. If an ineffable god is to have contact with a material world, it must come through a chain of intermediate beings. Each one of these intermediate being is less divine and more earthly than the one before it.
A. The lowest god in this chain of 15 pairs is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
B. Therefore the material universe and man were created by this inferior god named Jehovah.
C. Unbeknown to Jehovah, the Ineffable God placed a spark of the divine in man (know as the "a spark of light").
D. This spark of light is described as being in "ignorance," or "oblivion," or "forgetfulness," or "drunkenness."
E. This meant that man's soul was unconscious of its true nature and destiny.
F. From this state man can be redeemed only by having the ignorance remove, the oblivion or forgetfulness changed to wakefulness and awareness, the drunkenness replace by sobriety.
G. In other words, the Gnostic must come to himself, know himself, and thus be redeemed.
XXXIV. The redemption guaranteed by gnosis is realized for the first time at physical death.
A. This is when they are actually released from their physical bodies and are able to set out on their way to their true home.
B. This is called the "ascent of the soul" or the "heavenly journey of the soul."
XXXV. The planets were often viewed as seven heavenly wardens who attempted to keep the soul from completing its journey to "bliss."
XXXVI. The soul must overcome these wardens or give the magic password which enabled it to pass on to the next sphere.
XXXVII. The Ophite Diagram:
A. The "kingdom of God" consists of pure spirit and two circles.
1. One is the Father and the other is the Son.
2. A smaller circle represents "love" as the element which draws the Son (the Urmensch) downward and so establishes the link with the intermediate kingdom.
B. The middle or intermediate kingdom is ruled by spirit and soul, and is marked by two colors [yellow for light and blue for darkness (evidently the limit of the visible cosmos)].
1. The small "circle of life" symbolizes the realm of Sophia, from which the germ of life (i.e.: the divine soul) comes to man.
2. In the rhomboid figure, "providence of Sophia (Wisdom)" is said to have stood. And within it in two intersecting circles, "knowledge (gnosis)" and "insight (synsis)", with at the intersection between them "Nature of Sophia."
C. The earthly cosmos consists of body, soul and spirit.
1. In the middle is the earth with the underworld (tartarus).
2. Around it in concentric circles are:
a. The sphere of Behemoth (named after the primeval monster of extra-biblical Jewish tradition; cf. Gen 1:1,4; Esdras 6:49;
Baruch 29:4) or the atmosphere.
b. Then the spheres of the seven planets and the circle of the serpent biting its own tail (Leviathan), the lord of the world
who gives expression to malevolent character of the cosmos.
3. Beyond these is the circle of the fixed stars in which are the signs of the zodiac and in which paradise is located. The latter is marked as the rectangle in which stand the tree of life and that of the knowledge of good and evil.
4. The "flaming, turning sword" (cf: Gen 3:24) separates paradise from the sphere of fixed stars and perhaps also symbolizes the turning of the spheres (following a passage in Philo).
XXXVIII. The Gnostic religions failed to establish a safe basis for practical morals:
A. On the one extreme, a spiritual pride obscured the sense of sin. This brought about antinomianism which often ended in sensuality and debaucheries.
B. On the other extreme, an over-strained sense of sin often led the Gnostics to ascribe nature to Satan, to abhor the body as the seat of evil, and to practice extreme asceticism.
already had this done for our Wednesday Bible class @ church
I. In general they believed:
A. Matter is evil and spirit is good,
B. No resurrection of the dead,
C. Christ did not come in the flesh, and
D. God is in heaven and has no contact with the world.
II. Gnosticism WAS NOT a homogeneous system of either religion or philosophy. It actually consisted of many groups holding different opinions drawn from a great variety of sources.
III. The Gnostic replaced the question, "What must I do to be saved," with other questions requiring special knowledge such as:
A. What is the origin of evil?
B. How is the primitive order of the universe to be restored?
IV. They addressed the problems of:
A. God and the universe,
B. God and providence,
C. Christ,
D. Intermediaries,
E. Redemption, and
F. Revelation.
V. The Gnostic understood salvation to be the "knowing" of these questions and problems along with others. But they also had to know their answers.
VI. For a time Christians had referred to themselves as "true gnostics" with the implication that through Christ they had learned the true wisdom.
VII. Many Christians were led away by their teachings.
VIII. Gnosticism reached its greatest height about 150.
IX. They were finally defeated about 200 and then began forming their own societies outside the church.
X. In meeting their threats, the Christians were forced to distinguish very carefully between genuinely inspired letters and forged works as well as heretical writings.
XI. The Greek and Roman gods were identified with their beliefs.
XII. Cult practices from all parts of the empire were either adopted or adapted.
XIII. Some of their theories go way back into antiquity from Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India.
XIV. Some of their beliefs can be traced back to Zoroastrianism.
XV. They pictured the spirit of man, stripped of all foreign accretions, finally reaching God. This is an idea which is comparable to the Hindu doctrine of Nirvana.
XVI. Add to the Greek mythology and philosophy, the Old and New Testaments, along with the body of apocryphal and pseudopigraphal literature (which developed immediately before and after the time of Christ) and you have the immediate
background for Gnosticism.
XVII. It appears no Gnostic group claimed any exclusiveness as opposed to any other group.
XVIII. They also adopted the Docetic teaching which claimed Christ only "seemed" to dwell in a body of flesh and blood. He only had the appearance of being human. His earthly life and the suffering on the cross were unreal.
XIX. They divided men into three categories:
A. Animals (or material men) predestined to destruction (non-Christians).
B. Psychic men who could attain salvation with the help of ordinary Christians, and
C. The spiritual men who were destined to eternal life.
XX. Jesus is the revealer of gnostic wisdom. He taught these secret traditions to the elect (apostles).
XXI. They claimed their secret knowledge was superior to the Old and New Testaments.
A. They also claimed the ordinary believer was not capable of this knowledge.
B. You could receive salvation only after you had received this special knowledge.
C. This special knowledge was based on special revelation.
D. The Gnostics, in their pride, turned the gospel into a new philosophy.
E. Gnosticism puts "knowledge" in the place of "faith."
XXII. Man was saved by specific knowledge NOT by faith; NOT general knowledge BUT knowledge of the Gnostic Myth. THIS WAS ESSENTIALLY SELF-KNOWLEDGE!
XXIII. All Gnostic teachings were a part of the redeeming knowledge which gathers together:
A. The object of knowledge (the divine nature).
B. The means of knowledge (the redeeming gnosis), and
C. The knower himself.
XXIV. Many Gnostics insisted that ignorance, not sin, was what involved a person in suffering.
XXV. Sin is not the act and the disposition of the human will in rebellion against God.
A. It is only a physical fact or quality inherent in the body and in matter everywhere.
B. Redemption, therefore, does not consist in the work of Christ for us on the cross, nor the applying of the benefits of that work by the Holy Spirit in the renewal of the man.
C. Redemption is simply each man's efforts to secure emancipation from the flesh (from physical evil).
XVI. All who had gone beyond and into Gnosis had gone beyond the church's teaching and had transcended the authority of the hierarchy.
XVII. Whoever achieves Gnosis becomes "no longer a Christian, but a Christ."
XVIII. Only one's personal experience offered the ultimate criterion of truth. AND this took precedence over all secondhand testimony and all tradition - EVEN Gnostic tradition.
IXXX. All of this is comparable to the modern Pentecostals, Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons etc. who claim guidance from the Holy Spirit apart from the Scriptures, or those who would rather be guided by their feelings rather than God's word.
XXX. Jesus was also in need of salvation in order that He might not be held back by the "deficiency in which he had been placed."
XXXI. Doctrines common to most Gnostics (from the "Gospel of Truth"):
A. Not-knowing, forgetfulness, oblivion of the Father was the "original sin."
B. Jesus is a savior, a savior by Gnosis NOT by vicarious suffering.
C. Man is saved by knowledge - "Whosoever has knowledge understands from whence he come and whither he goes."
XXXII. Their god was an ineffable, transcendent god - "Above the universe dwells the prime Father who is also called Bytthos and Chaos. He is invisible, incomprehensible, above time, and dwells unbegotten in eternal peace."
XXXIII. If an ineffable god is to have contact with a material world, it must come through a chain of intermediate beings. Each one of these intermediate being is less divine and more earthly than the one before it.
A. The lowest god in this chain of 15 pairs is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
B. Therefore the material universe and man were created by this inferior god named Jehovah.
C. Unbeknown to Jehovah, the Ineffable God placed a spark of the divine in man (know as the "a spark of light").
D. This spark of light is described as being in "ignorance," or "oblivion," or "forgetfulness," or "drunkenness."
E. This meant that man's soul was unconscious of its true nature and destiny.
F. From this state man can be redeemed only by having the ignorance remove, the oblivion or forgetfulness changed to wakefulness and awareness, the drunkenness replace by sobriety.
G. In other words, the Gnostic must come to himself, know himself, and thus be redeemed.
XXXIV. The redemption guaranteed by gnosis is realized for the first time at physical death.
A. This is when they are actually released from their physical bodies and are able to set out on their way to their true home.
B. This is called the "ascent of the soul" or the "heavenly journey of the soul."
XXXV. The planets were often viewed as seven heavenly wardens who attempted to keep the soul from completing its journey to "bliss."
XXXVI. The soul must overcome these wardens or give the magic password which enabled it to pass on to the next sphere.
XXXVII. The Ophite Diagram:
A. The "kingdom of God" consists of pure spirit and two circles.
1. One is the Father and the other is the Son.
2. A smaller circle represents "love" as the element which draws the Son (the Urmensch) downward and so establishes the link with the intermediate kingdom.
B. The middle or intermediate kingdom is ruled by spirit and soul, and is marked by two colors [yellow for light and blue for darkness (evidently the limit of the visible cosmos)].
1. The small "circle of life" symbolizes the realm of Sophia, from which the germ of life (i.e.: the divine soul) comes to man.
2. In the rhomboid figure, "providence of Sophia (Wisdom)" is said to have stood. And within it in two intersecting circles, "knowledge (gnosis)" and "insight (synsis)", with at the intersection between them "Nature of Sophia."
C. The earthly cosmos consists of body, soul and spirit.
1. In the middle is the earth with the underworld (tartarus).
2. Around it in concentric circles are:
a. The sphere of Behemoth (named after the primeval monster of extra-biblical Jewish tradition; cf. Gen 1:1,4; Esdras 6:49;
Baruch 29:4) or the atmosphere.
b. Then the spheres of the seven planets and the circle of the serpent biting its own tail (Leviathan), the lord of the world
who gives expression to malevolent character of the cosmos.
3. Beyond these is the circle of the fixed stars in which are the signs of the zodiac and in which paradise is located. The latter is marked as the rectangle in which stand the tree of life and that of the knowledge of good and evil.
4. The "flaming, turning sword" (cf: Gen 3:24) separates paradise from the sphere of fixed stars and perhaps also symbolizes the turning of the spheres (following a passage in Philo).
XXXVIII. The Gnostic religions failed to establish a safe basis for practical morals:
A. On the one extreme, a spiritual pride obscured the sense of sin. This brought about antinomianism which often ended in sensuality and debaucheries.
B. On the other extreme, an over-strained sense of sin often led the Gnostics to ascribe nature to Satan, to abhor the body as the seat of evil, and to practice extreme asceticism.
already had this done for our Wednesday Bible class @ church
Last edited:
