This not part of any series, it is simply the response to a group of questions I was asked by a friend that I have been asked many times before. In particular it involves Jesus and Gnosticism.
Gnosticism, and in particular Christian Gnosticism, has been around for a long time. Some scholars now think that gnostic ideas predate Christ and that when Christianity came along some gnostics just coupled their beliefs with Christianity. Either way, one of the early church’s greatest fights was against gnosticism. It was ultimately condemned as a heresy, but it never really went away. Probably the most recent thing that would speak of this faith is The Da Vinci Code book and movie.
Basics of Gnosticism:
I want everyone to understand that getting down the basics of what all gnostics believe is a little difficult. Mostly because gnostics see salvation as a very individual thing. Something that can be helped along through others, but individually acquired. What I am giving here is very basic, but gnosticism can get very complex with subtile differences. If your susceptible to headaches when trying to figure out weird ideas, take two aspirin now.
1. Dualism
The first thing you need to understand about the gnostics is what they believe when it comes to basic belief is dualism. That is the basic belief is that the spiritual is good and the physical or material is lesser or bad. My computer, my body, the wind blowing outside are all manifestations of the physical material world and thus are evil or lesser than good. To illustrate:
What this means is that a good god could not have created the world because it is evil because it is physical. I am going to use the Genesis creation story as a way of illustrating all these points. In this case, the gnostic reads Genesis 1-3 and does not see a benevolent creator creating the world but a creator that is themselves more material than spiritual which is why they can make and evil material world. ‘god’ in the story is actually the bad guy or at least a lower form of god.
2. God is Not Understandable or Attainable
The real God is too pure and completelt immaterial so we can not know him at all. This God emanated lesser forms of himself that are called aeons. These Aeons are in some sense corrupted as they are else spiritual than God and more material. The real God emanates an aeon that is mostly spiritual but partially material. that aeon emanates something less spiritual and more material, etc. Until we get to the Aeon known as Sophia (Wisdom). Sophia is flawed to the point that she imagines herself to be the true maker and fashions half-makers to make the worlds. In our particular case she fashioned Yahweh as her half-maker for earth and mankind. The illustration bellow illustrates this pretty well.
Honestly, what I feel like saying when I read all these guys on this is: “So you took polytheism, monotheism, deism and pantheism and threw them all in a blender and after putting it on puree, you poured it in a glass and called it the gnostic belief of deity.” The sad thing is they might nod their head and say ‘yes’. When looking at Genesis, Yahweh god is thus nothing more than a half-maker who creates an imperfect world.
3. Mankind is mostly material with a small piece of spiritual
Each human being is mostly material being at the very end of this process but each of us contain a fragment of spirituality called the ‘the divine spark’. Most people are not aware of their divine spark and never become so. But a select few do become aware of it.
In the Bible, gnostics look to the creation story and say that the image of God and the divine spark are one and the same.
4. Salvation is not salvation from sin but ignorance.
In short once you understand your true origin and obtain special knowledge. In part this a personal striving and in part this is from the help of others – in Christian gnosticism this is often achieved through attempting to understand the mysteries surround Christ work and through the taking of the sacraments. It is by reflecting and thinking on these things that one attains special knowledge and thus salvation.
In the Creation story, Eve is actually the hero to gnostics as she is trying to gain knowledge. Even better the Serpent is more of a good guy who tries to encourage this pursuit of knowledge. Guess they forgot the cost was death.
The Gnostic View Of Jesus
Given the four things listed above, what do you think happens to Jesus?
1. Because of dualism and the belief that Jesus’ work was somehow special because he was special himself, Jesus had to be minimally material and more the divine spirit. In some gnostic views Jesus was not actually physical but a phantom that had the ability to appear physical but actually was not. This is all to maintain the dualistic beliefs they possess.
2. Jesus is in many ways is considered one of the aeons closest to God (see picture under God above). As such he is really not part of a triune God or even equal to God. What he does provide is the greatest example of not only someone transcending the Material to achieve the spiritual but also someone who acted so others would have a better chance of doing the same.
3. Jesus had more than a spark he had a torch and it is because of this people can gain the knowledge they need to transcend from him. He is one of those people who not only find a way to be saved but provides an avenue for those who want to follow after him.
4. Jesus purpose is not to atone for people’s sins but to show the way to knowledge so that people can be saved. His sinless life, his giving of the sacraments, death, burial and resurrection were all to show others the way to the knowledge of how to transcend the physical into the spiritual.
Was Gnosticism Taught by Jesus?
Short answer: No. But truth be told gnosticism was more a problem of the early church after Jesus left so the better question may be what did the early church teach about it. Well, John the apostle in both his gospel (John 1:14) and letter (1 John 1:1-3) seems to be dealing with a proto gnosticism and points out that Jesus was not a phantom but flesh and blood. Other things John writes indicates that the whole idea of special knowledge was not necessary to attain heaven. His goal of his gospel was that people would know Jesus is the Christ and that they would have life in his name. His first epistle echos this as well saying that the greatest sign they were of the faith was that they loved one another. This is a far cry from ‘special knowledge’.
Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi and what you see in his teachings is actually a mixture of various schools of thought of Rabbinic traditions and his own unique teaching. Jesus’ greatest claim to fame was not what he taught but how he taught – with authority. What can also be seen in Jesus teaching is a fairly strict code of ethics and morality. Gnostics as a rule do not like rules. 😉 If someone lives in integrity from the spiritual following of their divine spark that is one thing; but living according to commandments is entirely different and Jesus gave a lot of commandments.
There has been a resurgence of gnosticism and many gnostic works have been translated and produced for the general public. Many point to a conspiracy theory that the early church suppressed these because they were the truth about Jesus, but the truth is that most of them conflict with stuff that is known to be written by an apostle. Many gnostic writers simply say that those who walked and talked with Jesus were wrong as to his nature even though they themselves never met him. The rest of them are just plain strange.
In the final analysis, what really makes me say – “I don’t think so” is that there is no real facts given to back up their claims. It really is a religion that is a combination of philosophy and made up beliefs. Its view of Christ means that Jesus was not really a human being and therefore cannot really relate to what it means to be a human being. Not to mention, all the gospel writers seem to in one shape or form contradict gnostic claims. What I think the real appeal of gnosticism is spiritual elitism. It must really stoke the ego to think that you are one of the few human beings that recognize the divine spark in yourself and you have a chance to attain special knowledge that will get you to become like Jesus and transcend this material world. If you looking for a way to start a cult, these ideas have been used many times – Heaven’s Gate comes to mind along with many others. I think that is sufficient for me to say ‘no thank you’.
Blessings.