The Gnostics
t is most important to understand the time in which the New Testament was written because there have been attacks on the legitimacy and completeness of these books. The New Testament was written as the Holy Spirit moved on these men to write the historical events of Jesus, most being firsthand accounts; the letters to the Christians of the world, with the purpose of unifying the body of Christ under one complete doctrine of the Gospel; and finally, the Revelation of Jesus Christ revealed to John about the end times. Each one of these 27 books, written by 8 separate men, agree with each other completely, being written by one Author, the Holy Spirit.
As the first century closed, and the second commenced, the apostles passed on to be with our Lord, and a new generation took the mantle of the Word to continue preaching the Gospel to the world. These men, also referred to as the Church Fathers, had miraculous events surrounding them, and they wrote letters to the churches as well, strengthening and encouraging them. These epistles are not Scripture, and should never be considered as such. They are, however, excellent commentaries and study guides to the Scriptures.
Nevertheless, just as John states in his book of Revelation, no one is allowed to add anything to this book, and no one is to take away from the book, (Rev 22:18-19), well then, what do you think happened? The corrupt nature of man, led by our defeated foe, namely the Devil, started doing exactly what was commanded not to do. A group of so called Christians, naming themselves the Gnostics, twisted the Holy Scriptures into a liberal minded and selfish theology.
The Gnostics, beginning in the second century, developed their religion on knowledge or gnosis, γνωσις. For us Christians, we know this to be the knowledge of Jesus Christ, sent to redeem us from our sin, therefore being enlightened to the plan of reconciliation given to us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Gnostics will say they believe the same thing. They say they believe in the Holy Scriptures and they even believe Christ is the bringer of knowledge. This is where Jesus warns us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. These Gnostics, although they confess they believe that Jesus was on the earth and is the Christ sent to save us, they have completely twisted the Scriptures and made it fit their agenda.
For example, they believe there was a man named Jesus, however, they believe He was merely a man, but endowed with the Spirit of Christ. They believe Jesus and Christ are two separate people. They may say they believe in Jesus, but they don’t know my Jesus. They reject that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They say they believe in Jesus because He was the one to bring the spark of knowledge to the world. Now, those words don’t sound so bad, but that is how they deceive. In fact, it is really bad. They only believe in Jesus, not as the Redeemer and Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world, instead they believe Jesus, endowed with the Spirit of Christ, was sent to bring the spark of knowledge so that whoever gains a knowledge of themselves, and the Creator, will be elevated to eternal life. Otherwise, if one does not gain the spark of life, they return to the creation, and never gain access to the Creator. You can see small bits of truth in their doctrine, but in reality, it is so selfish and off base, it is blasphemy. I am mentioning this religion because they have stirred up the Christian community and the effects are still running ramped in our Church today.
These Gnostics did exactly what John warned anyone not to do. They have tried to add to the Bible, by introducing additional gospels. For example, the gospel of Thomas, Mary, Philip, Judas, and others were recently discovered in 1945, in southern Egypt, where the Gnostics were the most concentrated. To the unlearned, namely those still in the world, they announced this discovery to be the “lost books of the Bible.” But each one of these contradicts the Truth. In the previous section we discussed, and proved the New Testament was written and completed before the turn of the first century. Every one of these “gospels” were dated no earlier than second century. We also have an account of one of the Church Fathers, Irenaeus, the orthodox Bishop of Lyons, who wrote in 180AD, stating that heretics "boast that they possess more gospels than there really are,'' and complains that in his time such writings already have won wide circulation--from Gaul through Rome, Greece, and Asia Minor. Irenaeus wrote a five-volume defense against the Gnostics named, “Against Heresies”, proving the destruction of this false religion.
As the first century closed, and the second commenced, the apostles passed on to be with our Lord, and a new generation took the mantle of the Word to continue preaching the Gospel to the world. These men, also referred to as the Church Fathers, had miraculous events surrounding them, and they wrote letters to the churches as well, strengthening and encouraging them. These epistles are not Scripture, and should never be considered as such. They are, however, excellent commentaries and study guides to the Scriptures.
Nevertheless, just as John states in his book of Revelation, no one is allowed to add anything to this book, and no one is to take away from the book, (Rev 22:18-19), well then, what do you think happened? The corrupt nature of man, led by our defeated foe, namely the Devil, started doing exactly what was commanded not to do. A group of so called Christians, naming themselves the Gnostics, twisted the Holy Scriptures into a liberal minded and selfish theology.
The Gnostics, beginning in the second century, developed their religion on knowledge or gnosis, γνωσις. For us Christians, we know this to be the knowledge of Jesus Christ, sent to redeem us from our sin, therefore being enlightened to the plan of reconciliation given to us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Gnostics will say they believe the same thing. They say they believe in the Holy Scriptures and they even believe Christ is the bringer of knowledge. This is where Jesus warns us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. These Gnostics, although they confess they believe that Jesus was on the earth and is the Christ sent to save us, they have completely twisted the Scriptures and made it fit their agenda.
For example, they believe there was a man named Jesus, however, they believe He was merely a man, but endowed with the Spirit of Christ. They believe Jesus and Christ are two separate people. They may say they believe in Jesus, but they don’t know my Jesus. They reject that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They say they believe in Jesus because He was the one to bring the spark of knowledge to the world. Now, those words don’t sound so bad, but that is how they deceive. In fact, it is really bad. They only believe in Jesus, not as the Redeemer and Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world, instead they believe Jesus, endowed with the Spirit of Christ, was sent to bring the spark of knowledge so that whoever gains a knowledge of themselves, and the Creator, will be elevated to eternal life. Otherwise, if one does not gain the spark of life, they return to the creation, and never gain access to the Creator. You can see small bits of truth in their doctrine, but in reality, it is so selfish and off base, it is blasphemy. I am mentioning this religion because they have stirred up the Christian community and the effects are still running ramped in our Church today.
These Gnostics did exactly what John warned anyone not to do. They have tried to add to the Bible, by introducing additional gospels. For example, the gospel of Thomas, Mary, Philip, Judas, and others were recently discovered in 1945, in southern Egypt, where the Gnostics were the most concentrated. To the unlearned, namely those still in the world, they announced this discovery to be the “lost books of the Bible.” But each one of these contradicts the Truth. In the previous section we discussed, and proved the New Testament was written and completed before the turn of the first century. Every one of these “gospels” were dated no earlier than second century. We also have an account of one of the Church Fathers, Irenaeus, the orthodox Bishop of Lyons, who wrote in 180AD, stating that heretics "boast that they possess more gospels than there really are,'' and complains that in his time such writings already have won wide circulation--from Gaul through Rome, Greece, and Asia Minor. Irenaeus wrote a five-volume defense against the Gnostics named, “Against Heresies”, proving the destruction of this false religion.