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Gnosticism: Historical Friday

Last week we looked at the heresy of Arianism; the belief that Jesus is not God. As we discussed this belief is prevalent in our culture today. They view Jesus as a man, even a great man, but that's it. We in the church have been very good about identifying and combating this heresy when it crops up in our congregations. However, there is another heresy we have let slip by.

What is Gnosticism?

Many Christians have heard of Gnosticism, but few actually know what it is. There is no easy way to explain Gnosticism. It was a complicated religion that arose in the late first and early second centuries. It was full of strange beliefs and tried to incorporate elements from many religions of the time, including Christianity.

The main effect of Gnosticism on Christianity is spiritual dualism. Gnostics believed that there are two realities, the spiritual and the physical. The spiritual world, where God lives, is entirely good. The physical world is evil. The goal of the Gnostics was to escape this physical world and enter the spiritual world, usually by some sort of secret knowledge. 

The issue with this sort of dualism arises when we think of Jesus. Jesus is worshiped as God. According the Gnostic view having a physical body is evil. This means that if Jesus is truly human, he cannot be God and is just as evil as the rest of us. Their solution? Jesus only appeared to be human. This means that he was pure spirit who looked human, but really wasn't. 

Gnosticism Today

Gnosticism has a very strong presence in churches today. We still hold onto a very dualistic world view. We still see it as our ultimate goal to escape this world into the spiritual one (aka heaven). We generally see our bodies as prisons our souls need to escape. Perhaps most importantly, we have trouble seeing Jesus as a human being.

We don't really have a problem when it comes to accepting the divinity of Christ. We worship him alongside the Father and exalt him as a community. What we do struggle with is his humanity. It is incredibly hard to imagine Jesus being just like us; a human being with a family, friends, and temptations. 

One of the very first blogs I wrote was all about this topic. In it I brought the troubling figure that nearly 70% of Church of Christ college students at Harding University (a Church of Christ university) did NOT believe that Jesus was truly human. This is a result of Gnosticism in our churches.

So where does this Gnosticism come up in churches? Well one good example is some of the songs we sing. Consider these lyrics. "This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue..... I can't stay at home in this world anymore." At first glance this doesn't seem so bad, and in truth I don't think the author had any bad intentions. Still the idea that this world isn't our home, that we can't stay here anymore, implies that we aren't supposed to be here.

I have a serious problem with this. While I strongly believe that our true home is with Jesus Christ, to say that we don't belong in this world goes against what Jesus commanded us to do; to go INTO ALL THE WORLD. God put us in this world. If we don't belong here, did God make a mistake? 

This Gnostic teaching also comes up in what we preach, primarily in the purpose of the Christian life. We say that our goal and purpose is to get to heaven. That is NOT our purpose. Why? Because that is not what Jesus told us our purpose was! When we say that our goal is to get to heaven, we are subtly teaching that there is something wrong with where God has put us and where Jesus has commanded us to go.

Conclusion

Gnosticism is a very real problem in our churches today. It isn't as full blown or crazy as it was in the 2nd century, but it is just as damaging. The full humanity of Jesus is absolutely essential to who we are as Christians. Without it Jesus would not have died, no atonement for sins. If Jesus did not die there would be no resurrection, no hope. 

When we view our own bodies as evil, bodies God created, it causes us not to care what happens to them. When we view the world we live in as evil, it causes us not to care about its fate. It causes us to keep to ourselves and ignore the commands of Jesus; to reach out and engage the world. 

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