Gnosticism and the New Testament

Everett Ferguson in Backgrounds of Early Christianity gives a comprehensive look at the teaching of Gnosticism. The fluid nature of Gnosticism comes from the varied locations and teachers by which it was popularized. The term describes a broad context of teachings. It includes elements of Judaism, pagan thought, and Christianity. Even the origin of Gnosticism is a subject of great debate.

Among the debate about the origin of Gnosticism there are three leading positions. (1) Many hold that Gnosticism developed as a Christian heresy. The Church Fathers who are partial to this view attach the beginning of Gnosticism to Acts 8 and the heresy of Simon Magus in Samaria. (2) Others take Gnosticism to be a reaction to Judaism, not Christianity. (3) Still others identify the origin of Gnosticism to be pre-New Testament, and it developed independently of Judaism or Christianity.

The most significant discovery about Gnosticism came when the Nag Hammadi documents were found. At Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt a library of Gnostic works were discovered. This provided an understanding of Gnosticism that was extensively written about by Church Fathers like Irenaeus and Hippolytus (Ferguson 282-283). In view of the Nag Hammadi library and the writings of Church Fathers we can characterize Gnosticism by seven features. (1) The idea of evil was a fascination in Gnosticism. They identified evil in the divine realm rather than in individuals. (2) Gnostics supported dualism. Dualism between God and the physical world, physical body and soul, good and evil, and eschatological and supernatural. (3) Knowledge was held as the highest standard. As Ferguson states, "Knowledge was not just the means to salvation, it was the salvation." (4) Gnostics believed man to be made up of body, soul and spirit. Body and soul were bad, but the spirit was the divine part in each person. (5) Gnostic eschatology was not believed in terms of the future, but in terms of an interior kingdom. (6) This eschatology freed the individual from moral responsibility because the person was free from fate. (7) In the writings of the Gospel of Truth perfectionism is repeatedly emphasized.

The chronology of Gnosticism is critical to bear in mind. The Gnostic system was not established until the second century. Even though we see in the New Testament the elements that were beginning to emerge before the system was recognized we cannot preach and teach key New Testament letters like Colossians and the pastoral epistles as a direct rebuttal of Gnosticism. Gnosticism was developing contemporaneously with Christianity. In the second century Gnosticism is found as a developed system including elements of Judaism, Christianity, and pagan thought (Ferguson 282-293).