GNOSTICISM. A philosophy prevalent in the days of the Apostles. According to Gnostic teaching, the physical creation was made by God through a progression of angels. The Gnostics believed that God is pure, but that the creation--the physical things of the world--are impure, since the progression of angels was thought to have become less pure as they moved from God. Gnostics had two different opinions about how men could become pure. One group tried to deny and mistreat their bodies through fasting, sleeplessness, flagellations, etc. Christians are warned against this in Col. 2:18-23. The other group believed that since their bodies were evil it did not matter how they lived as long as their thoughts were high. These Gnostics lived in sensual pleasure and debauchery. This idea is rebuked in Col. 3. Gnostic means knowledge, and Gnosticism promoted a sort of secret society of the intellectual. Only a certain special group were considered advanced enough to be accepted. The Apostle Paul denied this search for secret knowledge when he said all knowledge is in Christ (Col. 2:1-4). When we have Christ Jesus, we have access to all wisdom. Gnostics also believed that Christ was only an angel, or an emanation from God, but not truly God Himself. The Apostle Paul countered this false belief in Col. 1:15-19 and 2:8-10.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:04:38 +0000
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