Gnostic influence invaded the church somewhere at the time of 40-50 AD. Gnostics do not believe in Trinitarian doctrines. They also do not believe in a divine Jesus, or to the personhood of the Holy Spirit. They believe that there are two gods of the Bible, a powerful overseeing God, and a demiurge that was the Jahweh of the Old Covenant. Jahweh was a destructive god whom the most Powerful God sent Jesus to deliver us from. Simon Magus, the sorcerer of Acts 8:8-24 became the leader of the anti-Christian sect. The Apostle John, the closest disciple to Jesus, became the apologist for the Trinity in his Gospel account. Throughout John, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are given equal treatment as united in the One God of Israel, and the only true God. Yet all three are shown to be persons of distinct character and with distinct duties. I and Michael Wisner have exchanged some dialogue concerning the One God, and I brought up the fact that the early church was plagued by the Arian sect which believed that Jesus was “appointed” to divinity by God to “save” mankind from the demiurge god. Constantine the Great, the great emperor of the Eastern Roman empire took action at the Nicaea Council to expel the Arians from the church. Many believe in modalism, the idea that God “manifests” Himself in three roles. This is also a heresy of the early church and was dismissed about the same time. I recommend that John’s Gospel with a commentary such as John Gill or John Calvin be read and studied in depth. It is by far the most scholarly of the four Gospel accounts.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 16:03:50 +0000
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