It is believed that the following portions of the New Testament are either explanations of Christianity to counter Gnosticism or warnings against Gnosticism:
Gospel of John
1 Corinthians 8
Ephesians
Colossians
1 Timothy chapters 4 and 6
2 Timothy 3
2 Peter
Hebrews (Longueville proposes that all of Hebrews is constructed to refute the Gnostic heresy)
1 and 2 John
Jude
Nicolaitans in Revelation were likely Gnostic
Churches at Ephesus, Thyatira and Pergamum in Revelation 2-3 likely had Gnostic influences
The details within Gnosticism have not survived through the centuries. For a detailed description of the entities and levels within Gnosticism, Irenaeus compiled a lengthy and detailed description of Gnosticism. For our discussion, we will not review the details but only consider the core underpinnings of Gnosticism.
The core teachings and hallmarks of Gnosticism are (1):
• All material must perish and is inherently evil and irredemable.
• The messiah was visible and tangible and capable of suffering, yet they deny that messiah assumed anything material since matter is evil and incapable of salvation.
• The consummation of all things will take place when all that is spiritual has been perfected by gnosis (knowledge); and by this they mean spiritual men who have attained to the perfect knowledge of God. (By “spiritual men”, they mean themselves who teach Gnosticism.)
Irenaeus describes two levels within Gnosticism. The lower level consisted of those who were working toward attaining perfect knowledge, and the higher level consisted of those who had already become perfect in knowledge. This is where elements of modern predestination and eternal security took root. “Wherefore also they maintain that good works are necessary to us, for that otherwise it is impossible we should be saved. But as to themselves, they hold that they shall be entirely and undoubtedly saved, not by means of conduct, but because they are spiritual by nature. For, just as it is impossible that material substance should partake of salvation (since, indeed, they maintain that it is incapable of receiving it), so again it is impossible that spiritual substance (by which they mean themselves) should ever come under the power of corruption, whatever the sort of actions in which they indulged.” (2)
Notice that those in the higher level, who attained perfection through knowledge, could not lose their status (salvation). They were eternally secure. There are no Biblical grounds for such teaching. Ireneaus continues by describing the most heinous and immoral conduct found among the leaders within Gnosticism, justified because of their self-righteousness and having attained a status which could not be forfeited or revoked.
The Gnostics believed that there were two categories of people, namely, the evil and the loved. Irenaeus writes that the loved “knows not the true cause thereof, but imagines that they are what they are through his favor towards them.” (3) It is interesting to note that Augustine, John Calvin, and other writers in the Calvinist and Reformed tradition retained this language to describe predestination. Those whom God foreordained unto election received such status by virtue of God’s favor, although the origin of this election is a mystery.
Contrary to this language, we maintain that all which is necessary unto salvation, redemption, and sanctification have been revealed by the Holy Spirit through the Bible.
It is noteworthy at this point to consider that the early church fathers maintained freedom of the will and did not speak of predestination, original sin, or sola fide.
For example, Justin Martyr wrote, “[S]ince God in the beginning made the race of angels and men with free-will, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed and this is the nature of all that is made, to be capable of vice and virtue. For neither would any of them be praiseworthy unless there were power to turn to both (virtue and vice).” (4)
Freedom of the will is necessary and absolute, and note the emphasis on personal responsibility.
Justin Martyr also wrote “that God, wishing men and angels to follow His will, resolved to create them free to do righteousness; possessing reason, that they may know by whom they are created, and through whom they, not existing formerly, do now exist; and with a law that they should be judged by Him, if they do anything contrary to right reason: and of ourselves we, men and angels, shall be convicted of having acted sinfully, unless we repent beforehand.” (5)
It is from this that we have John the Baptist’s and John Wesley’s admonition to “flee the wrath to come.”
Further, we find, “This expression [of our Lord], ‘How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldest not,’ set forth the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man a free [agent] from the beginning, possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey the behests of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will [towards us] is present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all. And in man, as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves… But if some had been made by nature bad, and others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for such were they created; nor would the former be reprehensible, for thus they were made [originally]. But since all men are of the same nature, able both to hold fast and to do what is good; and, on the other hand, having also the power to cast it from them and not to do it, — some do justly receive praise even among men who are under the control of good laws (and much more from God), and obtain deserved testimony of their choice of good in general, and of persevering therein; but the others are blamed, and receive a just condemnation, because of their rejection of what is fair and good.” (6) Matthew 5:16, Luke 21:34, Luke 12:35-47, Luke 6:46
“Each one of us, who sins, with his own free-will chooses punishment, and the blame lies with him who chooses. God is without blame.” (7) This is one of the most serious problems with double predestination. It makes God the author of evil, thus, He deserves all blame for sin in the world. But how can God be both good and evil at the same time? Jesus Himself denied this in Matthew 12:24-29.
Clement of Alexandria’s summary of Gnosticism and its effect on free will carries with it echoes from modern Reformed theology which likewise denies freedom of the will.
The consequences of denying the teachings of the early church fathers on free will are massive. For one, personal holiness, later termed Christian perfection under John Wesley, is unnecessary. In fact, under Calvinism, Christian perfection is impossible to attain and is only granted at the time of death. This teaching is wholly inconsistent with Scripture, so it cannot be true. We know, for example, that death does not contain virtue from which would otherwise spring perfection.
Second, certain groups of people can never be saved because God did not elect them unto salvation.
Thirdly, if we cannot lose our salvation (eternal security), then immoral conduct becomes permissible, for there are no consequences for immorality.
Is Gnosticism an old heresy that died out centuries ago? The answer is a firm no because its influences remain with us today. The underpinnings of Gnosticism successfully infiltrated into theology, despite warnings in Scripture. 2 Peter 3:17-18, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
Footnotes:
(1), (2) Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 6
(3) Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter 7
(4) The Second Apology of Justin for the Christians Addressed to the Roman Senate, Chapter 7
(5) Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew, Chapter 141
(6) Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4 (The Detection and Refutation of False Knowledge), Chapter 37
(7) The Instructor, Clement of Alexandria, Chapter 8
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