How to Understand the Gnostics

In the bible, there are many references to people being furthered instructed in knowledge. Take the bible verse of 1 Corinthians 14:19; “Let him that is instructed in the word, communicate to him that instructed him, in all good things.” Those instructions generally came from what was known as a Catechetical school of thought. One of the best known and greatest Theology teachers of that time frame was Clement of Alexandria. His Catechetical taught philosophy and written ideologies, was accepted as the truth during the early years of Christianity, and thus given great weight over any other, lesser known, peoples theories.

It is said that when John the Baptist first laid eyes on Jesus, on the shore of the Jordon river, he knelt before Christ and said, “I’m not worthy to baptist the son of God.” In fact, it was John the Baptist who first publicly recognizes Christ, as the son of God. Up until that hour, Jesus was referred to as a gifted spiritual prophet, and biblical nomad. The Gospels teach us that Christ was both human and divine. He was made of flesh and bone, yet his hands could work great miracles. Miracles, which could only come from God himself. Be that as it may, Christ's blood spilled red like the rest of us, because he was still just a man. However, he was a man clearly gifted with divine foresight, with divine healing properties. He was gifted in religious wisdom, and could create miracles out of tangible objects such as food, water and wine. He was destined to be a powerful leader; like that of Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Jacob, and Daniel. Jesus Christ was truly touched by God. Which ironically is what it means to be a Gnostic. It literally means, “One touched by God.” Nowadays, to be Gnostic means virtually the same as it did in Jesus time. John the Baptist could have been considered a Gnostic. Many faithful followers of John the Baptist, do indeed believe he was. So why is it that the Gnostic way of life has now been forgotten to us Christians? What was it that they stood for that made them so different from you or me of today?

I took this next passage from the Gnostic Institute website.

“We seek to follow the injunction from the Gospel of Thomas: ‘If you see what is before your face, there is nothing that will not be revealed to you.’ We seek to know what is real, and to follow that beyond our current notions, ideas, and understandings. We stand apart in that we do not prejudge the real to exclude what is called the spiritual. We do not exclude what has always been a part of human experience, nor what has always been a part of human culture.”

**It must be noted, that the Gospel of Thomas was first written on papayas around 280 ad to 340 ad, (+/- fifty years). The gospel’s introduction states, “These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke, and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down. “ (Didymus (Greek) and Thomas (Aramaic) both meaning “twin.”)

However, does accepting this way of life, make you a Gnostic? No, it does not. For being a true Gnostic, means you must be divinely embraced by God. Essentially, you must have been blessed with special senses. Someone who is Gnostic, is said to have a clearer image in their mind, of how God operates his master plans. They are said to be more knowledgeable in religious study, and any odd religious perplexities makes sense to them, and not to everyone else. A Gnostic is divinely gifted by God. As one blogger put it, “Many of us would not take issue with the bumper sticker that says, I am a spiritual being having a physical experience.”

The word Gnostic is of Greek origin. It literally means, “a certain type of knowledge.” The type of knowledge the word is referring to, comes from a divine insight into understanding the supernatural. However, as with all religious or spiritual belief systems, their's is a core principle based off the foundations of the divinity, and the Adam figurehead. Gnostics believe that every human being was made much like that of Adam. We were made in the image of God, and thus we are divine like our Father and like that of Adam and Eve. Gnostics also believe that an evil God actually created the earth. The earth is a representation of evil things, and our fleshy bodies act as personal prisons, for our individual, captive, soul to dwell in.

The Gnostics believe in a hierarchy of religious figureheads. Not only do we recognize a devilish god, but, there is the one true God that everyone, everything, and every being has to answer too. However, it is through Jesus to whom our messages and needs are correlated to this Supreme Being, known as God. Heaven is based off the belief that there are different levels of Paradise. Our spiritual worth on earth, plays a vital role to our future position heaven. Much like that of the Buddhist or Hindu belief systems. The Gnostics also believe that everything on earth, is of evil decent. That our true nature and our souls were sent here to suffer materialist wants, needs and desires. Needless to say, Gnosticism has it odd perplexities just the same as Catholicism, or any other Christian sect does. Although in the beginning, the Gnostics knowledge deemed their group the wise ones, and the mystical side of Gnosticism has played a key role in the early stages of Christianity's development. The very core of the good vs. evil concept, of the divine and the divinity, comes from Gnosticism.

Who knew?

It is written in the early Christian doctrine, “Miscellanies ” written by TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS (better known as St. Clement of Alexandra),

that, " God’s truth is to be found in revelation, another portion of it in philosophy. It is the duty of the Christian to neglect neither. Religious science, drawn from this twofold source, is even an element of perfection; the instructed Christian—“the true Gnostic”—is the perfect Christian. He who has risen to this height is far from the disturbance of passion; he is united to God, and in a mysterious sense is one with Him. Such is the line of thought indicated in the work, which is full of digressions."