Who Were the Gnostics and What Are the Gnostic Gospels?
By Ron Jones ©Titus Institute 2006
1. Who were the Gnostics?
a. Their name comes from the Greek word for knowledge, “Gnosis.”
b. They were the first major Christian Cult of the second century, which had beginnings at the time of the Apostle John.
c. Their beliefs were based on the Greek philosophical concept that the spiritual was good and physical was evil.
d. They rejected the doctrine of the apostles and the OT Scriptures about Jesus Christ and God the Father and salvation among others.
1) Jesus is not the same person as the Christ, the Son of God.
2) Christ was a spirit being which they called an “Aeon.”
3) They rejected the OT and its God who was not the Father of the Lord Jesus
4) Salvation came from gaining “secret knowledge” (Gnosis) of
this spirit world.
2. What are the Gnostic Gospels?
a. They are part of a group of documents discovered in Egypt, which teach
the doctrines of the Gnostics.
The Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Philip
The Gospel of Truth The Gospel of the Egyptians
Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) The Gospel of Judas
b. These documents gave historians and opportunity for the first time to compare what they already knew about the Gnostics from the writings of the early church fathers with documents that came from Gnostics themselves.
c. The Gnostic Gospels were fourth century Coptic translations of original second century Greek documents. None of the Gnostic Gospels were written any earlier than 150 AD.
d. The Gnostic Gospels are not gospels in the sense of a narrative of the ministry and teachings of Jesus like the NT Gospels. They are writings of Gnostic theology given directly or through the mouth of Jesus.
e. Gnostic Gospels were cryptic writings meant to be understood only by those who were initiated into their mysteries.
f. These Gnostic Gospels present a theology that contradicts the Old Testament
inspired Scriptures and the apostolic testimony in the Four Gospels and
the other NT Scriptures.
3. The early church rejected the Gnostics and their gospels.
a. The early church stated that the four NT gospels refute the heretics.
Irenaeus c.180
The Ebionites, who use only Matthew’s Gospel, are refuted out of this
very same work, making false suppositions with regard to the Lord. But Marcion,
mutilating the Gospel according to Luke, is still proved to be a blasphemer
of the only existing God, from those passages which he still retains. Those,
again, who separate Jesus from Christ, alleging that Christ remained impassible,
but that it was Jesus who suffered, prefer the Gospel by Mark. However,
if they read it with a love of truth, they would have their errors rectified.
Those persons, moreover, who follow Valentinus, make copious use of the
Gospel according to John to illustrate their conjunctions. However, they,
too, will be proved to be totally in error. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.428.
b. The early church rejected the addition of any other Gospel to the four NT gospels.
Irenaeus c.180
On the other hand, those who are from Valentinus are altogether reckless.
They create their own Scriptures, boasting that they possess more Gospels
than there really are. Indeed, they have gone to such a degree of audacity,
as to entitle their comparatively recent writing the Gospel of Truth. Irenaeus
(c. 180, E/W), 1.429.
4. The Gnostic Gospels were written more than 125 years after Jesus’ death when all the eyewitnesses were gone. The four Gospels were written within 50 years of Jesus’ death by eyewitnesses or their close associates while other eyewitnesses were still living.
a. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were all written in the
1st century. The Gnostic Gospels were not written until the last half of
the second century, about 100 years later.
b. The Gnostic gospels could not have been written by an apostle of his
close associate during their lifetime.
Summary:
The NT Gospels which are the earliest documents about the teaching and ministry of Jesus are most likely to be more reliable than documents which were written a hundred years later.
