G-N-O-S-T-I-C-I-S-M

Okay, boys and girls. It's time for another "four dollar word." Gnosticism. The "g" is silent, the "o" is like the "o" in "pot," and the "c" is an "s" like in "exorcism." So, try it again. Gnosticism. I have several posts coming up on various topics like food, worship, beer, Baptists, death, etc. All of these will tie in (believe it or not) with "Gnosticism." So, what is Gnosticism? The term comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means "knowledge." An "ism" is a system or doctrine of belief. Gnosticism, therefore, is a system of belief that regards the attainment of certain hidden, or secret, knowledge as the means of escape from the physical and material world (which is inherently evil) to the spiritual and immaterial world (which is inherently good).
The New Testament suggests that even then a germ of Gnosticism was making inroads into the church. John appears to be addressing this heresy directly in the verses below:

• John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
  
• 1 John 4:2-3: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
  
• 2 John 1:7: For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Now, this all stands in stark contrast to the so-called "Gnostic gospels," like Thomas, Mary, and the recently hyped Judas. For example, the latter has Jesus saying to Judas, “But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." The idea here is that Jesus' crucifixion is something which will liberate him from the (corrupt) flesh that masks the true, spiritual him. This is a biblically absurd notion! If Jesus was to be liberated from the flesh, then why did he appear to his disciples again, after the resurrection, with a fleshly body and not as an immaterial spirit? To be fair, it was a remarkably transformed (i.e., glorified) body. But it was still a "flesh and bone" body that bore the scars of the crucifixion, that could be touched, and that ate food. Jesus' own words about this body confirm that he was not simply a spirit: "And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." (Luke 24:38-39).
The resurrection is the final repudiation of Gnosticism. It is impossible to be Gnostic and to also believe in the Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible shows Gnosticicsm to be a lie. And yet in many ways we are modern day Gnostics--even us church folks. We have learned it from the Gnosticism of popular culture (things like the Star Wars and Matrix movies) and from frankly bad Bible interpretation. I hope to explore some of these things over the coming days. Stay tuned!