"The
earliest notices now to be found on Universalism
after the clays of the apostles are in the writings
of some of the more prominent Gnostic sects.” Gnosticism
was “one of the three main belief systems”
within 1st century
Christianity. This
“Christian Gnosticism”,
as it has been labeled, though an early form of Christianity was
crushed by early
persecutions. Later in the 12th century, the inquisition may have begun
as an
attempt to destroy a resurgence of these ideas. Today, gnostic
ideas “are once again experiencing a
rebirth throughout
the world. The discovery of the ancient Gnostic library
at Nag Hammadi in With the translation of these writings into
English, there may also be a
resurgence of the sometimes perplexing Christian Gnostic and Oneness Universalist ideas. Thomas for
example, an esoteric
teaching, focuses on oneness seeing through the duality of the
mainstream
Jewish religion of the day. Some say this is The True Message of Jesus. Others say that this
oneness in Thomas sounds
new
age. Others see similarities to Buddhism. Others see in Thomas a gospel
to the
Gentiles (or the Greeks), Galatians 2:8.
Whatever
the source of these influences, these Christian Gnostic
ideas are found throughout the New Testament. Many
of the letters of
Paul and John appear to have been written to address the specific
incipient or early
gnostic
ideas within the church that could have been dangerous. The
availability of these Gnostic texts provides an opportunity to
understand early
scriptural and apostolic discussions about Gnosticism within the
canonical
scriptures. Traditionally, it has been
taught
that the apostles were against Gnosticism. An alternate
hypothesis to
the contention
that the biblical authors were writing against Gnosticism is that they
were
rather writing to (or about) Gnostic believers within the congregation
who had
gone off into extremes, or those who were troubling their Jewish
counterparts. If
so, these writings may
complement the canon, and strengthen the faith of the weak
that we
might grow in knowledge, and come to maturity in love. The writings of
Paul and
Thomas, for instance, often appear to complement one another. For
example, Paul wrote:
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,” 1 Corinthians 2:9. Jesus
gave a similar saying in Thomas, "I shall give you what no eye
has seen
and
what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never
occurred
to the human mind," Thomas
17. The
connections between the gospel to the Gentiles that
Paul preached and the message found in Thomas are often very striking, Galatians
2:2. For the
sake of the church, which is now being exposed to these "Gnostic ideas,"
there is
an opportunity and an occasion to use them in much the same way as the
early
apostles used them within their writings. Gnosticism,
traditionally labeled as heretical and silenced, could help us to
understand
and reveal a
Pauline message that had
been hidden, and difficult to communicate. However,
Gnostic ideas are
offensive to some, so they must be presented without offending or
causing the
weak, or children in the faith to sin against their own
conscience. These
writings may not have originally been intended for public distribution. Jesus
said, "Whoso
shall offend one
of these little
ones which believe in me, it were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he
were
drowned in
the depth of the sea," Matthew
18:6. For
the children in spiritual understanding and
the "infants in
Christ," who still perceive a gulf between heaven and earth, Christ can
be
the bridge. In love, for their sake we “acknowledge
nothing… except Jesus
Christ crucified," for not in every man is the knowledge (gnosis)
of God. For them are given the
parables, 1 Corinthians 2:1, 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1
Corinthians 8:7, Mark 4:11. And
knowing that hope does
not disappoint, we move from faith to knowledge, to perfect love being
filled
with all the fullness of God, proclaiming the
Perfect Man. The
challenge is to write
in a way that boldly declares these mysteries, without offending the
weak
believer. Perhaps this was the challenge of the apostle Paul. Could
this be our
challenge? Jesus
said, "Let him
who seeks continue seeking until he In
the One Universal Body,
|