Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Main Early Heretical Teachings: Gnosticism, Docetism, Ebionitism

Introduction

The history of the Christian Church, the Christians have believed that Jesus Christ is truly man and truly God, and He is the Son of God, whom we worship and who is our savior, as the Holy Bible teaches. Historically, the basic doctrine experienced a lot of struggles in its growth in the early history of Christianity. Looking back on the past of the Christological developments, we can see the Christian Church faced a lot of heretical teachings about the Person of the Jesus Christ. In this article I would like to briefly explain about four major heretical teachings which were affected by the early Church.

Gnosticism

The word "Gnosticism" comes from the Greek word "Gnosis" which means "knowledge. Gnosticism traces its roots back just after the beginning of the Christianity. But some Scholars state that evidence of its existence even predates Christian religion. This heretic teaching presented a major challenge to the early Christian religion. Gnosticism was an eclectic phenomenon, which arose out of a mixture of Jewish, Hellenistic, Oriental and Christian factors, and at the same time employed philosophical language as a terminology but not as a basic structure. To its supporters, this heretical sect taught as “Salvation is by knowledge.” They considered Jesus as a heavenly messenger and seem to have looked upon Christ as a liberator or revealer, rather than a judge or savior. So, the Gnostics rejected the idea of God becoming incarnate, dying and rising bodily. Christ was pure spirit and only had a phantom body; Jesus just appeared to be human to his followers. These sects believe that whoever entered Jesus at his baptism left him before he died on the cross. Gnostics defined Jesus’ resurrection as occurring when the spirit of Christ was liberated from his body. Gnostics reasoned that a true emissary from the Highest God cannot have been overcome by the evil of the earth, and to have suffered and died. These heretics did not consider in the perfection of Jesus Christ as God and human, for them Jesus was only a mediator between the material world and good God. For them the knowledge about the good God, Jesus and material world is important. The important Gnostic leaders were Marcion, Basilides and Valentinus. The famous Gnostic documents are Treatise on the Three Natures, the Gospel of Truth, the Letter to Rheginus, the Gospel of Matthias, Apocalypse of Adam, Gospel of Philip, Acts of Thomas and Acts of Peter. Early Church fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Ireneaus, etc. wrote against this heresy.

Docetism

Docetism was developed around last of first century. Docetism name is derived from “Dokesis” which means semblance or appearance, because these heretics taught that Christ only “seemed” or “appeared” to be a man, to have been born, to have lived and suffered. They refused to acknowledge Christ’s humanity and only believed in His divinity. They thought that Christ did not actually have a physical body, but only appeared to have flesh and blood. Patriarch Ignatius Noorono wrote against Docetism in his letter to the Smyrnaeans. Other detailed criticisms were given by Tertullian and Irenaeus.

Ebionitism

Ebionitism was originated in the last of 3rd century to a heretic sect of early Jewish Christianity who retained much of teachings of Jewish religion in their beliefs. It was a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. While these heretics accepted the Old Testament in its integrity, they rejected the New Testament. For them Jesus was merely a human being on whom the Holy Spirit had descended on at His baptism. These heretics denied both the divinity of Christ and at least some of them denied His virgin birth and physical resurrection. They believed that Jesus was mere man, who became the Messiah only by his good works and strict maintaining of the law. He became conscious of his Messiah identity and received the Holy Spirit when he was baptized. A lot of church fathers like Eusebius, Epiphanius, Ireneaus, etc. wrote against this heresy.

Marcionism

Marcionism is a Christian heresy of the second and third centuries A.D. This heretical teachings originated in the teachings of Marcion at Rome around the 2nd century. Marcionism rejected the Old Testament and almost all of the New Testament books, including the accounts of the incarnation and the resurrection. They denied the God’s incarnation in Jesus as a human. They believed the Old Testament God was vengeful, petty, spiteful, and fell short of the perfection of the New Testament God. Marcionism had to account for the existence of the Old Testament and Marcionism accounted for it by postulating a secondary deity, a ‘Demiurgus,’ who was god, in a sense, but not the supreme God; he was just, rigidly just, he had his good qualities, but he was not the good God, who was Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Marcionism placed the good God of love in opposition to the creator of the world. This good God has only been revealed in Christ. Good God was absolutely unknown before Christ, and men were in every respect strange to him. The good God of love appeared in Christ and proclaimed a new kingdom. Marcionism has accepted an altered version of the Gospel according to Luke and ten of the Epistles of St. Paul. The early Church Fathers wrote against Marcionism. The first mention of Marcionism was in Apologia by Justin Martyr, a contemporary of Marcionism. Irenaeus also describes a confrontation with Marcionism in ‘Adversus Haereses.’

Conclusion

Above mentioned heretical teachings rejected by the Church. The Church Fathers of the Church summarize their faith according to the teaching of Jesus and the New Testament: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three in One.” The true doctrine of our church is cited in the Bible which thought that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of Man, and God, who was born by Morth Mariam through the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus Christ came to this world to give salvation to mankind through his crucifixion on the cross. After the death of Jesus Christ, He was buried for 3 days in a tomb, and on the third day he resurrected. He appeared to his disciples relatives, and others. After fifty days, Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven. The Church maintains that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, at once consubstantial with the Father and with us; the divinity and the humanity continuing in him without mixture or separation, confusion or change. He is one and the same person both in his eternal pre-existence and also in the economy, in which he performs the redeeming work of God on behalf of man, from the indivisible state of union of Godhead and manhood.

Bibliography

David Salter Williams, “Reconsidering Marcion's Gospel,” Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989): 477-796; I. Matter, Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme, Paris, 1828; Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies, London, 1875; A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzergesch. des Urchristenthums, Leipsic, 1884; A. Dietrich, Abraxas, Leipsic, 1891; G. Aurich, Das Antike Mysterienwesen in Seinem Einfluss auf das Christenthum, Göttingen, 1894; G. Wobbermin, Religionsgesch. Studien zur Frage der Beeinflussung des Urchristenthums Durch das Antike Mysterienwesen, Berlin, 1896; G. R. S. Mead, Fragmente eines Verschollenen Glaubens (German transl. by A. von Ulrich), ib. 1902. Kaesemann, Ernst. The Testament of Jesus, trans. Gerhard Krodel Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1968; Philip Schaff (ed.), A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd ed. (1894); W.H.C. Frend, "Marcion," Expository Times 80.11 (1969): 328-332; Robert M. Grant, "Notes on Gnosis 1. Marcion and the Old Testament," Vigiliae Christianae 11 (1957): 145-51.

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