Christian Beginnings
Notes for Friday May 17, 2002

Irenaus - Orthodox Bishop who wrote Against Heresies. Turned out to be a generally accurate description of Gnosticism, although people were skeptical when he wrote it. (Later authentic documents were found which detailed many of the same things.) Suspect (questionable) teaching- Irenaus says: Gnosticism comes from Simon Magus (Simon the Magician) cf. Acts 8 (cf. means compare) and that he had a partner who was a former prostitute. His partner claimed she was the reincarnation of Helen of Troy.

Marcion - Early Gnostic teacher. c. 85 - 160 (c. = circa, which means “about”) Got kicked out of church for beliefs. Idea that O.T. God was “evil.” Rejected Jewish roots of Christianity, Bible - Accepted only edited version of Luke and 10 of Paul’s letters, (wanted to get rid of Jewish influences. Edited out things about Judaism in books he did accept.) View: Jesus was just a manifestation (appearances) of God the Father, NOT a separate person. (Rejected Trinity.) “The Son is the Father appearing to us in a different form.” Large following - Marcionites. (Note- His rejection of some texts spawned the early church’s figuring out which books to accept.) Believed in salvation through faith in Jesus, NOT Gnosis. (although he is considered a Gnostic write due to other beliefs.) Spurred on the orthodox to come up with a canon of accepted texts.

Gnostic beliefs- Pleroma- (literally means “Heavenly realm.” In the heavenly realm, there is the one God, and below him are 33 archons (meaning ruler) (also called emanations and aeons (meaning eternal ones.) who are also in the heavenly realm. These 33 “gods” all represent a different divine attribute. Examples: Sophia, wisdom archon; Jesus, savior archon; Abyss; Silence, etc. (Jesus is not seen as anyone special, just one of the 33 archons.) (Sometimes compared to Greek mythology, but different because each archon only represents one attribute, where in Greek mythology, some gods represented more than one thing.) Below the heavenly realm is the planetary sphere, where the demons reside, and below that, is the material realm, where we live. (Seen as created as a punishment or created by mistake.)

Sophia was banished because of her curiosity (Wanted to penetrate and understand Abyss (an archon who doesn’t have a personality.) This results in creation of Jesus, how material world was created.

Object of Gnosticism- Get from material realm to heavenly realm. Must pass through planetary sphere and resist the temptations of the demons there.

Valentinus- Flourished from 135 - 160, greater leader and teacher in Rome.

Gospel of Thomas- (Thomas was supposedly one of the 12 disciples.) We have Greek fragments from 200 AD.

Question- When was it originally written? Typical dating 100 - 150 AD. (Around time when Gnostics were flourishing.) Codex (books) from Nag Hammadi library - 350 AD. (People say Gospel of Thomas was written later because ideas seem closer to second century than first century.) Arguments for earlier date: Sayings only, no story. Sparse character (simpler) than other N.T. stories.