Gnosticism

Threat of Gnosticism

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The early Christians believed in Jesus and accepted him for what he claimed to be, Messiah and Lord. The Gnostics taught a form of Platonic dualism between the spiritual and the material and said that Christ could not have lived an actual human life and have also been God. He was one of many spirits, they said, and did not really acquire human form, though he seemed to. Such assertions were obviously heretical and was the first instance where truth was challenged by false teaching.

Impact: The competition with Gnosticism compelled the early Christians to define and defend their faith, and supplied certain of the technical terms of later theology. With the aid of apologists and teachers, the Church worked itself free from Gnosticism. Several of the eminent champions of orthodoxy drew up simple statements of belief as rules of faith. One of the first to do this was Ignatius of Antioch who wrote that Jesus was “truly born, ate and drank, truly suffered persecution under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died, who was also truly raised from the dead, his Father raising him up.” Such rules of faith as this became standards in the local churches, and later they were elaborated into creeds, like the Apostles’ Creed.

Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens

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Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian (c. 160- c. 220) was born in Carthage, North Africa. He studied law as a young man. In about 195 he converted to Christianity and spent the rest of his life utilizing his skills as a rhetorician to defend the faith against pagan philosophies and heresies. He wrote various influential apologies, including Against Marcion where he condemned one of the key advocates of Gnosticism. He was an early codifier of Christian doctrine and held influential views on matters of infant baptism, moral purity, and Trinitarian doctrine.

Irenaeus

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Irenaeus (c. 2nd century) was born somewhere in western Asia Minor, probably Smyrna. He studied religion and philosophy under Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. He was a missionary to Gaul, or modern-day France, and eventually became the bishop of Lyons when the previous bishop was martyred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He served with great distinction and there are indications that most of the population of Lyons accepted the message of Christ during his lifetime. He wrote extensively, including his best-known treatise, Against All Heresies, which defended the true faith against Gnosticism. He was the first early church Father to extensively use the entire New Testament in his writings and to show the unity between the Old and New Testaments.