Today, I want to talk about Gnosticism because I see some confusion as to what it is and what it is not. And there is most definitely Gnosticism in the church today.

Know that there are many aspects of Gnosticism, but I will only be specifically discussing one of them, which is how they view the physical and the spiritual.

As with all the things I discuss, I only want to look at it through Christ.

Gnosticism says that anything physical is evil and is against anything spiritual, which is the only good.

Many churches around the world also teach that the flesh is evil. But we will see in Christ that the flesh is not evil but rather it is impotent in is ability to bring forth the life of God (and always has been) and to rely upon it for such, is what would be evil.

We see that Jesus being raised in an immortal flesh and bone body is a demonstration that God does not dis-esteem a flesh body, but what He disesteems is a body that can die and man perishing.

In other words, God does not agree that the flesh is evil, He made Adam in flesh before death entered.

His plan for Adam was for Adam to be persuaded to eat from the tree of life where he would be joined to Christ immortal. And when I say this, I am simply saying Adam would be immortal, which would include his flesh. They would be one flesh and in doing this Adam would have subdued the earth and heaven and earth would be joined as one incorruptible, being joined to Christ.

Instead, Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and was joined to death. Which death, God described to him as his body returning to the dust it was made from, whereby he would perish.

Which of course was not God’s original plan. But know this, God’s wisdom was never corrupted, but the wisdom Adam ate from was, and this brought corruption and death into himself, his seed after him and the world.

God made man physical, so to say that physical is evil, would be to say God created evil. Which by the way some do say, so let’s take just a second to address that with “the verse” which is used to say this.

First, know that to say that God created evil you would have to contradict many other verses.

2 Cor 6:14 - what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

1 John 1:5 - This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Okay, so here is the verse that is used to say this.

Isaiah 45:7 - I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

I could say a lot of things here but to keep it simple the word “create” used here is a poor translation for us in English and can be defined a few ways; "to cut down" "to cut out by shape" "make fat = blow up, expose" "be fat = "be free of a thing, sound, healthy".

In other words:

Isaiah 45:7 - I form the light, and cut out the darkness: I make peace, and expose evil: I the LORD do all these things.

God, who created Adam in a physical flesh body did not create Adam as evil or from evil but after he formed him and breathed life into him, He said, it was very good.

So, to recap, the flesh is not what is evil, as God created Adam in flesh but having no ability to bring about the life of God in us, which is God’s desire, to use the flesh as such would be evil.

We can see in the resurrection that God does not think that the flesh is evil, but the thing which God is against is the death that entered, the death in our flesh, whereby we can perish and return to dust.

The resurrection made straight God’s plan for man despite the death and corruption that entered and that was planted in the earth by raising Jesus in an immortal flesh and bone body, conquering death in His flesh, the Lord over (with power and dominion over) sin and death, who can now at His coming, subdue the earth by joining heaven and earth whereby the death that currently remains in the earth will be swallowed up.

The Gnostic, never seeing the flesh as anything good does not see or understand quite frankly that their death needed to be conquered in the flesh. And rejecting that idea would deny that Jesus came out of the grave in a flesh body free from death. The mere fact that God would come as a man in the flesh would also be objectionable.

Which is why in 1 John 4, John says to test the spirits or the doctrines as to whether they be of God, if they deny that Jesus came out of the grave in the flesh they are not from God.

So now, let us address what Gnosticism is not. First, I want to revisit with additional clarity what happened when man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God describes the death of Adam as the certainty that Adam will die and return to the dust of the ground.

And we know that eternal life is a gift which can only come from being joined with God, the only immortal. No creature can have eternal life apart from Him. So, to put it plainly Adam would perish in returning to the ground. Jesus confirms this in John 3 where He says that believe on Me so that you do not perish but have everlasting life. He is saying, you are already perishing if you are not trusting in the Lord from heaven to rescue you from death and give you His life.

Now, what I am going to say might seem controversial, but it is not meant to be but no one as of today has perished in the grave. No one!

You might be asking, how I can say that? Are you saying that all men have eternal life no matter what? No, I am certainly not but as I just said, Jesus said they are perishing but they have not yet perished.

How do we know?

Well, for a few reasons, the first being that God has appointed a day where the secrets of men’s hearts will be judged. In other words, the wisdom which they have trusted upon will be revealed. What is already in their heart will be revealed. The scripture says that their will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. The just are those who have believed upon the testimony which God has given in the Son and unjust are those who have trusted in their own works to obtain to life and immortality.

Now the resurrection of the just and unjust should be enough to prove that no one has yet perished but we also know that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have not perished. Jesus said referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. We know that Moses and Elijah appear on the mount of transfiguration to discuss Jesus’ departure from the earth.

We also know that these men have died. So, having died in their bodies, Jesus is saying they still live. Is He a Gnostic? God forbid.

Doesn’t Jesus telling the thief, “Today, you will be with me in paradise”, mean that the thief being absent from his body will be with Jesus in a place Jesus calls paradise?

So, is it Gnosticism to think that believing upon the death and resurrection of Jesus that we also being absent from a body which is in the grave, would not also be with Him?

Most certainly not.

Listen to Paul bringing comfort to those who lost love ones in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4, emphasis added ( ) for understanding.

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those whose (bodies are) asleep (in the grave), so that you do not sorrow, like others who have no hope (without Christ in the world).

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those also whose (bodies) sleep (in the grave but are alive) in Jesus will God bring (along) with Him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain (in the body) until the coming of the Lord will not prevent those who are (present with the Lord but absent from the body) asleep (in the grave).

Some have argued that anything which is seemingly against the body is Gnosticism, but as we discussed regarding what was revealed in the resurrection of Christ concerning the flesh, let me ask another question:

When Jesus gave Himself up to be crucified, which was He esteeming, the incorruptible life which was promised and hidden with the Father or His corruptible body?

Jesus’ disregard for the life He could have in a corruptible body, is not Gnosticism of course. Paul would called it “this body of death”.

We could say that the body Jesus was dying on the cross with was not His life. This corruptible body is not your life, but your life is hidden with Christ in God.

And being born from that life revealed in Christ, that same Spirit, your life is no longer but dust. But you have the Spirit of adoption whereby we wait for the certain (the hope) of the adoption, which is the redemption of our body’s immortal.

You see, Jesus’ disregard for His corruptible body (or the life He could have with it) was not some rejection of God’s original plan for man to be join to God as one and immortal in their flesh, nor is it Gnosticism. And so, it is also not Gnosticism for you to say or believe the same.

Your corruptible body is not your life, your life is hidden with Christ in God. To say this, is not a disregard for God’s plan to raise you up in immortal flesh like Jesus, and it is not Gnosticism.

This is not saying that the flesh is evil but rather that your life is not found in the corruption of your flesh but is found in Christ.

So, if your corruptible flesh does not remain until Christ' return but your body falls asleep in death, where is your life found?

I hope you are seeing that the answer is the same, In Christ.

Grace & Peace

John