Much of the Gospel of
John, if not outright Gnostic (several passages are), shows its writers to
have been travelling in the same philosophical circles.
Other than John, most of the Gnostic references in the New
Testament can be found in the letters attributed to Paul of Tarsus. Though opinion from those quarters is far
from unanimous, many scholars have identified—by shift of writing styles,
abrupt shifts in subject, and other tell-tale signs—these passages as interpolations
which they politely denominate “Deutero-Pauline”, but which I call what they
are: “Pseudo-Pauline”.
* * * * *
‘Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only
one loaf with them in the boat. And he
cautioned them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
the leaven of Herod.” And they
discussed it with one another, saying, “We have no bread.” And being aware of it, Jesus said to them,
“Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are
your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you
not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five
thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to
him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the
four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet
understand?”’ (Mark 8:14-21)
The feeding of the five thousand and of the four thousand in
Mark and Matthew takes on Gnostic significance in the number
of baskets of broken fruit collected after the crowds were fed. In The Sophia of Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, Jesus has twelve
disciples and seven female followers, for instance, and the numbers twelve and
seven also stand for the twelve zodiac constellations and the seven planets. ‘The Twelve’ also refers to the chief
apostles and ‘The Seven’ to the first seven ‘deacons’. A more direct Gnostic reference, common to nearly all systems, would be the Twelve lowest Aeons, known as the Dodecad, and the Seven highest Archons, known as the
‘Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of
God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things
that can be observed; nor
will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom
of God is inside (‘entos’) each of you”.’
(Luke 17:20-21)
Nearly all
translators, uncomfortable with the idea that Jesus would be telling the
Pharisees, not his biggest fans, that the kingdom of God is inside them,
usually mistranslate this ‘entos’ as ‘among’ or ‘within’ implied as ‘among’. While there are Greek words that can be
translated that way as well as ‘inside’, ‘entos’ is not one of those; it is
quite specific in referring to being inside the boundaries of an interior.
‘And
from his Pleroma have we all
received, Charis upon Charis.’ (John 1:16)
‘Pleroma’ is a Gnostic
term meaning ‘fullness’, and referred to the Gnostic “region of light”, the
hidden spiritual realm of archetypes.
Below Pleroma was the Kenoma, or visible manifest world created by the
Demiurge but ordered by the Logos.
‘Charis’ was one of the chief aeons in several
Gnostic hierarchies, in many systems equated with Sige, The Silence.
‘”Now is the judgment of this Aeon; now the Archon
of this Aeon will be driven out”.’ (John
12:31)
In Hellenistic
philosophy, ‘aeon’ meant ‘age’, as in ‘era’, as well as this current ‘world’; in
most Gnostic systems it referred to emanations of The One, beings which roughly
correspond to the Yazatas of Mazdayasna mythology, though it sometimes was used
in the general Hellenistic sense. The
word literally means ‘eternity’.
‘“I will no longer talk much with you, for the Archon of this Aeon is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the
Father has commanded me, so that the Cosmos
may know that I love the Father”. ‘ (John
14:30-31a)
Supernatural ‘archons’,
‘rulers’, were a major motif of most Gnostic systems. The ‘ruler of this world’, as “archon of this
aeon” is usually translated, is the Demiurge, the lesser Aeon who created the Kenoma,
or manifest visible realm, identified in some schools with Yahweh, the God of
the Tanakh. The other archons were
servants of the Demiurge. In some
circles, there were seven archons, roughly corresponding to the Kamiligan Dewan
of Mazdayasna, and they were considered the lowest of the emanations of the
Godhead.
‘“And when he comes, he will prove the Cosmos wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do
not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and
you will see me no longer; about
judgment, because the archon of this aeon
has been condemned”.’ (John 16:8-11)
Another reference to
the Demiurge.
‘Now to the One who
is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus
Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery
that was hidden in Sige for long aeons.’ (Romans 16:25)
The highest Aeon, or
Immortal, in most Gnostic systems was the One, also known as the Monad, the
Absolute, Aion Teleos, Bythos (Depth), he-Arke (Beginning), Proarke (Before the
Beginning), Propator (‘First Father’), Afato Gonea (Ineffable Parent), Arrhetus
(Unspeakable). Among Christian Gnostics,
the term Theos, literally ‘God’, was more often used.
Sige (‘The Silence’) was
the primal feminine counterpart to the masculine One. Sige was also called Ennoia (‘Intent’) and Charis
(‘Grace’).
The rest of the Aeons, some thirty of them
(depending on the school), were offspring of the union of the One and the
Silence and of their offspring.
‘Yet among the mature we do speak Sophia, though it is not Sophia of this aeon
or the archons of this aeon,
who are doomed to perish. But we speak
God’s Sophia, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the aeons for our glory.
None of the archons of this aeon
understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory.’ (1 Corinthians 2:6-8)
While Sophia (‘Wisdom’)
was one of the highest ideals in most of Hellenistic society including among
Hellenistic Jews such as Philo, among Gnostic Sophia was of the lesser Aeons. Among Christian Gnostics, Sophia was the
Bride of Christ, both being of the Aeons.
‘Those who are psychikoi
do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and
they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are pneumatikoi discern all things, and they are themselves
subject to no one else’s scrutiny.’ (1
Corinthians 2:14-15)
All Gnostic systems of
thought shared a three-stage ranking of consciousness, or knowledge, in humans:
(1) hylics, those governed by their body needs; (2) psychics, those governed by
their souls, a feature shared with many
animals; and (3) pneumatics, those governed by the divine spark within
them of which they had gnosis, or ‘knowledge’.
The references here are not even barely disguised.
‘To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of Sophia,
and to another the utterance of Gnosis
according to the same Spirit.’ (1
Corinthians 12:8)
Here Gnosis and Sophia
are linked. In Christian Gnostics
systems, Sophia is not only the Bride of Christ, the feminine counterpart to
the Aeon Christ, but also the Holy Spirit.
‘So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the
elemental spirits of the Cosmos.
But when the Pleroma of time
had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those
who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.’ (Galatians 4:3-5)
‘You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you
once lived, following the Aeon of
this world, following the Archon
of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who
are disobedient.’ (Ephesians 2:2)
‘For in him all the Pleroma
of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to
himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the
blood of his cross.’ (Colossians
1:19-20)
‘For in him the whole Pleroma
of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to Pleroma in him, who is the head of every Archon and Authority.’ (Colossians
2:9-10)
‘He disarmed the Archons
and Authorities and made a
public example of them, triumphing over them in it.’ (Colossians 2:15)
‘I became its servant according to God’s commission that was
given to me for you, to make the Pleroma
of the Logos of God known, the mystery that has been
hidden throughout the aeons
and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.’ (Colossians 2:25-26)
‘If any of you lacks Sophia,
let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and
it will be given him.’ (James 1:5)
‘It is these psychikoi,
devoid of the Spirit, who are
causing divisions.’ (Jude 1:19)
The following passage
is taken from the late first century-early second century document commonly
known as the Didache. In the early centuries of the Church, it was
deemed part of the sacred New Testament canon, before that became standardized. The prayers are those for the Eucharistic
meal, and meal it was at that time, before the blessing was divorced from the
meal it blessed and reduced to the equivalent of a magic incantation.
‘First concerning
the Cup: We give you thanks, Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you made known to us
through your servant Jesus; glory to you forever.
‘And concerning the broken Bread: We give you thanks, Father, for the Zoe (life) and Gnosis (knowledge) which you made known to us through your servant Jesus; glory to you forever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains but was brought together and became one, so let your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, for yours are the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.
‘But after you are
satisfied with food, thus give thanks: We give you thanks, holy Father, for
making your holy name dwell in our hearts, and for the Gnosis and Pistis
(faith) and Athanasia (immortality)
which you made known to us through
Jesus your servant; glory to you forever.
‘You, Lord Almighty, created all
things for your name’s sake, and gave all humanity food and drink for our
enjoyment, that we might give thanks to you, but you have blessed us with
spiritual food and drink and eternal light through your servant. Above all we give thanks that you are mighty; glory
to you forever.
‘Remember, Lord, to deliver your Ekklesia (church) from all evil and to
make it perfect in your love, and gather it together in holiness from the four
winds to the kingdom which you have prepared for it; for yours are the power
and the glory forever.
‘Let Charis come and let this Aeon (world) pass away. Hosannah, God of David. If anyone be holy, let them come! If anyone be
not, let them repent: Maranatha. Amen.’
(Didache, chapters 9 and 10)
The structure of this
work is thoroughly Jewish in origin, yet on closer examination one finds
elements of the Gnosticism which sprang from Judaic roots as did Christianity.
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