What is a Gnostic Christian?

The first ancient Christians had a diverse mix of beliefs that we now call "gnostic". People who identify as gnostic Christians in the modern world are just as diverse.

The right answer to this question is that there is no one correct answer or single set of beliefs that absolutely define what is now termed “gnostic” Christianity. In the ancient world, the first Christians just called themselves “Christians” regardless of any set of specific beliefs. Many of these Christians were culturally Jewish and even spiritually Jewish in that they continued to practice many of the religious traditions that they were born into.

Around about 50 AD - 200 AD neither the gospels or the new testament canonical scriptures that modern Christians would recognize did not exist. It was at this time that Christians passed written scriptures among one another, scriptures that were authored on parchment which were all written more than 50 years after the death of the man called Jesus. Many of these scriptures now termed “gnostic” or non-canonical were written by the earliest Christians and accepted by the early Christians.

The very first compilation of scriptures into a “bible” for early Christians was authored by Marcion of Sinope in or around the year 144 AD. And this first Christian bible contained many of the beliefs and philosophies of what is now recognized as gnostic Christianity.

More specifically, the scriptures that Marcion placed in this first bible claimed that Jesus taught of not one god, but two gods. One being the cruel creator god appearing in the Old Testament, the jealous god, the angry god who wiped out humanity, save for Noah. And the second god, a god who is outside of the material universe of the cruel god of the OT, the god who sent the Christ, and the god who sent the snake to the garden of Eden to offer the gift of knowledge to the new humans. This second god is an unknowable god, where it resides outside of the flawed material universe authored by the cruel creator god.

And it was these teachings which undermined the authority of religious leaders and the emerging church at that time that resulted in Marcion being condemned as a heretic.

But Marcion’s gnostic Christianity wasn’t the only gnostic Christian theology in the ancient world. There were many sects and many of these differed from Marcion’s interpretation of the teachings of scriptures purported to be the sayings or teachings of the Jewish mystic known as Jesus. And so it continues today for those of use who identify as modern gnostic Christians.

Gnostic Christianity is a revelatory spiritual path. The views of the author of this blog may agree or disagree with other people who also identify as gnostic Christians. And for us, this is okay. This differs significantly from establishment or church Christianity where differences in theology or personal revelatory experiences is frowned upon.

Ultimately, there are a few points that, if you identify with gnostic Christianity, underline the spiritual path as a whole. One of those is the flaw of material existence. And because material existence is flawed, nothing within the material world is “perfect”. Scriptures, by their very nature of existing in the material universe will contain imperfection. Whether these are canonical or non-canonical scripture, they are inherently flawed.

But that too, is okay, and doesn’t discount the value of the teachings of the Christ. What it means, is that, unlike the rigid authority structures of the church, our Kingdom is found within.

Scripture is for study. It’s not for controlling other people and it’s not for judging other people. It’s not for political purposes and not for the purpose of establishing authoritarian institutions. As gnostic Christians we hold the pursuit of knowledge, and the golden rule as taught by Jesus as the highest values.

Jesus saves through knowledge, not by faith. Our salvation is assured through our knowledge, not by blind faith in anything knowable or unknowable.

The study of scripture is a way of acquiring spiritual knowledge, but also personal revelatory experiences realized through sacraments are also a way of acquiring spiritual knowledge. Finally, it should be pointed out that it is all forms of knowledge, not just spiritual knowledge, that are of interest to gnostic Christians as all forms of knowledge are the vehicle for the Christ to administer our salvation.

You might be asking yourself, “Salvation from WHAT, exactly?” What does the knowledge the Christ offer us save us from?

Mark 4:33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.

In church or establishment Christianity we are taught that Christ offers salvation through faith from damnation in hell in most cases, in some churches where “hell” is not taught, “salvation” saves from a final annihilation so that one will instead spend eternity with “god” rather than total non- existence. There are other variations on this, but this is a good thumbnail of what “salvation” means in canonical, establishment Christianity.

In gnostic Christianity salvation through knowledge is illustrated in the first words of the Old Testament in the story of the garden of Eden. We learn that the flawed creator god forbade the man and the woman from eating or even touching the Tree of Knowledge that was growing in this garden. Gnostic Christians believe that The One G-d, outside of this material universe sent the Christ in the form of the snake to show the woman the knowledge that she needed to consume and share with the man in order to awaken to who they really were (a Divine Spark) in order to escape the ignorance (the prison) of the creator god (Demiurge) and reunite with The One G-d in the Pleroma. The snake was the savior, not the devil. Gnostic Christianity held to a kind of reincarnation for those who have not awakened, not a literal burning hell or a final annihilation.

Matthew 13: 51-52 Yeshua said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They were saying to him, “Yes, Our Lord.” He said to them, “And because of this, every scribe who is instructed for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the man, a house owner, who brings from his treasure new and old things.”

While not all modern gnostic Christians agree on everything, what defines us as gnostic Christian is that we believe the Christ is the savior who saves us from ignorance when we consume the holy fruits of knowledge that he offers us.