I'rudiMice may well, therefore, lead us to pause before we go further than this, — that the ' bright- ness' accompanying Theophany, Christ ophany. Angelophany, in OT or NT times, and the double meaning brirjhtness and manifested perfertion, con- tained in 565o, led St. I'aul to avail himself of it as the most significant .symbol for the manifestation of perfected human nature ; being also for him the most significant inherited .symbol of the divine perfection as manifested to the human eye. His root-idea is spiritual : in the new life the Spirit is the vitalizing principle, and the new body • raised in glory' (1 Co bV^) {aCi^a not necessarily, with St. Paul, connoting the material) will be spiritual (ttwumotu^i'), the expression and the organ of the spiritual life. J. Massie.
GNAT (Ktivayp). — A term for any insect of the Culkidx, a family of dipterous insects, with bristly stings, included in a flexible proboscis. They penetrate the skin, suck the blood, and at the same time inject a poisonous fluid, which causes swell- ing, and sometimes ulcerations. The humming noise produced by their wings in flight disturbs the rest of their victims, as they are for the most part nocturnal in their habits. The commonest species of gnat in Bible lands is the mosquito. The gnat is mentioned imly once (Mt23-*). where 'strain at' of AV is plainly wrong, and 'strain out' of R\' right. G. E. Posr.
"GNOSTICISM is the comprehensive name u.sed to iinlirace a large number of widely ramified sects, on the borderland between Christianity and heathen thought, which flourished in the 2nd cent. The name in this .sen.se is modern. There were, indeed, sects who called themselves Gnostic (yfoxTTiKoi), as claiming a deeper knowledge of spiritual things, and Church writers (especially Ireuicus) were fond of bringing different false teachers under the condemnation of 1 Ti 6-' ; but there was no common name for these varying .systems, and the limit a.ssigued to the present ase of the word must be to a certain extent arbitrary. The following are among the tendencies charac- teristic of the .so-call>-d Gno.stic sects: — (1) An attempt to grapi)le with the problems of creation, and especially the origin of evil ; (2) an attempt at its solution by theories which postulate a string of emanations extending between the first God and the visible universe, thus concealing the dithcullies of the problem rallier than solving it ; (") a ten- dency towarils dualism, resulting either in asceti- ci.sm or licentiousnc'ss ; (4) a syneretistic tendi'ncy, combining in an artificial manner with .s<ime more or le.ss misunilerstood Christian doctrines, elements from classical. Oriental, and Jewish sources, or even from connnon magic ; (5) a tendency towanls a Docetic Christology, i.e. one which looked upon
•• Co/ij/ni/'i', !'!<''> I'll
the earthly life of Christ, or at any rate the suffir- ings, as unreal ; (6) a tendency to represent 7i/(iirn (knowledge) as .something superior to mere faith, and the special po.s.se.ssion of the more enlightened. Some of the.se characteristics are more common in one, some in another, of the heresies called (inostic, nor probably is it possible to find any one idea common to them all.
i. The following is an account of the various places in the NT where reff. to Gnosticism have been found or imagined. These reff. have played a very large part in the critical discu.ssions of the last sixty years, and in some ca.ses touch on problems not yet solved. For a fuller discussion reference is given to the various separate articles.
1. In Ac H'"--* we have our earliest account of Simon M.vtiis (wh. see), who has played a large part in the history of Gnosticism, and is regarded by ecclesiastical writers as the father of all false teaching. Many doctrines characteristic of Gno.s- ticism are attributed to him in later writers, and works of his are quoted — how far gemtine is very doubtful. From Acts we learn that he practised ' magical arts,' and was called the Great Power of God (^oVrds iffTivij 5vva^sToO$eou ij KaXovfjL^VTj /ityiX-q) . Both these were consistent with the tendencies we call Gnostic.
2. In I Co we find St. Paul using the word yvuKrif, which generalh" in NT implies a deep know- ledge of spiritual things in a bad sense, and con- trasting it with aydirri (1 Co 8' 'knowledge puffeth up, but love ediheth'). There was a tendency to lay undue stress on intellectual gifts.
3. In the Ep. to the Chlus^ians (wli. see) false teachers are attacked who combined a.sceticism, scrupulousness concerning food, new moons, and sabbaths with angel worship (SpriaKela tuc ayyiXuv), and apparently a tendency to depreciate the person of Christ. Their teaching is called 'the philo- sophy and vain conceit ' (5io t^s 0iXo(ro0io5 Kal Keinjt dirdTTjs), is said to be according to the traditions of men, after the elements of (see El.KMEXT) the world (Kara rd (TToixfia toO Kdtr/wv), and a voluntary humility (TaTreivoippoavvri, Col 2*"^). According to Baur ( Ch.Ilist. Eng.tr.i. 127), ' the numerous echoes of Gnosticism and its peculiar doctrines, which are to be found in the three Kjip. to the Ephe- sians, Colossians, and Philippians. are sufficient, had we no other ground to go upon, to fix the position of these works in the post-apostolic age.' But this extreme statement has long cea.sed to be accepted. It has been pointed out by many that the Colossian heresy w;is clearly Judaistic, and that 2nd cent. Gnosticism was strongly anti-.Jewi.sh. Lighlfoot accounted for the •tJnostic' tendencies by supposing a Judaism modified under inlluences similar to that of the Essenes. Hort {Judaistic Christianity, p. 128) denies that there is any ' tangible evidence for EsseiiLsm out of Palestine.' and considers that wo are on 'common Jewish ground.' but the Judaism of the Dispersion and not of Palestine.