GNOSTICISM
891
GNOSTICISM
appropriated to a sacred use. Wc concede, indeed, tliat the latter word (yi^uxnc) usually denotes in their ■writings simply what its etymology implies, the mere act of knowing, or tiie objective knowledge thus ac- quired. In tht)se primitive times it was seldom that anv systematic or scientific exposition of Christian truth was demanded. The contest was with reference to the simple facts of the Gospel, and Christianitj' was fain to secure an existence in the world before it had leisure to speculate upon abstract points. Not only was it unwise to divert men's minds from practical re- ligion, but many true believers were too carnal to be intrusted with a higher wisdom. Paul, therefore, and his fellow-laborers determined to confine their apos- tolic ministrations to such a historical presentation of Jesus Christ and him crucified as might be called the simplest milk of the word. He declares, however (1 Cor. ii, 6), that he sometimes mada known a higher wisdom among such as were perfect, though a wisdom, he is careful to sa}', very different from that which some heathen and .Jewish philosophers had claimed. In other passages he applies the word gnosis to this kind of wisdom. He specifies "the word of knowl- edge" among those peculiar gifts of the Spirit which were possessed b}' the more eminent teachers (1 Cor. xii, 8), and commends a knowledge through which the more discerning believers rose above the fear of the heathen gods, and ate of the things offered to idols as of things in themselves indifferent (1 Cor. viii, 7). He speaks also of a gnosis falsely so called, and thus implies that there was another which trulv deserved the name (1 Tim. vi, 20). In subsequent times this use of the word became common, and great pains were taken to make obvious the distinction between the true Q'/VMmQ aXijOtiJ,]^ and the false gnosis (^yvtomi; xf^tiwio- in)/(o(.). A latelv (1715) discovered treatise of Irenaj- us (entitled yvioa. dXrjf).), and an extended description of the true Gnostic at the close of the Stromata of Clement of Alexandria, have preserved to us the views of the Church on this subject near the close of the 2d century.
It was admitted on all sides that there was a knowl- edge of divine things superior to that of the multitude, not in its importance to the salvation of the soul, but in its intellectual power. It belonged not so much to the pulpit as to the schools, and was important not so much to the personal salvation as to the comfort and growth of believers, and to the acceptance of the Gos- pel among the more educated classes. It took up those facts which were objects of the common faith, and made them subjects of speculation and profound thought. It arranged them, drew from them logical conclusions, reconciled their apparent discrepancies with each other and with the conclusions of science, and applied them to long-agitated questions which were only hinted at, but not solved, in the Christian Scriptures. At this point, however, the true and the false gnosis separated, and took different directions. The former submitted itself without reserve to the au- thority of the Scriptures, and professed never to ven- ture beyond what was written. It presented itself to all men without discrimination of natural talents or social condition. The latter claimed to be aliove the reacli of the vulgar, and to be derived from sources superior to the written word. Clement describes the true Gnostic as one who grows gray in the study of the Scriptures. A scientific culture may be indispen- sable to the higher departments of that studj^ and a true spiritual discernment can be acquired on]}' b}' divine grace, but the natural talents which must be used in its acquisition have been given to all, and each one's success will be proportioned to his prayerful dil- igence. The sources of knowledge, too, were the same for the humblest l)eliever and the most eminent Gnos- tic, for all had access to the Scriptures and the com- mon tradition (Trapadomo) which liad been transmitted in all the churches. The gnosis was simply a faith
made perfect, an expansion of what faith had received, a building constructed wholly of materials supplied by faitl). Its advocates made much use of a passage in Isa. vii, 9 (Sept.) : " If ye believe not, neither shall ve understand;" from which thej' inferred not only that faith is indispensable to knowledge, but that knowl- edge should spring from faith. And yet it cannot be denied that many, especially of the Alexandrian school, gave an undue prominence to this higher knowledge, as if it were indispensable to all religion, and dispar- aged the great body of believers {tvkttik-oi) as incapa- ble of a true spiritual life, as in communion only with the Christ of an earthly and sensuous life, and as actu- ated only by a fear of punishment and a desire of per- sonal benefits. The true Gnostic, on the other han<l, they believed to be favored with such an intuitional faculty for the discernment of truth, and such a per- petual tuition under the divine Logos, that he could dispense, in a great degree, with outward demonstra- tions ; and thej' claimed that his love of knowledge was so intense and disinterested, that if it could even be separated from his eternal salvation he would not hes- itate still to choose it. The subjects on which thev de- lighted to expatiate were chiefij' : God, as he must be conceived of in his absolute being, the incarnation and redeeming work of Christ, the influence of these upon our race and upon other beings, the vast chain of ex- istence between man and God, the fall of some links in this chain and their pro1)able recover}', the origin of this world, the source of moral evil and its elimina- tion from the universe, and the future history and des- tiny of all things. In the discussion of such themes, we need not be surprised to find that they not unfre- quently transcended the province both of reason and of faith, and that some of their speculations were con- demned by their more temperate brethren (Neander, Bist. i, 544-52; Hase, Bisl. § 85; Schaff, Bist. Christ. Church, vol. i, ch. iv).