How is Gnosticism Disguised as Christianity Today?

One aspect of Gnosticism is the belief that the God who created the material world is not the Father of Jesus Christ. The epistle of 1 John, which is a rebuke to Gnosticism, begins by rebuking the disconnection of Jesus from the God which created all things in the Book of Genesis. 1 John’s introductory verse simultaneously rebukes the Gnostic lies that the material world is evil and that Jesus did not have a physical body.

1 John will go on to rebuke the Gnostic belief that the human body is hopelessly corrupt. Churches of many varieties prove they believe this by how they regard those who say that victory over sin in Christ is possible and that continually sinning is neither necessary nor acceptable. When people believe that it is normal and expected to be defeated by sin until you die, even when one has authentic faith in Jesus Christ, they are infected by Gnosticism disguised as Christianity. Many also support this belief by the lie that the defeated man in Romans chapter 7 was Paul’s present experience as a Christian. The epistle of 1 John refutes this Gnostic belief over and over.

Another aspect of Gnosticism is the concept that people possess divinity within themselves. In evangelical churches, a variation of this concept is commonly brought in through the teaching that Christians have the personal righteousness of Christ imputed to them. This practically tells people that they are esteemed as divine in God’s eyes. Whether one believes that they are inherently divine or that they are esteemed by God as divine, either way it makes them believe they are immune to the wrath of God as they practice sin. Numerous statements in 1 John reprove this delusional mentality.

Gnosticism also claims that there is spiritual enlightenment through knowledge which one should obtain outside of the Biblical testimony. Though a modern group which is a blatant example of this is the Freemasons, this is applicable to any who claim to possess spiritual knowledge which no one else could possibly obtain through studying and obeying the Bible.

Another aspect of Gnosticism is the idea that subjective impressions are just as valid or better than direction from the written words of God in the Bible. People are essentially practicing Gnosticism when they neglect what is written in the Bible for subjective impressions. People often justify this by saying “The Holy Spirit led me.”

Asceticism is also a potential product of Gnosticism. Though many Gnostics have gone in the other ditch of indulging the body in sinful pleasures and excess, some have rather gone into the ditch of Asceticism. Asceticism is unnecessarily strict austerity and unnecessary deprivation of the body. When this is treated as spirituality, it can easily result in false holiness and many forms of sin (1 Timothy 4:1-3).