Reference: Gnosticism
Hastings
GNOSTICISM
1. Gnosticism proper.
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a tutor for the foolish, a teacher of the simple, because in the Law you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth ??21 well then, do you ever teach yourself, you teacher of other people? You preach against stealing; do you steal?
Personally I am quite certain, my brothers, that even as it is you have ample goodness of heart, you are filled with knowledge of every kind, and you are well able to give advice to one another.
None of the Powers of this world understands it (if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).
The unspiritual man rejects these truths of the Spirit of God; to him they are 'sheer folly,' he cannot understand them. And the reason is, that they must be read with the spiritual eye. The spiritual man, again, can read the meaning of everything; and yet no one can read what he is.
The spiritual man, again, can read the meaning of everything; and yet no one can read what he is.
But I could not discuss things with you, my brothers, as spiritual persons; I had to address you as worldlings, as mere babes in Christ.
With regard to food that has been offered to idols. Here, of course, 'we all possess knowledge'! Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.
I may prophesy, fathom all mysteries and secret lore, I may have such absolute faith that I can move hills from their place, but if I have no love, I count for nothing;
Wherever I go, thank God, he makes my life a constant pageant of triumph in Christ, diffusing the perfume of his knowledge everywhere by me.
For God who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," has shone within my heart to illuminate men with the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Christ.
so that you may be transparent and no harm to anyone in view of the day of Christ,
indeed I count anything a loss, compared to the supreme value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have lost everything (I count it all the veriest refuse) in order to gain Christ
due to the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. You heard of this hope originally in the message of the Truth, in that gospel
He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all the creation ??16 for it was by him that all things were created both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers; all things have been created by him and for him;
he is prior to all, and all coheres in him. Also, he is the head of the Body, that is, of the church, in virtue of his primacy as the first to be born from the dead ??that gives him pre-eminence over all.
Also, he is the head of the Body, that is, of the church, in virtue of his primacy as the first to be born from the dead ??that gives him pre-eminence over all. For it was in him that the divine Fulness willed to settle without limit, read more. and by him it willed to reconcile in his own person all on earth and in heaven alike, in a peace made by the blood of his cross.
in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden!
Beware of anyone getting hold of you by means of a theosophy which is specious make-believe, on the lines of human tradition, corresponding to the Elemental spirits of the world and not to Christ.
Beware of anyone getting hold of you by means of a theosophy which is specious make-believe, on the lines of human tradition, corresponding to the Elemental spirits of the world and not to Christ. It is in Christ that the entire Fulness of deity has settled bodily,
It is in Christ that the entire Fulness of deity has settled bodily, it is in him that you reach your full life, and he is the Head of every angelic Ruler and Power;
it is in him that you reach your full life, and he is the Head of every angelic Ruler and Power; in him you have been circumcised with no material circumcision that cuts flesh from the body, but with Christ's own circumcision,
in him you have been circumcised with no material circumcision that cuts flesh from the body, but with Christ's own circumcision,
in him you have been circumcised with no material circumcision that cuts flesh from the body, but with Christ's own circumcision, when you were buried with him in your baptism and thereby raised with him as you believed in the power of the God who raised him from the dead.
when you were buried with him in your baptism and thereby raised with him as you believed in the power of the God who raised him from the dead. For though you were dead in your trespasses, your flesh uncircumcised, He made you live with Christ, He forgave us all our trespasses,
For though you were dead in your trespasses, your flesh uncircumcised, He made you live with Christ, He forgave us all our trespasses, He cancelled the regulations that stood against us ??all these obligations he set aside when he nailed them to the cross,
He cancelled the regulations that stood against us ??all these obligations he set aside when he nailed them to the cross, when he cut away the angelic Rulers and Powers from us, exposing them to all the world and triumphing over them in the cross.
when he cut away the angelic Rulers and Powers from us, exposing them to all the world and triumphing over them in the cross. So let no one take you to task on questions of eating and drinking or in connexion with the observance of festivals or new moons or sabbaths.
So let no one take you to task on questions of eating and drinking or in connexion with the observance of festivals or new moons or sabbaths. All that is the mere shadow of what is to be; the substance belongs to Christ.
All that is the mere shadow of what is to be; the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one lay down rules for you as he pleases, with regard to fasting and the cult of angels, presuming on his visions and inflated by his sensuous notions,
Let no one lay down rules for you as he pleases, with regard to fasting and the cult of angels, presuming on his visions and inflated by his sensuous notions, instead of keeping in touch with that Head under whom the entire Body, supplied with joints and sinews and thus compacted, grows with growth divine.
instead of keeping in touch with that Head under whom the entire Body, supplied with joints and sinews and thus compacted, grows with growth divine. As you died with Christ to the Elemental spirits of the world, why live as if you still belonged to the world? Why submit to rules and regulations like
As you died with Christ to the Elemental spirits of the world, why live as if you still belonged to the world? Why submit to rules and regulations like "Hands off this!" "Taste not that!" "Touch not this!" ??22 referring to things that perish by being used? These rules are determined by human precepts and tenets;
"Hands off this!" "Taste not that!" "Touch not this!" ??22 referring to things that perish by being used? These rules are determined by human precepts and tenets;
they get the name of 'wisdom' with their self-imposed devotions, with their fasting, with their rigorous discipline of the body, but they are of no value, they simply pamper the flesh!
they get the name of 'wisdom' with their self-imposed devotions, with their fasting, with their rigorous discipline of the body, but they are of no value, they simply pamper the flesh!
Husbands, love your wives, do not be harsh to them.
and studying myths and interminable genealogies; such studies bear upon speculations rather than on the divine order which belongs to faith.
The training of the body is of small service, but religion is of service in all directions; it contains the promise of life both for the present and for the future.
O Timotheus, keep the securities of the faith intact: avoid the profane jargon and contradictions of what is falsely called 'Knowledge.'
It is by faith we understand that the world was fashioned by the word of God, and thus the visible was made out of the invisible.
My dear children, I am writing to you, because your sins are forgiven for his sake: fathers, I am writing to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I am writing to you, because you have conquered the evil One. Children, I have written to you, because you know the Father: read more. fathers, I have written to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I have written to you, because you are strong, and the word of God remains within you, and you have conquered the evil One.
Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.
and every spirit which does not confess Jesus [incarnate] does not come from God. This latter is the spirit of antichrist; you were told it was coming, and here it is already in the world.
I have written in this way to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may be sure you have life eternal.
Still, you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, and I hate them too.
So even with you; you likewise have some adherents of the tenets of the Nicolaitans.
Still I have this against you: you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who styles herself a prophetess and seduces my servants by teaching them to give way to sexual vice and to eat food which has been sacrificed to idols.
But for the rest of you at Thyatira, for all who do not hold these tenets, for those who have not (in their phrase) 'fathomed the deep mysteries of Satan' ??for you this is my word: I impose no fresh burden on you;
Then to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation.
'The conqueror I will allow to sit beside me on my throne, as I myself have conquered and sat down beside my Father on his throne.'
Morish
An early system of philosophy professedly Christian. One of their theories was that the Lord was an ?on and not really a man. Apparently to refute this the apostle insists on Christ having come 'in flesh.' 1Jo 4:2-3; 2Jo 1:7. The same may be alluded to in Col 2:9, "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," in opposition to their mysticism. See GENEALOGIES.
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You can recognize the Spirit of God by this: every spirit which confesses Jesus as the Christ incarnate comes from God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus [incarnate] does not come from God. This latter is the spirit of antichrist; you were told it was coming, and here it is already in the world.