This post was from an assignment for a seminary class in the historical theology of the early church.

How Did Gnosticism Threaten the Church’s Understanding of Salvation, Creation, and God?

Irenaeus’ argument that Gnosticism distorted the apostolic gospel was correct for three reasons.¹ Irenaeus addressed the heresies of Gnosticism in his work, Against Heresies.

First, it requires one to disbelieve in the fundamental truth that creation is good. Not only does Scripture attest to the goodness of creation seven times in Genesis 1 (cf. Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), but the goodness of creation is God’s self-assessment of His creative work and is therefore the underlying reason for His desire to redeem it. Stripping creation of its goodness neuters the divine impetus for redemption.

Second, Gnosticism requires one to believe that the source of sin is the material entrapment of the spiritual body rather than the rebellious will of humanity. Gnosticism says humanity doesn’t need to be redeemed and sanctified; it needs to be released and permanently liberated from material confinement, a reality that is only attained through acquiring secret gnosis (knowledge). Thus, no link exists between salvation and morality. Gnostics were divided on morality. Some said if the sinful body needs to be disciplined from indulging, then discipline it. Others said if the sinful body needs to indulge, then let it.² Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, 72–73.

Third, Gnosticism denies the simplicity of God. God is not one but many in Gnosticism. The various aspects within the sovereign rule of God was distributed to various Aeons within the Gnostic pantheon. This makes the reality of God being one (cf. Deut. 6:4) impossible.

Gnosticism did not merely blur the apostolic gospel, it formed a theological system that was mutually exclusive to it. To be Gnostic was to be not-Christian.

How did the Rule of Faith protect orthodoxy before the Christian canon was fully recognized?

The Rule of Faith was instrumental in combatting Gnosticism. The Rule of Faith was the summary of the apostolic teaching as preserved and passed down through written and oral teaching. The Gnostics leveraged the written teaching (Scripture) to prove their theology. Irenaeus and Tertullian combatted the Gnostic appeals to Scripture by saying they misinterpreted the text (Against Heresies 1.9.1–5) – that is, their interpretations did not cohere with the full apostolic witness. A correct reception of Scripture and Tradition would complement and reinforce one another. Those who practiced what the Apostles taught understood and interpreted Scripture rightly.

What does the Early Church’s battle against heresy form our understanding of doctrinal boundaries, Scripture, and Tradition? 

I think the early church’s response to heresy teaches us that orthodoxy will not be found by individuals on islands. That which is true must be publicly known from the beginning (cf. Acts 2:1–47), and it also must cohere with the public apostolic witness from multiple angles. It cannot tamper with the received message of Scripture, nor can it tamper with the traditional (apostolic) practice of the faith. The Spirit behind one’s interpretation of Scripture should be the same Spirit that is behind one’s tradition; likewise, that Spirit should also be present in all others who seek to follow the apostolic witness.³Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 50–51; Against Heresies 1.10.1–3.

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Excerpt from Irenaeus’ Response to Gnosticism Called Against Heresies

I have broken the text up into additional paragraphs to make it easier to read. Brackets and spelling are original to the source cited:  

Irenaeus of Lyons, “Irenæus against Heresies,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 330–331.

The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith:

[She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send “spiritual wickednesses,” and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.

2. As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth.

For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shineth everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Nor will any one of the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little diminish it.

Irenaeus, “Against Heresies” 1.10.1–2