2 Peter Study Week 2 2 Peter 1:3-4 - Harbor Refuge Ministries

2 Peter Study
                                   Week 2
                                    2 Peter 1:3-4
2 Peter 1:2-4
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; (3)
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (4)
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them
you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in
the world by lust.

Hersey:
Gnosticism:
The Gnostics (pronounced näs-tik) were some of the earliest heretics to infiltrate the
church with their poisonous doctrines, arising shortly after the gospel began penetrating
the Roman world near the Mediterranean Sea in the first century. The
word Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge." The Gnostics
believed there was a mysterious or secret knowledge reserved for those with true
understanding, leading to the salvation of the soul. Spiritual salvation was of preeminence
to the Gnostics because they thought the human spirit was naturally good and was
entrapped or imprisoned in the body, which was naturally evil or merely an illusion. Their
goal, therefore, was to free the spirit from its embodied prison, and the only key to unlock
the prison doors was the mysterious knowledge they possessed.i

Gnosticism is an umbrella term for a diverse movement of more than 50 ancient spiritual
sects that sprang up around the same time as early Christianity (though some sects
predated Christianity). Gnosticism peaked in the first and second century, but continued
to influence Western thought for centuries—and still survives in some spiritual belief
systems today.

The term comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge.” Broadly speaking,
Gnosticism was about attaining salvation through knowledge. All material things were
considered bad, and all spiritual things were considered good. Humans were spiritual
beings trapped in material bodies. And knowledge was the key to freeing our spiritual
nature from the chains of the material world.

At best, the Gnostics were quasi-Christian, professing a form of Christianity that had been
so contaminated by Greek philosophy and other belief systems that it had little in
common with the larger Christian church.

God: Gnostic writings often describe God as incomprehensible and unknowable. This idea
conflicts with Christianity’s concept of a personal God who desires a relationship with
human beings. Gnostics also separate the inferior god of creation from the superior god of
redemption.

Salvation: Gnosticism claims hidden knowledge as the basis for salvation. Adherents
believed that secret revelation frees the "divine spark" within humans, allowing the
human soul to return to the divine realm of light in which it belongs. Gnostics, thus,
divided Christians into two categories with one group being carnal (inferior) and the
other being spiritual (superior). Only the superior, divinely enlightened persons could
comprehend the secret teachings and obtain true salvation.

Christianity teaches that salvation is available to everyone, not just a special few and that
it comes from grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), and not from study or
works. The only source of truth is the Bible, Christianity asserts.

Jesus Christ: Gnostics were divided on their beliefs about Jesus Christ. One view held that
he only appeared to have human form but that he was actually spirit only. The other view
contended that his divine spirit came upon his human body at baptism and departed
before the crucifixion. Christianity, on the other hand, holds that Jesus was fully man and
fully God and that his human and divine natures were both present and necessary to
provide a suitable sacrifice for humanity's sin.

The New Bible Dictionary gives this outline of Gnostic beliefs:

"The supreme God dwelt in unapproachable splendour in this spiritual world, and had no
dealings with the world of matter. Matter was the creation of an inferior being, the
Demiurge. He, along with his aides the archōns, kept mankind imprisoned within their
material existence, and barred the path of individual souls trying to ascend to the spirit
world after death. Not even this possibility was open to everyone, however. For only those
who possessed a divine spark (pneuma) could hope to escape from their corporeal
existence. And even those possessing such a spark did not have an automatic escape, for
they needed to receive the enlightenment of gnōsis before they could become aware of
their own spiritual condition... In most of the Gnostic systems reported by the church
Fathers, this enlightenment is the work of a divine redeemer, who descends from the
spiritual world in disguise and is often equated with the Christian Jesus. Salvation for the
Gnostic, therefore, is to be alerted to the existence of his divine spark and then, as a result
of this knowledge, to escape on death from the material world to the spiritual."
Gnostic Writings
Gnostic writings are extensive. Many so-called Gnostic Gospels are presented as "lost"
books of the Bible, but in fact, did not meet the criteria when the canon was formed. In
many instances, they contradict the Bible.ii

Dualism:

Dualism is the idea that there are two equal powers—good and evil—in competition with
one another. Some have adapted this idea into the concept of so-called Christian dualism,
the idea that God and Satan (or evil) stand in conflict, with equal power in competing
with one another.iii

Dualism: Gnostics believed that the world was divided into the physical and spiritual
realms. The created, material world (matter) is evil, and therefore in opposition to the
world of the spirit, and that only the spirit is good. Adherents of Gnosticism often
constructed an evil, lesser god and beings of the Old Testament to explain the creation of
the world (matter) and considered Jesus Christ a wholly spiritual God.

The Flesh:
The earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and
opposed to God

The Bible’s view of human nature differs from that of Greek philosophy in that Scripture
says the physical and spiritual nature of humankind was originally good. By contrast,
philosophers such as Plato saw a dualism or dichotomy in humanity. Such thinking
eventually produced a theory that the body (the physical) was bad, but a person’s spirit
was good. This teaching influenced groups such as the Gnostics who believed the physical
world was mistakenly created by a demi-god called the “Demiurge.” The Gnostics
opposed the doctrine of Christ’s incarnation because they believed God would never take
on a physical form, since the body was evil. The apostle John encountered a form of this
teaching in his day and warned against it: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone
out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that
does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1-3).

Further, the Gnostics taught that it did not matter what a person did in his body, since
the spirit was all that mattered. This Platonic dualism had the same effect back in the first
century as it does today—it leads either to asceticism or licentiousness, both of which the
Bible condemns (Colossians 2:23; Jude 4).

So contrary to Greek thought, the Bible says that humanity’s nature, both the physical
and spiritual, were good, yet both were adversely affected by sin. The end result of sin is a
nature often referred to as the “flesh” in Scripture—something that opposes God and
seeks sinful gratification. Pastor Mark Bubek defines the flesh this way: “The flesh is a
built-in law of failure, making it impossible for natural man to please or serve God. It is a
compulsive inner force inherited from man’s fall, which expresses itself in general and
specific rebellion against God and His righteousness. The flesh can never be reformed or
improved. The only hope for escape from the law of the flesh is its total execution and
replacement by a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

What then is meant by the term “the flesh” (ἡ σὰρξ)? Perhaps most plainly it refers to the
part of us that is alienated from God. It is the rebellious, unruly, obstinate part of our
inner self that is operative all the time. It is the part of us that doesn’t want to be told
what to do. It is stubborn, refuses correction, and doesn’t want to have a thing to do with
God. It bristles at limits and rules. It recoils at anything that might cause me to be
diminished or to be something less than the center of the universe. The flesh hates to be
under authority or to have to yield to anything other than its own wishes and desires. The
flesh often desires something simply because it is forbidden.iv

Implications on Christianity
 For Gnosticism, Jesus cannot be God-made-flesh, but was merely a prophet who came
with the saving knowledge of how to rise above the material realm. This view of nature is
unacceptable to Christianity, which insists emphatically upon the goodness of the
material creation. Irenaeus’s writings focused on the “body” and Creation, Incarnation,
Resurrection, the nature of the Church, sacraments, redemption, the Eucharist, etc.
Irenaeus presented redemption as not the escape of the soul from the body. Instead it is
the salvation and perfection of the body, and it all involves bodiliness, materiality.

Lost Books of the Bible???
The Gnostic Gospels are ancient religious writings which falsely claim to be written by
famous biblical figures such as Peter, Thomas, and Mary.

Most of the Gnostic Gospels that have survived were found in a collection of 13 books
from the third and fourth century AD. The books contain a total of 52 Gnostic texts, not
all of which are “gospels” or even claim to be Christian…. Scholars call these gospels
“pseudepigrapha,” meaning that the claimed author is not the real author.v

Some people have referred to these books as “lost books of the Bible,” as if they were once
included in the Christian canon. Some of them, including a book of sayings known as The
Gospel of Thomas, even appear to contain original quotes from Jesus found nowhere else.

Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Protestants all consider the Gnostic Gospels
apocryphal writings that aren’t divinely inspired, and shouldn’t be included in the canon.

Why did they write about Jesus, using the names of biblical figures?
Ancient writers sometimes used pseudepigraphal writings to lend credibility to their ideas
within particular groups.

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his
shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course
(lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw
what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an
accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed

him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou
teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayed our children.vi

i
   Derrick G. Jeter Mind Over Matter: The Heresy of Gnosticism both Then and Now
    https://www.insight.org/resources/article-library/individual/mind-over-matter-the-heresy-of-gnosticism-
    both-then-and-now
ii
    Gnosticism: Definition and Beliefs Jack Zavada
    https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-gnosticism-700683
iii
    Dualism – What is it? https://www.compellingtruth.org/dualism.html
iv
    Charles Pope What Do the Scriptures Mean by "the Flesh"?
     https://blog.adw.org/2015/01/what-do-the-scriptures-mean-which-speak-of-the-flesh/
v
    Ryan Nelson The Beginner’s Guide to the Gnostic Gospels
     https://overviewbible.com/gnostic-gospels/
vi
    The Infancy Gospel of Thomas http://www.gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm