I write this post in order to address some of the questions received about the differences between a Gnostic view of creation and an Orthodox position on creation. Before I begin, I want to stress to those reading it what may be a foregone conclusion. I am writing from my own tradition. Biblical scholars are still wrestling with this today, and I only offer my own opinion of the creation narratives found in Genesis, Chapters 1, 2 and 3.
The question that was posed to me, and for which I am grateful, was “What is the difference between a vision of creation, which is fallen and the Gnostic view, which is that the physical world itself is evil and created by an evil god as a mistake?”
To answer, I would like to first flesh out what I hinted at earlier in my letter to the editor of the Globe Gazette—namely the broader scope of Gnostic thought. Gnosticism originated sometime in the later half of the second century and carries with it a broad scope of belief. However one of the primary building blocks of this philosophy was that it held in the creation being a mistake by an evil god. However, there was another god separate from this malicious creator god. And, it is this god which gives us the knowledge (gnosis) that we need to escape this world. We escape by a certain knowledge given by a “revealer.” This is where Jesus of Nazareth comes in. The Gnostics believed that Jesus was this revealer who had come to impart the knowledge needed to escape the bad physical world. To reconcile how the revealer could take on the flesh of the evil world, the Gnostics reasoned that Jesus only appeared to be physical but was never really human or that he was maybe using humanity as a “shell.” Anyway, this thinking then moved to do away with anything that would elicit that the world was created good. Therefore, Gnostics reject the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) and the creation narrative as being foolish and mistaken. They would also push for a restructured New Testament which would do away with gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and replace them with Gospels of Peter, Thomas, and the recently discovered fragments of Judas. These would downplay the Jewishness of Jesus and his message and would try to replace that with an otherworldly enlightenment. This is a grossly simplistic view but true none the less.
As opposed to this, I believe Orthodox Christianity points to a good creation. In the creation poem in Genesis One (in the Hebrew it’s wonderfully beautiful poetry) the word “good” (Hebrew tov) is used seven times. This refrain points to God affirming that creation is good. Creation is not a mistake. Creation is good. Genesis Two then, which is a narrative retelling of the poem of Genesis Chapter One, carries this theme and affirms the goodness of creation and humanity. This, after all is the point of Genesis one and two. God created the word good and has made humanity in Gods own image. This is an amazing gift. And, this gift of creation is to be cared for and nurtured, (which regrettably has not been the case for the majority of Church history). So then, Genesis One and Two are the story of God’s love and care for humanity. It is the story of a relationship between God and God’s people. We should walk around and marvel and the awesomeness of the world. Animals, planets, microbes, etc. all testify to the goodness of God, (regardless of how God did it).
Then the problem: Genesis Chapter Three begins and we hear about this first man and woman (Adam and Eve) who go against God’s desire to live in loving communion and choose instead to know good from evil. I have heard many people say, “If I were there, I would not have eaten the fruit.” This claim, however, misses the point. The point isn’t so much that two people named Adam and Eve ate fruit but that Adam and Eve are representations of humanity and, when given the freedom to make decisions, humanity made the wrong one. The story is about explaining why there is death, suffering and sorrow in the human experience. Therefore, after this poor decision, humanity is plunged into a state of brokenness, where everything is out of whack. We no longer have that true union with God like we did before the wrong decision. However, now that this brokenness has become a part of our world, God is relentlessly pursuing the world to redeem it and bring it back to its good place, where justice and glory reign. This is the whole point of the rest of scripture; it is the story of God’s unending desire to redeem the world and then restore it to its good condition. This is the point of Jesus. A Jewish rabbi who embodied life as it was really supposed to be lived and wished to show the world God’s deep love for restoration and reconciliation. That is why Christians so deeply love the Hebrew Bible. Because that’s our story too.
I hope that background wasn’t too redundant for you. I feel I had to give that backdrop for what I am going to say now. I wish us all to be on the same page in regard to an understanding of where I believe the differences come in between Gnosticism and Christianity. Gnostics see creation as evil to its core. Everything about the physical world is bad and wrong. Christianity sees creation as good at its core. It is created by a good and loving God. Gnostics preach escapism—fleeing this bad material world, but Christians are to proclaim that, through the resurrection of Jesus, God is now putting the world to rights (although it isn’t always as obvious as we would like it to be). God is restoring the world so that we just don’t fly away and escape but that we live here on this earth as renewed resurrected people in the
I realize that I have gone on way too long (I am a preacher after all) and I realize that this is by no means the end of the conversation but probably just another point in the conversation. There is much more I would like to say and spell out on this subject, but I hope this at least answers the beginnings of your question about the differences of Gnostic and Christian views of creation.
