vcannon
Puritan Board Freshman
Greetings, friends. I have a question associated with first-century culture and politics that I’m hoping someone can help me with. In particular, it concerns the proto-Gnostics that had infiltrated the early Church.
Both Bo Reicke and Michael Green (commentators on Jude) make a statement as historical fact that I was unaware to have occurred. I am looking to confirm or falsify this truth claim they have made, but have been unable to do so in any of my books or online searches for information.
In the first century, proto-Gnostic libertines infiltrated the Church and infected it with their heresy – this is an undisputed fact. We have a very well-documented understanding of the first-century proto-Gnostic beliefs and the fully matured mid-second-century Gnosticism that resulted. One aspect that Reicke and Green submit was a component of the proto-Gnostic ideology was anti-social behavior and anarchistic ambitions. This component, they claim, stimulated more hostility against the Church from Roman authorities than there would otherwise have been, resulting in more persecution and killing of genuine Christians along with the infiltrating subversives.
There is evidence of anarchistic tendencies in later Gnosticism, but it is in relation to the proto-Gnostics of the first century that I am looking to confirm or falsify. The heresy of these reprobates was addressed directly by Paul, Peter, John, and Jude in the New Testament.
The practical application of this idea is obvious – when we compromise and allow our churches to be infiltrated by the ungodly, then we subject ourselves to consequences caused by this ‘mixed multitude.’ Reicke and Green discuss this anti-social and anarchistic element of the proto-Gnostics in association with Jude’s text about them going “the way of Cain” as a murderer of the brethren. The attitude and actions of the infiltrating proto-Gnostics (Cain) resulted in the death of the brethren (Abel.)
Here is a pertinent section from Reicke:
Does anybody know of any historical record that can back up the assertion of Reike and Green that the proto-Gnostics were anarchists?
Both Bo Reicke and Michael Green (commentators on Jude) make a statement as historical fact that I was unaware to have occurred. I am looking to confirm or falsify this truth claim they have made, but have been unable to do so in any of my books or online searches for information.
In the first century, proto-Gnostic libertines infiltrated the Church and infected it with their heresy – this is an undisputed fact. We have a very well-documented understanding of the first-century proto-Gnostic beliefs and the fully matured mid-second-century Gnosticism that resulted. One aspect that Reicke and Green submit was a component of the proto-Gnostic ideology was anti-social behavior and anarchistic ambitions. This component, they claim, stimulated more hostility against the Church from Roman authorities than there would otherwise have been, resulting in more persecution and killing of genuine Christians along with the infiltrating subversives.
There is evidence of anarchistic tendencies in later Gnosticism, but it is in relation to the proto-Gnostics of the first century that I am looking to confirm or falsify. The heresy of these reprobates was addressed directly by Paul, Peter, John, and Jude in the New Testament.
The practical application of this idea is obvious – when we compromise and allow our churches to be infiltrated by the ungodly, then we subject ourselves to consequences caused by this ‘mixed multitude.’ Reicke and Green discuss this anti-social and anarchistic element of the proto-Gnostics in association with Jude’s text about them going “the way of Cain” as a murderer of the brethren. The attitude and actions of the infiltrating proto-Gnostics (Cain) resulted in the death of the brethren (Abel.)
Here is a pertinent section from Reicke:
Does anybody know of any historical record that can back up the assertion of Reike and Green that the proto-Gnostics were anarchists?
