If today’s Christian could travel back in time to the first and second centuries, she would no doubt be surprised that the simpler, purer, and homogenous Christianity so often portrayed in Christian children’s books never was. I discuss this further in my Spirituality Counseling Sessions, but let me explain here that small factions abounded, each of which viewed Jesus and his message differently, and each of which produced a different scripture. In time, according to Antonio Pinero, in a 2017 National Geographic article entitled, “Seeking the Hidden Gospels” (or Gnostic gospels), three main perspectives emerged: that of the Jews, who viewed Jesus as a mortal messiah (a leader favored by God) who would re-establish them in an earthly paradise; that of St. Paul, who viewed Jesus as divine and saw his purpose as sacrificial; and that of the gnostic Christians, whose interpretation I’ll describe shortly. Of these three, the St. Paul faction, of course, eventually won out.
By A. D. 200, in the words of renowned theologian and author Elaine Pagels, “Christianity had become an institution headed by a three-rank hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons, who understood themselves to be the guardians of the only “true faith.” … Deploring the diversity of the earlier movement, Bishop Irenaeus and his followers insisted that there could be only one church, and outside of that church, he declared, ‘there is no salvation.’ Whoever argued for other forms of Christian teaching was declared a heretic, and expelled. When the orthodox gained military support, sometime after the Emperor Constantine became Christian in the fourth century, the penalty for heresy escalated”—and possession of heretical books became dangerous.
Around that time, and probably because of the afore-mentioned edict, 12 leather-bound Gnostic codices–what we now term the Gnostic Gospels, were packed inside a large jar and buried near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, where they remained for almost 1,600 years. Now that we have recovered them, albeit, in damaged form, of particular interest is their assertion that Jesus conveyed secret teachings hidden from “the many”. Although this may seem sensational, unlikely, and the pure imaginings of first century conspiracy theorists, it is not so radical as it seems. Specialized, select teachings were common among the spiritual groups of that time and place—particularly within Roman and Egyptian groups—i.e. the mystery cults.
In fact, in Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince’s book, The Masks of Christ, they discuss a letter written by one of the most eminent of the Church Fathers, Clement of Alexandria, in which he expresses his dismay that a certain sect had distorted one of Jesus’ “secret teachings”. Clement believed that there were “effectively three levels to Jesus’ teaching: one for public consumption—as in the canonical Mark; a more spiritual set for “initiates only”; and a third grade so exalted that it was beyond the capabilities of human expression and could never be written down at all, presumably reserved for highest graduates and passed on orally.” (p. 32)
At any rate, according to Gnostic teachings, Jesus taught that knowledge of self, and through this, knowledge of God, is what leads to unity with God. In Pagels’ book, she includes the following quote from the gnostic teacher, Monoimus:
Abandon the search for God and the creation and other matters of a similar sort. Look for him by taking yourself as the starting point. Learn who it is within you who makes everything his own and says, “My God, my mind, my thought, my soul, my body.” Learn the sources of sorrow: joy, love, hate . . . If you carefully investigate these matters you will find him in yourself.”
They believed, in short, in the following:
-that one could experience the divine through inner transformation, and “that all humans bear a flicker of divinity, and their spiritual journey was to reconnect with it.” (Pagels)
-that the desires and suffering of the body distract most of us so much that we remain unaware of this holy spark within us
-that a series of beings are born to help people rediscover it (Jesus would be one of these beings.)
-that the living Jesus of the Gnostic gospels “speaks of illusion and enlightenment, not of sin and repentance… Instead of coming to save us from sin, he comes as a guide who opens access to spiritual understanding. But when the disciple attains enlightenment, Jesus no longer serves as his spiritual master: the two have become equal–even identical.
For instance, in the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, as soon as Thomas recognizes him, Jesus says, ‘I am not your master… He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am: I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.’” (Pagels)
As can be seen, the Jesus of the Gnostic Gospels was quite different from the Jesus of the New Testament gospels—a Jesus whose life narrative most theologians agree is, in places, inaccurately depicted or even invented. (For instance, Herod’s slaughter of the innocents likely never took place.) So, while the Gnostic version of Jesus only adds more complexity to the shifting sands beneath the historical Jesus’s feet, it is a quite intriguing version, and for some, will rejuvenate their faith rather than enervate it.