BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS
The word “heresy” comes from the Greek word hairesis. Besides the meaning most commonly understood today of false beliefs (2 Peter 2:1), the original Greek has such connotations as “division” or “faction” (Acts 5:17; 1 Cor. 11:19). Besides, it could be used as an adjective to identify a religious sect (Acts 26:5) or even what one might consider a “rebel group” (Acts 24:5).
Early Christianity saw a remarkable growth of new doctrines and their followers. Most of its converts were people already steeped in the various religious and philosophical trends circulating both in the Greco-Roman world and in Judaism. As a result, some of the new followers of Christ interpreted Christian doctrine in light of their previous beliefs. Most Christians regarded such syncretistic concepts as heretical. We find evidence of such heretical movements in the writings of early Christians theologians, especially Irenaeus and Tertullian, who fought the questionable concepts. We will briefly look at some of the kinds of heresies that began to infiltrate Christianity.
Ebionites. The name comes from the Hebrew word Ebion, which means “poor.” As Christians of Jewish origin, they emphasized the observance of the Mosaic law. Practicing an ascetic life, Ebionites extolled virginity, rejected the teachings and writings of Paul, accepted only the Gospel of Matthew, and regarded James as their favorite biblical author. Like non-Christian Jews, they recognized the existence of one God, Creator, and Author of the Mosaic Law. While Jesus was God’s ultimate Teacher, He was not divine, being adopted by the Father at the time of His baptism. Most of the movement’s members viewed Jesus as the natural son of Mary and Joseph.
Cerinthus. Also of Jewish origin and probably born in Egypt, all we know about him comes from later Christian traditions, which place him at the end of the first century. His teachings mingled Christianity with ideas from Judaism and Gnosticism. Cerinthus viewed God as separated from the world and who communicated with humanity only through intermediaries. An inferior deity created the world. Jesus Christ was a human being upon whom the divine Christ descended at Jesus’ baptism, then departed at the cross. It was the human Jesus who died, not the divine Christ. The followers of Cerinthus awaited the coming of the Messiah to reign for 1,000 years, with Jerusalem as the capital of His kingdom.
Gnosticism. Perhaps the many varieties of this type of Christianity revealed the most significant influence of Greek philosophy. It is not easy to pinpoint the movement’s origin. Early church Fathers traced it to Simon, the sorcerer (see Acts 8:9-24), but the earliest evidence for its existence is much later in the mid-second century. Gnosticism had many forms and exponents, including Valentinus, who taught in the cities of Alexandria and Rome. His teachings argued that an inferior deity, the “demiurge,” created our imperfect world, and, as with Cerinthus, Jesus had only human nature. The divine Christ entered Him at the moment of His baptism and remained until just before Jesus’ death on Calvary’s cross.
Manichaeism. This movement’s founder, Mani (or Manes), a Parthian probably born in Babylon, first preached in India. His doctrine mingled Zoroastrianism and Buddhism as well as Christianity. He stated that Zoroaster, Buddha, and Christ were all prophets, but he was the last and greatest. Mani advocated an extreme dualism in which God opposed physical matter. Light was divine and darkness corruption. Human beings consist both of a physical body (darkness) and a spiritual soul (light). Jesus Christ is light and thus cannot be composed of a material body, or darkness. Redemption is the release of the soul (light) from the prison of the body (darkness).
Monarchianism. The name means “one ruler” or “one origin.” Tertullian gave it to the followers of this group of Christians for their extreme monotheism. To them, the deity constituted solely of the Father, the reason why they accepted the doctrine of “Alogi,“ which in essence means denying the existence of the Logos or Christ. In its attempt to explain the person of Jesus on earth,Monarchianism divided into two groups: the Dynamic and the Modelist. The first taught that Jesus was a human being, although his birth was supernatural. When God adopted him at Jesus’ baptism, he received power through the Holy Spirit and thus transformed into Christ. The second group proposed the idea that the Father, the one God, appeared as Jesus, the Son, and lived on earth. Their belief in this fact generated the doctrine called Patripasiana in which the Father suffered and died on the cross.
Montanism. Montanus, preaching in Phrygia in Asia Minor, claimed to have received prophetic messages from the Holy Spirit. Two women, Prisca and Maximilla, joined him to extol the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially that of prophecy and the gift of healing by faith. Soon he announced that the present world order would end, and the heavenly New Jerusalem would come down to the city of Papuza. They encouraged their followers to prepare for the event by practicing a life of asceticism, fasting, and celibacy. Among other practices, Montanists accepted baptism and re-baptized without restrictions.
Such heretical groups sought to interpret the teachings of Christ within the framework of non-Christian beliefs and philosophies, many of which were inherently contrary to biblical teaching. The history of these and other groups demonstrate that such movements are ephemeral because their doctrinal foundations rest not on divine revelation. They are grounded in philosophical or speculative concepts that do not harmonize with true Christian doctrine, which is grounded in Scripture.