Love your neighbor. And as the poet William Blake said, “If you would do good, you must do it in Minute Particulars” (not sure why the capitalization!).
Gnosticism is “the thought and practice esp. of various cults of late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis [hard to get to knowledge].” (Merriam Webster)
To expand: Gnosticism “is the ancient but persistently contemporary perversion of the gospel that is contemptuous of place and matter. It holds forth that salvation consists in having the right ideas, and the fancier the better. It is impatient with restrictions of place and time and embarrassed by the garbage and disorder of everyday living. It constructs a gospel that majors in fine feelings embellished by sayings of Jesus. Gnosticism is also impatient with slow-witted people and plodding companions and so always ends up being highly selective, appealing to an elite group of people who are ‘spiritually deep,’ attuned to each other, and quoting a cabal of experts.” (Peterson, Under the Predictable Plant, 130)
If we dug around, we’d notice that Gnosticism is an essential of many world religions which have concluded that God is impressed when the human forsakes the concrete and the commonplace and reaches instead for high-minded concepts.
Yesterday in our men’s Sunday School, we started to ask how the Bible describes the makeup of a human: what are the different components to humanity? The most obvious starting place is that we are embodied creatures.
Yes, God made us as bodies. Sinew, sternum, sweat, semen, scent – and all other “s” and “non-s” bodily parts and processes – all are God’s idea! Also, the limitations inherent in embodied life are God’s idea! A wonderful thought!
We Christians have always wrestled against the tendency toward abstracting and intellectualizing our faith – making it only an interior situation of the soul. Dwelling on the creation fact – that God made us as bodies – and the new creation fact – that God plans to re-make us as bodies – is a chief inoculator from that old heresy, Gnosticism.
Indeed the fitting response to the Gospel is to “present your embodied life to God as a living sacrifice.” (Romans 12:1) So…not just your “religious life” to be offered to and aligned with God, but also your driving and your words to and about your husband and your patriotism and your eating and your web scrolling and your…
Many New Testament books are countering Gnosticism to some degree, but I believe the collected talks of Jerusalem’s first pastor that the Church entitled “James” are completely taken up with this battle between true religion and Gnosticism. Just a few cases in point:
Gnosticism disdains on-the ground righteousness. Its undertone: ‘Morality is for the unenlightened, the fuddy-duddies. When we’re thinking thoughts as sweet or profound as this, what we actually do with our bodies is irrelevant. We’re so exhausted from our intellectual mountain climbing that we cannot bring any exertion into acquiring virtue.’ Gnosticism makes claims to wisdom, but only the heady kind.
James: True religion is to keep yourself unspotted from the world.
James: Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
Gnosticism deals in platitudes, full stop. Gnosticism spouts general principles, ad nauseam.
You know, spiritual warm and fuzzies: “Trust you’re doing well.” “I’ll be praying…” “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” “Oh, I’m so sorry…!” “Isn’t God good?” perhaps accompanied by a smarmy smile. (Where’s my vomit emoji? Ha ha)
But after all the spiritual slogans, nothing follows. Just a bunch of good intentions thrown into the void. Gnosticism might wax eloquent about the suffering or lostness of the world… but never moves toward it with skill and solutions.
James: True religion…is visiting the widows and orphans in their affliction.
James: Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Gnosticism decides to deal with certain people, or not, based on quick calculations pulled from various categories: Are they rich or poor? Serviceable to my life, or not? Intriguing, boring? Intellectually stimulating, or non-reader? MAGA or Biden supporter? Vaccinated or not? In my tribe/ good for my tribe… or outsider?
James: My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
People of SBC, Love your neighbor, in all the Minute Particulars of embodied life.
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