We see many attempts in the early formation of the church to bring in erroneous teaching. Usually it centred on the person and divinity of Christ. How can He be both fully man and fully God? Gnosticism adds something else to the simplicity of the Gospel – it becomes Jesus plus some other special knowledge. The early church fathers worked hard to establish an orthodox set of beliefs – agreed facts around the person of Jesus, the nature of salvation, the existence of the Trinity, the authority of scripture; all of this done under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Today, the form of gnosticism coming to the church is slightly different. One could argue that it is not around the person of Jesus, (although any challenging of the agreed orthodoxy could ultimately be described as a challenge to the identity and authority of Jesus) but rather it is around the authority of the Bible. It’s no longer “you need to know about Jesus and also know this special secret additional revelation”. It is now; you need to know Jesus but you need to know what is written in the Bible is wrong, it no longer applies, and we have additional knowledge in these days that shows us the truth in the 21st Century.
The Church of England has been heavily influenced by this “we know better in our modern thinking than the early church fathers”. The early church fathers in their ignorance, they say, may have made clear statements about sexuality, gender, marriage and right relationships, but we now know better. We have learned new knowledge. Our thinking has developed and changed. We all need to update our thinking to assimilate this new knowledge. But for orthodox belief, there is no new knowledge. What was written still stands. As the early church fathers contended for orthodox belief in the face of heresies promoted by gnosticism, likewise today, we must contend for orthodox truth in the face of unbiblical choices being made by some churches.
I’m pleased that the CofE has pulled back from some of its proposals in Living in Love and Faith. They have dropped the proposal for a free-standing marriage “blessing” service for gay couples. But they still allow such blessings as part of a normal service. They still accept transgender “priests” to minister as vicars in churches. They still accept openly gay and lesbian “priests” to lead church congregations. They do this despite clear biblical statements that homosexual acts are sinful, that God only made male and female human beings, and that marriage is defined in the Bible as an exclusive union between one mean and one woman until death separates. (I put priests in inverted commas because biblically we’re all priests – there is no New Testament office of priest as leader/vicar)
All of this is a form of modern-day gnosticism. It’s a “we know better” today than they did in the early church times. “We have developed our thinking in line with the 21st Century”. It’s all Jesus plus… It’s all new revelation that “has come to light”. But the gospel needs no additional revelation. The message needs no updating or alteration. The truth of the gospel stands forever as the inspired word of God. The CofE and the other churches that have gone down the same lines, are not at liberty to rearrange or change truth just because it suits them or courts popularity with society at large.
The truth is the truth and always will be. We don’t need anything added or taken away from it.