The Ancient Poisons: Discernment Heresies of the New Testament
Josephus (37-100 AD), the Jewish historian, gives us some additional details about the Sadducees which confirm their New Testament descriptions. He paints them as forming the social and political élites of Israel. He also reports that the Sadducees did not believe in the immortality of the soul, and thus no rewards or punishments from God in the afterlife. But they enjoyed philosophical discussions – something like the typical Hellenistic Epicurean philosopher of the age.[11]
The Pharisees and Sadducees were at odds with each other constantly, as pictured in Acts 23, where Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin. Paul caused a “great uproar” when he declared his belief in the resurrection of the body, in solidarity with the Pharisees on the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees began arguing with the Pharisees over this issue and the argument became so heated that the Roman guards had to remove Paul from the court for his own safety.
Besides differing views on the resurrection and angels, there was another critical division between the Pharisees and Sadducees. This was of how one became righteous and holy. The Pharisees’ believed that holiness was the result of following God’s commandments as given in the Mosaic Law. The Sadducees believed, to the contrary, that holiness came from participating in Temple worship and being near the holy utensils and garments of the Temple rituals.[12]
In effect, both sides, Pharisees and Sadducees held theologies as to the way to holiness. The Pharisees, who were not priests and had no direct access to the inner Temple, believed holiness could be achieved only by study and obedience of the Law. This was something any Jew could achieve as they joined the Pharisee club. The Sadducees believed that what they did in the Temple was the road to holiness, and only they could do it![13] Unlike the Pharisees and the Essenes, there are no surviving Sadducee documents explaining their side of the story.[14] But like the Essenes, they disappeared as a political/religious sect with the Jewish revolt and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
Yet for us, they serve as the Biblical prototype and warning of faith-deficient groups that can gain control of religious institutions. In fact, the term Sadducee has periodically been used at times by Evangelical Christians to define certain form of “weak faith” Christianity such as Deism and Unitarianism.[15]
Gnosticism: The heresy that “knows”[16]
A deceptive poison: The heresy of Gnosticism teaches that salvation comes through knowledge.
Image: Florian van Duyn
Gnosticism is the other major discernment heresy of the New Testament, though not directly named. Former generations of scholars believed Gnosticism to be a development of the 2nd and 3rd Centuries. More Recent scholarship has demonstrated conclusively that Gnosticism existed even before New Testament times and that various Jewish Gnostics infiltrated Paul’s churches and opposed his teachings.[17] Gnosticism grew as a strong movement for the first centuries of the Church era; but was driven underground in the Middle Ages. It reappeared forcefully within the Idealist Sects of the 19th Century and lives on today in the New Age Movement.
One of the most prominent scholars of Gnosticism, R.M. Grant, identified three interlocking attitudes that are common to Gnosticism in all its forms.[18] The first is that salvation comes through knowledge. This is where the word Gnostic originates, as it means “one who knows.” For the Gnostic, a relationship with God or Jesus is not as important as “knowing” that one is enlightened or “christed.”
Category: Church History, Winter 2018
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