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Sermon presentation. COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK. Warnings Apostolic writings: Colossians Corinthians John’s Epistles Early church fathers writings: Irenaeus (Against Heresies), Hippolytus (Refutation of all Heresies), And Epiphanius (Panarion). COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK.
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COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK Warnings Apostolic writings: Colossians Corinthians John’s Epistles Early church fathers writings: Irenaeus (Against Heresies), Hippolytus (Refutation of all Heresies), And Epiphanius (Panarion)
COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK What is Gnosticism? Summary: Gnosticism was a natural fruit of religious syncretism of the Hellenistic world, with its Greek philosophy, Eastern religion, and astrological fatalism. This combination of worldviews in and of itself did not become a religion. But, coming into contact with the institutional Christianity and articulated preaching, it could form one. It took the Christian Redeemer and gnosticized him, took the Christian preaching and tore it from its OT roots, took the Apostolic writings and sought to make it answer the problems of Greek philosophy, taking the Christian convictions about the end and purged away such offensively Jewish features as resurrection and judgment.
COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK Creation. There are different views on creation but all agree that it was a mistake, an accident, the work of an ignorant being, or the mischief of an antigod. One picture of the material universe is that of an abortion self- generated by the inordinate desire of a female aeon called Sophia, ie, “wisdom”
COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK Salvation Rather than to receive forgiveness for sin. Salvation is as illumination dispelling ignorance, triumphing over material consciousness. The gospel is principally a means among others whereby people come to know the truth.
COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK • Church. • The church becomes the club of the illuminated, not the society of the redeemed. • The view that the material is the seat of evil leads, in some systems… • to asceticism • celibacy, and vegetarianism; • in others, paradoxically, to license, for “liberation” from matter meant its effects • were inconsequential.
COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK • What did the Apostles teach • Monotheistic • historical • eschatological • ethical • The Redeemer continued to be called Christ, a direct translation of the Hebrew Messiah. • The Jewish belief regarding God’s interventions in human history was retained and enlarged: • preaching concentrated on the historical • events of the life and death • and resurrection of Jesus.
COLOSSIANS - CHURCH UNDER ATTACK • What did the Apostles teach • Though the law was abandoned, the idea of a moral commitment directly watched over by God remained. • The peculiarly Jewish belief in the resurrection and last judgment was retained, • the Jewish Scriptures continued to be read. • And though the idea of a nation defined by physical descent disappeared, the solidarity of a single “Israel • of God,” in continuity with the OT Israel, meant the continuing of a single worshiping community, • a “third race” alongside Jew and Gentile • called the Church.
