Expressions of Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a form of religion that puts individualism, reason and rationalism at the center.It's not Who you know, but what you know and how you feel about it...
Jude was very concerned about this false faith that threatened to infiltrate the church. He warns that this is nothing new - it has been around since the beginning.
Here are Jude's three examples of where self-centred and self-rationalising gnostic religion takes one:
- The Israelites who'd been freed by God's mighty hand from Egypt, now hardened their hearts, longed back towards "Egypt days" and did not believe in God's future promise of a Promised Land. Many who are tempted by Gnostic faith tendencies, tend to reject future hope as "pie in the sky" and choose to focus on the "Steak on your plate while you wait for your fate." They failed to believe in God's future for them, settling for what they could know in the here and now or trying to return to the past.
- The angels who rebelled against God. This hints at the rebellion of Satan and one third of heaven's angels. Scripture does not document this in detail, but what we do have indicates Satan's rebellion against God and angels who joined that rebellion. The point Jude is making is that they rebelled against the structures, authority and roles that God had given them.
- The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah had adopted all kinds of sexual excess. They replaced commitment to God with sensuality. This insistence on the pleasure of self is an expression of the self-centric focus of the gnostic movement.
Jude is clear:
Lack of faith, rebellion against God's purposes and selfish sensuality has consequences. The faithless did not enter the promised land, the rebellious are awaiting judgement and the sensual were destroyed.
Self-centered and self-rationalising religion is not harmless - but very dangerous...
When we see a diminishing of hope in a God-ordained future, when we see a rebellion against God's structures and norms and when we see an increase in sensuality and we when see all this in those who call themselves Christians, then Jude would have been very concerned...
...and so should we...
| Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude1:5-7) |
