Ancient and Modern Gnostics by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 28, 1864

Ancient and Modern Gnostics.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

A SECT of so-called Christians, who are rapidly increasing, has lately made its appearance among us, claiming that the whole system of the Old Testament, including laws both moral and ceremonial, was abolished by Christ. They assert that Christ came expressly for this purpose; which being accomplished, he proceeded to give his followers an entirely “new code of laws,” every way superior to those of the Old Testament.

Not being able to find any such doctrine in the Bible I had concluded that said doctrine was purely a production of the last days. But from history, I find that such a doctrine in a little different costume was propagated as early as the fourth century. Thus Gibbon says: “While the orthodox church preserved a just medium between excessive veneration and improper contempt for the law of Moses, the various heretics deviated into equal, but opposite extremes of error and extravagance. From the acknowledged truth of the Jewish religion, the Ebionite concluded that it never could be abolished. From its supposed imperfections, the Gnostics as hastily inferred that it never was instituted by the wisdom of the Deity . . . They allowed that the religion of the Jews was somewhat less criminal than the idolatry of the Gentiles; but it was their fundamental belief that the Christ whom they adored as the first and brightest emanation of the Deity, appeared upon earth to rescue mankind from their various errors and to reveal a new system of truth and perfection.”

“In the system of the Gnostics, the Jehovah of Israel, the Creator of this lower world, was a rebellious, or at least an ignorant spirit. The Son of God descended upon earth to abolish his temple and his law.”

Here it will be observed, is the origin of that “law-abolished,” “commandments-done-away,” “schoolmaster-dead,” and “new-law-of-Christ” system, so popular at the present time.

Perhaps our modern Gnostics would not like to endorse all the doctrine of their ancient brethren. I think however, that the latter were the more consistent of the two; because only an imperfect law should be abolished; and an imperfect law can come only from an imperfect law-giver, therefore if the moral law of the Old Testament was abolished by Christ as imperfect, the giver of that law, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, must have been an imperfect being, and ought not to be worshiped by Christians who are commanded to be perfect. James i, 4. For these reasons, I say, that the ancient Gnostics were more reasonable than their modern brethren, because they carried out the principle to which this law-abolishing doctrine ultimately tends, which these do not.

May we not fear that the Gnostics of the present day will finally discard the God of that “old dead law” the same as those of the fourth century did? Already we hear them saying that when Christ came upon the stage, the Father stepped upon the background; that the gospel is both law and atonement; that Christ is both judge and mediator; hence the Father has even now become at least, a useless spectator in this play. One more step will dethrone him as a being not wise enough to give laws to the present generation of men.

Gibbon says that the Gnostics held that the worship of Jehovah was somewhat less criminal than the idolatry of the Gentiles. An orthodox minister told his congregation a short time since, that I was worse than an idolater because I observed the seventh-day Sabbath as commanded by the God of Israel!

Lord Jesus come quickly and rescue thy Father’s name and law from these blasphemous insults. Amen.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Hadley, Mich.