Modern Christianity is often unaware of the philosophical and religious paradigms influencing their current expression of faith. One undetected historical aspect is Gnosticism. Gnosticism is like a winding river with many tributaries giving their unique ideas to the outlook. Despite the complexity, a dualistic tendency to pit materialism against the realm of the spirit is a significant contributing stream. Horton (2014) highlighted an anti-sacramental suspicion as a prominent feature of “old gnosticism.” One way this expresses itself today is the hesitance to connect faith to physical means. Add to this a tendency to intellectualize Christianity and the result is knowledge vaguely associated with faith. Where do we place mind over matter in such a manner?
The Lords Supper
Why do we have difficulty embracing the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the bread and wine? It’s partially philosophical as we struggle with the metaphysics of Christ present at the right hand of the Father and within the elements. However, that is primarily a lack of faith that our Savior transcends human limitations and our hesitance to accept physical means as spiritually edifying. When Christ instituted the supper, His words were not a mere metaphor: “Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). He further highlights the forgiveness of sins as a purpose of partaking (Matthew 26:28).
Paul’s exhortation to examine oneself before partaking in the Lord’s Supper indirectly asserts the efficacious nature of the sacrament. His reminder that we are participating in the body and blood of Christ in the supper while warning against idolatry is strong language pointing toward more than a memorial meal (1 Corinthians 10:16). Yet we intellectuals tend to allow metaphysics or logic to take the substance of Christ and the benefit of forgiveness away from the bread and the wine.
How could supernatural grace tangibly strengthen our faith through consuming a morsel of bread and a small measure of the fruit of the vine? How can Christ be at the Father’s right hand and in bread and wine? These are the wrong questions. The question is, “what does scripture teach?” Our intellectual capacities are not boundary markers for the efficacy of God’s promises through the sacraments.
Baptism
A significant hesitance to view baptism as regenerative stems from the Gnostic inclination to distrust physical means as counterintuitive to spirituality. Some place a question mark where God places an exclamation point. Others strike through explicit scriptural teaching as it doesn’t align with their theological framework. Ironically, Gnosticism’s anti-intellectual penchant in favor of secret knowledge finds an unexpected expression in the intellectual dogma of what Greg Fields called “Neo-gnostic Calvinism.” However, such irony is not limited to Calvinists. When only a select few can grasp the complexities of how it all fits together, a major implication is falling into the “secret knowledge” trap of what one may define as a proper understanding of orthodoxy.
Baptism is the most misunderstood sacrament within evangelicalism as it relates to an efficacious view. Yet, passage after passage directly connects baptism with forgiveness of sins and salvation. Peter, citing the flood in Noah’s day, asserts that baptism now saves (1 Peter 3:18-22). The book of Acts operates from an understanding that baptism cleanses (Acts 2:38 and 22:16). Does God work through other means to bring about salvation? His word testifies to as much! However, this doesn’t cancel the testimony of scripture that He is also actively at work through baptism as a means of grace.
A baptism that regenerates does not negate salvation by faith alone. Baptismal regeneration affirms the teaching of scripture regarding this sacrament and grabs hold of the promise contained therein by faith. The locus of efficacy is not in the subjective experience or the posture of the recipient’s heart but in the sheer power of God’s promises in the word. Our Lord Himself stated, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Are we willing to accept the plain meaning of scripture, or do we place it under our framework of rationality? Must we have a “deeper knowledge” to see what the passages are teaching?
The Preached Word
Despite preaching not being a sacrament, the same pattern of diminishing efficacy in favor of an intellectual endeavor remains. Vocal cords, sound waves, and eardrums are not the source of our faith. The power is in the promise. God’s word repeatedly testifies to the proclamation of His gospel producing faith. Paul connects belief to hearing and preaching when he asks, “And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14c). He then summarizes and emphasizes the power of the word of Christ: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Likewise, Paul’s eagerness to preach the gospel in Rome is connected to the efficacy of the gospel for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:15-16).
The power is outside the proclamation’s intellectual rigor, theological precision, or comprehensive nature. Nor is it in the winsomeness of the preacher or the eloquence of his words. The power is in the foolishness of the gospel. One of the contributing streams to the complexity of Gnosticism is elite knowledge for only a select few. However, our faith does not lie in men’s wisdom but in God’s power through the humble proclamation of Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
Understanding and Receiving
Understanding is a part, but receiving is the heart of the meritless gift of faith. This gift of faith is true at first belief and as we receive God’s promises to sustain and grow faith daily, weekly, and all our lives. Our faith is not merely informational. When we strip baptism, the Lord’s supper, and the preached gospel of efficacy, we allow the Gnostic tendency to cast aspersion on the physical realm to influence us. If we allow our theological precision and rigor to devolve into “secret knowledge,” then our intellects become the substitute for faith received as a gift.
God works through ordinary means like water, bread, wine, and proclaimed words. They are gifts He gives to produce and strengthen faith supernaturally. Our intellects do not receive them. Our minds don’t even fully grasp them after we’ve believed. Instead, faith through the word of promise receives them. As we grow in our faith, we may better understand how all the passages fit together, but our acceptance of God’s gracious gifts through trust and love is more critical.
We are called to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). We are also called to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We must not bypass, relegate, or negatively portray the mind in worship or sanctification; however, we must also be cautious of letting our intellectual capacities in understanding the faith take precedence over trusting in the promises of God seen in scripture.
Many Christians today aren’t familiar with Gnosticism. Nonetheless, they grapple with its implications even if they don’t affirm the heretical foundations. The physical means of God’s deliverance of faith are not to be robbed of their supernatural power simply because they are physical. Placing mind over matter in such a manner matters.
References
Fields, G. (n.d.). The bane of neo-gnostic calvinism. Monergismcom Blog. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.monergism.com/bane-neo-gnostic-calvinism
Horton, M. S. (2014, August 6). The new gnosticism. Modern Reformation. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from https://modernreformation.org/resource-library/articles/the-new-gnosticism/