Early Christian Beliefs About Gnostics
Early Christian writers usually treated Gnostics as false teachers who claimed special knowledge but turned away from the truth. Irenaeus and Hippolytus strongly opposed these groups, and Origen also spoke of people who gave themselves out as Gnostics. Clement of Alexandria used the word in a different way for true Christian knowledge and contemplation, so the term is not used the same way in every writer.
111 early-church witnesses · 218 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about gnostics and Gnosticism?
Early Christian writers usually treated Gnostics as heretics who claimed special knowledge while twisting the truth. Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Origen all rejected these groups and tied them to false teaching, invented myths, and corrupted language. Clement of Alexandria is the main mixed voice, since he used the word "Gnostic" for true Christian knowledge and contemplation, not for the heretical groups attacked by the other writers.
The overall picture is broad and early, but the evidence is mixed on the word itself because some writers used it positively while others used it as a label for false teachers. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Irenaeus and Hippolytus described Gnostics as heretics who repeated false ideas under different names.
- Origen treated self-styled Gnostics as people who made false claims to knowledge.
- Clement of Alexandria sometimes used "Gnostic" in a positive Christian sense for deep faith and contemplation.
Questions Answered by the Sources
How did early Christians describe the Gnostics' claim to secret knowledge?
Early writers repeatedly say Gnostic groups claimed to possess unique or hidden knowledge. The same sources say this claim was false, inflated, or misleading.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Direct teaching
...eation—these same arguments apply to the followers of Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, and other Gnostics expressing similar ideas. The statements made about the emanations, Æons, the supposed state of degeneration, and the inconsistent nature of their Mother also undermine Basilides and all who are falsely called Gnostics. They merely repeat the same views under different names but transfer more elements outside of the truth into their doctrine. The remarks I have made about numbers also apply to those who misuse truths to support their systems. All that has been said about the Creator (Demiurge), showing that He alone is God and Father of all, and anything else I may say in the following books, applies against heretics in general. You will convert and convince the more moderate and reasonable among them, preventing them from blaspheming their Creator, Maker, Sustainer, and Lord, or attributing His origin to defect and ignorance. But the fierce, terrible, and irrational ones you will drive far from you, so you no longer have to endure their meaningless chatter.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
Subsequently, however, they have styled themselves Gnostics, alleging that they alone have sounded the depths of knowledge.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Background
But the rest, who are called Gnostics, take rise from Menander, Simon’s disciple, as I have shown;
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness
And likewise already each of the heterodox and of those who have begotten any knowledge which is falsely so called, 1 Timothy 6:20 has built a gate of Hades — Marcion one gate, and Basilides another, and Valentinus another.
Did early Christians think Gnostic teaching borrowed from other sources?
Irenaeus and Hippolytus say Gnostic systems repeated ideas under different names and drew from Greek philosophy, mystical rites, or other invented material. The issue is not just unusual language, but teachings judged to be built from mixed and false sources.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
This is about what the Naasseni claim, who call themselves Gnostics, and about how they put forward the same opinions that the Greek philosophers taught earlier, as well as the opinions of those who passed down mystical rites. Taking material from both of these, the Naasseni have constructed their heresies.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching
... the law serve to hide his peculiar errors, when in fact he devotes himself to the teachings of the Gnostics, or even of the astrologers, and to the arts of sorcery?
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Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching
And let it be admitted further, that there are some who give themselves out as Gnostics, in the same way as those Epicureans who call themselves philosophers: yet neither will they who annihilate the doctrine of providence be deemed true philosophers, nor those true Christians who introduce monstrous inventions, which are disapproved of by those who are the disciples of Jesus.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness
Those statements, again, which have been made with respect to the emanations, and the Æons, and the [supposed state of] degeneracy, and the inconstant character of their Mother, equally overthrow Basilides, and all who are falsely styled Gnostics, who do, in fact, just repeat the same views under different names, but do, to a greater extent than the former, transfer those things which lie outside of the truth to the system of their own doctrine.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
These doctrines, then, the Naasseni attempt to establish, calling themselves Gnostics.
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Asterius Urbanus, The Extant Writings of Asterius Urbanus Background
...te on this matter, and examined those novel teachings, and declared them false and rejected them as heretical, they were therefore expelled from the Church and barred from communion.
Did any early Christian writers use 'Gnostic' in a positive way?
Clement of Alexandria uses "Gnostic" for a Christian who understands and contemplates rightly, not merely for a label of error. In his usage, true gnosis is tied to faith, contemplation, and the rule of the Church.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
... In this way he hands over the mysteries that he himself discovered in an ungodly manner, partly by using Greek legends, as stated before, and partly by using those supposed books that somewhat resemble the heresies mentioned earlier. For all of them, driven together by one spirit, are pulled down into one deep abyss of defilement. They teach the same doctrines and tell the same legends, though each does it in a different way. Yet all these people call themselves Gnostics in this special sense: they alone have drunk in the marvelous knowledge of the Perfect and Good Being.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
All those, however, style themselves Gnostics in this peculiar sense, that they alone themselves have imbibed the marvellous knowledge of the Perfect and Good (Being).
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness
...mous against their own God by creating another God as the Father. For this reason, Paul exclaimed, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” He did not mean to criticize a true knowledge of God, for then he would be accusing himself; rather, he knew that some, inflated by the pretense of knowledge, fall away from the love of God and mistakenly see themselves as perfect, claiming an imperfect Creator. To put an end to the pride that results from this kind of knowledge, Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” There can be no greater pride than thinking that someone is better and more perfect than the One who made and shaped him, gave him the breath of life, and brought him into existence. Therefore, it is better, as I said, for someone to have no knowledge at all about why any single thing in creation was made, but to believe in God and remain in His love. It's preferable to avoid being puffed up by such knowledge and losing that love, which is the life of man, and to seek no other knowledge except that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for us, rather than by engaging in subtle questions and hair-splitting expressions fall into impiety.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness
...sing yourselves in the same terms as those who did not know the truth, boast that you alone possess knowledge above all things, even though those ignorant of God also claim it? Thus, by completely twisting language, they call ignorance of the truth knowledge: and Paul rightly says of them that they use "novelties of words of false knowledge." For their knowledge is indeed found to be false. However, if they shamelessly claim that men did not know the truth, but that their Mother, the seed of the Father, revealed the mysteries of truth through such men, just as through the prophets, while the Demiurge was unaware, then I respond, first, that the things predicted were not beyond comprehension; the men themselves understood what they were saying, as did their disciples, and those who came after them. Secondly, if either the Mother or her seed knew and proclaimed the things of the truth (and the Father is truth), then according to their theory, the Savior spoke falsely when He said, "No one knows the Father but the Son," unless they indeed claim that their seed or Mother is No-one.
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1 Timothy 6:20 Supporting witness
O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—
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2 John 1:7 Supporting witness
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
What Bible verses did early Christians use against false knowledge and heresy?
The Bible cards emphasize warnings against false teachers, deceitful spirits, and so-called knowledge. They support the early Christian criticism of teachings that claimed insight but departed from Christ and the apostles.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
We, then, are people who believe what others do not believe. We are also Gnostics regarding what is unknown. That is, we know what is unknown and disbelieved by everyone, but believed and known by a few. And we are Gnostics not by describing actions with words, but by practicing contemplation. Happy is the one who speaks into the ears of those who hear. Now faith is the ear of the soul. And the Lord shows that this is what faith is when He says, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear," Matthew 11:15, so that by believing, a person may understand what He says as He says it. Homer also, the oldest of the poets, uses the word "hear" instead of "perceive"—the specific term for the general one—and writes:
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
and Gnostics, not describing actions by speech, but Gnostics in the exercise of contemplation.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
that is, Gnostics as to what is unknown and disbelieved by all, but believed and known by a few;
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
... as patient, another as self-controlled, another as a worker, another as a martyr, and another as a Gnostic. But I know no human being who is perfect in all things at once while still human, even according to the mere letter of the law, except Him alone who for us clothed Himself with humanity. Who, then, is perfect? It is the person who declares that he abstains from what is evil. This is the way to the Gospel and to doing good. But gnostic perfection, in the case of the person under the law, is accepting the Gospel, so that the one who lives according to the law may be perfect. For in this way Moses, who lived according to the law, foretold that it was necessary to hear, so that we might, according to the apostle, receive Christ, the fullness of the law. Deuteronomy 18:15; Romans 10:4. But now, in the Gospel, the Gnostic advances not only by using the law as a step, but also by understanding it and grasping it, as the Lord who gave the Covenants delivered it to the apostles. And if he lives rightly, as certainly it is impossible to attain knowledge (gnosis) by bad conduct; and if further, after making an especially right confession, he becomes a martyr out of love, gaining gre
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
...is neighbor. And it is by beneficence that love proclaims itself, that love which, according to the gnostic ascending scale, is lord of the Sabbath. We must then, in my view, have recourse to the word of salvation neither from fear of punishment nor from promise of a gift, but on account of the good itself. Those who do so stand on the right hand of the sanctuary. But those who think that by the gift of what is perishable they will receive in exchange what belongs to immortality are, in the parable of the two brothers, called hirelings. And is there not some light thrown here on the expression "in the likeness and image," in the fact that some live according to the likeness of Christ, while those who stand on the left hand live according to their image? There are then two things proceeding from the truth, one root lying beneath both. The choice, however, is not equal, or rather, the difference that is in the choice is not equal. To choose by imitation differs, as it seems to me, from the choice of one who chooses according to knowledge, just as what is set on fire differs from what is illuminated. Israel, then, is the light of the likeness according to the Scripture. But the ima
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
The man of understanding and clear insight, then, is a Gnostic. And his business is not abstinence from what is evil, for this is a step toward the highest perfection. Nor is it the doing of good out of fear. For it is written, "Where shall I flee, and where shall I hide myself from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I go away to the uttermost parts of the sea, there is Your right hand. If I go down into the depths, there is Your Spirit." Nor is he to do so from hope of promised recompense. For it is said, "Behold, the Lord, and His reward is before His face, to give to every one according to his works;" and, "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him." But the Gnostic's choice is only the doing of good out of love, and for the sake of its own excellence. Now, in the person of God it is said to the Lord, "Ask of Me, and I will give the heathen for Your inheritance," teaching Him to ask a truly royal request, that is, the salvation of men without price, that we may inherit and possess the Lord. For, on the contrary, to desire knowledge about God for any practical purpos
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
so that the assault on them, by no means brief, may not, by being introduced into the commentary, break the discourse in hand, in which we are showing that the only really holy and pious man is he who is truly a Gnostic according to the rule of the Church, to whom alone the petition made in accordance with the will of God is granted, on asking and on thinking.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
Through the knowledge, then, as appears, of a bad and good life is the Gnostic saved, understanding and executing more than the scribes and Pharisees.
Common Questions
Did early Christians think Gnostics were heretics?
Yes, most early Christian writers who named them treated Gnostics as false teachers and heretics.
Did any early Christian writer use the word Gnostic positively?
Yes. Clement of Alexandria sometimes used it for true Christian knowledge and contemplation.
Which early writers speak most clearly against Gnostics?
Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Origen speak most clearly against them.
Source Index for Gnostics and Gnosticism
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 218 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 111
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 107
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Related Resources
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Menander the Heretic and Gnosticism
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