That is, a heresy is not a complete system in and of itself, but is a subtle distortion of an otherwise intrinsically valid system. Belloc maintained that this subtlety is the very source of a heresy's power and lasting appeal: "The denial of a scheme wholesale is not heresy, and has not the creative power of a heresy. It is of the essence of heresy that it leaves standing a great part of the structure it attacks. On this account it can appeal to believers and continues to affect their lives through deflecting them from their original characters. Wherefore, it is said of heresies that 'they survive by the truths they retain'" [1]. Those of us who identify with the Protestant arm of Christendom would do well to stop and examine Belloc's insight as it applies to our own churches. By focusing on what is perceived to be clearly non-Christian cults and secular philosophical movements, today's leading Christian theologians and apologists attempt to preserve the moral and intellectual integrity of the church from overt attack. Their efforts are commendable and do bear some fruit. However, few of these scholars seem to have considered the possibility of heresies developing from within the established conservative-evangelical tradition - much less within their own churches or denominations.
Jesus and the apostles, on the other hand, emphasized the dangers of doctrinal subversion, of false prophets rising up in our very midst. In Matt. 7:15 Jesus specifically warned the disciples that false prophets would approach them "in sheep's clothing." In other words false prophets would seem like sheep, true and faithful followers of Christ, in most every respect. Paul likewise cautioned that "savage men will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves" (Acts 20:29-30). Peter stated flatly, "There will be false prophets among you" (2 Pet. 2:1). Implicit in NT teaching is the assumption that the deadliest potential enemy of the faith is not the overt falsity of secularists and cultists outside, but the subtle (even if sometimes well-meaning) religious deception of spiritualists within. If we can manage to take care of "internal affairs" as stewards of the truth of God's kingdom, the kingdom of darkness cannot but shrink before it. Perhaps therefore we can benefit from the apostles not only in learning their doctrine, but in learning how they detected and combated false doctrine from within the very confines of the church. We might even find that the old heresies never completely went away - though they now sport a new look.
Of course, the more pronounced and defined of the false teachings encountered by the early church was that of Judaic legalism. Paul addressed it in no uncertain terms in Galatians among other places. Despite Paul's best efforts, however, legalism has always managed to rear its ugly head in the church, and the church has always had to do battle with it. The other main false religious movement - at least in its emergent form - was that of Gnosticism. Like legalism, Gnosticism has also persisted in various forms throughout church history to the present day. But unlike legalism, neo-Gnosticism thrives within the church not only undetected but often eagerly embraced by the flock without the slightest protest. Since Gnosticism is the more subtle heresy - and since it appears to be enjoying an upsurge in popularity - it arguably presents a greater danger to the faith. A bit of history will help us get a handle on what exactly it was the apostles were having to confront; then we will examine the parallels, if any, between Gnostic teachings then and now, in comparing the NT epistles with the writings of a popular twentieth-century "Word-Faith" teacher, E.W. Kenyon. Kenyon's works have inspired such notable church personalities as Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, and many other church leaders, financial gurus and motivational speakers. The founder of a Pentecostal organization to which I belonged years ago even made Kenyon's book, The Bible in Light of Our Redemption, "required reading" for all his disciples and aspiring leaders (which is not to say that any of us actually read it).
Like Kenyon's influence in the church, the roots of Gnosticism run deep - stretching back to various ancient mystery religions which, in their turn, had gradually replaced the timeworn deities and philosophies of the Greeks. If legalism was the doctrinal fallacy of the Jews, Gnosticism was a set of serious errors brought to the table by the Gentiles. Gnosticism was marked by subjective religious experience, a Platonic sort of dualism between matter and spirit, and a hodgepodge of ideas borrowed from various categories of belief systems (philosophy, mythology, astrology, cosmology and mystery) and numerous cultural sources (Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Syrian, Jewish and Christian). It should come as no surprise that in incorporating such a wide assortment of of ideas, Gnosticism's appeal grew rapidly and it eventually came to pose a serious threat to the vitality of orthodoxy in the early church. Indeed, the most definitive and authoritative early church creeds were written at least partly in response to the challenge of Gnostic theosophy. Earliest leaders of the heresy included Simon the Sorceror (Acts 8:9-10), first century Gnostic spokesmen Menandes, Cerinthus, and Valentius, and in the second century, the highly influential Marcion. Curiously, while contemporary church leaders are well aware of the dangers of legalism, they have little to say on the issue of Gnosticism at all. Though this is conjecture, it seems reasonable to surmise that this tendency to overlook a traditionally Gentile-inspired heresy has something to do with the fact that the contemporary church consists primarily of Gentiles. In any case, the apostles vigorously refuted Gnostic assumptions whenever and wherever they surfaced, as did the early church fathers Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian and Hippolytus.
One of the main features of what may be termed incipient Gnosticism was an elitism based on revelatory knowledge (Greek=gnosis). Because God had presumably spoken higher truths to a particular group of people, they understandably came to consider themselves a special or enlightened class, the illuminati. For the Gnostic "believer," salvation was virtually synonymous with spiritual knowledge or revelation. The Socratic injunction to "know thyself" thus took on a new meaning, as salvation became became the process by which knowledge of one's place on a predetermined hierarchy of spirituality was obtained. The apostles took great exception to such an attitude. Paul for instance fights fire with fire (Gnosticism with Gnosticism) in 1 Corinthians 2, seemingly promoting the concept of superior "hidden wisdom" (v. 7) and revelation of the "deep things of God" (v. 10), beyond that of ordinary men. Yet in his typically