The Mystic and the Gnostic Jesus in Christian Teaching

“Explain the mystic and gnostic Jesus”

Summary

In these sources, the "mystic" Jesus is the Christ who lives in believers and they in him. Scripture calls this "Christ in you, the hope of glory" and says believers become "partakers of the divine nature" (C1, C2, C3). On "gnostic" (from gnosis, knowledge), the tradition separates a true knowledge of God, rooted in the apostles, from "science falsely so called" (C4, C13). It tests every spirit by whether it confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (C5). C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C13

Christ Indwelling: Mystical Union

Jesus describes the relationship as mutual indwelling: "Abide in me, and I in you." As a branch bears fruit only while it stays in the vine, disciples bear fruit only by remaining in him (C1). Paul calls this a "mystery" now revealed to the Gentiles: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (C2). Peter says God's promises make believers "partakers of the divine nature", escaping the world's corruption (C3).

The Reformed confessions put this in doctrinal terms. Members of the invisible church "enjoy union and communion with him in grace and glory" (C8). The sacraments are where this union is received: the faithful "spiritually partake" of what the water, bread and wine signify, joined to it "by a mystical signification" (C12). C1 C2 C3 C8 C12

True Gnosis According to Clement

Clement of Alexandria, a Church Father, keeps the word gnosis for a knowledge that grows out of faith. He says the true knower ascends to holier things as one of the genuine "heirs of the Lord's adoption". This true gnosis belonged to "James, Peter, John, Paul, and the rest of the apostles". It was given by the Lord and explained by him to the apostles (C9). For Clement, faith and knowledge of the truth make the soul "uniform and equable", marked by "calmness, and rest, and peace" (C13). C9 C13

False Gnosis and Its Test

Paul warns Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to him and to avoid "oppositions of science falsely so called" (C4). Clement applies this warning to "false gnosis called by the same name". He notes that the heretics, "convicted by this utterance", reject the Epistles to Timothy (C13).

Scripture's test of any spirit is about the body: "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" (C5). It does not rest on claims to secret insight. The sources do not include the writings of the Gnostic movements themselves, so their own account of Jesus cannot be given from them. C4 C13 C5

The Incarnate Christ Against Spiritualising

Against any Jesus who is only spiritual, the tradition insists that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (C6). The Belgic Confession teaches two natures in one person. Christ's human nature "retains all that belongs to a real body", and it remained real even after the resurrection gave it immortality (C16). So union with Christ is union with the Son who took real flesh. It is not escape into a knowledge cut off from his body. C6 C16

Key points

Union with Christ bears fruit: whoever abides in Christ, with his words abiding in them, is promised that their prayers will be answered (C11). C11
Belonging to Christ is ordered under God: "ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (C15). C15
Clement links true knowledge to the soul's being made "entitled to immortality" (C9). C9
In the Reformed view, the sacraments are not bare signs: what is signified is "sacramentally joined" to the sign by Christ's own intention (C12). C12

References

C1John 15:4 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C2Colossians 1:27 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C32 Peter 1:4 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C41 Timothy 6:20 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C51 John 4:2 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C6John 1:14 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C8Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. 65 · Westminster Larger Catechism · Public Domain
C9Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Book VI) — Chapter 8. Philosophy is Knowledge Given by God · The Stromata, or Miscellanies · Translated by William Wilson. Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 2.
C11John 15:7 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C12Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter 19: Of the Sacraments of the Church of Christ · Second Helvetic Confession · Public Domain
C13Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Book II) — Chapter 11. The Knowledge Which Comes Through Faith the Surest of All · The Stromata, or Miscellanies · Translated by William Wilson. Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 2.
C151 Corinthians 3:23 · Bible · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
C16Belgic Confession, Article 19: The Two Natures of Christ · Belgic Confession · Public Domain

Conclusion

In these sources, the "mystic" Jesus is the Christ who dwells in believers and they in him, sharing the divine nature with them. The "gnostic" Jesus is affirmed only as the object of the apostles' true knowledge. Any gnosis that turns from the apostolic deposit, or denies that Christ came in the flesh, is judged false.

Mystical union means mutual abiding in Christ, received through faith and the sacraments (C1, C8, C12).
True gnosis is apostolic, and false gnosis is "science falsely so called" (C9, C4).
The test is confessing that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (C5, C6).

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