Exposing The Da Vinci Code, Pt. 2

Exposing The Da Vinci Code, Pt. 2

Galatians 1:6-9

Notice 5 Points About Paul’s Teaching:

· The Formation of This Other Gospel. Vs. 6a “Soon”

“Soon” = not much time after Paul had preached the gospel of Jesus to these Judaizers, the forsaking of Paul’s teaching.

· The Diversion of This Other Gospel. Vs. 6b

“Different gospel” = another in kind.

· The Perversion of This Other Gospel. Vs. 7 Literally, turning something into it’s opposite.

Grace vs. law

· The Creation of This Other Gospel. Vs 8 “Angel”

· The Damnation of This Other Gospel. Vs. 9

“Accursed” = Literally “anathema”, turning one over to eternal destruction.

I would not want to be in the shoes of Dan Brown come judgment day!

I say all of this to point out that we should not be surprised that there are these so called “lost gospels” or Gnostic gospels out there!

1. False Code #3: The Gnostic Gospels Are Reliable.

Gnostic = 2nd and 3rd century groups of so-called “Christians” that believed they received unique insight over any other spiritual writings. These revelations provided them with special knowledge (gnosis) about God.

Church Father Irenaeus, states in his book “Against Heresies” about Gnostics, “Those who draw away many under a pretense of knowledge.”

This is exactly what Galatians 1:6-9 warns against! And it’s still happening today!

On page 231 of the book, it states that there were over 80 gospels that were considered for the New Testament.

This is Very Misleading Because:

· Not all of them were gospels. Over half of them found, quoted from or rumored were only short manuscripts.

· When the books were considered for the N.T. only 60 were reviewed including 27 books that make up the N.T.

Here Are Some More Example of Their Writings:

· Apocryphon of John, (God is speaking to John) “I am Father, I am Mother, I am Son…I have come to you that you may know the things not revealed.”

· Gospel of Thomas, “let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of Life. Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her, in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit, resembling you males.”

· The Apocalypse of Peter, “And I said, what am I seeing, O Lord? Is it really you whom they take? Are you holding on to me? And are they hammering the feet and hands of another? Who is this one above the cross, who is glad and laughing? The Savior said to me, “He whom you saw glad and laughing above the cross is the Living Jesus.”

· Acts of John, “I will tell you another glory, brothers, sometimes when I meant to touch Him I encountered a material body, solid body; but at other times again when I felt Him, His substance was immaterial…as if it did not exist at all.”

Elaine Pagels states in her book “Gnostic Gospels”, “Today we read them with different eyes, not merely as “madness and blasphemy” but as Christians in the first centuries experienced them – a powerful alternative to what we know as the orthodox Christian tradition.”

Key: Some see these gospels as showing the diversity of the gospels; but instead it shows the dangers of the Gnostics!

There Are 4 Major Issues With The Gnostic Gospels:

a. The Issue of Simplicity.

The Gnostic Gospels make Christianity very complicated to follow.

· Their mysteries of dualism (the 2 natures of Christ).

· Their massage of the material and non-material realm.

· Jesus said, “Let the children come unto Me.” He said, “All you need is the faith of a child…

b. The Issue of Secrets.

These gospels are riddled with riddles and sandwiched with secrets!

The Gospel of Thomas opens with this sentence, “These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke…which Thomas wrote down.”

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are so different in their presentation of Jesus and their revealing the Christian life!

c. The Issue of Substance.

The biblical material to work with is lacking!

Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as “The Synoptic Gospels” which means - to draw from others in order to compose one conclusion.

Meteorology does this in order to give a full weather report. They use “Synoptic Charts” to report one conclusion.

With the Gnostic Gospels this is impossible to do!!!

d. The Issue of Scholarship.

This “new scholarship” is nothing more than historical revisionism! Both secular and religious historians put very little confidence in these ancient writings.

Key: These were written at least 225 years after the life of Christ. Get this…in legal terms; this places all Gnostic gospels outside of the “Ancient Writings Rule”.

An ancient document, in order to hold up under legal scrutiny has to have been written within 70 years of the event.