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.
Philip Jenkins writes in his book “Hidden Gospels: How The Search For Jesus Lost It’s Way”, “Much modern writing on the hidden gospels and their authors are utterly partisan, with well-defined heroes and villains who are represented quite as starkly and stereotypically as the white-robed saints of motion picture notoriety.”
2. False Code #4: Christianity As We Know It Was a 4th Century Creation.
On pages 231-35 The Da Vinci Code argues that Constantine, “Commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up and burned.”
It goes on to say that the modern Bible, “Was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda – to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base.”
And lastly it claims that, “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.”
So according to Dan Brown’s "The Da Vinci Code", the first 400 years Christ was preached as:
· Merely a man.
· Never crucified and raised from the dead.
· Married with children. Sounds like a T.V. show!
Now before we go any further, "The Da Vinci Code" does have something that we some what agree upon.
· There is no doubt that Constantine did play a huge role Christian history. Up until his rule, Christians did suffer at the hands of murdering monarchies and evil emperors.
· In 325 A.D. there was a movement within Christianity to unify deserving documents for all to follow.
2 Questions Are Raised In Response To These Allegations Toward Early Christianity:
a. What Took Place At The Council of Nicea?
The Nicene Creed = in 325 A.D., this document put into precise language the philosophy and theology of Christianity for the first time. Along with the Apostle’s Creed, which was composed in Rome about 100 A.D. The Nicene Creed is still used by Catholic and Protestants.
The Da Vinci Code says it was by a “relatively close vote” at that council that Jesus was voted on as Son of God.
The Nicene Creed says this about Jesus, “…And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all the ages, Light of light, true God and true God, begotten not made…through whom all things were made…”
Because of the Gnostic influence, Emperor Constantine summoned a council of Bishops in Nicea (across the straits from modern Istanbul), and there in 325 the Bishops of the Church, by a decided majority, repudiated Arius and produced the first draft of what is now called the Nicene Creed. The chief spokesman for the full deity of Christ was Athanasius, deacon of Alexandria, assistant (and later successor) to the aging Alexander.
Just a side note: In 367 A.D. Athanasius was the first leader to list the 27 books of the Bible. He was also the first to use the word “canon” for this collection.
Canon = rule, by which one measure by.
Most of the bishops simply could not accept the idea that Jesus was a created being. When they worshiped Jesus, they did not worship a creature - they worshiped God. God saved them not by a created being and they were convinced that Scripture taught that Jesus Christ was God.
Fact: Only 2 bishops at the Council could not agree with this statement.
Key: In this Creed, the church leaders depended on 1st and 2nd century source documents.
The tides of opinion changed quickly as 9 emperors fought for power over the next 50 years. Supporters of this document were tortured, jailed or killed.
If we believe Dan Brown’s book, these Christians suffered and died for a bald face lie!
b. For The First 300 Years Is There Evidence For What Christians Believed?
The evidence is overwhelming and time does not allow for a full explanation, but I will attempt to solidify my premise.
By the 2nd century Christianity was full of Gnostic teachers and leaders who were creating pressure to identify core teachings about Jesus. Men like: Marcion, Ebion, Montanus and Valentinus.
When Polycarp met Marcion, Marcion said, “Knowest thou us.” And Polycarp replied, “I know the first born of Satan.”
Did you know that Polycarp was a disciple of John?
· The Muratorian Canon.
One of the most important works that was discovered in 1740 by the Italian Historian Antonio Muratori. This badly damaged document is dated in the last part of the 2nd century.
Remember this is about 150 years before The Nicene Creed. In it is a fascinating statement that reads, “The third book of the gospel is that according to Luke.”
And it refers to the Book of John this way, “The fourth of the gospels is that of John, one of the disciples.”
Point: Here we have 2nd century evidence that “the Gospel” contained only 4 gospels.
· 2nd Century Church Father Irenaeus.
In his book “Against Heresies” written about 170 A.D., he mentions only Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the gospels.
He is the one who first uses the phrase “the gospel is quadriform”. That is the gospel expressed in 4 gospels.
In his book he states, “For it is unlawful to assert that they (apostles) preached before they possessed perfect knowledge, as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles…”
Point: Irenaeus rebuked Gnostic writers who thought they could improve on the 4 gospels.
Ireanaeus gives us a great clue with regards to the devolvement of the New Testament. He lists 21 books including the 4 gospels!
We’re talking about primitive Christianity here! The last apostle has only been dead about 80 years!
· Tatian, A Student of Justin Martyr.
In 172 A.D. he wrote “Diatessaron”. It means: “through the four”
This was the first attempt to harmonize the 4 gospels into one continuous message of Jesus.
Point: By the 2nd century Christianity recognized the central theme of the 4 gospels.
· The First Teachings of Origen.
He lived from 185 –254 A.D. and was highly quoted by other leaders for years to come.
He writes in his teachings on the Book of Luke, “I know a certain gospel which is called “The Gospel of Thomas” and a Gospel According to Matthias” and many others have we read – lest we should in any way be considered ignorant because of those who imagine they possess some knowledge if they are acquainted with these. Nevertheless, among all these we have approved solely what the church has recognized, which is that only the four gospels should be accepted.”
· The Persecution of Emperor Diocletian in 303 A.D.
In 303 A.D. this wicked ruler of the known world issued a decree that banned and burn many books of the Bible. In order to destroy them, the authorities had to identify them by name.
This was one of the bloodiest years for Christians because if they did not conform to Diocletian they were killed in some of the worst ways! Pastors were burned at the stake or crucified upside down, deacons were thrown to lions and church members were thrown out of their homes and run out of their towns.
Foxes Book of Martyrs states on page 104 that in 303 A.D., “Scourges, racks, daggers, swords, poison, burning crosses, and starvation were made use of in various countries to destroy the Christians and the invention was exhausted in devising tortures for Christians.”
