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Dear Friends,
Step into my study! Shall I fill you a pipe? Pour you a dram? Excellent!
I am making my way through the Christian literature of the 2nd century. I was cruising and then I slammed headlong into a little something called Against Heresies by Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons. This five book series is a bewildering and intricate documentation and refutation of every variety of Gnostic heresy prevalent at the time, and it is notoriously difficult, even for scholars and specialists. I’d read large portions of the work previously, but now I am giving the whole thing a fresh look in careful detail. And I find that I am following it quite well and my admiration for Irenaeus is unbounded.
Until the year 1945 we knew absolutely nothing about the Gnostics of the second century except what Irenaeus (and to a lesser extent, Justin Martyr and Tertullian) said about them. Their sacred texts had all but disappeared in the sands of time, until some bedouins actually found their texts buried at a place called Nag Hammadi. For the first time in nearly two millennia we were able to read Gnostic “gospels” for ourselves; and what we discovered is that this Irenaeus fellow knew what he was talking about. We had the resources to “fact check” him and he passed the test with pretty much flying colors. This was something of a surprise to many scholars who assume that “biased” writers of old (read: earnest, believing Christians) are incapable of responsible scholarship. Irenaeus, it turns out, is pretty trustworthy.
And that leads me to share with you something quite fascinating.
In Acts chapter 8 Luke records for us an interaction Peter and John had with a man in Samaria known as Simon the Great, “Simon Magus,” or “Simon the Sorcerer.” He was something of a big deal in Samaria; Luke says they called him the “Great Power of God.” He was clearly a magician of some kind who performed signs and wonders. Luke tells us that Simon believed and was baptized, so he certainly had some sort of encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Peter and John show up to visit the Samaritan Christians, they pray that the Holy Spirit would come upon them. Apparently, the result was so impressive (no doubt due to speaking in tongues and other charismata) Simon lusted after this “power” he didn’t have. So he offers Peter money to learn how to do this particular party trick. Peter curses him for trying to buy the gift of God and tells him he is full of bitterness and captive to sin. Simon asks Peter to pray for him so that “nothing you have said will happen to me.”
And that’s the end of it, and Simon is never mentioned again.
The fascinating thing is that the early church didn’t forget about Simon at all. Justin Martyr and Irenaeus both describe Simon’s later career and his teachings in very specific detail. And they both claim in a straightforward, matter-of-fact fashion that this very Simon is the fountainhead of Gnostic heresies. His bitterness and captivity to sin led him to “contend with the apostles” (1.13.1) and twist the gospel he had once heard and embraced, and to invent a new gospel in which the “Christ” (not to be confused with the man, Jesus) is a divine emissary from the true, heretofore unknown “Father” to rescue us from the evil Creator or “demiurge” you read about in the Old Testament.
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