Gnosticism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Jesus as Gnostic saviour== Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the [[God|supreme being]] who became [[incarnate]] to bring ''gnōsis'' to the earth,<ref>{{cite book|last=Roukema|first=Riemer|title=Jesus, Gnosis and Dogma|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfcRBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|date=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-61585-5|page=53|chapter=Jesus′ Origin and Identity – Theodotus [of Byzantium]|quote=The Saviour, jesus Christ, who from the fullness (the ''pleroma'') of the Father descended on earth, is identified with the Logos, but initially not entirely with the Only Begotten Son. In John 1:14 is written, after all, that his glory was ''as'' of the Only Begotten, from which is concluded that his glory must be distinguished from this (7, 3b). When the Logos or Saviour descended, Sophia, according to Theodotus, provided a piece of flesh (''sarkion''), namely a carnal body, also called 'spiritual seed' (1, 1).}}</ref><ref name="nhlintro">{{cite web|last1=Hoeller|first1=Stephan A.|author-link1=Stephan A. Hoeller|title=The Gnostic World View: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism|url=http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm|website=www.gnosis.org|publisher=The Gnostic Society|access-date=15 May 2017}}</ref> while others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attained [[Divine illumination|enlightenment]] through gnosis and taught his disciples to do the same.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Gnostic Gospels|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/gnostic-gospels/|access-date=2020-08-13|website=FRONTLINE|language=en-US}}</ref> Others believed Jesus was divine, although did not have a physical body, reflected in the later [[Docetism|Docetist]] movement. Among the [[Mandaeans]], Jesus was considered a ''mšiha kdaba'' or "[[false messiah]]" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by [[John the Baptist]].<ref name="macuch">{{cite book | last = Macuch | first = Rudolf | title = Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic | publisher = De Gruyter & Co. | location = Berlin | year = 1965 | page = 61 fn. 105 }}</ref> Still other traditions identify [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]], the founder of Manichaeism, and [[Seth]], third son of [[Adam and Eve]], as salvific figures. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page