1 month ago - priesthood of all believers, cardinal doctrinal principle of the churches of the 16th-century Reformation, both Lutheran and Reformed, and the Protestant Free churches that arose from the Reformation churches. The doctrine asserts that all humans have access to God through Christ, the true high priest, and thus do not need a priestly mediator. (
Gnosticism is a collection of religious ideas and systems that emerged in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. It emphasizes personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions.3 Gnosticism is a loosely organized religious and philosophical movement that flourished in the first and second centuries CE. The exact origin(s) of this school of thought cannot be traced, but it is possible to locate influences or sources as far back as the second and first centuries BCE, such as the early treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum, the Jewish Apocalyptic writings, and especially Platonic philosophy and the Hebrew Scriptures themselves.1 Gnosticism is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. Although Gnosticism is based on personal religious experience, it is a mistake to assume all such experience results in Gnostic recognitions.0 The meaning of the term Gnosticism is disputed, and there is little scholarly consensus on whether these movements are in fact related and, if so, how.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's pretty much the way I see it.
I would just add, that such spiritual knowledge is knowledge of God, not "Self" as someone suggested. I think that other idea may relate to Hinduism or Buddhism, not to Gnostic Christians.
Jesus addressed the concept of a seed of divine life within each person, which might be cultivated under the right circumstances, in his Parable of the Sower.
:: priesthood of all believers, cardinal doctrinal principle of the churches of the 16th-century Reformation, both Lutheran and Reformed ::
Fail.
Grace alone.
Faith alone.
Scripture alone.
The Reformers did not cite TPOAB as a doctrinal free-for-all.
The Post-modern Western “churchiness” cult did this in order to justify destroying the God-given (Leviticus) Liturgical life of God’s people.
These heterodox, too, espouse Gnostic teachings such as “thus do not need a priestly mediator”.