Gnosis A. The noun gnosis (gno~si$) has the following cognates: 1. Agnoeo (a&gnoevw) (verb), “to not know, to be ignorant of.” 2. Akatagnostos (a&katavgnwsto$ ) (adjective), “above disgrace, beyond reproach.” 3. Anaginosko (a&naginwvskw) (verb), “to read, to recognize.” 4. Ginosko (ginw/skw) (noun), “doctrine perceived in the left lobe” 5. Epignosis (e)pi/gnwsi$) (noun), “metabolized doctrine” 6. Epiginosko (epiginwskw) (verb), “to metabolize doctrine” 7. Kataginosko (kataginoskw) (verb), “to condemn, to scorn, to judge, to blame.” 8. Kardiognostes (kardiognwvsth$) (noun), “knower of the heart.” 9. Akatagnostos (a)katagnostw$) (adjective), “above disgrace, beyond reproach.” 10. Proginosko (proginwskw) (verb), “to know beforehand.” 11. Prognosis (prognosi$) (noun), “foreknowledge.” 12. Sungnome (suggnwmh) (noun), “concession.” 13. Gnome (gnwmh) (noun), “opinion, judgement, intention.” 14. Gnorizo (gnwrizw) (verb), “to make known, to reveal, to declare.” 15. Gnostos (gnwstw$) (adjective), “known, knowable acquaintance, friend, intimate” 16. Gnostes (gnwvsth$) (noun), “an expert, one who knows.” 17. Diaginosko (diaginwvskw) (verb), “to decide, to determine by examination.” 18. Diagnorizo (diagnwrivzw) (verb), “to give an exact report, to make known.” 19. Diagnosis (diavgnwsi$) (noun), “decision.” B. Classical Usage 1. The noun gnosis (from Heaclitus on) originally expressed the act of knowing through experience. 2. It is knowledge that is derived from the nous (gno~si$), which is the left lobe of the soul. 3. It is derived from the verb ginosko (ginw/skw), which we dealt with in detail in the exegesis of Philippians 2:22. 4. The concept of knowledge had a central place in Greek philosophical systems. 5. The inscription at Delphi, gnothi sauton, “know yourself,” is a virtual motto. 6. It expresses the urge to reach beyond, to know oneself. 7. This drive characterized the Greek people for several centuries. 8. To the Greek mind, knowledge (gnosis) was explicitly linked to knowing the “truth,” aletheia. 9. The question of “truth” chiefly revolved around being able to distinguish between “actual” and “imitation.” 10. Truth was reality rather than something apparent or ostensible. 11. And for the Greeks the external object essentially expressed an underlying reality. 12. Gnosis therefore was to know these ideas that belong to a superior realm of reality, a world of timeless realities which stand unchanged and unaffected by the events around it. 13. To know this truth, this ultimate reality, was significant because the one who possessed insight into this reality also had the ability to control it. 14. Consequently for the philosopher gnosis is an existential knowledge which is decisive for a person’s life and destiny. 15. Such concepts as these formed the basis or points of contact for the later systems of gnosticisim. 16. In gnosticism, the noun gnosis connotes knowledge as well as the act of knowing, and it can thus be used in the absolute without any supplementary genitive, though what is meant is not knowledge generally (episteme) but the knowledge of God. 17. E.D. Schmitz states that Gnosticism is a “general term denoting a manner of life which sprang from a denial of the validity of human existence in history and the cosmos. It found expression for its beliefs in a syncretistic mythology, and expressed itself in the negation of ethics” (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, volume 2, page 394). 18. Gnosticism was an attitude to life which expressed itself in a feeling of superiority over all non-gnostics-in Christian gnosticism, over all mere believers. 19. In the writings of Plato gnosis in its concern for what really is attains to the divine, in Gnostic sources God is regarded much more exclusively as the self-evident object of gnosis. 20. He is so indeed against the background of a dualism which does not accept the Greek view that the deity is beyond the world of becoming in the sense of a reality that underlies all becoming, but which conceives of
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