Mani: The Man Who Claimed to be Christ

Manichaeism is the name of the Gnostic religion founded by the Iranian prophet Mani, who lived in the 3rd Century AD. Mani was influenced by the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus, as well as the Assyrian gnostic Bardaisan. Although he believed that each of these religious views held truth, he believed these teachings did not go far enough in revealing truth to the world. He built his "revelations", which he called the "Religion of Light", on Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity. In essence, he believed that Manichaeism was a bookend to these other religious teachings. Manichaeism claimed that the teachings of Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus had been corrupted by the followers of those men. Thus, Manicheaism claimed to be a complete version of those teachings. Hegemonius, the ancient church historian who wrote a Latin work on Manichaeism, reported that Mani said, "It is the Prince of Darkness who spoke with Moses, the Jews and their priests. Thus the Christians, the Jews, and the Pagans are involved in the same error when they worship this God. For he leads them astray in the lusts he taught them."

Mani claimed to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ", but later claimed to be the reincarnation of Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, and even Jesus Himself. Augustine of Hippo, the great 5th Century theologian, was a Manichee until his conversion to the Christian faith in 387. Eusebius said that Mani "armed himself by the perversion of his reason, and at the instruction of Satan, to the destruction of many."

Manichaeism teaches that Jesus had three different identities. The first identity of Jesus is called Jesus the Luminous. This is Jesus as a supreme ruler and spiritual guide. This Jesus, although completely divine, never experienced human birth because Manichees claim that Jesus would never have allowed himself to go through the process of human birth. The second identity of Jesus, according to Manichaeism is Jesus the Messiah. This Jesus was born at his baptism as the Father declared him to be His son. The work of Jesus--namely his suffering, death, and resurrection--had no bearing to salvation but was merely an example of the suffering and deliverance of the human soul. The third identity of Jesus was the Suffering Jesus. This Jesus was not really a human nor did he even exist. It was merely a collection of light particles that formed to create the appearance of Jesus on the cross. Mani taught that the crucifixion was more of a mystical symbol and not an actual event.

Manichaeism is centered around a dualism of light, which represents goodness and spirituality, and darkness, representing evil and materialism. Mani denied the omnipotence of God, believing that the origin of evil stems from the gnostic belief of two opposite powers: one good and one bad.

Historically, Manichaeism spread as far east as China and as far west as Rome and lasted until the 14th Century when it disappeared in China. Although most of Mani's original writings have been lost, numerous translations as well as fragmented texts still survive today.

Mani did not believe in the revealed Word of God to the Old Testament prophets and the apostles and authors of the New Testament. Instead, he attempted to add to scripture, which he claimed had been given from Satan, by declaring that he had a "new" revelation, which really wasn't new at all but was based on existing pagan beliefs, which he attempted to bring together into his own heretical theology. Scripture is not a book written by mere men, "but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21). Scripture has always proven to be right and will continue to be proven right. Manichaeism is characterized by its heretical views of Christ. Prior to Mani's claim of himself as Christ, he taught that Jesus was not a human, the work of Christ was an allegory and was not significant for salvation, and that the Christ on the cross was just an illusion of light particles. Again, Mani refused to believe in Christ as revealed in scripture and chose to create his own false belief system (Romans 1:21-22). Finally, Manichaeism was just one of many religous views to embrace the gnostic belief of dualism and the denial of the omnipotence of God. Although Manichaeism in name is dead, it is still practiced by billions of people around the world, even in many churches. Anyone who does not believe in the finished work of Christ alone for salvation is no better than Mani, whose soul has suffered eternal condemnation for almost 2,000 years.
 

Law Abiding Christians? A Look at the Ebionite Heresy

There is very little known about the Ebionites as they did not leave us many writings. What is known about them are the things that others have written or said about them throughout history. It is known that they had a small community in Qumran in the late first century A.D. The Ebionites may have migrated from Jerusalem to Qumran after the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. The Ebionites suffered persecution by other Jewish groups as well as “Christians” who hi-jacked the name of Christ for their own selfish gains. As a result, the Ebionites lost influence and followers toward the middle of the second-century. However, Epiphanius noted the settlement of Ebionites in Cyprus in 375 A.D.

The highly ascetic Ebionite group received their name, meaning “poor ones” in Greek, from Irenaeus around the year 180. This was derived from the fact that they valued voluntary poverty.

The Ebionites believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They accepted His humanity, but rejected His deity, which is also a rejection of His pre-existence, virgin birth, atonement, and resurrection. They claimed that Jesus was the biological son of Joseph and Mary, and had been chosen by God to be the Messiah. Some Ebionites, however, believed that Jesus became God when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him at baptism, but that divinity left Him at His crucifixion. These are reasons why the early church fathers regarded them as heretics. 

The Ebionites reject every word of the New Testament except for a Hebrew version of Matthew, which of course had omitted the first two chapters. They believed that the Apostle Paul was an apostate to the Jewish faith because he did not mandate circumcision or obedience to the Law (among other things). Epiphanius claimed that the Ebionites alleged that Paul was a Greek who converted to Judaism only to marry a high priest’s daughter, but apostatized when she rejected him.

The Ebionites believed that Jewish laws must be strictly observed and that all people must observe the Law to become righteous. However, as their numbers dwindled, they departed from traditional Jewish practices, and began to engage in excessive ritual bathing, opposing animal sacrifices, and even denying the Law. Methodius, who died in 311 A.D., noted that at that time the Ebionites did not even believe that the Old Testament prophets were inspired.

A rejection of either the deity or humanity of Christ is clearly an errant view of our Savior. The Ebionites refused to believe the testimony of the Apostle John, who writes in chapter one of his gospel that “the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-14). Paul tells the Colossians that in Christ “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). He also exhorts Titus to wait “for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Clearly, Scripture teaches that the man Jesus Christ was also fully God. 

Like the ancient Ebionites, there are currently certain spheres of evangelicalism that force restrictive, unnecessary, and unbiblical laws on its adherents. Paul tells the Galatians that laws cannot bring salvation. Only faith in Christ alone can save us (Galatians 2:16). The law of God is perfect (Psalm 19:7) and man is imperfect. Therefore, it is impossible for us to keep the law. As a matter of fact, if we keep every aspect of the law, but fail in one point, James writes that “we have become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10). 

The real issue with the Ebionites was that they refused to believe the eyewitness testimony of those who had not only seen Jesus’ ministry, but who worked closely alongside of Him. The Ebionites denied inspired Scripture and the testimony of the Apostles, choosing instead to strive to live a perfect life as imperfect sinners. They traded the clearly revealed God of Scripture for a created god of their own imperfect imaginations. 

Marcionism: The First Major Attack to Biblical Christianity

Marcion was a wealthy second-century Roman who studied Jewish scripture and compared it to the teachings of Christ. He maintained that the teachings of Christ were incompatible with that of the Old Testament. He believed that Jesus is the Messiah and that Paul is Jesus’ chief apostle. However, Marcion denied the humanity of Christ and held that He is not the God of the Old Testament. Marcion claimed that the God of the Old Testament is a demiurge, an evil being, who is separate and lower than the God of the New Testament. Marcion saw God in the New Testament portrayed as loving and forgiving, very unlike the God of the Old Testament, who Marcion viewed as jealous, wrathful, and genocidal. He taught that the demiurge created a world filled with suffering and imperfection. This, Marcion maintained, is not the true God. Furthermore, since the Old Testament God is the God of the Hebrews, Marcion maintained that any association with the Hebrew religion is evil.

            Regarding Christ’s work in salvation, Marcion claimed that Christ was not sent to save the Jews, but to bring salvation from the demiurge and to make known the truth of the good God, who may not have even been known by the demiurge. He claimed that those who were loyal to the demiurge crucified Christ.

            Marcion developed a canon, which included an edited version of Luke, called “Gospel of Christ”. His canon did not include any of the Old Testament, nor did it include certain parts of the New Testament such as the prophecies of Christ, His birth, His baptism, and His death. Marcion wanted to show that Christ was revealed as a man, but was not really a man. Thus, he eliminated parts of Scripture that attest to Christ’s humanity.

            Marcion’s teachings brought division in the early church. For the first time in the post-apostolic period, the church was led to formulate creeds in order to defend itself from these and other heresies. This also led to the adoption of the current canon of the New Testament.

            Marcion was also a legalist who imposed strict laws upon his followers. He believed in a strict moral structure and prohibited sex of any sort, even between married couples.

            Marcion was a heretic who did not believe in the inerrant, authoritative Word of God. He, just like many other heretics before and after him, chose which parts of Scripture to believe and which ones to deny. He claimed that Christ’s teachings contradict the Old Testament, but any knowledgeable reader of Scripture would know what Christ really said about the Old Testament. Jesus quoted Old Testament Scripture numerous times and accused the Jewish religious leaders of abusing the law. He even said that He did not come to destroy, contradict, or even revise the law, but that He came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17-18). Jesus spoke of the Old Testament often. He lived His life according to the law.

            The humanity of Christ is also clearly presented in Scripture. Two of the most notable references are John 1, in which Christ is presented as the eternal Word which took on flesh, and Hebrews 4:14-16, which presents Christ as the Great High Priest Who is able to sympathize with His people.

            The claim that the Old Testament God is a demiurge is nothing new. Marcion takes this belief from the Gnostics. Marcion cannot truly comprehend the justice and righteousness of God (Who can?) so he asserts that God is evil because he judges humans for their sins.

The majority of Marcionist teaching is based on human reasoning. Marcion struggled with the answers to difficult and confusing questions, such as how a just God can sentence people to death, or how a good God would allow evil to occur. His questions were unlike questions that are currently being asked in post-modern evangelicalism. They are legitimate questions. But Marcion was not satisfied by the answers he found in Scripture, so he sought to form his own conclusions apart from Scripture and based on conjecture and reasoning. This is the problem that occurs when we stray from Biblical teaching. Scripture teaches that man is totally depraved and unable to find the answers to life’s difficult questions on his own (Jeremiah 17:9). Therefore we cannot find truth outside of Christ and His inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word.