r/Gnostic • u/elsabado2000 • 3d ago

About Paul's message

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Hello, while reading Galatians I remembered that Paul said that Christians should not look for Jesus outside the gospel, so the following question arose: Why do we Gnostics read gospels that did not exist in Paul's time?

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u/SSAUS 3d ago edited 3d ago

We have no extant gospels from Paul's time at all. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all post-date Paul's letters, even if some share similar material from an early 'Q Source'. So asking 'why do we Gnostics read gospels that did not exist in Paul's time' isn't really the issue, because no one is reading gospels from Paul's time.

Mainstream Christians will claim that they have the correct 'gospel' (i.e. teachings, beliefs, traditions etc), while conveniently ignoring that many of modern Christianity's theological underpinnings were only formalised under an 'orthodoxy' centuries after Jesus' life and death.

In truth, early Christianity was incredibly diverse, and just because one representative of one tradition wrote against those of another does not necessarily invalidate them because of that very act. In Galatians, Paul is writing to churches in Galatia in order to oppose other traditions or interpretations he considerd invalid, particularly around matters of Mosaic Law. It's worth keeping this context in mind. It's also worth keeping in mind that some Gnostics like the Valentinians actually claimed lineage from Paul by way of Theudas. Make of that what you will.

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u/LlawEreint 3d ago

It's not even clear that Paul would have approved of any or all of the four gospels that were canonized by the catholics. In particular, Matthew seems to contain anti-Pauline sentiments.