تناول الكثير من الدارسين مناقشة فكرة تأثر يوحنا الإنجيلي بالغنوصية عند كتابته لإنجيله. وقد وجدت هذه النظرية مؤيدين ومعارضين. ونقاش هذه النظرية ليس بالأمر السهل لأن الغنوصية كما يقول أحدهم “تعبير علمي ليس له تعريف علمي مقبول بشكل واسع”. إنما يمكن أن نلتمس أنماطاً عامة تميّز الغنوصية. مثلاً: الثنائية المزدوجة، وجود كائنات وسيطة بين الله والإنسان، وساطة هؤلاء الكائنات في إحداث البشر والعالم المادي، النفس كشعاع إلهي مسجون في المادة، ضرورة المعرفة المكتسبة بالإلهام (الكشف) لتحرير الروح وقيادتها إلى النور، المحدودية العددية للقادرين على نيل هذا الإلهام، المخلّص صاحب الكشف الإلهي. لا يوجد عنصر واحد من هذه العناصر متَّفقٌ عليه أنه السمة الأساسية للغنوصية.
The word Gnosticism is taken from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge. Gnosticism, which we know from the observations of the Church Fathers in their writings, is a movement that appeared in the second century in a developed form. Therefore, since the Gospel of John was written in the years 90-100, it was not influenced by this particular Gnosticism. Rather, there is a tendency among researchers to assume the existence of an earlier form of Gnosticism (Jewish and pre-Christian Gnosticism).
Comparing the Gospel of John with Christian Gnosticism: في العام 1953 تمَّ اكتشاف مجموعة من الوثائق المسيحية الغنوصية في مصر مكتوبة باللغة القبطية تعود إلى القرن الثاني. من هذه الأعمال الغنوصية “إنجيل الحقيقة” من مدرسة فالانتينوس الغنوصي، و”إنجيل توما”. أظهرت الدراسات المقارنة بين هذين العملين وإنجيل يوحنا أن الفرق كبير جداً بينها وأن التعابير فيها قد اُستعملت بصورة متباينة جداً. وإن كانت توجد علاقة بين غنوصية القرن الثاني وإنجيل يوحنا فإن هذه الغنوصية قد اقتبست تعابير إنجيل يوحنا (وليس العكس) واستعملتها بطريقة غنوصية.
Comparing the Gospel of John to pre-Christian GnosticismBultmann is one of the biggest supporters of the theory that John was influenced by Gnosticism. He reformulated the Gospel to reveal the Gnostic elements inherent in it. Bultmann postulated the following Gnostic elements: the duality of light and darkness, the existence of beings alongside God (angels), and the existence of the original human being, the human being of light and goodness who was divided into small particles of light that are human souls that were transplanted into the world of darkness. The mission of the demons is to make these souls forget their heavenly origin. Then God sent his Son in physical form to awaken these souls, free them from his bodies, the bodies of darkness, and return them to their heavenly home. He does this by declaring the truth and giving souls the true knowledge (gnosis) that will enable them to return to heaven. Jesus is the supposed Gnostic Redeemer who pre-existed (John 1:1) and became flesh (John 1:14) and finally returned to God. The main charge against Bultmann is that he assumes that there was Gnosticism in the background of John the Evangelist.
Bultmann then uses John as his main source for reformulating this Gnosticism. But Bultmann claims that there is further evidence of this pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Poetry of Solomon, especially in the Mandaean writings. (1) Mandean. The oldest forms of Mandean theology date back to a late period in the Christian era, and it is impossible for John to have been influenced by this Gnostic thought. But Bultmann assumes that Mandean thought represents a later development of Gnosticism that he assumed existed among the disciples of John the Baptist, and that this thought was the background for John the Evangelist in writing his Gospel. But literary criticism indicates that Mandean Gnostic thought is late. When Gnosticism appeared in the second century, it was a mixture of different intellectual currents, some of which were ancient. But the question is: Were these trends united together in the pre-Christian era? Because it was the union of these currents that produced Gnosticism. The discoveries of Gnostic manuscripts in Egypt have proven the correctness of the opinion of the Fathers that Gnosticism is a Christian heresy because the person of Christ helped to formulate primitive Gnostic positions and elements into a specific body of Gnostic thought. For example, the Gnostic savior was identified with the Son of Man in a later development after the writing of the Gospel of John. There is also another element that challenges Bultmann's theory, which is that the thought of the Qumran group does not apply to the thought of the Mandean heresy in the first century. It is true that the Qumran group had modified dualism and primitive Gnostic elements, but there was no redeemer myth and no developed Gnosticism.
بالنسبة لثنائية النور و الظلام: ففي العهد القديم موضوع “النور” مهم منذ مطلع سفر التكوين وعمود الغمام. و استشهد متّى الإنجيلي (4: 16) بنص من أشعياء (8: 23 و9: 1) مشهور: الشعب الجالس في الظلمة أبصر نوراً عظيم، و الجالسون في كورة الموت وظلاله أشرق عليهم نور” (متى 4: 15). و الإصحاح 9 من أشعياء نبؤة عن ظهور المسيح المخلّص.
وسمعان الشيخ سمّى يسوع “نوراً للأمم” كما في أشعياء (لو 3: 32 و أشع 42: 6 و49: 6 و60: 19-.. 20). وفي المزامير : “الرب نوري ومخلصي” (26/ 27: 1 و35/36: 10 وميخا 7: …8.). و”أيها الرب إلهي لقد عظمت جداً. بالبهاء والجلال تسربلت، اللابس النور كالثوب” (103: 1-2) (2).
In short, the hypothesis that John the Evangelist assumed some primitive Gnostic ideas that existed before Christianity cannot be proven correct. On the other hand, it is certain that John the Evangelist was influenced by certain important elements in writing his Gospel. Jesus was explaining personal wisdom in Old Testament terms. The Pharisee thought was clearer in his two Gospels (Jesus was called my Lord in his Gospel of John more than in the Synoptics). He emphasized in the Gospel and Revelation that Jesus is Jehovah (8:24, 28, 58, 13:19, and Revelation 1:8), the Lord God Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8 and Isaiah). Focus on Jesus' sonship to the Father, and on his being the true Easter Lamb. Its themes are rooted in the Old Testament. The vision contains 508 verses, while it alludes to 516 verses from the Old Testament. Jesus is the groom and the church is the bride. Biblical topics from the Old Testament and New Testament.
Quoted from: The book You Asked Me, I Answered You
Q: 36
Dr.. Adnan Trabelsi
(1) الماندية وأتباعها المانديون Mandeans هرطقة تُنسب إلى ماندا Manda ويعني اسمه معرفة الحياة. وقد تعمّد على يد يوحنا المعمدان. لاهوتها خليط من التقاليد اليهودية والأسطورة الغنوصية و المسيحية النسطورية و السريانية مازالت بقاياهم “الصابئة” في العراق.
(2) في المزامير: “نور وجهك” (4: 7 و43: 4 و88: 16 و67: 1). و”بنورك نعاين النور” و”أرسل نورك وحقك”(42: 3). في أشعيا “نور الرب” (3: 5). وفي الفصل 13 من كتاب الأب اسبيرو جبور “يهوه أم يسوع؟” كلام مستفيض عن مجد يهوه وبيت يهوه. راجع أيضاً فهرس الكتاب المقدس، كلمة “نور”.