DeConick A.D

279
THE PI OF POLITICS
without hypocrisy, with a pure mind, in faith, in hope, in fervent love
(4.18.4). Although it is true that Christians inherited bondage to YHWH
when the disobedience of the first parents, Adam and Eve, made humans
mortal, the “filth of Zion” was washed away and humans were rendered
clean by means of the New Man, Jesus (4.22.1).
In this way, Irenaeus values his church’s connection with Judaism and
their mutual God YHWH while at the same time debasing the Jewish cult.
In the Apostolic Catholics’ opinion, God had supplanted Judaism with
Apostolic Catholicism. They saw themselves as the only obedient followers
of YHWH. This opinion enabled the Apostolic Catholics to supplant
Judaism while also using Judaism to link Apostolic Catholicism into an
ancestral religious past going all the way back to ancient Israel.
Subordination or Insubordination?
The real maelstrom of difference in the Gnostic–Catholic debate centers
on the nature of humanity, because at the foundation of this debate
is transgression itself, whether to be subordinate or insubordinate. The
Gnostic Christians value the superiority and natural divinity of humans.
They prioritize human need over the needs of the conventional gods and
their worldly representatives. They understand the human predicament to
be forced enslavement to the powers that control this world, both cosmic
denizens and human authorities.
Resolving the human plight, according to Gnostics, involves resistance
to authorities and rulers by overturning the cosmic order and overpowering
the demons on a personal level. They believe in the power of the free
human to transform ourselves and our world. They refuse to remain slaves
to religions that demand appeasement, obedience, and fearful submission
to ruling deities and their kings. Although insubordination to cosmic and
human authorities is discussed, however, political coups were not encouraged.
The fight was on a personal and cosmic level, to control the cosmic
rulers through personal warfare that conquered the demons in charge of
the world and empowered the Gnostics as the new gods, superior to the
old order.
Not so with the Apostolic Catholics, who value human subordination
and citizenship in a community with laws and regulations, which are imposed
to control our disobedient human nature. Even so, Irenaeus tries