Cerinthus was a man, born of Jewish blood Jew, and considered one of the earliest of heretics. He had studied philosophy in Egypt, than traveled to Asia Minor where he spread his erroneous doctrines. It is agreed among scholars that he lived in the first century. Irenaeus a man of God leaves us a full description of the heresy of this man Cerinthus.
Scholars such as Waterland, Michaelis, and others are of the conviction that John wrote to refute his heretical teachings. Cerinthus taught that Jesus was a man among men, having a real body, a superior man but still merely a man born of real parents, they being Joseph and Mary. Here is where it gets interesting:
At Jesus’ baptism the “heavenly Christ,” an emanation, meaning something that came from the Father, an Aeon, descended on Jesus, thus making it possible for Jesus to reveal the Father and to perform miracles. Concerning Jesus passion and death, he claimed that the Christ left Jesus and only Jesus the man suffered and died.
In this teaching is the cross removed from the center of the Christian faith and replaced by the knowledge imparted by the Christ. Therefore, 1 John 1:7, “The blood of Jesus Christ his (the Father’s) Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Cerinthus taught that Jesus blood was no longer the blood which cleansed us from all sin.
Irenaeus declared that, “John wished by the publication of his Gospel to remove the error which had been sown in men’s minds by Cerinthus.”
Cerinthus was a Gnostic concerning the creation of the world. He conceived the idea that it had been formed by angels. What he taught seems to be inconsistent with the fact that he being a Jew retained some of the Mosiac ceremonies, such as the observance of Sabbaths and circumcision; attributed the law and the prophets to the angel who created the world.
This has shades of the cult teachings of the Jehovah Witnesses, and others that teach Jesus Christ is Michael the arch-angel, and that the Father through him created the world.
It is thought that Cerinthus was regarded as the first person to hold the doctrine of a Worldly millennium, promising his followers the most sensual of pleasures and satisfaction. He was also of the opinion that Christ had not yet risen, but would rise in the future, via the period of the thousand-year reign. There are those scholars that also believe that Paul is combating this very heresy in 1 Corinthians 15.
Phil LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com