Gnosticism and Matter
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are our bodies evil? Some people assume the Bible teaches this when it describes the conflict between Christians and "the flesh." Today, R.C. Sproul helps us answer distorted views of the physical world that are prevalent today.
Get 46 messages from R.C. Sproul with your donation. You'll receive his teaching series Defending Your Faith on a special-edition DVD, plus the digital messages and study guide. You'll also get his digital series Apologetics of the Early Church: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/
Live outside the U.S. and Canada? Request both digital teaching series and the digital study guide with your donation: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global
Join us in Orlando for the 2027 Ligonier National Conference as we rejoice in the glorious attributes of God. Save 35% when you register today with the early-bird rate: https://www.ligonier.org/2027
Meet Today's Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | When the Bible speaks of the flesh in the negative sense, it's speaking of a sinful disposition |
| 0:05.6 | that includes not just the body, but also the mind. |
| 0:10.1 | But the idea of trying to make Christianity a life that is lived by pure rejection and denial of the physical. |
| 0:19.7 | That kind of thinking has its roots not in biblical |
| 0:23.6 | thought, but in Gnosticism. |
| 0:26.6 | There is error all around us, but this isn't new to the 21st century. The early church |
| 0:36.6 | had to deal with it too. |
| 0:38.7 | Hello and welcome to renewing your mind, |
| 0:40.5 | and this week we are considering the science of apologetics |
| 0:44.3 | so that you and I are better equipped to defend the faith. |
| 0:47.6 | Yesterday, R.C. Sprold introduced us |
| 0:49.6 | to an ancient heresy called Gnosticism, |
| 0:52.3 | and today, he tells us why we need to be on the lookout for |
| 0:55.5 | it today. |
| 0:59.7 | As we've been examining the rise of the science of apologetics in early church history, we |
| 1:07.4 | saw that one of the strongest opponents of Christianity in the early centuries was the movement |
| 1:15.8 | known as Gnosticism. |
| 1:18.0 | And in our last session, we looked at some of the distinctive characteristics of Gnosticism, |
| 1:24.4 | particularly with respect to their epistemology. Now you recall that that term epistemology |
| 1:30.3 | refers to one's theory of knowledge. And the Gnostics were very much concerned about knowledge |
| 1:40.3 | because they get their name from the Greek word for knowledge, which is the word nosis. |
| 1:45.7 | And they astude the normal methods of learning truth by rational deduction or by empirical observation and experimentation |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ligonier Ministries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ligonier Ministries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.