False Doctrine: Conditional Immortality and the Valentinian Gnostics

With the rise of false teachings like "conditional immortality" and "annihilationism" in recent years, its important to know where these ideas originate.

Folks in the SDA's and other fringe sects are challenging long-established doctrine within Christianity, by claiming eternal states for both believers in heaven and unbelievers in hell, is solely derived from a platonistic idea.

In this view, which ultimately challenges God's justice (often through emotional human sentiment which somewhat puts God Himself on trial) an absence of immortality for those who are not 'enlightened by the spirit' is foundational.

So, in simple terms, they advocate the idea that immortality is only something granted to certain people upon death (namely believers who receive the spirit), and those who don't believe or receive the spirit, will be turned to ashes and annihilated, or cease to exist.

This stands in stark contrast to many Biblical passages, such as Daniel 12:2, which clearly identifies both sides of these eternal states, though many twists and turns of interpretation will be made by adherents in an attempt to claim otherwise. I know that many are being caught in the net of false doctrines like these, so my intention with this article is not to focus on the theological aspect, as this is already being done.

But rather, I'd like to show you some parallels of this belief system within certain Gnostic sects. Further to this, some of those who advocate for conditional immortality are also increasingly pushing a teaching called physicalism, which claims the physical body is 'entirely separated from the soul' during a persons existence on earth.

DEFINITION:

"Christian physicalism is a theological viewpoint asserting that human beings are entirely physical, material beings, rejecting the existence of a separate, immaterial soul or spirit. Within this framework, consciousness, thoughts, and spiritual experiences are considered products of the brain and physical body, rather than a distinct substance that survives death."

Those who have been Bible-believers for a while and grown up around other healthy groups will likely already see through this, and how patently unbiblical this set of doctrines are.

There's a reason the mainline church has rejected these false teachings for many, many centuries, as the Bible is very clear about these errors. Not least, this latest upsurge also appears to be another effect of the liberal deconstructionism movement that has sadly plagued Christianity in recent years, as well as other fringe cultish views from the peripheral.

The Emergent Church

as a post-evangelical movement, seeks to reform the traditional church by seriously questioning or denying the essentials of Christianity. Emergents aim for relevancy and accommodating the scientific community and current culture. A core doctrine of Emergents is physicalism, the belief that humans do not have souls as their essence[6], as souls "threaten the accuracy of the scientific picture of the world." Christian physicalism rejects body-soul unity, denying human nature, in its essence, unifies both body and soul. These errant theologies are redefining church doctrines in the name of Christ - Christian Physicalism: The Progressive Deconstruction of Christianity, L. K. Ortiz

L.K. Ortiz

"In top Christian seminaries, philosophers like Nancey Murphy and pastors Brian McLaren and Rob Bell mold the next generation's minds by proclaiming souls as unessential to humanity. Emergent Christianity declares absolute truth and supernatural doctrines as anti-science and unrealistic." 
- Glorify Magazine

Despite the affront this creates against the clear teaching of the Bible, you may be surprised that this fringe view is actually verbatim found in the Valentinian branch of Gnosticism and Nag Hammadi Library.

Remember, Valentinian Gnosticism is also largely part of the wider doctrinal assault on the church, through groups like the NAR, such as has been extensively demonstrated by Stephen Montgomery in his book 'The Converging Apostasy'.

Please read this short selection of quotes and primary sources below that show the links between Gnostic sects and Annihilationsim, Physicalism & Conditional Immortality.

Valentinian Gnosticism

It is significant that Valentinus himself is credited with having written a treatise upon the threefold nature of man, who is represented as at once spiritual, psychical, and material. In accordance with this there also arise three classes of men: the pneumatici, the psychici, and the hylici. This doctrine dates at least as far back as Plato's Republic.

- The first, the material, will return to the grossness of matter and finally be consumed by fire.

- The second, or psychical, together with the Demiurge as their master, will enter a middle state, neither heaven (Pleroma) nor hell (matter).

- The third, the purely spiritual men will be completely freed from the influence of the Demiurge and together with the Saviour and Achamoth, his spouse, will enter the Pleroma divested of body and soul.

Valentinan Gnostic incription from the grave stele of Flavia Sophe Photo: Bari' bin Farangi

- Nag Hammadi Library

'The Treatise on the Resurrection' lays out a Gnostic position on the need for the spirit (Pneuma) to awaken the soul to bring immortality. That is little different than the position of conditionalism. In this Valentinian Treatise an argument is made that neither the fleshly body nor its animating soul survives physical death. Only the "spirit-mind" departs for the Fullness (Pleroma). You can read this here.

 “You must awaken while in this body, for everything exists in it. Resurrection must come before one’s death, otherwise there can be no resurrection, only death. Resurrect in this life…Live as that eternal one.” - Gnostic Gospel of Phillip

- Heracleon on Immortality of the Soul (Valentinian Gnostic)

"By the words 'it was at the point of death,' the teaching of those who claim that the soul is immortal is refuted. In agreement with this is the statement that 'the body and soul are destroyed in Gehenna.' (Matthew 10:28) The soul is not immortal, but is possessed only of a disposition towards salvation, for it is the perishable which puts on imperishability and the mortal which puts on immortality when 'its death is swallowed up in victory.' (1 Corinthians 15:54)" Heracleon, Commentary on the Gospel of John

Here, Heracleon refutes the teaching of the immortality of the soul, quoting Matthew 10:28: "the body and soul are destroyed in Gehenna," to emphasize that neither the body nor the soul is inherently indestructible.

This statement underscores a key point in Valentinian thought: immortality is not an intrinsic quality of the soul, but rather a divine gift granted through the transformation of the perishable into the imperishable at the resurrection.

Heracleon’s commentary further supports this view with a reference to 1 Corinthians 15:54, which speaks of the mortal "putting on immortality" and the perishable "putting on imperishability" at the resurrection.

Heracleon’s interpretation suggests that Valentinian salvation is not about a cycle of reincarnations but a final, one-time event in which the physical body is transformed into a state of imperishability. This aligns with the general Valentinian emphasis on the resurrection and the transformative nature of salvation, which involves the physical body being made incorruptible and eternal.

Conclusion

The Valentinians did not embrace the concept of reincarnation. Instead, they focused on the transformation of the perishable body into an immortal and incorruptible one, as part of the resurrection at the end of time.

This transformation was seen as a singular, eschatological event rather than a continuous cycle of rebirths. In the writings of Theodotus, Heracleon, and the Gospel of Philip, we see a clear rejection of reincarnation, with a focus on the resurrection of the body and the attainment of immortality through divine intervention and spiritual enlightenment.

In summary: For a Gnostic, the "soul" is part of the lower, created self—a bridge that can either be destroyed or, in some cases, "saved" as a servant to the spirit, but it is not the eternal, uncreated part of a person.

You can also read our other articles on this false doctrine and why it isn't Biblical. Alternateively, you can listen to the RISE Radio Christian Podcast episode that discusses the topic with Dr. Anthony Harper.