Alexander ( fl. 50–65) was a Christian heretical teacher in Ephesus. Hymenaeus and Alexander were proponents of

antinomianism Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...

, the belief that Christian morality was not required. They put away—"thrust from them"—faith and a good conscience; they wilfully abandoned the great central facts regarding Christ, and so they "made shipwreck concerning the faith." Hymenaeus is associated with the false teacher Philetus. What they taught is described by Paul as "profane babblings," and as leading to more ungodliness. Their

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

consisted of saying that the

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

was past already, and the heresy had been so far successful in that it had overthrown the faith of some. The doctrine of these three heretical teachers, Hymenaeus, Alexander and Philetus, was one of the early forms of

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

. It held that

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic part ...

was originally and essentially evil; that for this reason the body was not an essential part of human nature; and that the only resurrection was that of each man as he awoke from the death of sin's penalty. That thus in the case of everyone who was set free from the consequences of wrongdoing, "the resurrection was past already," and that the body did not participate in the blessedness of the future life, but that

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

consisted in the soul's complete deliverance from all contact with a material world and a material body. So pernicious were these teachings of incipient Gnosticism in the Christian church that, according to Paul, they quickly spread "like gangrene." The denial of the future resurrection of the body involved also the denial of the bodily

resurrection of Christ The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord ...

, and even the fact of the

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

. The way in which Paul dealt with those who taught such deadly error was by resorting to the same extreme measures as he had employed in the case of the immoral person at Corinth: he delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme.cf. Some scholars identify him with the Alexander of

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

19:33, or Alexander the Coppersmith, or both. Pilgrim's Progress He is also referenced in

Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christianity, Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a prog ...

as a hypocrite on his way to hell.

References

* {{New Testament people People in the Pauline epistles First Epistle to Timothy