Not really status quo because the good news was the subversive message of the time
Gnosticism was a threat to Christianity as it tried to subvert the message but its real weapon was the fact that Gnosticism was eclectic and happy to absorb into its belief system new ideas as long as there was one undermining principle that ruled them all.
you are correct in that the Gnostics did identify Yahweh as an evil Demiurge but that was more a function or need of the nature of Gnostic god. If this god was a creator and matter was evil there was a problem in that how did the pure spirit God carry out such a feat. They had an eloborate system of multiple emanations coming from the pure source. These godlike creatures called aeons where a series of emanations from the true pure spirit god of Gnosticism and when this inclusive/flexible gnosticism came in contact with Judaism or Christianity the angels became such aeons.
All these aeons or emanations from Gnostic god became less pure in a sense, distanced from the true god. Once the chain of aeons was distant enough from god this divine being they called the Demiurge who had the capacity to create and was sufficiently less pure to come in contact with matter. When one includes all these aeons leading down to the Demiurge this is what the Gnostics called the Pleroma. Pleroma not only covered all the aeons it is also the Greek word for fullness the same Greek word used in the passage I quoted from Colossians 2:9
New American Standard Bible
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
So the Gnostic set up looked like this
Pure God
V
aeons
->
aeons
->
aeons
-> { PLEROMA }
aeons
->
Demiurge
-> Creation eg. evil material universe
Another encounter with the Gnostics occurs in Acts
Paul's sermon on Mars Hill introduces to the Athenians to the nature of God that was abhorrent to the gnostic.
The physical bodily resurrection of Jesus would have been the last thing they would have believed was the good news as only the spirit was deemed pure. Although Athens was the center of learning and the gentiles would have been well versed in diverse philosophy they where still keen to hear the new message. So in a sense they where still searching and Paul even leans on their knowledge of God yet the Statue to the unknown God he points to Yahweh, they had knowledge but did not know of the true God.
Acts 17 (NASB)
Paul at Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing
Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. 18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were [
a]conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this [
b]idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him [
c]to the [
d]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is [
e]which you are proclaiming? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
Sermon on Mars Hill
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the [
f]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all
people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one
man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined
their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and [
g]exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all
people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge [
h]the world in righteousness [
i]through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men [
j]by raising Him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you [
k]again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Footnotes:
- Acts 17:18 Or disputing
- Acts 17:18 I.e. one who makes his living by picking up scraps
- Acts 17:19 Or before
- Acts 17:19 Or Hill of Ares, god of war
- Acts 17:19 Lit which is being spoken by you
- Acts 17:22 Or the Council of the Areopagus
- Acts 17:28 Lit are
- Acts 17:31 Lit the inhabited earth
- Acts 17:31 Lit by or in
- Acts 17:31 Or when He raised
- Acts 17:32 Lit also again
