Gnosticism refers to several early Christian traditions with different beliefs. In these traditions, the Demiurge is a lower divine being who created the physical world. The Demiurge is ignorant of the higher God and, in some traditions, is arrogant or hostile towards humanity. The Demiurge is usually identified as Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus is understood as the revealer of a higher, benevolent God and of spiritual knowledge that can free people from the limitations of the material world.
By contrast, orthodox Christianity holds that there is one supreme God who created the physical world and is the God revealed in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus is understood as the Son of this same God, and salvation comes through reconciliation with God.