This word, like Gnosis, has been differentiated according to the use of upper or lower case letters. Spelled "gnosticism" it refers to the form which is used by various related, but externally different groups. These include Kabbalah, etc.. The Hellenic Gnostics, etc (this modern usage of the word that started in about the 1800s). Spelled Gnosticism it refers specifically to the Christian and Jewish groups from the 1st through 5th centuries A.D. who believed salvation to be in gnosis rather than faith.

A person regarded as a student of Gnosis. Can refer to specific sects mentioned by historians, and heresiologists, The term can be used as a category for a number of sects and individuals that believed "Gnosis" had a salvational purpose. Gnostic sects are known to have existed in pre-Christian Jewish communities and later in Christian movements, according to information in the "Nag Hammadi" text by Robinson. Gnostic views differ, as do secular characters of the Pleroma in the creation myths. The term or versions of it, are used very early in regard to Christian learning, this quote from Book 3 of Clement of Alexandria"s "Stromata". "Joannis autem vitae institutum gnosticum quis imitabitur?"