Gnosis is to Know Thyself Gospel of Thomas Saying 3

Gnosis is to Know Thyself Gospel of Thomas Saying 3

The Gospel of Thomas Saying 3:

Jesus said, "[If] those who lead you [say to you, 'See], the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky [will precede you. If they say that] it is under the earth, then the fish of the sea [will enter it, preceding] you. And, the [kingdom of God] is inside of you, [and it is outside of you. Whoever] knows [himself] will discover this. [And when you] come to know yourselves, [you will realize that] you are [sons] of the [living] father. [But if you] will [not] know yourselves, [you dwell] in [poverty] and it is you who are that poverty." Oxyrhynchus Text


The first part of this saying is about the location of the Kingdom the second part of this saying is about how to find the kingdom by self knowledge:

Whoever] knows [himself] will discover this, (then you will be known). [And when you] come to know yourselves, [you will realize that] you are [sons] of the [living] father. [But if you] will [not] know yourselves, [you dwell] in [poverty] and it is you who are that poverty."


Philo of Alexandria defines self knowledge or knowing yourself as "Take heed to Thyself."
Philo On the Migration of Abraham: 

know yourself all your life, as Moses teaches us in many passages where he says, "Take heed to Thyself."{4}{#ex 34:12.}

Take heed to Thyself this is another re-occurring phrase throughout Deuteronomy, emphasising the personal responsibility (See Deut. 2:4; 4:9,15,23; 11:16; 12:13,19,30; 27:9.)

It is a believer's personal responsibility to learn the Gospel message its teachings these teachings are only of benefit if acknowledged and applied.

know thyself is a biblical exhortation about self-examination 


The Lord Jesus himself in the NT use the phrase “take heed to yourselves” or "pay attention to yourselves" see:

Luke 21:34 “But pay attention to yourselves that YOUR hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon YOU (NWT)

And so does Paul: Acts 20: 28 Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed YOU overseers, to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own [Son]. (NWT)

1 Timothy 4:16 Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

And John use the phrase as well: 2Jo 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. (KJ)

know thyself may also have a mystical interpretation. 'Thyself', is not meant in reference to the egotist, but the ego within self, the Christ consciousness.

Gnosis is the fulfillment of faith realizing that in the secret unknown self the believer is one with the Father the fruit of that union is love

2 cor 13:5  examine your own selves if ye be in the faith; prove your own selves: do ye not recognise yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be reprobates?

1 Cor. 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?


Colossians 1:27  To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Lu 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Ga 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Saying 82 Jesus said, Whoever is near me is near fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom.

In Saying 82 fire and the kingdom are equivalent terms just as Jesus is equivalent with the Kingdom so here in saying 3 with the location of the Kingdom being inside of the believers it is the son of man who is inside us
This is confirmed in the The Testimony of Truth and the The Gospel of Mary

he has to come to know the Son of Man, that is, he has come to know himself. This is the perfect life, that man know himself by means of the All. (The Testimony of Truth)

33) When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all,saying, Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves.

34) Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.

35) Follow after Him!

36) Those who seek Him will find Him. (The Gospel of Mary chapter 4)


Yet there is one little caveat here; we must come to know our TRUE self. Our true self is not the person of THIS world, but the one who was born of God that came into this world. All of you Christians of traditional beliefs should read the words of the Bible more carefully. This teaching should not be foreign to you if you have been given the eyes to see it. Consider how this passage from Thomas spiritually aligns with what Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Paul is speaking about us becoming and knowing our true, perfect self. This is nearly identical to what Jesus said: “When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father.” Do you understand the spiritual essence of what Jesus and Paul are saying here? They are saying we are spiritually maturing and growing in knowledge of who we are. 

We may not be clearly seeing our true self (who is Christ) right now, but we will once we come to fully know and BE our TRUE self! They are both saying that one day we shall fully know our true self, even as I AM (God) is fully known. We are God’s image that must become perfect like our Father to show God the image of Himself. This is our purpose- to reflect the glory and be the image of God! We can only do this in Christ where our true self (life) has been kept hidden and safe for ages and ages. So in this light, real “poverty” is when we don’t know our true self in Christ. 

This is spiritual poverty where the soul is lost in deception and the spirit feels homeless because he hasn’t returned to his Father’s house. Finally, Jesus says, “You are the poverty.” Paul said that nothing good could come from him. He said that “Paul” had died and CHRIST now lived in and through him. Paul knew that his true life was found in the spirit (in Christ), not in the natural (or worldly) Paul. 

Self-knowledge is the true self of the Christ consciousness. Without real self-knowledge other knowledge often becomes a kind of clutter in the mind. With correct self knowledge, however, other knowledge reveals its meaning and ripens into wisdom.

There is a contrast between “personal consciousness, self-will, self, me and I” and “spiritual awareness, the divine self, or the Christ consciousness”.

One of the most effective ways to gain greater self knowledge is to realize that you have a dimension of your mind that is even greater than your "thinking self." This greater level of your mind can actually OBSERVE your thinking self. It can evaluate what it observes. It can make decisions about what it observes. If it chooses it can control, change, and adjust what the thinking self is doing. It is from this higher level of your mind that true self knowledge is attained.

The key to self-knowledge is the awareness that true knowledge comes from within. We must keep in mind that the gaining of wisdom is not merely the result of pouring a sufficient number of facts into our heads; rather, it is the process of "remembering" or calling forth the spiritual truths that are written on our heart

Liberating Gnosis 2 Corinthians 3:17

Liberating Gnosis 
or
Liberating Knowledge

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

In this study we will look at Liberating Gnosis, as we have already noted (in other posts), that gnosis refers to a knowledge which transcending intellectual knowledge. It is experiential knowing a knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience. This gnosis consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. Gnosis has the effect of liberating the mind 

The Gospel of Truth puts it: 

He who is to have knowledge in this manner knows where he comes from and where he is going. He knows as one who, having become drunk, has turned away from his drunkenness, (and) having returned to himself, has set right what are his own. (Gospel of Truth)

Whence did he come? Whither does he go? The answer to both is God. Here again, genuine self-knowledge is actually knowledge of God, and vice versa. Hippolytus in his "Elucidations" went so far as to proclaim that the maxim "Know thyself" means to "discover God *within* thyself, for he has formed thee after his own image." (ANF., vol. 5, p. 153).

Another Valentinian text the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus states:

78 Until baptism, they say, Fate is real, but after it the astrologists are no longer right. But it is not only the washing that is liberating, but the knowledge of who we were, and what we have become, where we were or where we were placed, whither we hasten, from what we are redeemed, what birth is and what rebirth.  (the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus 78)

From this saying we can conclude that liberating knowledge involves insight of our original nature at creation next our sinful condition after Adam’s fall. What happens after death, how we will be restored what it means to be born again and the resurrection.

A similar saying to the one above from Theodotus is found in the text called the Teachings of Silvanus from the Nag Hammadi Library:

But before everything (else), know your birth. Know yourself, that is, from what substance you are, or from what race, or from what species. Understand that you have come into being from three races: from the earth, from the formed, and from the created. The body has come into being from the earth with an earthly substance, but the formed, for the sake of the soul, has come into being from the thought of the Divine. The created, however, is the mind, which has come into being in conformity with the image of God. The divine mind has substance from the Divine, but the soul is that which he (God) formed for their own hearts. For I think that it (the soul) exists as wife of that which has come into being in conformity with the image, but matter is the substance of the body, which has come into being from the earth. (The Teachings of Silvanus)

"Know yourself, that is, from what substance you are, or from what race, or from what species. Understand that you have come into being from three races: from the earth, from the formed, and from the created."

This part of the saying from Silvanus seems similar to a few says from Philo of Alexandria:

Come, and at once abandoning all other things, learn to know yourselves, and tell us plainly what ye yourselves are in respect of your bodies, in respect of your souls, in respect of your external senses, and in respect of your reason. (Philo: On the Migration of Abraham)

The body, the soul, reason and external senses in Philo could be connected or related in some respect to the earth, the formed, and the created in The Teachings of Silvanus which stand for the body, the soul, and the mind.

bodies, souls, external senses, and reason is synonymous with the whole person

bodies, souls, external senses, and reason are synonymous with the whole person since the preceding words, learn to know yourselves, and tell us plainly what ye yourselves imply a parallelism between the two expressions.

Philo invites people to explore the realm of sense perception, the reader is invited to know himself and every part of himself and how everything is governed by the invisible mind within the person or by the mind of God within the universe:

"Dwell, therefore," says she, "O my child, with him," not all thy life, but "certain days;" that is to say, learn to be acquainted with the country of the external senses; know thyself and thy own parts, and what each is, and for what end it was made, and how it is by nature calculated to energise, and who it is who moves those marvellous things, and pulls the strings, being himself invisible, in an invisible manner, whether it is the mind that is in thee, or the mind of the universe.(Philo: On Flight and Finding)

from these quotations we can see that to "know thyself" is not just a conscious awareness of one's thoughts and emotions but also a insight of our makeup

Know thyself

"Know thyself" was the wisest maxim of the wisest philosophers of the wisest pagan nation of antiquity. "Know thyself" is inculcated by all the prophets and Apostles of all the ages of Revelation. And while the wisest man of the wisest nation in theology taught as his first maxim that "the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom"and while the Saviour of the world taught that "it is eternal life to know the only true God and his son Jesus Christ whom he commissioned" both concur in inculcating the excellence and in teaching the utility and importance of self-knowledge (The Christian Baptist, Volumes 5-6 1827-1828 Edited by Alexander Campbell)

but the knowledge of who we were, and what we have become, where we were or where we were placed, whither we hasten, from what we are redeemed, what birth is and what rebirth.  (the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus 78)

According to John Calvin "Knowledge of ourselves lies, first, in considering what we were given at creation," and, second, in calling to mind "our miserable condition after Adam’s fall." Both of these are undiscoverable outside God’s written Word. (Institutes I.1.1)

Such lack of self-examination leads to a lack of self-knowledge, and therefore people drift along through life, making their decisions according to the dictates of their own natural desires. There is a refusal - albeit heavily masked - to take on board the fact that life is so short that all too soon the finality of death will be upon us. “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away”. “We will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again”. “Like grass which grows up; in the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers” (James 4:14; 2 Sam. 14:14; Ps. 90:5,6). Moses, a truly thoughtful man, recognised this, and pleaded to God: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Ps. 90:12) Therefore, in view of life’s brevity, we should make our acquisition of true wisdom a number one priority. (Duncan Heaster)

Knowing God

After all these came also the little children, those who possess the knowledge of the father. When they became strong they were taught the aspects of the father’s face. They came to know and they were known. They were glorified and they gave glory. (Gospel of truth)

Now, it is not difficult to know the Creator of all creatures, but it is impossible to comprehend the likeness of this One. For it is difficult not only for men to comprehend God, but it is (also) difficult for every divine being, (both) the angels and the archangels. It is necessary to know God as he is. You cannot know God through anyone except Christ, who has the image of the Father, for this image reveals the true likeness in correspondence to that which is revealed. A king is not usually known apart from an image. (The Teachings of Silvanus)

It is impossible to know God according to his divine nature but we can know God according to his personality and character.

The knowledge of ourselves is impossible apart from the knowledge of God.  

self knowledge can only be understood with the knowledge of God and our sinful nature which comes from the scriptures 

But there we learn self-knowledge in a wholly practical way: from our original state we gratefully learn that “we are ever dependent” on God our Maker for everything; while reflection on our present sinful and wretched state “should truly humble us and overwhelm us with shame.” (Institutes II.1.1)

Liberating Gnosis 

That is the gospel of him whom they seek, which he has revealed to the perfect through the mercies of the father as the hidden mystery, Jesus the anointed.  Through him he enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and gave them a path. And that path is the truth that he taught them.  For this reason error was angry with him, so she persecuted him. She was distressed by him, and she was made powerless. He was nailed to a tree.  He became a fruit of the knowledge of the father. He did not, however, destroy them because they ate of it. He rather caused those who ate of it to be joyful because of this discovery. (Gospel of Truth)

Here Jesus and the gospel are one: it is nailed to the tree in his person. Thought only nailed to a tree, the gospel became a fruit of knowledge, thereby making its tree into a tree of knowledge — but not knowledge of good and evil ( Gen. 2:9) — knowledge of the Father

The meaning of Gnosis Ephesians 5:17

The meaning of Gnosis

The meaning of Gnosis

The word "knowledge" is from the Greek gnosis, and denotes a state of understanding developed from inquiry or investigation

literal knowledge

The meaning of knowledge--"Acquaintance with fact; hence, scope of information" (Webster). Intellectual knowledge is independent of feeling; it is literal knowledge without consideration of the Spirit. Man can store up a great wealth of knowledge obtained from books and teachers, but the most illiterate person who sits at the feet of his Lord in the silence comes forth radiant with the true knowledge, that of Spirit.

Spiritual knowledge

wisdom--Intuitive knowing; spiritual intuition; the voice of God within as the source of our understanding; mental action based on the Christ Truth within. Wisdom includes judgment, discrimination, intuition, and all the departments of mind that come under the head of knowing. This "knowing" capacity transcends intellectual knowledge. Spiritual discernment always places wisdom above the other faculties of the mind and reveals that knowledge and intelligence are auxiliary to understanding.

wisdom and divine understanding--These attributes come from the Spirit of Christ within us. The price that we must pay for the conscious attainment of divine wisdom and understanding is the letting go of the personal self with its limited beliefs. Paul saw the Christ waiting at the door of every soul when he wrote: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee" (Eph. 5:17).

 
The meaning of knowing (Gnosis) --There is in man a knowing capacity transcending intellectual knowledge. The knowing that man receives from the direct fusion of the Mind of God with his mind is real spiritual knowing. One who has intimate, firsthand acquaintance with God; a man of prayer. Jesus was the greatest mystic of all ages.

God is a Corporeal Being James 3:9

God has a physical body

or

God is Corporeal 

James 3:9

First what does Corporeal mean?

The definition of corporeal is something related to your body or something physical or tangible

Most Christians today may not know that the ancient Israelites, the early proto-orthodox church and the Christian Gnostic churches had a belief in a Corporeal God that is in a Deity who has a physical form

The Greek word for corporeal is used twice in the Bible 1 Timothy 4:8 and Luke 3:22

◄ 4984. sómatikos ►


Strong's Concordance
sómatikos: of the bodyOriginal Word: σωματικός, ή, όν
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: sómatikos
Phonetic Spelling: (so-mat-ee-kos')
Definition: of the body
Usage: bodily, corporeal.


Thayer's Greek LexiconSTRONGS NT 4984: σωματικός

σωματικός, σωματική, σωματικον (σῶμα), from Aristotle down, "corporeal (Vulg.corporalis), bodily;

a. having a bodily form or nature": σωματικῷ εἴδει, Luke 3:22 (opposed to ἀσώματος, Philo de opif. mund. § 4).

b. pertaining to the body: ἡ γυμνασία, 1 Timothy 4:8 (ἕξις, Josephus, b. j. 6, 1, 6: ἐπιθυμίαι σωματικαί, 4 Macc. 1:32; (ἐπιθυμίαι καί ἡδοναι, Aristotle, eth. Nic. 7, 7, p. 1149b, 26; others; ἀπέχου τῶν σαρκικῶν καί σωματικῶν σπιθυμιων, 'Teaching' etc. 1, 4 [ET])).

Luke 3:22 And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

The Holy Spirit is described as coming down in bodily shape. This was a real visible appearance, and was doubtless seen by the people.

Whilst man was made in the image of God it might be interesting to consider just how like God Man really is from reviewing relevant scriptures on this theme. so now we will look at the physical aspect.

English Standard Version

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. James 3:9

man is made in the physical similitude of the father

God is revealed as a real, tangible person, with a bodily existence. It is also a fundamental teaching of Christianity that Jesus is the Son of God. If God is not a corporeal (bodily) being, then it is impossible for Him to have a son who was the "image of His person" (Heb.1:3). Further, it becomes difficult to develop a personal, living relationship with 'God', if 'God' is just a concept in our mind, a formless, shapeless thing, floating out in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will.

It is tragic that the majority of religions have this unreal, intangible conception of God.

God being so infinitely greater than us, it is understandable that many people's faith has unwilling to accept the clear promises that ultimately we will see God. Israel lacked the faith to see God's "shape" (Jn. 5:37), clearly showing that He does have a real form. Such faith comes from knowing God and believing His word:

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt.5:8).

God has a soul

The word soul in the Bible always refers to bodily life living or dead 

Leviticus 26:11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.

So God has a soul and therefore a body.  A soul would indicate that this comprises of both spirit and body. 1Sa 2:35; Ps 11:5; 24:4; Pr 6:16; Isa 1:14; 42:1; Jer 5:9; 6:8; 12:7; 14:19; 15:1; 32:41; 51:14; La 3:20; Eze 23:18; Am 6:8; Mt 12:18; Heb 10:38.

God speaks of “my soul” (Le 26:11, 30; Ps 24:4; Isa 42:1) . By speaking of ‘my ne´phesh,’ The Deity clearly means “myself” or “my person. The Old Testament consistently talks of God as a person; God is spoken of as having eyes, hands, and so forth.

The word soul is used for the physical body:

1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 It is even so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 Nevertheless, the first is, not that which is spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual.

1 Corinthians 15:44  It is sown a body of the soul, it is raised a body of the spirit; if there is a body of the soul, there is also of the spirit:--

45  Thus, also, it is written--The first man, Adam, became, a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

46  Howbeit, not first, is the [body] of the spirit, but that, of the soul,--afterwards, that of the spirit.

God is not just spirit but also has his spirit contained within some almighty corporeal entity, i.e. a divine body. 

A divine/spiritual body implies a substance (Hypostasis Hebrews 1:3) of divine nature (2Peter 1:4) 

Hebrews 1:3 He is the reflection of [his] glory and the exact representation of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power; and after he had made a purification for our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in lofty places.

The Son is the character or exact representation, and the Father is the hypostasis.

Strong's #5287: hupostasis (pronounced hoop-os'-tas-is)

Hypostasis, the original cognate of substantia

Etymologically,

hypostasis = hypó ("under") + stásis ("a standing" = (hístēmi ("to stand") + -sis, verbal noun suffix)) = "that which stands under"

substantia = sub ("under") + stans ("standing", present active participle of stō ("stand")) = "that which stands under".

From this we can conclude that Hypostasis refers to the nature/essence or "substance" of the Father, the Father-Spirit is substantial.

However, in later centuries hypostasis began referring to the "person", not the "nature" or "being" of God. 

"an accurate representation in the manner of an 'impress' or 'stamp', as of a coin to a die" (NIBC); "the mark [which] is the exact impression of the seal" (Barclay). Christ is "the image of God" (2Co 4:4) and "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15); although in these two instances, the Gr word "eikon" is different from that used here. John expressed the same idea in the words "anyone who has seen me [Jesus] has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

the Son is the Character of his Hypostasis rendered, in the common version, "express image of his person." The Son is the character or exact representation, and the Father is the hypostasis. In reference to the former, the Father says, in Zech. iii. 9, "Upon One Stone there shall be Seven Eyes ; behold, I will engrave the graving thereof (that is, of the stone), saith He who shall be hosts." The graving engraved on the stone is termed, in Greek, character, an impress wrought into a substance after some archetype or pattern. This archetype is the hypostasis, so that hypostasis is the basis or foundation of character; wherefore the same apostle in Col. i. 15, styles the character engraved the IMAGE of Theos the Invisible. Seth was the image of Adam, and Adam, the image of Elohim (cf. Gen. i. 26 ; v. 3.). Like Seth, Jesus was an image of Adam, but only in relation to flesh. Adam the First was image of Elohim, and this was in relation to bodily form. Body and form were the hypostasis of Adam and Seth; that is, they were the basis or foundation of the images so named. Where body and form do not exist, there can be no image; therefore, where image is predicated of hypostasis, that hypostasis must have both body and form. The Father-Spirit, unveiled, is, then, a bodily form; and as all things are "out of Him," He is the focal centre of the universe, from which irradiates whatever exists. (Eureka by Dr. Thomas)

God’s holy SPIRIT emanates from His substance (Hypostasis) his body or divine nature. This helps us to understand the statement in The Apocryphon of John which says the Monad is both corporeal and none incorporeal at the same time: 

"The One is not corporeal and is not incorporeal." (The Apocryphon of John)

Tertullian notes that "This for certain is He who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, In what form of God? Of course he means in some form, not none. For who will deny that God is a body although God is a spirit? (John 4:24). For spirit has a bodily substance of its own kind, in its own form. Whatever therefore, was the substance of the Word that I designate a person, I claim for it the name of Son; while I recognize the Son, I assert the distinction as second to the Father." Now interestingly, in the footnote, the editors themselves note "This doctrine of the soul's corporeality in a certain sense is treated by Tertullian in his "De Ressur. Carn" xvii and "De Anima" v. By Tertullian, spirit and soul were considered identical." (ANF, Vol. 3, p. 467).

God is spirit but this is not a disembodied spirit it is in fact spirit embodied

Clement talked about angels, archangels and , First-Created (Exc.10:1,5) in the following Extracts from the Works of Theodotus: 10, 11, 12 and 14. Exc. 10

Extracts from the Works of Theodotus

10 But not even the world of spirit and of intellect, nor the archangels and the First-Created, no, nor even he himself is shapeless and formless and without figure, and incorporeal; but he also has his own shape and body corresponding to his preeminence over all spiritual beings, as also those who were first created have bodies corresponding to their preeminence over the beings subordinate to them. For, in general, that which has come into being is not unsubstantial, but they have form and body, though unlike the bodies in this world......– but they “always behold the face of the Father” and the face of the Father is the Son, through whom the Father is known. Yet that which sees and is seen cannot be formless or incorporeal. But they see not with an eye of sense, but with the eye of mind, such as the Father provided. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

14 The demons are said to be incorporeal, not because they have no bodies (for they have even shape and are, therefore, capable of feeling punishment), but they are said to be incorporeal because, in comparison with the spiritual bodies which are saved, they are a shade. And the angels are bodies; at any rate they are seen. Why even the soul is a body, for the Apostle says, “It is sown a body of soul, it is raised a body of spirit.” And how can the souls which are being punished be sensible of it, if they are not bodies? Certainly he says, “Fear him who, after death, is able to cast soul and body into hell.” Now that which is visible is not purged by fire, but is dissolved into dust. But, from the story of Lazarus and Dives, the soul is directly shown by its possession of bodily limbs to be a body. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

These two quotations from the Works of Theodotus shows that Valentinians understood the soul to be the natural body and that spiritual beings are Corporeal

If God is not a real, personal being, then the concept of spirituality is hard to wrestle with. If God is totally righteous but is not a material being, then we cannot really conceive of His righteousness manifested in human beings. However, once we appreciate that there is a personal being called God, then we can work on our characters, with His help and the influence of His word, to reflect the characteristics of God in our beings.

God's purpose is to reveal Himself in a multitude of glorified beings. His memorial name, Jehovah Elohim, indicates this ('He who shall be mighty ones', is an approximate translation). If God is not a corporeal being, then the reward of the faithful is to have a non-physical existence like God. But the descriptions of the reward of the faithful in God's coming Kingdom on earth show that they will have a tangible, bodily existence, although no longer subject to the weaknesses of human nature.

The faithful are promised that they will inherit God's nature (2 Peter 1:4). If God is not a person then this means we will live eternally as immaterial spirits. But this is not Bible teaching. We will be given a body like that of Jesus (Phil. 3:21), and we know that he will have a literal body in the Kingdom which will have hands, eyes and ears (Zech. 13:6; Isa. 11:3). The doctrine of the person of God is therefore related to the Gospel of the Kingdom.

It should be evident that there can be no sensible concept of worship, or personal relationship with God until it is appreciated that God is a person, that we are in His image physically, although a very imperfect image, and need to develop His mental image so that we may take on the fulnlless of His physical image in the Kingdom of God.

God as Satan 1 Chronicles 21:1

God as Satan 1 Chronicles 21:1

" Satan " is a Hebrew word, and transferred to the English Bible untranslated from the original tongue. Cruden (himself a believer in the popular devil) defines it as follows:— "Satan, Sathan, Sathanas: this is a mere Hebrew word, and signifies AN ADVERSARY, AN ENEMY, AN ACCUSER." If Satan is " a mere Hebrew word, signifying adversary," etc., obviously it does not in itself import the evil being which it represents to the common run of English ears.


Because the word 'satan' just means an adversary, a good person, even God Himself, can be termed a 'satan'. In essence there is nothing necessarily sinful about the word itself. The sinful implications which the word 'satan' has are partly due to the fact that our own sinful nature is our biggest 'satan' or adversary, and also due to the fact that the word satan is a personification of human nature the use of the word in the language of the world refers to something associated with sin.

God Himself can be a satan to us by means of bringing trials into our lives, or by standing in the way of a wrong course of action we may be embarking on. But the fact that God can be called a 'satan' does not mean that He Himself is sinful.


The books of Samuel and Chronicles are parallel accounts of the same incidents, as the four gospels are records of the same events but using different language. 2 Sam.24:1 records: "Yahweh...moved David against Israel" in order to make him take a number of Israel.

The parallel account in 1 Chron.21:1 says that "Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David" to take the number. In one passage God does the provoking, in the other Satan does it.  The only conclusion is that God acted as a ‘Satan’ or adversary to David. He did the same to Job by bringing trials into his life, so that Job said about God: “With the strength of Your hand You oppose me” (Job 30:21); ‘You are acting as a Satan against me’, was what Job was basically saying. Or again, speaking of God: “I must appeal for mercy to my accuser (Satan)” (Job 9:15 NRSV). The Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament uses the Greek word diabolos to translate the Hebrew 'Satan'. Hence Devil and Satan are effectively parallel in meaning. Thus we read in the Septuagint of David being an adversary [Heb. Satan, Gk. diabolos] in 1 Sam. 29:4; the sons of Zeruiah (2 Sam. 19:22), Hadad, Rezon and other opponents to Solomon (1 Kings 5:4; 11:14,23,25). We face a simple choice- if we believe that every reference to 'Satan' or 'Devil' refers to an evil cosmic being, then we have to assume that these people weren't people at all, and that even good men like David were evil. The far more natural reading of these passages is surely that 'Satan' is simply a word meaning 'adversary', and can be applied to people [good and bad], and even God Himself- it carries no pejorative, sinister meaning as a word. The idea is sometimes used to describe our greatest adversary, i.e. our own sin, and at times for whole systems or empires which stand opposed to the people of God and personify sinfulness and evil. But it seems obvious that it is a bizarre approach to Bible reading to insist that whenever we meet these words 'Satan' and 'Devil', we are to understand them as references to a personal, supernatural being.

At the end of the book, Job's friends comforted him over "all the evil that Yahweh had brought upon him" (Job 42:11 cp. 19:21; 8:4). Thus God is the source of "evil" in the sense of being the ultimate permitter of the problems that we have in our lives.

Scriptural personification

PERSONIFICATION

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To help understand more about "Figures of Speech" we thought it was necessary to show some other examples of personification and add a definition:

It must also be understood that the Bible often uses the language of personification when talking about abstract things, e.g. wisdom is referred to as a woman in Prov. 9:1. This is to demonstrate to us what a person who has wisdom would be like in practice; 'wisdom' cannot exist except in someone's mind, and so this device of personification is used.

Some may find it difficult to accept the explanation of the personification of the devil, because the devil is so often referred to in the Bible as if it were a person and perhaps this confuses some people. This is easily explained by pointing out that it is a recognized feature of the Bible that inanimate or non-living things such as wisdom, riches, sin, the church are personified, but only in the case of the devil is some fantastic theory woven around it. The following examples will illustrate the point:-

WISDOM IS PERSONIFIED.

"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her" (Proverbs 3:13-15).

"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (Proverbs 9:1).


These verses, and indeed the rest of the chapters in which they appear, show that wisdom is personified as a woman, but because of this, no-one has the idea that wisdom is a literal beautiful woman who roams around the earth; all recognize that it is a very desirable characteristic which all people should try to acquire.

RICHES ARE PERSONIFIED.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other: or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).

Here, riches are likened to a master. Many people strive very hard to gain riches and in this way they become their master. Jesus is here telling us that we cannot do that and serve God acceptably at the same time. The teaching is simple and effective, but no-one assumes from this that riches is a man named Mammon.

SIN IS PERSONIFIED.

"...Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John 8:34). "Sin hath reigned unto death" (Romans 5:21). "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16).


As in the case of riches, sin is likened here to a master and those who commit sin are its servants. No reasonable reading of the passage justifies assuming that Paul is teaching that sin is a person.

THE SPIRIT IS PERSONIFIED.

"When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself..." (John 16:13).


Jesus is here telling His disciples that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and this was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2:3-4, where it is stated that "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit", which gave them remarkable power to do wonderful things to prove that their authority was from God. The Holy Spirit was not a person, it was a power, but when Jesus was speaking of it He used the personal pronoun "he".
DEATH IS PERSONIFIED.


"Behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death" (Rev.6:8).
THE NATION OF ISRAEL IS PERSONIFIED.


"Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel; thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets..." (Jeremiah 31:4). "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God" (Jeremiah 31:18).


The context of these passages reveals clearly that the prophet is not referring to a literal virgin or to Ephraim as a person, but to the nation of Israel, which in this instance is personified, in a similar manner as Great Britain is sometimes personified as 'Britannia' or 'John Bull'. There are no such persons as this woman and man, but when they are referred to in books or portrayed in pictures everyone knows that Great Britain is meant.

THE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST ARE PERSONIFIED.

"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). "There is one body" (Ephesians 4:4). "Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Cor. 12:27). "...Christ is the head of the church: and He is the saviour of the body" (Ephesians 5:23). "He (Christ) is the head of the body, the church:...who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" (Colossians 1:18,24). "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2). "...the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7).


All these verses obviously refer to the community of people who were the true believers in Christ, sometimes referred to as "the church", though this must not be confused with any of the present orthodox churches, which have long since ceased to be the true believers in Christ.





The true believers, that is, those who hold and believe the true doctrines taught in the Bible, are referred to as a "chaste virgin", indicating the purity of the lives they should lead, and as a "body", a suitable figure because just as a natural body has many functions, so the true church has many responsibilities and performs various functions. When the church is referred to as a "body", no-one mistakes it for an individual, nor would they mistake the devil or satan for a grotesque monster or fallen angel had the words been properly translated, or if men and women had not acquired wrong ideas derived from the false churches in days gone by.


PERSONIFICATION: embody; symbolize; exemplify; represent as a person; personate.


Blood crying: Genesis 4:10

Blood speaking: Hebrews 12:24

False Prophet as a prostitute: Revelation 17:all

Folly as a strange woman: Proverbs 9:13-18

Israel as a dancing virgin: Jeremiah 31:4

Mountains sing: Ezekiel 27:25

Stars sing: Job 38:7; Psalm 96:11

Sun's are "HIS": Psalm 19:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd: Psalm 23:1

Israel a flock of sheep: Jeremiah 31:10, etc.

Wholesome tongue as a tree of life: Proverbs 15:4

Wisdom crying: Proverbs 1:20-33, 8:1, etc.

Wisdom as "SHE": Proverbs 3:15-18, 4:5-13

Wisdom as a sister &

Understanding as a kinswoman: Proverbs 7:4

Wisdom's Speech: Proverbs 8:4-36

Note - she was there in the beginning: Verses 22-23

Wisdom as a tree of life: Proverbs 3:18


Personification of Fear: The Boogie Man

Personification of Physical Earth: Mother Earth

Personification of Time: Father Time

Personification of Death: The Grim Reaper

Personification of Christmas: Santa Claus

Personification of Wisdom: A Woman (Proverbs)

Personification of the True Church: A Virgin Bride

Personification of the False Church: A Harlot

Personification of Sin: Satan the Devil


PROVERBS and FABLES are full of personification.


SEE: PREFACE II. APPENDIX P.

GLOSSARY: ALLEGORY. FABLES. FIGURES OF SPEECH. PARABLES.




PROVERBS. SIGNS. SYMBOLISM. SYMBOLS.

Did Jesus Christ Have Two Mothers? Gospel of Thomas Saying 101

Did Jesus Christ Have Two Mothers? Gospel of Thomas Saying 101

Jesus has two Mothers

Gospel of Thomas Saying 101

Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannot become a disciple to Me. And whoever does [not] love his father and his mother as I do cannot become a [disciple] to Me. For My [birth] mother [gave me death], but [My] true [Mother] gave me life." (April DeConick Translation)

"The substance of this saying has already been provided in Saying 56 [55]. Here, however, Jesus explicitly states that he himself hates his (earthly) father and mother (see Saying 96).

Thus the conundrum presented in the saying (hate parents and love parents) is resolved by positing two orders of family and two mothers of Jesus

April DeConick writes For L. 101.3,1 offer a possibility for completing the lacunae (9 or 10 letter spaces) which occurs on the last line at the bottom of p. 49 and the first two letters at the top of p. 50: 'who begot me gave death'. This construction not only fits the lacunae, but also provides contextual sense and offers a complementary parallel to the final clause. So I prefer it over Layton's reconstruction which does not fill the space 'who gave me falsehood'). 

Jesus's birth mother gave him death. Death came by genetic inheritance. for he inherited Adam's nature from Mary's blood, in which Adam's life existed, for the life of all flesh is in the blood thereof

Though the Son of God (by the Spirit) he was the son of man (Adam) by Mary, partaking of the very nature transmitted from Adam through David and Mary

If Christ was born of the spirit, by Mary, was he not spirit and not flesh, on the principle that which is born of the spirit is spirit?   

The question arises from an inaccuracy of words. Jesus was not born of the spirit by Mary but begotten of Mary by the spirit. 

Did God or man give life to Jesus?

Answer: "God himself gives to all mankind life and breath and all things 

 ;" 

consequently the question is not specific enough to make its meaning apparent. 

If it be meant, Did Mary have any participation in the impartation of life to the child born of her, the answer is Yes; for Jesus was the seed of David according to the flesh. Every one having knowledge is aware that in fetal life, the child's life is the mother's life, ministered by her blood through the umbilical cord; and that the child, so to speak, is by this connection built out of her blood. And as "the life of all flesh is in the blood", a child cannot partake of her blood, without partaking of her life. Consequently, Jesus, though developed from a Divine organism, was framed out of his mother's substance, and, consequently, was both Son of man and Son of God

Speaking of the conception and preparation of the Seed, the prophet as a typical person, says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). This is nothing more than affirming that he was born of sinful flesh; and not of the pure and incorruptible angelic nature. 

The nature of Mary was as unclean as that of other women; and therefore could give birth only to "a body" like her own, though especially "prepared of God" (Heb. 10:5). Had Mary's nature been immaculate, as her idolatrous worshippers contend, an immaculate body would have been born of her; which, therefore, would not have answered the purpose of God; which was to condemn sin in the flesh; a thing that could not have been accomplished, if there were no sin there. 

The apostle says, "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21); and this he explains in another place by saying, that "He sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3) in the offering of his body once (Heb. 10:10,12,14). Sin could not have been condemned in the body of Jesus, if it had not existed there. His body was as unclean as the bodies of those for whom he died; for he was born of a woman, and "not one" can bring a clean body out of a defiled body; for "that", says Jesus himself, "which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6).

If Christ had been a son of Adam merely, he would have been a sinner, and, therefore, unfit for sacrificial purposes. On the other hand, if he had been clothed with angelic or immaculate nature, he would have been equally disqualified, inasmuch as it was necessary that the sinning nature should suffer in him. The combination of condemned human nature with personal sinlessness was effected through divine power begetting a son from Mary's substance. A "Lamb of God," was thus produced, guileless from his paternity, and yet inheriting the human sin-nature of his mother.

The question needs to be asked who is Jesus's true Mother?

It is the comforter the holy spirit. In Hebrew the word spirit is a feminine noun. That is why it can be spoken of as a Mother giving birth. 

Jesus needed to be saved from death Hebrews 5:7 this his true Mother did at his resurrection 

Thus the holy spirit is Jesus' mother by his resurrection from the dead or by being born of the spirit or born again.

Romans 1:3  Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
4  And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Jesus came in the flesh of the seed of David when he was resurrected from the dead by the spirit of holiness he was born of the spirit

John 3:6 What has been born from the flesh is flesh, and what has been born from the spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel because I told you, YOU people must be born again.

8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone that has been born from the spirit.”

Notice the feminine description of the spirit in v8 one is born of the spirit. to use the langue of being born is describing the holy spirit as a mother

Mt 11:19 But wisdom is justified by her children.

Galatians 4:26 and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all,

Therefore the holy spirit is a feminine aspect of God

The holy spirit is a force, the invisible power and energy of the Father by which God is everywhere present. The chosen messengers have been given only the power and authority from Yahweh they need to accomplish their mission. Gen 1:2; Num 11:17; Mt 3:16; John 20:22; Ac 2:4, 17, 33. The Spirit is not a 'separate' or 'other' person. Ac 7:55, 56; Re 7:10 It is God's own radiant power, ever out flowing from Him, by which His 'everywhereness' is achieved. Ps 104:30; 1 Cor 12:4-11.

The Spirit is personal in that it is of God Himself: it is not personal in the sense of being some other person within the Godhead"

The Lord was conceived (born again) from what is imperishable, from God. The [Lord arose] from among the dead. But [He did not come into being as he was. Rather [his body] was [completely] perfect. It was of flesh, and this [flesh is indeed] true flesh.¹ [Yet our flesh] is not true, but rather a mirror-image of the true [flesh]. (¹Jn 1:14, 20:27, II-Jn 7; NHS p. 174 (The Gospel of Philip)