The doctrine of emanation
The Second Emanation: The Creation of the Physical Universe
“All the emanations from the Father, therefore, are Pleromas, and all His emanations have their roots in the One who caused them all to grow from Himself” (The Gospel of Truth). From this statement we understand that the source of all reality is the Father, and that what proceeds from Him is not severed or diminished in its going forth, but remains rooted in Him as branches are in the vine. In the great order of divine manifestation there are two chief emanations:
The First Emanation — the self-revelation of the Uncreated, Eternal Spirit to Himself, the fullness of divine self-awareness within the incorruptible substance of the Father.
The Second Emanation — the outward manifestation of creation, both the spiritual and physical realms, flowing forth from that same incorruptible source.
This present study will concern itself with the second emanation, in particular the manifestation of the physical universe.
This study considers the second emanation, the forming of the physical universe and the role of the Deity’s Spirit in that process.
### Spirit as Radiant Power
The term *spirit* is rooted in the Latin *spiritus*, from *spiro*, “to breathe,” denoting something exhaled or radiated. Its Greek equivalent, *pneuma*, and its Hebrew counterpart, *ruach*, carry the same primary sense of motion outward from a source. While the etymology tells us *how* it acts—flowing, radiating—it does not tell us the *substance* of spirit. That is learned from its effects.
The first biblical occurrence is in Genesis 1:2, where *ruach Elohim* is said to be “brooding” over the face of the waters. This brooding principle penetrated every atom of the primeval earth, ready to obey the word of command. All things were shaped by this Spirit as the executive agent of divine Wisdom: “By His Spirit He garnished the heavens” (Job 26:13), and “He sendeth forth His Spirit; they are created” (Psalm 104:30).
Thus, the Spirit is formative power—a radiant emanation from the incorruptible substance of the Deity. The Hebrew *El* means “power” or “might.” The *Spirit of El* is therefore the radiant, creative force flowing from the Father, who is the fountain of omnipotence (1 Corinthians 8:6).
### The Corporeal Nature of Spirit
Jesus declared, “God is Spirit” (John 4:24), not to describe an immaterial abstraction, but to reveal His essential substance: incorruptible, tangible, and self-existent. Spirit is to the Father what radiant heat is to white-hot iron—the outflow of the same substance. The Deity’s nature can be likened to corporeal electricity: a concentrated, self-sustaining energy that both exists in substance and radiates in power.
Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1) portrays this with imagery of fire, brightness, and lightning—a vivid representation of spirit as radiant, corporeal energy. In biblical symbolism, electricity is a figure for spirit because it is emitted from a central source, just as divine power radiates from the Father.
This spirit exists in two conditions:
1. **Free, radiant, uncombined**—as the active force pervading all things.
2. **In substance, bodily existence**—the original condition of spirit in the person of the Father.
The Deity has always existed as substance; there was never an incorporeal predecessor to His power. Spirit radiates from Him, but is never separate from Him, and never acts independently of His will (John 5:19).
### Matter and Spirit as One Essence
The philosophical distinction between “matter” and “spirit” is foreign to Scripture. The Father is matter in the truest sense, but that matter is spirit-substance—incorruptible, intelligent, and eternal. Matter, in this definition, is not inherently evil nor incapable of thought. Electricity, though invisible and intangible to the hand, is still matter—just as much as a stone is. To call something “immortal” because it is “immaterial” is to affirm that nothingness is immortal, which is absurd.
Since the Deity’s spirit pervades the atoms of all bodies, it fills the whole creation. The psalmist testifies that there is no place to flee from His spirit (Psalm 139:7–12). Paul affirmed to the philosophers of Athens that God “is not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27–28), for in Him all live, move, and have their being.
### Spirit as the Sustainer of Life
Every living creature is dependent upon the spirit and breath of the Deity (Job 34:14–15). Withdraw that breath, and the organism collapses into corruption and dust. Spirit is the *vis medicatrix naturae*, the vital principle that sustains life. All living beings are “spirit-forms” in the sense that their existence depends upon spirit-matter infused into their structure. However, being spirit-formed does not automatically confer immortality—flesh-and-blood spirit-forms are mortal by constitution.
When the free spirit of the Deity is withdrawn, the cohesion of matter dissolves; the form returns to dust, and its elements recombine into other arrangements. This is why the Deity is called “Yahweh, Elohim of the spirits of all flesh” (Numbers 27:16). The power of the lion is from Yahweh; the flight of the sparrow is from Yahweh. All are connected to Him by a direct line of sustaining energy.
### Instantaneous Communication of Will
Because the free spirit radiates throughout creation, all things are in direct communication with the will of the Deity. His commands require no time to traverse space; His will at His throne is instantly effective anywhere in the universe. Time is irrelevant to Him; space is filled with His power.
### Spirit in Physical and Moral Operations
Spirit operates in two broad ways:
* **Physically**, as the power that animates, organizes, and sustains all creation.
* **Morally**, as the truth—God’s thoughts breathed forth in words—operating on the hearts of those brought into harmony with His character.
The Lord said, “My words are spirit” (John 6:63), and John wrote, “The Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6). Physical acts such as raising the dead or healing the sick require material spirit-power; moral transformation requires the spirit in the form of truth.
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Dark Matter, Thick Darkness, and the Abode of God
Scripture repeatedly describes the dwelling of the Deity as “thick darkness” (Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11; 1 Kings 8:12; Psalms 18:11; 97:2). This is not darkness as absence of light, but an impenetrable radiance that to mortal perception appears as obscurity. It may well be that what physicists call “dark matter” or “dark energy” is related to this reality — the invisible, pervasive substance of the divine realm, the very abode of the Deity and His spiritual sons. From this hidden dimension, the Spirit extends into all realms, ordering both the spiritual and the physical universes.
The Second Emanation
The creation of the physical universe, then, is the second great emanation from the Father. The first emanation is the fullness of divine life and self-knowledge within the Pleroma; the second is the outward projection of that life into ordered creation. This emanation is the Spirit of God going forth from His substance, shaping the Aeons, establishing the heavens, and forming the material cosmos. It is the radiance of the incorruptible hypostasis — the underlying reality — made manifest in the visible world.
Thus the visible universe is not alien to the divine but rooted in it. Its atoms, forces, and structures are the outflow of divine power, sustained moment by moment by the Spirit that pervades all things. The second emanation is therefore not the production of something from nothing, but the shaping of what is seen from the unseen substance of the Deity, “so that what is seen has come to be out of things which are not visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
In this way, creation is a continuous testimony to the Father, the Source from whom, through whom, and for whom are all things. The physical universe is not a realm separate from God but an emanation from His very being, sustained by His Spirit, and destined to be filled with His glory.
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