Sin is a Female Principle
The first and most frequent Hebrew word to be translated as 'sin' is the feminine noun chaṭṭâ'âh (H2403). It is rendered: sin(284), punishment(3) & purification(3). As a noun rather than a verb it focuses upon the offense itself or sometimes upon the habitual sinfulness of the individual
With this understanding of the word sin as a Feminine Noun it will help us to understand why sinful actions are described in terms of childbearing
Psalms: 7:14 Look! There is one that is pregnant with what is hurtful, And he has conceived trouble and is bound to give birth to falsehood.. The psalmist metaphorically pictures the typical sinner as a pregnant woman, who is ready to give birth to wicked, destructive schemes and actions.
SIN... GIVES BIRTH TO DEATH: 1Co 5:54-56; Rom 5:12; 1Jo 2:16,17.
WOMAN a female adult. However, the word woman is sometimes used in the Bible to refer to a weak and helpless man (Is.:3:12; 19:16).
The language of child-bearing in connection with lust and sin is echoed by James (Jam 1:13-15). So wicked men bring forth "children" (that is sin) after their own "likeness" (Gal 5:19-21; Rom 1:29-31; 1Co 6:9,10), and are thus known by their "fruits" (Mat 7:16,20). The melancholy litany of birth, procreation, and death in Gen 5 ("and then he died") is the result of Adam's "likeness" being distorted, in his descendants, into the likeness of the serpent.
Mic 7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. Here the woman in thy bosom represents the soul the desire of the heart cp. Pr 13:2 23:1-3 Isa 56:11,12 Hab 2:5 Gen 34:3 Ps 27:12 35:25 41:2
Job 15:35 They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. The wicked's iniquity is as his children: he nourishes them, and at last they turn on him.
Isa 59:4 None calleth for justice nor any pleadeth for truth : they trust in vanity , and speak lies; they conceive mischief , and bring forth iniquity.
Isa 59:5 They hatch cockatrice eggs , and weave the spider’s web : he that eateth of their eggs dieth , and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Here is all the quiet evil of the serpent, as in Eden. It is even possible that the worship of the brazen serpent, stamped out by Hezekiah, had secretly come into being again.
Now, the first clue to the "serpent's" identity is in this first line. God MADE the serpent more intelligent than any other animal on the earth. This is the mind of the natural man- very crafty indeed! This "serpent" began to coax Eve away from God and the Tree of Life. Eve represents the SOUL of man and Adam represents the spirit (mind) of man. God had made everything PERFECT, but the mind of man did not believe this and more importantly did not KNOW this. The mind of man turned away from God, His Life and PERFECTION. Eve (the mind, or soul of man) turned to knowledge for the answers. So instead of accepting that ALL is PERFECT, man chose to KNOW. This was purposed by God. Man must go through darkness and death to KNOW Light and Life! So, the "serpent" is that crafty mind of man that led our spirit into a spiritual death. The carnal mind is concerned with things of THIS world, not of heaven.
Note: The Garden, represents the dominant power of the soul, and the Serpent represents Pleasure, and is eminently fitted to do so. His use of a human voice is considered. The praise of the "snake-fighter" in Lev. xi. 22 is referred to. Stress is laid on the fact that Pleasure assails the man through the woman. The effects of the Fall on the woman and on the man are traced.
Mic 7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. Here the woman in thy bosom represents the soul the desire of the heart cp. Pr 13:2 23:1-3 Isa 56:11,12 Hab 2:5 Gen 34:3 Ps 27:12 35:25 41:2
Job 15:35 They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. The wicked's iniquity is as his children: he nourishes them, and at last they turn on him.
Isa 59:4 None calleth for justice nor any pleadeth for truth : they trust in vanity , and speak lies; they conceive mischief , and bring forth iniquity.
Isa 59:5 They hatch cockatrice eggs , and weave the spider’s web : he that eateth of their eggs dieth , and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Here is all the quiet evil of the serpent, as in Eden. It is even possible that the worship of the brazen serpent, stamped out by Hezekiah, had secretly come into being again.
Now, the first clue to the "serpent's" identity is in this first line. God MADE the serpent more intelligent than any other animal on the earth. This is the mind of the natural man- very crafty indeed! This "serpent" began to coax Eve away from God and the Tree of Life. Eve represents the SOUL of man and Adam represents the spirit (mind) of man. God had made everything PERFECT, but the mind of man did not believe this and more importantly did not KNOW this. The mind of man turned away from God, His Life and PERFECTION. Eve (the mind, or soul of man) turned to knowledge for the answers. So instead of accepting that ALL is PERFECT, man chose to KNOW. This was purposed by God. Man must go through darkness and death to KNOW Light and Life! So, the "serpent" is that crafty mind of man that led our spirit into a spiritual death. The carnal mind is concerned with things of THIS world, not of heaven.
Note: The Garden, represents the dominant power of the soul, and the Serpent represents Pleasure, and is eminently fitted to do so. His use of a human voice is considered. The praise of the "snake-fighter" in Lev. xi. 22 is referred to. Stress is laid on the fact that Pleasure assails the man through the woman. The effects of the Fall on the woman and on the man are traced.
The Soul
The word sin is related to the soul
The soul is a feminine name in Hebrew, Greek, Coptic.
James 3:15: this wisdom is not one from above coming down, but is earthly born of the soul demoniacal” (Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible)
therefore it is within our souls that we give birth to desire, sin, and death.
Philo: Now the female offspring of the soul are wickedness and passion, by which we are made effeminate in every one of our pursuits; but a healthy state of the passions and virtue is male, by which we are excited and invigorated.
Ezekiel: 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it itself shall die. Therefore, it is within our souls (bodies, or our whole being) we have a female principle within us that give birth to desire, sin, and death
Compare this with the Secret book of James:
For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh needs! - (Or do you think) that it is not this (flesh) that desires the soul? For without the soul, the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved (when it is) without evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself.
Ezekiel: 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it itself shall die. Therefore, it is within our souls (bodies, or our whole being) we have a female principle within us that give birth to desire, sin, and death
Compare this with the Secret book of James:
For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh needs! - (Or do you think) that it is not this (flesh) that desires the soul? For without the soul, the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved (when it is) without evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself.
Male and Female
Male and female must be regarded, first of all, as principles, and secondly as the genders of certain human beings.The male and female principles are opposed to each other.
In many Gnostic text, the mind (nous) is regarded as male: “he is a disciple of his mind, which is male.” (Testimony of Truth)
- Meanwhile, the soul (psyche) is regarded as female.
- When the soul was in the Upper Aeons, it was ‘virgin and androgynous’: “As long as she was alone with the father, she was virgin and in form androgynous” (Exegesis on the Soul)
The ‘female’ principle includes desire: - “After I parted from the somatic darkness in me and the psychic chaos in mind and the feminine desire [...] in the darkness, I did not use it again.” (Zostrianos)
- The ‘female’ principle includes the passions, which bring division instead of unity: “And do not become female, lest you give birth to evil and (its) brothers: jealousy and division, anger and wrath, fear and a divided heart, and empty, non-existent desire.” (Second Treatise of the Great Seth)
- Hence, salvaltion requires that we reject the female principle, and ‘choose maleness’: “Flee from the madness and the bondage of femaleness, and choose for yourselves the salvation of maleness.” (Zostrianos 131:5 )
The Teachings of Silvanus: Live according to the Mind. Do not think about things pertaining to the flesh. Acquire strength, for the mind is strong. If you fall from this other, you have become male-female. And if you cast out of yourself the substance of the mind, which is thought, you have cut off the male part, and turned yourself to the female part alone. You have become psychic, since you have received the substance of the formed. If you cast out the smallest part of this, so that you do not acquire again a human part - but you have accepted for yourself the animal thought and likeness - you have become fleshly, since you have taken on animal nature. For (if) it is difficult to find a psychical man, how much more so to find the Lord?
In the Gospel of Thomas and Revelation 14 salvation is spoken of a masculinity
Rev 14:1-4
1 ¶ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
In Rev 14:4, it speaks of the salvation of males that is man and women who have become males in Christ Jesus
- The ‘female’ principle includes the passions, which bring division instead of unity: “And do not become female, lest you give birth to evil and (its) brothers: jealousy and division, anger and wrath, fear and a divided heart, and empty, non-existent desire.” (Second Treatise of the Great Seth)
- Hence, salvaltion requires that we reject the female principle, and ‘choose maleness’: “Flee from the madness and the bondage of femaleness, and choose for yourselves the salvation of maleness.” (Zostrianos 131:5 )
The Teachings of Silvanus: Live according to the Mind. Do not think about things pertaining to the flesh. Acquire strength, for the mind is strong. If you fall from this other, you have become male-female. And if you cast out of yourself the substance of the mind, which is thought, you have cut off the male part, and turned yourself to the female part alone. You have become psychic, since you have received the substance of the formed. If you cast out the smallest part of this, so that you do not acquire again a human part - but you have accepted for yourself the animal thought and likeness - you have become fleshly, since you have taken on animal nature. For (if) it is difficult to find a psychical man, how much more so to find the Lord?
In the Gospel of Thomas and Revelation 14 salvation is spoken of a masculinity
Rev 14:1-4
1 ¶ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
In Rev 14:4, it speaks of the salvation of males that is man and women who have become males in Christ Jesus
“Not defiled with women." Not associated with "the mother of harlots" (17:5) and her daughters - the apostate churches of Christendom from Rome downwards. Many of the redeemed are themselves women, which necessitates the symbolic interpretation.
VERSE 4
"These are they which were not defiled with women"—They were not guilty of spiritual adultery with the false women of the Apostasy (see James 4:4; Rev. 2:20; 17:5).
"For they are virgins"—They are faithful to Christ. See 2 Cor. 11:2. "These are they which follow the Lamb"—Christ as the Lamb offered in complete dedication to God. is their example, inspiration and shepherd. They see him as the Lamb: quiet, submissive, offering himself in sacrifice to God; but also powerful to conquer the world. Cp. 1 Pet. 2:21-25.
"Withersoever he goeth"—Even unto the crucifixion of self. See Gal. 5:24.
"These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb"—See James 1:18. The privileges of the firstborn become theirs — a double portion of inheritance, the priesthood, and authority. These are obtained in Christ. "Firstfruits" imply a further harvest, for which see Rev. 20:16. 12-15.
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas ends with an admonition by Jesus that women must “become male” in order to find salvation! Needless to say: this would not fit in with Brown’s tale of seekers after a feminine divine!
114) Simon Peter said to Him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of Life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
Jesus is not suggesting a sex-change operation, but is using 'male' and 'female' metaphorically to refer to the higher and lower aspects of human nature. Mary is thus to undergo a spiritual transformation from her earthly, material, passionate nature (which the Gnostics corresponds with the female) to a heavenly, spiritual, intellectual nature (which the Gnostics corresponds with the male).
The Gospel of Thomas ends with an admonition by Jesus that women must “become male” in order to find salvation! Needless to say: this would not fit in with Brown’s tale of seekers after a feminine divine!
114) Simon Peter said to Him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of Life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
Jesus is not suggesting a sex-change operation, but is using 'male' and 'female' metaphorically to refer to the higher and lower aspects of human nature. Mary is thus to undergo a spiritual transformation from her earthly, material, passionate nature (which the Gnostics corresponds with the female) to a heavenly, spiritual, intellectual nature (which the Gnostics corresponds with the male).
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