Showing posts with label Deity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deity. Show all posts

Wednesday 28 November 2018

God’s Active Force




The first holy spirit is the Active Force of the Deity

God’s Active Force; Holy Spirit. By far the majority of occurrences of ru´ach and pneu´ma relate to God’s spirit, his active force, his holy spirit.

In Hebrew the word "Spirit" is ruach is a feminine noun, leading to references as "She".

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 phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.

Distinguished from “power.” Ru´ach and pneu´ma, therefore, when used with reference to God’s holy spirit, refer to God’s invisible active force by which he accomplishes his divine purpose and will. It is “holy” because it is from Him, not of an earthly source, and is free from all corruption as “the spirit of holiness.” (Ro 1:4) It is not Jehovah’s “power,” for this English word more correctly translates other terms in the original languages (Heb., ko´ach; Gr., dy´na·mis).

Ru´ach and pneu´ma are used in close association or even in parallel with these terms signifying “power,” which shows that there is an inherent connection between them and yet a definite distinction. (Mic 3:8; Zec 4:6; Lu 1:17, 35; Ac 10:38)

“Power” is basically the ability or capacity to act or do things and it can be latent, dormant, or inactively resident in someone or something.

“Force,” on the other hand, more specifically describes energy projected and exerted on persons or things, and may be defined as “an influence that produces or tends to produce motion, or change of motion.”

“Power” might be likened to the energy stored in a battery, while “force” could be compared to the electric current flowing from such battery.

“Force,” then, more accurately represents the sense of the Hebrew and Greek terms as relating to God’s spirit, and this is borne out by a consideration of the Scriptures.

Tuesday 18 September 2018

God is a Principle



God the uncreated and eternal spirit, the Creator; and the ruler of the universe, the creation is an emanation of God for all things are out of him out of his corporeal substance.

God is a person however there is another meaning to God that the Deity is also a Principle

The word AIL (El) means “power,” “force,” or plain old “energy.” The Hebrews used the same word to denote their Deity. They USED AIL (El) because that’s what the Deity of the Bible is. He is Desire, Direction, and Drive. There's no fire-flinging, brimstone-breathing behemoth. There's no gray- headed old geezer. There are no three different “Persons” who think they are one. The Deity of the Bible is not an entity in the common sense of the word at all. The Deity of the Bible is Desire, Direction, and Drive. The power becomes personal when it is manifest by a being. The beings whomanifest the power OF AIL (El) can be (and often are) taken for God. That may be how the misunderstandings began. That, as well as the blindness of Bible translators (together with thenaiveté of their readers) might be why such an obvious Truth has eluded so many.

It was Elohim who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, David, and Josiah, to name a few. EL (the Deity) has never been seen by anyone.

The Elohim handle all the personal appearances. We know this because Scripture clearly teaches that all creation was produced from One Power (out of and through which are all things) but this One Power operates by way of a multitude of agents (Elohim) who are spirit-embodiments of its power.

Principle meaning A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning:

This Principle is so to speak of God individualized in a believer however, this is both in a personal sense, and in the All-encompassing identification of ourselves with Him that we come into the God consciousness.

He is the underlying, unchangeable Truth "with whom there is no change or shifting shadow" (James 1:17). God as a principle is absolute goodness expressed in all creation. When a person knows God and worships Him "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24), they recognise Him as this great goodness, which is present everywhere, all-knowing, and all-powerful. "Blessed be . . . God . . . the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" (II Cor. 1:3)

We can have a personal relationship with God by reading his word praying and recognising his character

His character is taught in the name Father, representing the love, protection, and providing care of God for man, His offspring. He is life and love and wisdom and power and strength

The Almighty God is both a Principle, and a Person

God as principle--The unchangeable life, love, wisdom, and mercy. Principle does not occupy space; neither has it any limitations of time or matter, but it eternally exists as the one fundamental cause out of which come forth all true ideas.

God as the Divine Mind--The connecting link between God and the believer. The Divine-Mind embraces all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding and is the source of every manifestation of true knowledge and intelligence. God as principle cannot be comprehended by any of the outward senses, which is perceptible only by the intellect. The one Mind is a unit and cannot be divided. The individual mind is a state of consciousness in the one Mind.

By the term Mind, we mean God--the universal principle of causation, which includes all principles.

There is nothing but Mind and thought--Principle and its mode of expression. The things made, or externalized, are simply effects, and of themselves would quickly pass away; but Mind and thought are one and inseparable, self-existent and ever active, the cause of all that appears.

An understanding of God, or universal Mind, is a key to all scripture. In the story of creation as told by Moses, all things were brought forth by "God said"--Mind thought.

God as substance hypostasis or substance The Son is the character or exact representation, and the Father is the hypostasis. The archetype is the hypostasis, so that hypostasis is the basis or foundation of character; wherefore the same apostle in Col. 1:15, styles the character engraved the "Image" of Theos the Invisible. 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.

God, accessibility of--God is approachable, available, and usable to all who draw nigh unto Him. God is Spirit, the principle of intelligence and life, everywhere present at all times. He is, forever, as accessible as a principle of mathematics or music. "The Father abiding in me" (John 14:10).

God manifest--God manifestation is really greater than God principle; the man who has demonstrated the God-character is greater than the untried man. Jesus proclaimed, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). He had all the possibilities of Principle and, in addition, He demonstrated a large degree of its possibilities. In this respect, Jesus is the great Saviour and helper for all men.

Saturday 15 September 2018

The Emanation of the Divine Mind

The Emanation of the Divine Mind 1Cor 2:16




In this study we will look at the aspects of the Mind of God which are referred to as the emanation of the aeons. First we will have an opening reading from 1cor 2:16

1Cor 2:16  For who hath come to know the mind of the Lord, that shall instruct him? But, we, have, the mind of Christ.

First the scriptures teach that all things are out of God: 

1Cor 8:6 there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, on account of whom all things are, and we because of him. (NWT)

All things being out of Deity, they were not made out of nothing. The sun, moon and stars, together with all things pertaining to each, were made out of something, and that something was the radiant flowing out of His substance, or active force, which pervades all things. By his active force, all created things are connected with the creator of the universe, which is light that no man can approach unto, so that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father, who is not far from every one of us.

Here in 1Cor 8:6 we see the doctrine of emanation

emanate--"To issue forth from a source" (Webster). (For more information on the meaning of 
emanation see https://www.gnosticdoctrine.com/2018/08/the-creation-is-emanation-of-god.html

In many Gnostic systems, aeons and other beings are emanated as an outpouring from the divine source, rather than created or begotten. The emanation usually refers to a primordial cosmogony which flows from the Father.  

This process of emanation first begins within the mind of the Father it is the silent thought which effusion from him. it is best understood like this the logos was "with God" in that it emanated from him 

The concept of emanation is that from the One (the Monad) sometimes referred to as the Depth issue forth all things. The first stage in the process, the Divine Mind, thinks, and thus from it emanate the reason (logos) and wisdom (Sophia). These are called aeons which are aspects or attributes of the Deity. There are 30 aeons altogether which make up the fullness (pleroma). The pleroma is the sum total of the aeons and emanations of the Deity. The divine pleroma is thus the full manifestation of the glory of the transcendent Deity. In Valentinian texts. With thought, depth constitutes the first Valentinian pairs called syzygies these are androgynous aspects of the mind of the Deity. 


The doctrine of Emanation was taught by early church fathers like Athenagoras, Origen, and Arnobius however this was in relation to the trinity. Another advocate of emanationism was Michael Servetus, who was burned at the stake for his nontrinitarian cosmology.

God existed before he created the Heavens and the earth. God exists outside of time and space in the Bythos or depth.

First of all the Pleroma did not always exist it was produced and formed by the Eternal Spirit this we call the emanation.

"He created the holy Pleroma in this way" (The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

The word Pleroma means "fullness". It refers to all existence beyond visible universe. In other words it is the world of the Aeons, the heavens or spiritual universe. Bythos is the spiritual source of everything which emanates the pleroma,

The Pleroma is both the abode of and the essential nature of the True Ultimate Deity or Bythos. 

However there is another understanding to the Pleroma as well as being the dwellings place of the Aeons and the divine nature of the Deity it is also a state of consciousness. 

The Peroma is the total structure of the mind of the Deity. The emanations of the Aeons first happens within the consciousness of the Monad (The One) or the Deity. The emanation of the Aeons is the expanding of the Mind of the Deity. 

The Pleroma is the sum total of the divine attributes

The aeons are attributes of the Deity there are 30 divine attributes altogether each attribute is referred to as an aeon or an eternal these attributes emanate from the mind of the Deity.

In Jewish Mysticism known as kabbalah the Sefirot means emanations, which are the 10 attributes/emanations through which Ein Sof (The Infinite One) reveals Himself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher spiritual realms.

To summaries this section the Pleroma is both a spatial and metaphysical
The Divine Mind
A spiritual understanding of God, the Divine Mind or logos, is the key to understanding the scriptures. In the account of creation as told by Moses, creation is brought forth by "God said"--Mind thought or logos.

John 1:1 Aramaic Bible in Plain English
In the origin The Word had been existing and That Word had been existing with God and That Word was himself God.

John 1:1 Rotherham's Emphasized Bible 

1 ¶  Originally, was, the Word, and, the Word, was, with God; and, the Word, was, God.
2  The same, was originally, with God.
3  All things, through him, came into existence, and, without him, came into existence, not even one thing: that which hath come into existence,
4  in him, was, life, and, the life, was, the light of men.--

The Greek word "logos" which is translated in the English as "word" can also be translated as reason. (See 1Peter 3:15)

1Peter 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason <3056> of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 

The term “word” in the Bible most frequently translates the Hebrew and Greek words davar´ and logos. These words in the majority of cases refer to an entire thought, saying, or statement rather than simply to an individual term or unit of speech. (In Greek a ‘single word’ is expressed by rhēma (ῥῆμα 4487) [Mt 27:14], though it, too, can mean a saying or spoken matter.) 

Logos signifies the outward form of inward thought or reason, or the spoken word as illustrative of thought, wisdom and doctrine. in the very beginning, God's purpose, wisdom or revelation had been in evidence. It was "with God" in that it emanated from him; it "was God" in that it represented.

A word is a spoken thought, or idea. therefore by the term Mind, we mean logos or God--the all-embracing principle of causation, which includes all principles. The Existing One is the Creator of all things, the great First Cause; hence he is un-created, without beginning and end. (Rev 4:11; Psalm 36:9 His name, Yahweh, means The Existing One or “He causes to become.”

God is Spirit. The Word of Spirit is the God's main thought. By and through this absolute thought (the Christ of God), all things are made manifest.

The Word of God; the divine archetype thought that contains all ideas: the Christ, the Son of God, life, light, truth, church, man makeup the Divine Mind. 

Logos is the Christ, the Son, the divine light, the living Word, or Word of the Infinite One, and it contains all divine qualities; all things were made by it. A believer can acquire some, or a part, as God chooses. Jesus was completed filled with the fullness of the divine quality without measure, and He became the Logos, or Word, made flesh.

The logos is not a person but a personification of the Father's reasoning or mind

Brain and Mind
The logos is the reasoning intelligence of the divine mind or spirit:

Isaiah 40:13  Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?  (Greek Septuagint Version)

Isaiah 40:13  Who hath directed the Spirit of Yahweh, and, [as] his counsellor, hath taught him?

Here we can see that the Hebrew text as the word "spirit" and the Greek translation known as the Septuagint uses the word "mind". This shows that the word spirit is used sometimes in the bible as a synonym for the mind or heart. The spirit comprises both heart and mind. 

Spirit and Mind are synonymous; therefore we know God--Spirit--as Mind, the one Mind, or Intelligence, of the universe.

Theos is the Brain, Logos is the Thought or Reasoning of the Spirit or Mind. Therefore the Logos is the mind of God

No Logos, then there would be no Theos; and without Theos, the Logos could have no existence. This may be illustrated by the relation of reason, or intelligence and speech, to brain, as affirmed in the proposition, No brain, -- no thought, reason, nor intelligence. Call the brain Theos; and thought, reason, and understanding intelligently expressed, Logos; and the relation and dependence of Theos and Logos, in John's use of the terms, may readily be conceived. Brain-flesh is substance, or the hypostasis, that underlies thought; so Theos is substance which constitutes the substratum of Logos. Theos is the substance called Spirit; as it is written, "Theos is Spirit;" and he who uttered these words is declared to be himself both substance and spirit. (Dr. John Thomas Eureka Volume 1 Of Deity Before Manifestation in Flesh.)

Thus the logos is the reasoning mind of God. Now reason has another name Sophia or the wisdom of God.

Here was the offspring of Yahweh, of whom it is said : " She is more precious than rubies. Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand, riches and honor: a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her." Here is an existence previous to the existence of the earth and all that it contains" By me," says Wisdom, " Yahweh formed the earth." " I am understanding ;" and "by understanding he established the heavens."

As a comment upon this, it may be remarked that in Job it is written : " By his SPIRIT he garnished the heavens;" or in the words of David, " By the WORD of Yahweh were the heavens made ; and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth." For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. From these premises, then, it is evident that Wisdom, the Word, and the Spirit, are but different terms, expressive of the same thing; so that the phrases, "the Spirit of Wisdom," and "the Spirit of Counsel and of Might" are combinations expressive of the relations of the Spirit in certain cases

The apostle John, in speaking of this, saith, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was made not any thing which exists. In him was life, and the life was the light of men." This appears to me to be a very intelligible account of the matter. The Word, Wisdom, Spirit, God, all one and the same; for He, being the fountain and origin, is as the emanation from himself.

The Word, Wisdom, Spirit are not separate beings or persons but personifications of the Father.

Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 The New Revised Standard Version 
26 For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.

Our attention is called to the 1st chapter of Genesis: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

The Father sees himself in the light of the water (compare Genesis 1:2 with John 1:4)  The Father is self-reflective self-consciousness.

God is spirit and the logos was God therefore we have Brain (Theos or God), Mind (spirit) and thought/reason (logos) The Word of Spirit is the Father's thought or plan. Spirit-Mind forms within itself the Thought or Reason that was expressed in Creation. This is the “Word,” that was and is with God.

Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus 
We have the Mind of Christ

We will look now at the text from our opening reading 

1cor 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

God's counsels are profound and inscrutable. Paul cites Isa. 40:13, "Who hath directed the spirit of Yahweh?" — a challenging statement showing that none have known the mind of Yahweh in the sense that they have dominated or governed it

How does a person merge their consciousness with the Divine Mind? A believer merges their consciousness with the Divine Mind through harmonizing all his thoughts with the will of the Christ Consciousness. This is accomplished through appropriating or thinking upon the teachings and parables of Jesus and meditating on the ways of God.

Valentinian interpretation of John chapter 1
This information will help us to understand the Valentinian interpretation of john chapter 1

Extracts from the Works of Theodotus:

7 Therefore, the Father, being unknown, wished to be known to the Aeons, and through his own thought, as if he had known himself, he put forth the Only-Begotten, the spirit of Knowledge which is in Knowledge. So he too who came forth from Knowledge, that is, from the Father's Thought, became Knowledge, that is, the Son, because “through' the Son the Father was known.” But the Spirit of Love has been mingled with the Spirit of Knowledge, as the Father with the Son, and Thought with Truth, having proceeded from Truth as Knowledge from Thought. And he who remained “ Only-Begotten Son in the bosom of the Father” explains Thought to the Aeons through Knowledge, just as if he had also been put forth from his bosom; but him who appeared here, the Apostle no longer calls “ Only Begotten,” but “ as Only-Begotten,” “Glory as of an Only-Begotten.” This is because being one and the same, Jesus is the” First-Born” in creation, but in the Pleroma is “Only- Begotten.” But he is the same, being to each place such as can be contained [in it]. And he who descended is never divided from him who remained. For the Apostle says, “For he who ascended is the same as he who descended.” And they call the Creator, the image of the Only-Begotten. Therefore even the works of the image are the same and therefore the Lord, having made the dead whom he raised an image of the spiritual resurrection, raised them not so that their flesh was incorruptible but as if they were going to die again.

Note the Only-Begotten is the father's own thought also called the the spirit of Knowledge

The Father could be known through the two Spirits proceeding from him, which were mingled together. These spirits are the Spirit of knowledge (πνεῦμα γνώσεως) and the Spirit of love (πνεῦμα ἀγάπης).

Now since the word "logos" means the entire thought it would be logical to conclude that this reasoning had within its self, foreknowledge, forethought, insight or gnosis, this is referred to as the spirit of knowledge also contained within the reasoning is life grace light which is the spirit of love

In Extracts from the Works of Theodotus 6-7, the principal Tetrad (a group or set of four aeons,) consisted of the Mind, the Truth, the Logos, and the Life but the Father was not counted as a member of the Pleroma. 

Maybe this Tetrad is where we get the name Barbelo from? Barbelo meaning (EL) God in four in the Sethian system 

The Extracts from the Works of Theodotus goes on to say: 

8 But we maintain that the essential Logos is God in God, who is also said to be “in the bosom of the Father,” continuous, undivided, one God.

God came forth, the Son, Mind of the All. This means that even his thought takes its existence from the root of the all, since he had him in mind (Valentinian Exposition from the Nag Hammadi Library)

The All preexisted within the Father, and the son who is the Father's Thought and Will, revealed it

Ptolemy's Commentary On The Gospel of John Prologue

Now since he is speaking of the first origination, he does well to begin the teaching at the beginning, i.e with the Son and the Word. He speaks as follows: "The Word was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning, with God." [Jn 1:1] First, he distinguishes three things: God; beginning; Word. Then he unites them: this is to show forth both the emanation of the latter two,( i.e. the Son and the Word), and their union with one another, and simultaneously with the Father. For the beginning was in the Father and from the Father; and the Word was in the beginning and from the beginning. Well did he say, "The Word was in the beginning", for it was in the Son. "And the Word was with God." So was the beginning. "And the word was God"; reasonably so, for what is engendered from God is God. This shows the order of emanation. "The entirety was made through it, and without it was not anything made." [Jn 1:3] For the Word became the cause of the forming and origination of all the aeons that came after it. (
Ptolemy's Commentary On The Gospel of John Prologue)

The phrase “The Word was in the beginning” was not a temporal expression, but it “shows the order of emanation” 
(See Ptolemy's Commentary On The Gospel of John Prologue)

Since the term logos signifies an inward thought it would be logical to conclude that logos is Sige or silence in the Valentinian system. 

Silence has a partner or companion (syzygies, pairwith the Depth (Bythos)

The Depth is another aspects or attributes of Theos or Deity

Thus the logos is the 
silent thought of the Deity.  

The Deity was reasoning with himself this reasoning lead to the rest of the Emanations or attributes coming forth from the divine mind. The Deity was always self aware and had self knowledge

There is one life force: the creative all-embracing life, even the logos which is God. This life is eternal and without limit, from before time to everlasting.

The things made, or externalized, are from the one and inseparable Mind and thought or God and logos, the self-existent and ever active, the cause of all that appears.

The Divine Mind or logos the ever-present, all-knowing Mind; the Absolute, the unlimited. present everywhere at the same time, all-wise, all-loving, all-powerful Spirit.

There is but one Mind, and that Mind cannot be separated or divided. All that we can say of the one Mind is that it is absolute.

1 Corinthians 2:16 for, "Who has known the mind of Yahweh so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ

The Divine Mind, the creative power or Spirit in action. The Divine Mind first conceives the idea, then brings its external form to fulfilment. Believers, acting in accordance with the Divine Mind, place themselves under this same creative law and thus brings the divine ideas into manifestation.

The first Emanation is Logos, the masculine Father Principle of the Divine Mind that thinks and plans the molds for all expression through form. Mind builds form.

The second Emanation is Love, the feminine Mother Principle of the Divine Mind Love Substance that nourishes and sustains the molds formed by Mind. Love fills Form.


The Logos is Light, Life and Action.


The Logos is the Christ Principle, Holy Breath, Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost. This is the beginning of the first Day of Manifestation.


As the Emanations completed their second circuit,

 The Deity begot Lesser Gods, the Elohim, who plan the rest of manifestation or the rest of creation.
The Deity is spirit as well as Logos, wisdom and life this is Sophia 


Monday 3 September 2018

The Father is both One and Many The Tripartite Tractate




The tripartite tractate is a unnamed text found in the Nag Hammadi library it is a Christian document from the second or third century AD


The tripartite tractate  begins by teaching that the Father is one and many at the same time:


He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is singular while being many, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself.  Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father," the name "son" follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit. (The Tripartite Tractate Einar Thomassen Translation)


When I first read this translation by Einar Thomassen it made me think of a few quotations from Phanerosis and Eureka by Dr John Thomas but first we will look a what professor Einar Thomassen says in his commentary and translation of the The tripartite tractate

Einar Thomassen writes 


“The Father is a single one, like a number” this cannot mean "number" in the sense of the numeral 1, as all translations have a better translation is "The Father is both one and many"


The emphasis in this paragraph is thus not on the oneness of the Father but on his being simultaneously one and many: While remaining one the Father contains within him the All in the sense that he contains its origin, as the root contains the tree


This agrees with the view attributed by Irenaeus (AH I 11:5) and Hippolytus (El. VI

29:3) to one Valentinian faction, which held the Father to have the principle of procreation in himself, being either male-female or above sexual distinctions


The emanations of the Father
The tripartite tractate goes on to describie the emanation of divine beings who are called aeons the figurative language is taken from the analogy of the natural world: 


They were forever in thought, for the Father was like a thought and a place for them. When their generations had been established, the one who is completely in control wished to lay hold of and to bring forth that which was deficient in the [...] and he brought forth those [...] him. But since he is as he is, he is a spring, which is not diminished by the water which abundantly flows from it. While they were in the Father's thought, that is, in the hidden depth, the depth knew them, but they were unable to know the depth in which they were; nor was it possible for them to know themselves, nor for them to know anything else. (The Tripartite Tractate)

The Father brought forth everything, like a little child, like a drop from a spring, like a blossom from a vine, like a flower, like a <planting> [...], in need of gaining nourishment and growth and faultlessness. (The Tripartite Tractate)

All those who came forth from him <who> are the aeons of the aeons, being emanations and offspring of <his> procreative nature, they too, in their procreative nature, have <given> glory to the Father, as he was the cause of their establishment. This is what we said previously, namely that he creates the aeons as roots and springs and fathers, and that he is the one to whom they give glory. (The Tripartite Tractate)

Quotating now from Phanerosis by Dr John Thomas we can see the same analogy of the natural world 

The Deity who is Light, and with whom is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), and who is the great Fountain of life (Psa. 39:9), out of whom are all things (1 Cor. 8:6). "From everlasting to everlasting Thou art AIL" (Psa. 90:2). Ail, or EL, as it is most frequently transliterated, is the Hebrew word that stands for God in this place. It denotes Power. Power, light, and life, inherent and underived, are the attributes of the Father who is Spirit (John 4:24);
The source or fountain of power in the universe is one. It is a unit. Therefore, everything which exists is ex autou out of (emanation) Him. Hence the Creator did not "make all things out of nothing." 
(Phanerosis 1869)

The Supreme Power, or Ail, is "the Godhead," or source, fountain, or sole spring of Power. Moses and the prophets do not teach that "there are three persons, three essences, three somethings, or three anythings, in the Godhead; and that these three distinct units, or unities, constitute only one unit or one Unity -- and that that Tri-Unity is the God of Israel." They do not teach this. 
(Phanerosis 1869)

By Godhead is meant the source, spring, or fountain of Deity -- the Divine Nature in its original pre-existence before every created thing. He teaches that this Godhead was a Unit --a Homogeneous Unit, undivided into thirds, or fractions. (
Phanerosis 1869)



As we have seen, Moses and the prophets teach "One" self-existent, supreme fountain of Power, AIL who is Spirit, and self-named I SHALL BE, or Yahweh: that is ONE YAHWEH-SPIRIT POWER is "God" in the highest sense, and constitutes the "Godhead," or FATHER IN HEAVEN; and He is the Springhead of many streams, or rivers of spirit, which assume "organic forms," according to the will of the Yahweh-Spirit Power, and that when formed after the model, archetype, or the pattern, presented in HIS OWN HYPOSTASIS, or Substance, they become SPIRIT-ELOHIM, or sons of God; and are Spirit, because "born of the Spirit" -- Emanations of the formative Spirit being out of him. The Spirit-Elohim was also "God"; nevertheless they are created. They are formed and made out of and by that which is uncreated. They are Spirit-Forms, the substance of which (spirit) is eternal; while the forms are from a beginning. Each one is a God in the sense of partaking of THE DIVINE NATURE, and being therefore a Son of God. (Phanerosis 1869)

He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is singular while being many, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself.  Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father," the name "son" follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit. (The Tripartite Tractate Einar Thomassen Translation)
One Deity - One in Many, and Many in One
He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is singular while being many, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself.  Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father," the name "son" follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit. (The Tripartite Tractate Einar Thomassen Translation)

YAHWEH is as a noun, and means "He who will be," it is the memorial name the Deity chooses to be known by among His people. It reminds them that HE will be manifested in a multitude and that, in that great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, which shall stand before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands (Apoc. 7:9) - in each and every one of them, "He will be the all things in all" (1 Cor. 15:28); or, as it is expressed in Eph. 4:6, "there is one Deity and Father of all, who is upon all and through all, and in you all."

The Deity, then, in a multitude is a clearly visible element of bible teaching. It is not "One God in three Gods," and "Three Gods in One;" but one Deity in a countless multitude revealed in the memorial name, and set forth in the mystery of godliness.


The knowledge of this mystery was lost sight of by the Babel-builders of the third and fourth centuries; who, as a substitute, invented the Athanasian conceit of three persons in the Divine Essence, co-eternal and coequal. They bound up the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, three distinct persons, into one person, or body; and called the fiction "the Triune God." They did not perceive that the Deity was but one person, and one substance, peculiar to himself. One Deity and not three; that Holy Spirit is an emanation from His substance, intensely radiant and all pervading; and that, when focalized under the fiat of His will, things and persons without limit, as to number or nature, are produced.


This multitudinous manifestation of the one Deity - one in many, and many in one, by His spirit - was proclaimed to the Hebrew nation in the formula of Deut. 6:4, "Hear, O lsrael, YAHWEH our ELOHIM is the ONE YAHWEH;" that is, "He who shall be our Mighty Ones is the One who shall be." Certain Mighty Ones are promised to Israel - pastors according to YAHWEH's heart, who shall feed them with knowledge and understanding; - they will be spirit, because "that which is born of the spirit is spirit."

He, the Spirit, the Power of the universe, self-titled YAHWEH, is their Divine Father. His nature will be theirs; so that they will be consubstantial with Him, as all children are consubstantial with their parents. The Deity will then be manifested in the Sons of Deity; He in them, and they in Him, by the one spirit. And this company of sons, led to glory by the captain of their salvation, is "the ONE who shall be," or "the ONE YAHWEH."


Of these sons, or Elohim, One is "the Firstborn" - "the child born, and the son given" (Isa. 9:6). He is the chief, "the Head of the Body;" in whom it pleased the Father that all the fulness should dwell, that among all He might have the preeminence.


There are not three Gods in the Godhead; nor are there but three in manifestation; nevertheless, the Father is God and Jesus is God; and we may add, so are all the brethren of Jesus gods; and "a multitude which no man can number." The Godhead is the homogeneous fountain of the Deity; these other gods are the many streams which form this fountain flow. The springhead of Deity is one, not many; the streams as numerous as the orbs of the universe, in which a manifestation of Deity may have hitherto occurred. (Phanerosis 1869)


Taken from Eureka by Dr John Thomas (Christadelphian)

Sunday 26 August 2018

Logos the reasoning mind of God

Logos the reasoning mind of God



"In the Beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. This was in the Beginning with God. Through it everything was done; and without it not even one thing was done, which has been done. In it was Life; and the LIFE was the LIGHT of MEN....
And the Logos became Flesh, and dwelt among us,--and we beheld his GLORY, a Glory as of an Only-begotten Son from the Father,--full of Grace and Truth" (John 1:1-4, 14).

Logos is the Greek word for the reasoning mind of the Deity. Corresponding Greek words which have a similar meaning to logos are spirit, will, mind, and wisdom. Wisdom is the practical equivalent of logos or word. The Greek speaking Jews saw wisdom has been virtually identical with God's will and word or reason that is (logos).

The Greek word Logos can be translated into many different English words

Account
Cause
Communication
Doctrine
Intent
Preaching
Reason
Saying
Tidings

Logos' can strictly refer to the inner thought which is expressed outwardly in words and other communication. The extent of the concept was that behind spoken words were thoughts.

Thoughts were mind. Mind has a close link with reason. Reason was the structure of orderly action…that ultimate reality was reasonable, was in fact reason itself."

And because human beings have the capacity to reason, it was taught by Jesus and the early Christians that our destiny is to "make contact with divine reason and, like God, discern ultimate truths

Logos also means man's ability to recognise reality. It is man's ability to reason.

Logos is the anointing power of the Father the divine light, the living Word, or Word of the Eternal Spirit, and it causes all things; all things were made by it. Jesus expressed the Logos in its fullness, and He became the Logos, or Word, made flesh. In other words, Jesus united Himself in thought, word, and deed with this Heavenly Christ, Logos, Word, creative principle of God, in which are all the ideas in the Divine Mind--life, light, love wisdom.  thus throughout His entire life Jesus showed forth the glory and perfection of the Father.

The Word, Logos, Thought of God, the anointing spirit or Christ, in which is the creative power of the Father-God, is the foundation principle, of the true inner self of every believer.