How to read the Names and Titles of the Deity from a Christian Gnostic kabbalah perspective
**Title: El אֵל — The Higher Power as a Corporeal Spirit**
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the term **El (אֵל)** stands as one of the most ancient and significant designations for the Deity. El is not an abstract title nor a generic reference to "God" in the modern sense of the word. Rather, it conveys a specific idea: **power**, **might**, **strength**, and **authority**. Unlike the English word "God," which stems from the Anglo-Saxon "god" meaning "good," the Hebrew El does not denote moral quality. It expresses instead the concept of active, dynamic force. This is confirmed by the lexicon of Gesenius, who states that the Hebrew mind always associated **El** with the idea of strength and power.
The Deity of the Bible is not a formless or immaterial essence. **El is a corporeal spirit**. That is, El exists physically—tangibly—and operates through substance. The traditional philosophical division between "spirit" and "matter" is foreign to the biblical worldview. In Hebrew thought, **spirit is not immaterial**; rather, spirit is made of finer atoms—more subtle than flesh and blood, but no less material. The idea that spirit is composed of atoms aligns with a corporeal understanding of divine substance, supported by both scripture and early interpretative tradition.
### The Power Behind the Name
The pictographic elements of the name El reinforce this idea. The letter **Aleph (א)**, shaped like an ox head, represents leadership and strength—primal energy at the root of action. The **Lamed (ל)**, shaped like a shepherd’s staff, denotes authority, direction, and instruction. Together, the word **El** communicates a force that leads, governs, and executes dominion through tangible influence. It is not the title of an incorporeal being hiding in abstraction, but of a **powerful, active presence** in the world—one that moves, speaks, creates, and reveals.
The Genesis narrative identifies El as **the Possessor of the heavens and the earth** (Genesis 14:22). El Elyon—**the Most High Power**—is the title given to the Deity by Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem. This name implies the existence of other elohim (powers), yet affirms the supremacy of one source: El Elyon, the Highest. This establishes a hierarchy of tangible, real beings, with El at the top. That these powers are referred to as elohim—plural—is consistent with the ancient understanding of **many corporeal beings** participating in the administration of the cosmos, under the authority of one supreme corporeal Spirit.
### El and the Name Yahweh
In Exodus 6:3, the Deity makes an important statement to Moses: *“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob by the name El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh was I not known unto them.”* This passage reveals the layered character of divine self-revelation. **El Shaddai**—translated as "the Powerful Ones"—signifies not a singular, isolated being, but a **collective force**, manifesting strength through a plurality of agents. The Deity operates **through elohim**, heavenly powers that serve His will.
However, the word **El** remains singular. It is the name the Deity Himself chose when first appearing to the patriarchs. El conveys not only supreme authority, but **corporeal existence**. El *appeared* to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—not in visions of formless essence, but through tangible encounters, audible speech, and visible presence. The Deity walked, spoke, and made covenant. This implies materiality, not abstraction. The Deity did not simply make Himself *seem* real—He **is real**, and He is made of substance, though not like earthly flesh.
### Spirit as Tangible Substance
In many modern theological systems, **spirit is described as non-material**. But this idea derives more from Greek philosophy than Hebrew thought. In the Bible, **spirit (Hebrew: ruach)** is a force, often compared to wind or breath—not because it is immaterial, but because it is **invisible yet physically active**. Wind is real. Breath has substance. Likewise, spirit consists of particles—**fine atoms**—not perceptible to the naked eye, but nonetheless material.
This understanding is reflected in the earliest Christian and Jewish writings. Theodotus, a Valentinian teacher, declared that **even spiritual beings have form and body**, though they are made of a different substance than the flesh of mortals. The same idea is echoed in the notion that the Only-Begotten, the First-Created, and the angels all have structure. They are not ghosts or metaphors—they are **corporeal beings composed of spiritual material**. Thus, **El**, as the supreme Spirit, must likewise be **corporeal**.
### EL Shaddai and Manifestation in Plurality
The term **El Shaddai** adds another layer. The word **Shaddai** has often been translated “Almighty,” but its plural ending hints at a deeper meaning. It refers to the **powerful ones**, a plural group manifesting the will of the singular El. When Abraham received the three visitors (Genesis 18), these were corporeal beings. They walked, ate, and spoke. One of them identified as Yahweh, but all three operated as messengers of divine power. This shows how **El manifests power through physical agents**, without ceasing to be one unified Deity.
This manifestation of plurality within unity is not metaphysical mystery—it is corporeal operation. El does not project metaphors; He sends **real beings**—agents of His will, made of spiritual atoms. They act in the physical world because they themselves are physical, though of higher substance.
### Conclusion: El Is the Higher Power—A Corporeal Spirit
The title **El** does not point to an abstract God. It refers to **the Higher Power**, a Being who is **tangible, real, active**, and above all, **corporeal**. Spirit is not the opposite of matter, but a finer form of it. El is not invisible because He lacks substance, but because His substance is too fine for mortal eyes. Yet He reveals Himself, speaks, acts, and makes covenant—all actions of a real, material presence.
Understanding El as **a corporeal Spirit** restores a sense of reality and coherence to biblical theology. It grounds our view of the Deity in substance, not speculation—in strength and power, not sentimentality. El is the one true Power—**made of atoms**, yet higher than all. He is the **Possessor of heaven and earth**, the **Most High**, and the **Spirit that moves**, not in metaphor, but in **tangible power**.
