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.

The word AIL (EL)

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 who manifest 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 the naivety of their readers) might be why such an obvious Truth has eluded so many.

article taken from the book The Final Testament (Christadelphian)

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)

Christ's Own Need Of Salvation

Christ's Own Need Of Salvation

Now the angels were baptised in the beginning, in the redemption of the Name which descended upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him. And redemption was necessary even for Jesus, in order that, approaching through Wisdom, he might not be detained by the Notion of the Deficiency in which he was inserted, as Theodotus says.

Not only do humans need redemption, but also the angels, too, need redemption, along with the image and the rest of the Pleromas of the aeons and the wondrous powers of illumination. So that we might not be in doubt in regard to the others, even the Son himself, who has the position of redeemer of the Totality, needed redemption as well, - he who had become man, - since he gave himself for each thing which we need, we in the flesh, who are his Church. Now, when he first received redemption from the word which had descended upon him, all the rest received redemption from him, namely those who had taken him to themselves. For those who received the one who had received (redemption) also received what was in him.

Gospel of philip

Jesus revealed himself [at the] Jordan River as the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven. He who was begotten before everything, was begotten anew. He who was once anointed, was anointed anew. He who was redeemed, in turn redeemed others.

This shows that the some gnostic groups understood that Jesus first needed redemption for himself before he could redeem those for whom he came to die for. Jesus is thus the redeemed redeemer coming in our sinful nature the savour himself was in need of redemption

78. 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

This passage shows that the spiritual body is corporeal (tangible) and it has flesh and this flesh is true flesh, which is called spiritual flesh thus spiritual body but our flesh is only a shadow of the true like Adam who was only a type of him who was to come/

Ode 8
20) Pray and increase, and abide in the love of the Lord;
21) And the beloved ones in the Beloved, and those who are protected in Him Who liveth, and those who are saved in Him Who was saved.
22) And ye shall be found incorrupt in all ages, on account of the Name of your Father.

The interpretation of Knowledge::
 And through the one who was reproached and the one who was redeemed we receive grace.

Melchizedek:

He included himself in the living offering, together with your offspring. He offered them up as an offering to the All. For it is not cattle that you will offer up for sin(s) of unbelief, and for the ignorances, and (for) all the wicked deeds which they will do NHS p. 601

He included himself in the living offering, together with your offspring

Here this passage teaches that Christ the high - priest offered his own body for his own redemption He offered himself for himself and his brothers his offspring in the living offering that is his life as a living sacrifice


Adam was "sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken - a sentence which defiled and became a physical law of his being, and was transmitted to all his posterity" (Clause 5);

Jesus Christ "though wearing the condemned nature, was to obtain a title to resurrection by perfect obedience, and, by dying, abolish the law of condemnation for himself, and all who should believe and obey him" (Clause 8);


Jesus was "a sufferer, in the days of his flesh, from all the effects that came by Adam's transgression, including the death that passed upon all men, which he shared by partaking of their physical nature" (Clause 10); that the offering of Jesus’ body was "a propitiation to declare the righteousness of God, as a basis for the remission of sins" (Clause 12).

Because of his human nature, Jesus experienced minor illnesses, tiredness etc. just as we do. It therefore follows that if he had not died on the cross, he would have died any way, e.g. of old age.

In view of this, Jesus needed to be saved from death by God. Intensely recognizing this, Jesus "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him (God) that was able to save him out of death, and was heard for his godly fear" (Heb. 5:7 A.V. mg.).

The fact that Christ had to plead with God to save him from death rules out any possibility of him being God in person.

“this body of death” (Rom. 6:24 mg.) needs 'redemption' (Rom. 8:23) which comes on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice (Rev. 5:9) when we are 'clothed upon' with our house from heaven (2 Cor. 5:2) which results in mortality being swallowed up of life (2 Cor. 5:4)"


(The Lord’s own body was redeemed on this same basis – (Heb. 9:12, 23 etc.).

After Christ's resurrection, death had "no more dominion over him" (Rom. 6:9), implying that beforehand it did.

Many of the Psalms are prophetic of Jesus; when some verses from a Psalm are quoted about Christ in the New Testament, it is reasonable to assume that many of the other verses in the Psalm are about him too. There are a number of occasions where Christ's need for salvation by God is emphasized:-

- Ps. 91:11,12 is quoted about Jesus in Matt. 4:6. Ps. 91:16 prophesies how God would give Jesus salvation: "With long life (i.e. eternal life) will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation."- Ps. 69:21 refers to Christ's crucifixion (Matt. 27:34); the whole Psalm describes Christ's thoughts on the cross: "Save me, O God...Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it...Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high" (vs. 1,18,29).

- Ps. 89 is a commentary upon God's promise to David concerning Christ. Concerning Jesus, Ps. 89:26 prophesies: "He shall cry unto me (God), Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation."

Christ's prayers to God for salvation were heard; he was heard because of his personal spirituality, not because of his place in a 'trinity' (Heb. 5:7). That God resurrected Jesus and glorified him with immortality is a major New Testament theme:-

- "God...raised up Jesus...Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour" (Acts 5:30,31).

- "God...hath glorified his Son Jesus...whom God hath raised from the dead" (Acts 3:13,15).

- "This Jesus hath God raised up" (Acts 2:24,32,33).

- Jesus himself recognized all this when he asked God to glorify him (John 17:5 cp. 13:32; 8:54).

If Jesus was God Himself, then all this emphasis would be out of place, seeing that God cannot die. Jesus would not have needed saving if he were God. That it was God who exalted Jesus demonstrates God's superiority over him, and the separateness of God and Jesus.



We do not believe that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was not required for the cleansing of his sin nature. [The Lord's sacrifice was necessary for his own redemption. His sacrifice was a public demonstration that his flesh was rightly related to death and a declaration of the righteousness of God that required the offering of his life in devotion to Him. By his sacrifice the ungodly propensities (diabolos) of his nature was destroyed (Heb. 2:14; 9:12; 7:27), thus providing for the granting of immortality

'

The Symbolism of The Cherubim

The Symbolism of The Cherubim

Symbolical figures used in the Scriptures to represent the majesty and ruling power of God; also His attributes (Exod. 25:18-22).

The word "Cherubim" of Genesis 3:24 symbolise protection, or sacred life. The inner spiritual life is protected from the outward senses, the carnal mind. The "flame of a sword" is the divine logos or Word of God. Believers must unite with the inner Word, or sacred life, through spiritual thought, meditation, and prayer and bible study.

The Word is made flesh, or is brought into manifestation, when we transform our minds to the ideas of the Divine Mind and set up the activity of the divine will, which is perfect thought and corresponding perfect action. The "way of the tree of life" is the narrow path referred to by Jesus Christ; it is the way of unfolding the divine consciousness by studying the word of God the bible.

The fact that these cherubim had the face of a man to the front went nicely with the fact that they had the hands of a man under their wings and also that the cherubim had, in general, “likeness with the appearance of a man.” The heavenly cherubim also have the God-given quality or attribute of love, just the same as man has, the first man Adam having been created in the image and likeness of God. (Genesis 1:26-28) The face of a lion, in being on the right side of the head of each cherubim, emphasized the quality of rightousess, justice. This justice has power as its support, which is well pictured in that opposite the lion’s face there was, to the left, a bull’s face. In his later description of the cherubim, Ezekiel calls the bull’s face the “face of the cherub.” (Ezekiel 10:14) Doubtless, cherubim are creatures of great power, like that of the bull.

the eagle’s face to the rear of the cherub’s head points to wisdom, the heavenly wisdom, which corresponds with the heavens in which the high-flying eagle soars. This face fits in nicely with the fact that the cherubim had each four wings, enabling them to match the eagle in its flight. The eagle’s face, as well as the man’s face, the lion’s face and the bull’s face, is found among the faces of the four cherubim living creatures that were seen in vision about seven hundred years later by the John, these latter cherubim being located around the throne of God in heaven.—Revelation 4:6-9.

Thus, consistently, down through the centuries, the same symbols represent God’s wisdom (the eagle), power (the bull), justice (the lion) and love (the man). These four attributes, are in perfect balance with one another, Yahweh has gifted his heavenly creatures and his earthly human creatures with the suitable measure of these four attributes.

these attributes must always be present in the holy of holies within our minds. we have this holy place and these cherubim with their wings spread over the whole Ark. No matter how great a backslider you may be, the presence of the Spirit of God is not far away from your conscious mind.  engraved on the very substance of your being (two tables of stone).

If we do not have this higher realization before us constantly, we shall drop down to the physical plane and our religion will become a mere phenomenal display.