The Valentinian and the Sefirot

The Valentinian and the Sefirot

I will speak my mystery to those who are mine and to those who will be mine. Moreover it is these who have known him who is, the Father, that is, the Root of the All, the Ineffable One who exists as Oneness. He dwells alone in silence, and silence is tranquility since, after all, he was in fact One and nothing existed before him. He also exists as Twoness and as a Pair, and his partner is Silence. And he possessed the All dwelling within him. And as for Intention and Persistence, Love and Permanence, they are indeed unbegotten. (The Nag Hammadi Library A Valentinian Exposition)

God came forth: the Son, Mind of the All, that is, it is from the Root of the All that even his Thought stems, since he had this one (the Son) in Mind. For on behalf of the All, he received an alien Thought since there were nothing before him. From that place it is he who moved [...] a gushing spring. Now this is the Root of the All and Oneness without any one before him. Now the second spring exists in silence and speaks with him alone. And the Fourth accordingly is he who restricted himself in the Fourth: while dwelling in the Three-hundred-sixtieth, he first brought himself (forth), and in the Second he revealed his will, and in the Fourth he spread himself out. (The Nag Hammadi Library A Valentinian Exposition)

This passage is taken to mean that the root of the All the Father first spreads himself out into Two and than Four. From Four he also extends himself as far as Three Hundred Sixty, representing the ultimate edge of the Pleroma although in a distinct dimension of his transcendent essence he keeps himself restricted to the primal Four.

The Four primal emanations maybe a symbol for the four worlds (Olam) in Kabbalah they could also stand as a symbol for 4 letters of the divine name YHWH or Tetragrammaton (meaning "consisting of four letters"). The Tetragrammaton was permutated into 72 angelic names by simply taking the yo da valve and mutating them

The Valentinians understood the four primal emanations as a refernce to the tetragrammaton which was permutated into 72 angelic names by simply taking the yo da valve and  permutating them, that was known as the Shemhamphorash.

The different names of God in the Jewish mysticism current at the time of Jesus the names of God were understood to be emanations or divine attributes of God they were hypostasis or emanations of Godhead manifesting into existence as the world's are coming into existence Jewish mysticism

In Jewish angelology, the angels and archangels are manifested as coming forth and emanating from Godhead and originally all the angels were personifications of these things and they were named with a suffix EL which means of God for example Micha-EL the loving kindness of God Rapha-EL the healing of God and so on. In the Kabbalah the Sephirot became the emanation of the more abstract moral qualities of God in the Valentinian Pleroma of the Aeons Godhead was manifested in pairs male/female pairs

The Valentinian Exposition from the Nag Hammadi Library 

That Tetrad projected the Tetrad which is the one consisting of Word and Life and Man and Church. Now the Uncreated One projected Word and Life. Word is for the glory of the Ineffable One while Life is for the glory of Silence, and Man is for his own glory, while Church is for the glory of Truth. This, then, is the Tetrad begotten according to the likeness of the Uncreated (Tetrad). And the Tetrad is begotten [... ] the Decad from Word and Life, and the Dodecad from Man, and Church became a Triacontad. Moreover, it is the one from the Triacontad of the Aeons who bear fruit from the Triacontrad. They enter jointly, but they come forth singly, fleeing from the Aeons and the Uncontainable Ones. And the Uncontainable Ones, once they had looked at him, glorified Mind since he is an Uncontainable One that exists in the Pleroma.
But the Decad from Word and Life brought forth decads so as to make the Pleroma become a hundred, and the Dodecad from Man and Church brought forth and made the Triacontad so as to make the three hundred sixty become the Pleroma of the year. (The Nag Hammadi Library A Valentinian Exposition)

The Decad is the Sefirot

God emanated himself in stages to create the universe. There are ten aeons, which are vessels or containers called the Sephirot (the word Sephirot means emanations). These emanations or attribute  that are manifested are powers and virtues, wisdom, knowledge, justice, mercy, and so on these are still referenced in attributions to the seven lights of the Jewish synagogue, which you will find on the altar in a synagogue with seven lights this seven lights will reference 10 Sefirot.

The seven lamps allude to the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp.

There are 22 paths that connect these ten Sephirot and that makes 32 names of God. The root attributes of the powers and virtues of God were understood as a kind of tree like the tree of life. It was the image of God in mankind as the blind men said I see men as trees walking we find a lot of this tree language in this tree of life are ten Sefirot ten vessels

The tree of sefirot also has a numerological significance. Between the 10 sefirot run 22 channels or paths, which connect them, a number which can be associated with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Together the spiritual forces of the 10 sefirot and the 22 connecting channels are called the "32 Paths of Wisdom".

Samuel Zinner writes: 

Morever the name Theudas is curiously reminiscent of Syrian Jewish-Christian tradition and this might explain the many Jewish (actually; Jewish-Christian) Kabbalistic elements in the Valentino an system. Traditional scholarship over-emphasizer traditional scholarship over-elements the Valentnian system.aspects of Valentine's thought we therefore now turn to an examination of the possible Jewish components found in his metaphysics.First in the Valentnian system Logos. and Zoe (word and Life) emit ten emanations whereas the celestial Son of man and Ecclesia (Church) emit twelve emanations.These number correspond precisely to the ten sefirot and the twelve tribes of Israel whi Kabbalists add together in order to arrive at the number of the 22 Letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

In later Valentnian school of Ptolemy we encounter a doctrine of two Sophia's precisely paralleled in the Kabbalah Upper and lower shekhinah, the upper being wholy righteous, the lower being morally ambiguous. (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

The Jewish-Christian Ebionite distinction between the celestial Saviour the earthly Jesus. also seems to be reflected in Valentnian thought. The Valentnian system reflected in Valentnian thought. The Valentinian systems references to concepts such as the Father measure size or extent are all reminiscent of the ancients shi'ur qomah traditions. For Valentinus Sophia is the last of the aeonic emanations precisely as Shekinah is the final sefirah in Kabbalah . (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

According to Ptolemy all the aeons were Words which is exactly paralleled in the Kabbalah a teaching that the ten sefirot correspond to God's ten words of creative command in the Genesis creation account (nine explicit commands one implicit). (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

The Valentinian use of gematria in the Greek name iesous is also indicative of typical Kabbalistic procedures. Although gematria was by no means confined to Jewish circles in light of the other extensive specifically Jewish parallels in Valentinus' thought it is more natural to associate his practice of gematria with Judaism than with Hellenism. (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

As the Zohar teaches that Hokhmah made the emanation Elohim (Binah understanding) so the Valentnian Ptolemy teaches that Sophia is exalted above the Demiurge. Naturally qualifications must be made with regard to various details but the overall general paradigms seem sufficient to indicate a strong Jewish or better Jewish-Christian component within Valentinianism and we would suggest that the best candidate for transmission of these ideas to Valentinus would be Theudas. (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

Since it is quite likely that the Nag Hammadi Gospel of Truth was written by Valentinus we should comment on it somewhat .Its Jewish Christian character is especially apparent in its divine Name Christology. We note that the word God occurs in this document only once and this is strongly suggestive of the traditional Jewish avoidance of the name God. There is a heavily Syrian Jewish-Christian complexion this text if this tendency had been mediated to Valentinus via Theudas this then might imply that the latter may have been of Syrian origin. (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

According the Gospel of Truth 17 the obvious flaws in creation do not in actuality exist. For the mutable creation itself in contrast to the immutable Father can be said to be non_existent therefore the flaws in creation are no dishonor to God. In Folio 18 We find a point curiously Philo Oblivion did not emerg into existence from the Father even if it did come to because of him (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

The image of the hypostatic Book in folios 19_23 is deeply Jewish-Christian in tone. 6In folio 23 we encounter a list of emanational attributes associat!ed with the supernal pleroma man of which curiously coincide to varying degrees with the Kabbalistic sefirot such as Wisdom Knowledge Forbearance. Crown Glory Love.Folio 24 reflects the Syrian Jewish-Christian idea that the feminine bosom of the Father is the Holy spirit Jewish-Christian as well is the Triad of Father Mother (=Holy Spirit) and Son ... into the Father into the Mother Jesus of the unending sweetness Folio 27 s lan_guage may indicate Knowledge of the traditions concerning pre-existence found in the Gospel of Thomas logion19 and this yet another Syrian feature of the Gospel of Truth...those come into existence... before they come into existence Fo-lios 38-39 present the Jewish-Christian doctrine of the Son as the Name of the Father.This passage implies that the Father essence is unnameable for his essence cannot be named there fore the Son is his name. (The Gospel of Thomas By Samuel Zinner)

three words Gospel of Thomas Saying 13

(13) Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I resemble." Simon Peter said to him, "A just angel is what you resemble." Matthew said to him, "An intelligent philosopher is what you resemble." Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth utterly will not let me say what you resemble." Jesus said, "I am not your (sing.) teacher, for you have drunk and become intoxicated from the bubbling wellspring that I have personally measured out. And he took him, withdrew, and said three words to him. Now, when Thomas came to his companions they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I say to you (plur.) one of the sayings that he said to me, you will take stones and stone me, and fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."

Jesus is compared to a righteous messenger or a sage a wise teacher but Thomas must have being confused about who Jesus is, was he son of man or son of God or maybe even both so Thomas could not answer the question add more. Jesus approves Thomas because he knows our hearts and our minds he knew what Thomas knew about him Thomas had being listing to Jesus’ words and understood them that it is his words, which are a fountain of wisdom. Even more than that, this Saying show that Jesus and Thomas are no longer in a teacher-student relationship but that they have become equivalent to each other. Both are sons of the living Father. 

"Thomas" (The Aramaic: Tau'ma) mean "Twin" and may be a title rather than a name. Some scholars speculate that he is called the "twin" of Jesus to denote a spiritual unity between the disciple and his master, as referenced here in Thomas v. 13, where Jesus says, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drank and become drunk from the very same spring from which I draw."

Now, in the GTh, the Lord Jesus comes to reveal that you and he are, twins. And what you discover as you read the GTh, which you are meant to discover, is that you and Jesus at a deep level are identical twins. And that you discover that you are the child of God just as he is. And so that at the end of the gospel Jesus speaks to Thomas and says, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am, and I will become that person, and the mysteries will be revealed to him." So it becomes clear that our goal is to be like Jesus that is to become his twin. And this is what Thomas means twin, for Thomas symbolizes the one who has become like Jesus Cp. Saying 108 we must become the twin brothers of Christ, who are the solitary or the single one the few chosen out of the many called. The [twin] brethren in Christ Col 1:2.

“Three words” we are not told what these words or sayings are but I believe that the three words are Ehyah, Asheh, Ehyah, I will be who I will be, this could be the three words that Jesus may have said to Thomas. Ehyah is the root word that makes up the name of God Yahweh, meaning He who will be, and Jesus’ name in Hebrew is Yahoshua He who will be salvation, so Jesus has the name of the Father has Paul says “Phi 2:9 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;” the exalted name or divine name Yahweh He will be, the Lord was in fact God manifested that is Yahweh manifested in the flesh of Jesus making him the Christ or the Anointed One by being given the spirit with out measure. After Jesus had risen from the dead He became God manifested in spirit. In the days of his flesh he was the reflection of the moral attributes of the Deity. But after his resurrection from the dead he was made consubstantial with the Deity, this makes Jesus the Alpha the first born from the dead, and when he returns the true believers will be the Omega Yahweh Elohim: He who will be (revealed in a group of ) Mighty ones by the spirit of El. It is not One God in 3 gods and 3 gods in One but one Deity in a countless multitude, One Deity one in many, and many in one by his spirit. This is the multitudinous manifestation of the one Deity. 
The 3 words could also be about faith, hope, love, or it could also be what Jesus says in Saying 14 

13) Jesus said to His disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell Me whom I am like." Simon Peter [Christianity] said to Him, "You are like a righteous angel." [miracle worker, luminous being] Matthew [Levi or Jews] said to Him, "You are like a wise philosopher [hence they called Him "Rabbi" or "Master"]." Thomas [the Elect] said to Him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom You are like." Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk [from His mouth - see V.108], you have become intoxicated by the bubbling spring [life giving Word of God] which I have measured out [in precise terminology that Thomas could not speak]." And He took him and withdrew and told him three words [three Hebrew words ehyeh asher ehyeh” when one becomes "as our Master" (a fountain of life giving words) for He is "the author of and finisher of our faith" - this is what the toil and labor is all about]. When Thomas returned to his companions [the Christians and Jews alike], they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the things [about this final testament which is the unleavened truth in the Word which bubbles up from one who is a son of God (has been converted)] which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me [use the Old and New Testaments against me (just as the Pharisees tried to use the Law against Jesus and in fact would physically stone anyone for "making themselves equal with God" because of their errant thoughts]; a fire [judgment] will come out of the stones [the two testaments] and burn you up." 

The Ten Words

The ten words in Psalm 119

Psalm 119 is one of several acrostic poems found in the Bible. Its 176 verses are divided into 22 stanzas, one for each of the 22 characters that make up the Hebrew alphabet.

Throughout the whole of the Alphabetic Psalm, 119 there is in every verse one of the following ten expressions: DEREK (= Way), 'EDUTH (= Testimony), PIKKUDIM (= Precepts), MIZVAH (= Commandment), 'IMRAH (= Saying), TORAH (= Law), MISHPAT (= Judgment), ZEDEK, Z^eDAKAH, and ZADDIK (= Righteousness), HOK, and HUKKAH (= Statutes), DABAR (= Word), which correspond to the Ten Commandments; except one verse, in which there is none of these: namely, verse 122." 

The Ten Commandments of the Law are described as the "ten words" of the Decalogue (Deu. 5:22), and significantly, this Psalm, the Alphabet of Grace is built around ten words, each of which expresses an element of the Word of Yahweh, and one of which is found in every verse of this Psalm, except in vv. 122 and 132. Therefore the "ten words" of Psa. 119 really reflect the spirit of the Law of Moses, and demonstrate the way in which the Law should have been revealed in those who were under its covenant.

The ten words are: Saying, Word, Testimony, Way, Judgment, Precept, Commandment, Law, Statute, Righteousness:


1. SAYING: Heb. amar: the expression of the divine will and promise to man. The Hebrew word occurs in v. 82 and in v. 57 (as "said"), whilst a cognate word imrah (translated "word") occurs 19 times.


2. WORD: Heb. dabhar: See v. 9. This is represented in the New Testament Greek as logos, that is, the outward expression of inner thought and meaning. It occurs 22 times.


3. TESTIMONY: Heb. edoth: See v. 2. The idea of the word is that of an attestation, or formal affirmation — thus, a solemn declaration of God's will on matters, especially of moral or religious duty, or a protest against human propensity to deviate from it. It is rendered "testimonies." See Deu. 4:45; 6:17, 20, etc. Occurs 23 times.


4. WAY: Heb. derek: See Deu. 5:33. The course of conduct marked out by God's Law. Occurs 13 times.


5. JUDGMENT: Heb. mishpat: A verdict establishing a precedent; thus a divine commandment. Occurs 22 times.


6. PRECEPTS: Heb. piqqudim: Appointments or mandates, precepts or requests. Occurs 21 times.


7. COMMANDMENTS: Heb. mitsvahim: Definite, specific requirements 76 imposed authoritatively. Sometimes rendered "judgments." Occurs 23 times.


8. LAW: Heb. torah: denoting directions or instructions; a body of teaching, a system of law. Occurs 25 times.


9. STATUTES: Heb. chuqqim: an enactment, an appointment that must be kept. Occurs 21 times.


10. RIGHTEOUSNESS: Heb. tsedaqah or tsedeq: denoting righteousness, rectitude, justice, virtue. Thus, the fulfilment and keeping of the Law. It occurs 12 times.

Christian Kabbalah Christ in the Hebrew Alphabet

A Study of Divine Bodies

A Study of Divine Bodies

Cover of Hobbes' Leviathan shows a body formed of multitudinous citizens, surmounted by a king's head.

A Study of Divine Bodies 

Summer Harvest: A Psalm By Valentinus

In the spirit I see all suspended,
In the spirit I know everything held:
The flesh (Matter) hanging from the soul (Demiurge)
The soul held aloft by the air
The air (Logos) suspended from the ether (Pleroma)
Fruits manifest themselves out of the Depth
A child emerges from the womb

There are different levels to the universe Matter, Demiurge, Logos and Pleroma these Valentinus calls flesh, soul, air, and ether  

The Gospel of Truth 

When he had appeared, instructing them about the Father, the incomprehensible one, when he had breathed into them what is in the thought, doing his will, when many had received the light, they turned to him. For the material ones were strangers, and did not see his likeness, and had not known him. For he came by means of fleshly form, while nothing blocked his course, because incorruptibility is irresistible, since he, again, spoke new things, still speaking about what is in the heart of the Father, having brought forth the flawless Word.
When light had spoken through his mouth, as well as his voice, which gave birth to life, he gave them thought and understanding, and mercy and salvation, and the powerful spirit from the infiniteness and the sweetness of the Father. 

Therefore, all the emanations of the Father are pleromas, and the root of all his emanations is in the one who made them all grow up in himself. He assigned them their destinies. Each one, then, is manifest, in order that through their own thought <...>. For the place to which they send their thought, that place, their root, is what takes them up in all the heights, to the Father. They possess his head, which is rest for them, and they are supported, approaching him, as though to say that they have participated in his face by means of kisses. But they do not become manifest in this way, for they are not themselves exalted; (yet) neither did they lack the glory of the Father, nor did they think of him as small, nor that he is harsh, nor that he is wrathful, but (rather that) he is a being without evil, imperturbable, sweet, knowing all spaces before they have come into existence, and he had no need to be instructed. 

The Father

The Tripartite Tractate

This is the nature of the unbegotten one, which does not touch anything else; nor is it joined (to anything) in the manner of something which is limited. Rather, he possesses this constitution, without having a face or a form, things which are understood through perception, whence also comes (the epithet) "the incomprehensible. If he is incomprehensible, then it follows that he is unknowable, that he is the one who is inconceivable by any thought, invisible by any thing, ineffable by any word, untouchable by any hand. He alone is the one who knows himself as he is, along with his form and his greatness and his magnitude. And since he has the ability to conceive of himself, to see himself, to name himself, to comprehend himself, he alone is the one who is his own mind, his own eye, his own mouth, his own form, and he is what he thinks, what he sees, what he speaks, what he grasps, himself, the one who is inconceivable, ineffable, incomprehensible, immutable, while sustaining, joyous, true, delightful, and restful is that which he conceives, that which he sees, that about which he speaks, that which he has as thought. He transcends all wisdom, and is above all intellect, and is above all glory, and is above all beauty, and all sweetness, and all greatness, and any depth and any height.

The Son

the sole first one, the man of the Father, that is, the one whom I call

the form of the formless,

the body of the bodiless,

the face of the invisible,

the word of the unutterable,

the mind of the inconceivable,

the fountain which flowed from him,

the root of those who are planted,

and the god of those who exist,

the light of those whom he illumines,

the love of those whom he loved,

the providence of those for whom he providentially cares,

the wisdom of those whom he made wise,

the power of those to whom he gives power,

the assembly of those whom he assembles to him,

the revelation of the things which are sought after,

the eye of those who see,

the breath of those who breathe,

the life of those who live,

the unity of those who are mixed with the Totalities.

Bodies are not exclusively connected to the material world at the lowest level. The Father and the Son at the uppermost level of depth above the Pleroma can have bodies  

The Tripartite Tractate

Logos and the Demiurge 

Over all the archons he appointed an Archon with no one commanding him. He is the lord of all of them, that is, the countenance which the Logos brought forth in his thought as a representation of the Father of the Totalities. Therefore, he is adorned with every <name> which <is> a representation of him, since he is characterized by every property and glorious quality. For he too is called "father" and god" and "demiurge" and "king" and "judge" and "place" and "dwelling" and "law."
The Logos uses him as a hand, to beautify and work on the things below, and he uses him as a mouth, to say the things which will be prophesied.
The things which he has spoken he does

The invisible spirit moved him in this way, so that he would wish to administer through his own servant, whom he too used, as a hand and as a mouth and as if he were his face, (and his servant is) the things which he brings, order and threat and fear, in order that those with whom he has done what is ignorant might despise the order which was given for them to keep, since they are fettered in the bonds of the archons, which are on them securely.


body--The outward expression of consciousness; the manifestation of the thinking part of man.
God creates the body thought, or divine reasoning, and man, by his thinking, makes it manifest depending upon the spiritual understanding of the individual whose mind it is. 

As God created man in His image and likeness by the power of His word, so man, as God's image and likeness, projects his body by the same power.


The Logos needs to use the Demiurge as body to interact with the world

Bodies are the way in which a being is perceived from, and interacts with a lower level

One (more actualised) being can be (function as) the body of another (less actualised)

The interaction downwards from the Father, Son, Logos, Demiurge and finally to the archons should be interpreted as a Body politic a divine corporation

The author of TT 100:31-33 wrote, “the Logos uses him [the Demiurge] as a hand, to beautify and work on the things below.” Also, see Exc 47:2, 49:1-2; Haer 1:5,1-4; 1:17,1; 2:6,3.

The Body of Jesus

The visible body of Christ is sometimes understood in these texts as the “body of God.”
The Tripartite Tractate characterizes the Savior as “the Totality in bodily form” (quoted below)
In the Tripartite Tractate, the Son is called the “body of the bodiless” (quoted above) 

The Nag Hammadi Library Melchizedek

Furthermore, they will say of him that he is unbegotten, though he has been begotten, (that) he does not eat, even though he eats, (that) he does not drink, even though he drinks, (that) he is uncircumcised, though he has been circumcised, (that) he is unfleshly, though he has come in the flesh, (that) he did not come to suffering, <though> he came to suffering, (that) he did not rise from the dead, <though> he arose from the dead.

The Tripartite Tractate

For not only did he accept for them the death 5 of those ~hom he had in minB to save, but he even accepted the smallness to which they had descended when they had (inclined) downwards into body and soul, for he let himself be conceived 10 and he let himself be begotten as a child with body and soul. For into all those conditions which they shared with those who had fallen. although they possessed the light.
Here the The Tripartite Tractate is contemplating on the significance of the Savior’s incarnation, his birth as an infant, and his assumption of body and soul

The Tripartite Tractate

The Savior was an image of the unitary one, he who is the Totality in bodily form.  Therefore, he preserved the form of indivisibility, from which comes impassability.

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Col 2:3  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Col 2:9  Because in him dwells all the fulness of the deity bodily,

The Tripartite Tractate

Concerning that which he previously was and that which he is eternally - an unbegotten, impassible one from the Logos, who came into being in flesh - he did not come into their thought. And this is the account which they received an impulse to give concerning his flesh which was to appear. They say that it is a production from all of them, but that before all things it is from the spiritual Logos, who is the cause of the things which have come into being, from whom the Savior received his flesh. He had conceived <it> at the revelation of the light, according to the word of the promise, at his revelation from the seminal state. For the one who exists is not a seed of the things which exist, since he was begotten at the end. But to the one by whom the Father ordained the manifestation of salvation, who is the fulfillment of the promise, to him belonged all these instruments for entry into life, through which he descended. His Father is one, and alone is truly a father to him, the invisible, unknowable, the incomprehensible in his nature, who alone is God in his will and his form, who has granted that he might be seen, known, and comprehended.

In The Tripartite Tractate 114,1–11, the flesh of Christ is from the Logos, not from the archons.

The Gospel of Philip

The lord rose from the dead. He became as he was, but now his body was perfect. He possessed flesh, but this was true flesh. Our flesh isn’t true. Ours is only an image of the true.

Jesus revealed himself [at the] Jordan River as the fullness of heaven’s kingdom. The one [conceived] before all [71] was conceived again; the one anointed before was anointed again; the one redeemed redeemed others.

It is necessary to utter a mystery. The father of all united with the virgin who came down, and fire shone on him.
On that day that one revealed the great bridal chamber, and in this way his body came into being.


Lu 3:22  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

The Dialogue of the Savior

Even if it comes forth in the body of the Father among men, and is not received, still it [...] return to its place. Whoever does not know the work of perfection, knows nothing.

Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me;

Extracts from the Works of Theodotus:

59 First, then, he put on a seed from the Mother, not being separated but containing it by power, and it is given form little by little through knowledge. And when he came into Space Jesus found Christ, whom it was foretold that he would put on, whom the Prophets and the Law announced as an image of the Saviour. But even this psychic Christ whom he put on, was invisible, and it was necessary for him when he came into the world to be seen here, to be held, to be a citizen, and to hold on to a sensible body. A body, therefore, was spun for him out of invisible psychic substance, and arrived in the world of sense with power from a divine preparation. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)


60 Therefore, “Holy Spirit shall come upon thee” refers to the formation of the Lord's body, “and a Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee” indicates the formation of God with which he imprinted the body in the Virgin. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

61 And he died at the departure of the Spirit which had descended upon him in the Jordan, not that it became separate but was withdrawn in order that death might also operate on him, since how did the body die when life was present in him? For in that way death would have prevailed over the Saviour himself, which is absurd. But death was out-generalled by guile. For when the body died and death seized it, the Saviour sent forth the ray of power which had come upon him and destroyed death and raised up the mortal body which had put off passion. In this way, therefore, the psychic elements are raised and are saved, but the spiritual natures which believe receive a salvation superior to theirs, having received their souls as “wedding garments.” (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)


The Son is a “character of the Father brought down from above and placed into a body in this cosmos”

Who Created God?

Who created God?

This begs the question: Who created God? a question of the type: who baptised John the baptist? The bible ' answers' as follows:

10 You are my witnesses, is the utterance of Jehovah: even my servant whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and have faith in me, and that you may understand that I am the same One. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none (Isaiah 43).

So he had no divine father. 

9 Remember the first things of a long time ago, that I am the Divine One and there is no other God, nor anyone like me (Isaiah 46).

He was alone in divinity from the beginning to the days of Isaiah.

11 “You are worthy, Lord, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”

The above scripture implies that Gods will existed before all creation occurred which would logically imply that God himself was not created God created space and time  

If God was not created than how did he come into existence? Well one answer is that he has always been in existence. The sense in which this is meant is not that given any amount of time in the past he was always around before that time. It is rather that he himself created time.  

and what does he mean by beginning? You see some can argue that he means beginning as in God forever and eternal past. But if that’s the case, there really is no beginning with God others might argue well beginning in the sense that when God conceived of creating the perfect sons and daughters of God the human beings. Whatever other beings he might have created in the universe that was the beginning and the son was there from the beginning and the church as well. 


The message here is that God has everything in mind from the beginning. Whatever he produces from the beginning and as the Brethren of that beginning Christ is the eternal forever in the past or at the beginning at the time of which he conceived the concept of the son as being part of the story of humankind. This does not really matter because for us humans from our perspective it is the beginning of everything anyway and that’s really all we need to know and we’ll probably likely ever know anyway.

Yahweh is the name of Uncreated Power, Elohim, the organizations of that Power after its image and likeness, whether they belong to the sun, moon, and stars of the universe, or to Israel.

The Doctrine of Emanation

The doctrine of emanation

“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, The Nag Hammadi Library

There are two emanations the first emanation is to about the self-realization of the Uncreated Eternal Spirit the second emanation is the manifestation of creation both the spiritual universe and the physical universe

This study will deal with the the second emanation the creation of the the physical universe

GOD AND HIS SPIRIT IN RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE

What is the meaning of the word spirit‭? ‬To what language does the word belong‭? ‬It is a Latin word,‭ ‬as,‭ “‬spiritus,‭” ‬a blowing,‭ ‬from‭ ‬spiro,‭ “‬to breathe,‭ ‬breathe out,‭ ‬exhale.‭” ‬Hence‭ ‬Spirit is that also which is exhaled.‭ ‬In the Greek,‭ ‬the word which answers to‭ ‬spirit is‭ ‬pneuma,‭ ‬which signifies the same as‭ ‬spiro.‭ ‬In the Hebrew it is‭ ‬ruach.‭ ‬But these words,‭ ‬while they tell us that they stand for something radiated or exhaled,‭ ‬do not tell us what the essence or substance of the exhalation,‭ ‬or radiation,‭ ‬is.‭ ‬It may be air in motion,‭ ‬or wind,‭ ‬breath,‭ ‬electricity,‭ ‬or some other agent.‭ ‬What it is the word represents,‭ ‬depends upon something more than etymology can supply.‭ ‬The words ‬ruach,‭ ‬pneuma,‭ ‬spiritus and‭ ‬spirit do not signify the same thing in all places where they occur‭; ‬still,‭ ‬whatever the thing is,‭ ‬the radical idea is a motion outwards‭ ‬from,‭ ‬into.


The first place in the Bible where the word occurs is in‭ ‬Gen.‭ i. ‬2.‭ ‬Here it is‭ ‬ruach Elohim,‭ ‬a principle going out of,‭ ‬or from,‭ ‬the Mighty Ones.‭ ‬What could this be‭? ‬It may be known by its effects.‭ “‬It brooded upon the face of the waters,‭”—‬of the waters which in the primeval state of the earth,‭ ‬covered its entire surface.‭ ‬This brooding principle covered the surface and penetrated its substance in all its atoms,‭ ‬so that it was only necessary for the word of command to go forth from the Mighty,‭ ‬and whatever might be commanded would be done.


‬Everything was made by this brooding principle as the executive of divine Wisdom.‭ “‬By His spirit he hath garnished the heavens‭;” “‬He sendeth forth his spirit‭; ‬they are created,‭” ‬even all the things detailed by Moses.‭ ‬Hence,‭ ‬Job says,‭ “‬the‭ ‬ruach of‭ ‬Ail hath made me,‭ ‬and the‭ ‬Nishmah of SHADDAI hath given me life.‭ ‬The Spirit is,‭ ‬therefore,‭ ‬formative.‭ ‬It is creative power.‭ ‬It made the light‭; ‬it divided the vapours from the waters by an expanse‭; ‬gathered the waters together in the place of seas‭; ‬formed the vegetable world‭; ‬established the astronomy of the heavens‭; ‬developed the animal kingdom‭; ‬and executed the whole so satisfactorily that the work was pronounced‭ “‬very good.‭”


When we contemplate‭ ‬spirit through these results,‭ ‬we behold an Almighty power which is predicated of AIL—the‭ ‬spirit of Ail.‭ ‬But what is AIL‭? ‬Etymologically,‭ ‬it is‭ ‬strength,‭ ‬might,‭ ‬power.‭ ‬Hence the‭ ‬Spirit of AIL is a powerful emanation,‭ ‬or‭ ‬breathing forth of power.‭ ‬ALMIGHTY POWER is the fountain and origin of the universe,‭ “‬out of whom are all things‭” ‬says Paul‭ (‬1‭ ‬Cor.‭ viii. ‬6‭)‬.‭ ‬He also tells us that the fountain of Omnipotence is a glorious and torrid centre‭; ‬a centre that cannot be approached by man,‭ ‬and the dwelling place of an invisible,‭ ‬intelligent,‭ ‬and deathless being‭ (‬1‭ ‬Tim.‭ vi. ‬16‭)‬.‭


This is AIL—all-wise,‭ ‬all-powerful,‭ ‬all-seeing,‭ ‬and all-knowing.‭ ‬There is only one such in the wide-extended universe.‭ ‬He is life and incorruptibility,‭ ‬and never was anything else.‭ ‬Here is a wonderful being,‭ ‬corporeal intelligence that hath always existed,‭ ‬and out of whom,‭ ‬as‭ “‬THE FATHER,‭” ‬all things have been produced.‭ ‬But of what does his substance consist‭? ‬What his nature‭? ‬What is he‭?


‭ “‬HE IS SPIRIT.‭”

These are the words of Jesus,‭ ‬who knew what he affirmed.‭ ‬AIL is spirit,‭ ‬and there is a spirit of AIL—the fountain and the stream are both spirit,‭ ‬and hold a like relation that radiant caloric does to iron glowing with a white heat.‭ ‬But what is the glowing substance of Deity‭? ‬That which shall be manifested in the saints when they become spirit,‭ ‬for they shall be like him who is in the bosom of the Father.‭ “‬Deity is spirit,‭” ‬and to convey our conception to the reader of this substance,‭ ‬we would style it‭ ‬corporeal electricity.‭

We behold the lightning’s flash‭; ‬we see its almighty effect upon rocks and trees,‭ ‬and we perceive its universality‭; ‬still of its‭ ‬essence,‭ ‬we are ignorant.‭ ‬Our words and definitions leave this untouched.‭ ‬But whatever the essence may be,‭ ‬that corporeal essence is God,‭ ‬and the same incorporeal and radiant essence is the spirit of God.‭

Electricity or lightning is a Bible symbol for spirit.‭ ‬Ezekiel,‭ ‬son of man,‭ ‬priest and prophet,‭ ‬had‭ ‬visions of Elohim,‭ ‬who are,‭ ‬when manifested,‭ ‬spirit,‭ ‬being all of them post-resurrectionally begotten,‭ ‬and born out of spirit,‭ ‬and consequently consubstantial with the Father,‭ ‬who is spirit.‭ ‬In these visions of spirit,‭ ‬then,‭ ‬Ezekiel saw the living ones or Elohim come forth out of the midst of fire and brightness.‭ ‬His description in chap.‭ i. ‬4,‭ ‬is symbolical of‭ ‬1‭ ‬Tim.‭ vi. ‬16.‭ ‬What we call electricity,‭ ‬for want of a better word,‭ ‬in glowing combustion,‭ ‬he terms‭ “‬fire and brightness.‭”

‬In beholding the electrically-generated beings born of the Ezekiel fire,‭ ‬he says‭ “‬Whither the spirit was to go,‭ ‬they went,‭” ‬because they will be spirit,‭ ‬so that wherever they may be,‭ ‬there,‭ ‬necessarily,‭ ‬corporeal-spirit will be.‭ ‬And,‭ ‬as for the likeness of the living creatures,‭ ‬says he,‭ “‬their appearance was like burning coals of fire,‭ ‬and like the appearance of lamps‭; ‬it went up and down among the living creatures‭; ‬and the fire was bright,‭ ‬and out of the fire went forth lightning‭” ‬or flaming electricity.‭ “‬And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.‭”

In scriptural discourse, "electricity" is termed spirit, because it is radiated, or sent forth, from the substance of Almighty Power, after the tropical analogy of blowing, breathing, or exhaling. This idea is illustrated by the iron excited to white heat, or the magnet. These are solid substances, but within a certain radius, they are enveloped in an atmosphere of light and heat, or of magnetism. This atmosphere may represent the radiant power, or spirit, of the Deity; and the glowing iron and magnet, the radiating power, or substance, called DEITY. 

Here, then, is spirit free, radiant, or uncombined ; and spirit in substance, corporeal, bodily existence. The latter is the original condition of spirit. It was not originally free or diffused through space, and at some particular epoch condensed, reduced to a bodily form, and individualized.

To affirm this, would be to affirm the existence of abstract intelligent power antecedent to the Hypostasis, or substance, the exact representation of which Jesus Anointed is declared now to be. No, the Substantial Father has always been substance, and has had no incorporeal predecessor in wisdom and power.

His nature is the substratum, or basis, of all conceivable existences, animate or inanimate, in all the universe ; for they are all created out of his spirit, and that spirit radiates out of his substance. It is always subordinate to His will; and accomplishes that only whereunto it is sent. Hence, it does not act independently of the radiating power. Nothing, therefore, happens by chance in the operation of the spirit.

The wisdom that ordains is in the Father; and the wisdom that executes is in the power radiating from him. This is illustrated by the fact (and we have verified the fact by experiment) that a man may simply will actions to be performed by another at a distance ; and his will, though unexpressed in words or gesture, will be done. If any action result, it will not be contrary to the will, nor can it be. It is impossible, likewise, for the spirit of the Deity to execute contrary to the will of the Deity. Hence, " THE SON," or Spirit- Emanation from the Father-Spirit-Substance, " can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do," or will; " for whatsoever he doeth," or wills," "these also doeth," or executeth, "the Son likewise"—John v. 19.

The distinction made by "philosophers" between "matter" and "spirit" is artificial, and does not obtain in scripture.The Father is matter, or substance, but he is spirit also; for that matter of which he consists, and which constitutes his nature, is spirit. This being the fact, matter is eternal. But this by no means implies that the forms of matter arc eternal likewise; for that would be to affirm that the Creator was not antecedent to his works. The dispute, then,, upon the question whether spirit existed before matter, or matter before spirit, is a vain controversy; and indicative of the ignoranee of the "philosophers" on both sides. 

The one had no precedence of the other, being essentially the same. Hence matter is not essentially evil, or coiTupt and mortal; nor is it incapable of thought. The Divine Power is matter, but, though he creates evil, he is not evil,  nor corruptible and mortal. There is,therefore, no force nor reason in the argument that a thing is immortal because it is immaterial, or not matter. Whatever exists is matter. Electricity is as much matter as a block of marble, the only difference is, that it is matter in a different form. Hence the immaterial is the non-existent, or nothing. To say, then, that a thing is immortal because it is immaterial, is to ailirm that it is immortal because it is nothing, or does not exist; which is the demonstration of the wisest thinking of the flesh—" the wisdom of the world " condemned as folly, working death in all that are deceived by it.

There is no part of the boundless universe where the spirit of the Divine Power is not. It pervades the atoms of all bodies and is everywhere. Hence the inquiry of Christ in prophecy, " Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend into heaven thou art there; if I make my bed in the grave, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thine hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I shall say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thec; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."—Ps. exxxix. 7-14. 

This proves what we have said, and teaches that, in a general sense, allcreatures are in the presence of the Creator; that they arc so in being contiguous to his spirit: for, as fish live, and move, and have their being in the waters, so all animals and men " live, and move, and have their being " in spirit of God. Upon this natural principle it is that Paul declared to the heathen philosophers that God is "not far from every one of us"; and that Jesus said," a sparrow shall not \ fall on the ground without the Father." Hence, in the natural or physical sense, all creatures have the spirit, and cannot live without it; so that as Job says, " If He gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust"—xxxiv. 14. Spirit develops the organism of all creatures, and preserves it from disorganization.

It is what pathologists term the vis medicatrix natwras; and physiologists, " the vital principle." When the spirit and breath of the Creator are withdrawn from a man or a sparrow, there remain no healing power and vitality in their several bodies; and the immediate tendency in them is to corruption and dust. Hence, all creatures in the air, earth, and seas, are spirit-farms. The types or patterns, after which they were created were all in the mind of Deity before they were created; and when they were formed, the formation was out of spirit-matter and by spirit according to pattern. Every creature is therefore a spirit in this sense; but not necessarily immortal because a spirit. The immortality of a spirit depends upon the constitution of the matter or substance of the peculiar form. A spirit form of a flesh and blood organization is essentially mortal and corruptible; for death and corruption are peculiar to that material constitution. The " spirits in prison " Peter speaks of, were flesh and blood organizations turned again into dust, consequent upon the Deity gathering to himself his spirit and breath. · 

His free spirit withdrawn, and the cohesive affinity of their substance departed, and its gaseous elements entered into new combinations, destructive of the forms, termed man, cattle, fowl, and so forth. Hence the Deity is styled by Moses in Numb, xxvii. 16, " YAHWEII, Elohim of the spirits of all flesh " : that is, the spirit self-styled HE SIIALL BE, is the powers of all flesh-emanations of hi9 power. The spirit-power of the lion is the power of Jehovah; and so of all other creatures. Hence the facility with wThich he can open and shut their fierce and voracious mouths, as in the case of Daniel and his persecutors. This universal diffusion of spirit places all created things in telegraphic communication with the will of the Deity. What he wills needs not batteries and wires for transmission. He has but to will and it is instantaneously responded to according to his purpose, though the locality where obedience is required be distant from his throne a hundred millions of miles. Take these two points, the throne of the Universe, and the earth we inhabit, as the two extremities of the line—the Deity at the one end, and we at the other. The intermediate space is filled with his " free spirit," radiant from his substance, and incarnately organic in all his creatures.

What we call "time" is unnecessary for the transmission of ideas. The Deity is not a being of time. He has not to move from where he is to be where he would be; for he is everywhere by spirit, and fills all. Hence his will at the throne is his will at the same instant on earth; for his intelligence and wisdom are as universal as his power and only require his will to be exercised for their manifestation in every part of his wide domain.

Now, in studying the subject of spirit we must consider it severally in its relations to things physical and natural; andto things intellectual and moral, or spiritual in a special sense. As we have seen, all mankind and animals generally are the subject of the operation of the spirit; but it is only a certain class of mankind that is operated upon in the special sense by which individuals are brought iilto harmony with the moral attributes of Deity.


The ideas and thoughts of the Deity are as much spirit as this physical power.His thoughts are moral power breathed forth in his words, and that is spirit, even as the lightning breathed forth, or radiant, from his substance is spirit. His thoughts breathed forth or revealed in any way he may determine constitute uthe truth1*, and therefore the truth is spirit. Hence, the Lord Jesus said,u My words arc spirit"; and the apostle John says, " The spirit is the truth." To produce physical results, such as raising the dead, curing the sick, speaking with tongues, speaking by inspiration, and so forth, material power or spirit is required; but when purely moml results are the things desired, the truth is the spirit that operates upon the heart.

Notes

hypostasis

(Colossians 1:15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

Heb 1:3 3 who being the brightness of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence (5287 ὑπόστασις hypostasis hoop-os’-tasis), bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might — through himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest,

5287 ὑπόστασις hypostasis hoop-os’-tasis

hypostasis

an underlying reality (pleroma) or substance, as opposed to attributes or to that which lacks substance (kenoma)


So the Deity has a substance this substance is spirit

Electricity

Deity is spirit that is corporeal energy or electricity or dark matter (Exodus 20:21) (Deuteronomy 4:11) (1Kings 8:12) (Psalms 18:11) (Psalms 97:2) (1 Corinthians 4:5) (Job 22:11-14)

from these texts above it appears that God resides in thick darkness and in heaven, so heaven arguably must equate to thick darkness.

dark matter and/or energy in our universe may actually be described as the abode of spiritual creation in the scriptures, i.e. the place where God and his spiritual sons actually live and from where they can observe and interact with us