God is a Corporeal Being James 3:9

God has a physical body

or

God is Corporeal 

James 3:9

First what does Corporeal mean?

The definition of corporeal is something related to your body or something physical or tangible

Most Christians today may not know that the ancient Israelites, the early proto-orthodox church and the Christian Gnostic churches had a belief in a Corporeal God that is in a Deity who has a physical form

The Greek word for corporeal is used twice in the Bible 1 Timothy 4:8 and Luke 3:22

◄ 4984. sómatikos ►


Strong's Concordance
sómatikos: of the bodyOriginal Word: σωματικός, ή, όν
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: sómatikos
Phonetic Spelling: (so-mat-ee-kos')
Definition: of the body
Usage: bodily, corporeal.


Thayer's Greek LexiconSTRONGS NT 4984: σωματικός

σωματικός, σωματική, σωματικον (σῶμα), from Aristotle down, "corporeal (Vulg.corporalis), bodily;

a. having a bodily form or nature": σωματικῷ εἴδει, Luke 3:22 (opposed to ἀσώματος, Philo de opif. mund. § 4).

b. pertaining to the body: ἡ γυμνασία, 1 Timothy 4:8 (ἕξις, Josephus, b. j. 6, 1, 6: ἐπιθυμίαι σωματικαί, 4 Macc. 1:32; (ἐπιθυμίαι καί ἡδοναι, Aristotle, eth. Nic. 7, 7, p. 1149b, 26; others; ἀπέχου τῶν σαρκικῶν καί σωματικῶν σπιθυμιων, 'Teaching' etc. 1, 4 [ET])).

Luke 3:22 And the Holy Spirit 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 Holy Spirit is described as coming down in bodily shape. This was a real visible appearance, and was doubtless seen by the people.

Whilst man was made in the image of God it might be interesting to consider just how like God Man really is from reviewing relevant scriptures on this theme. so now we will look at the physical aspect.

English Standard Version

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. James 3:9

man is made in the physical similitude of the father

God is revealed as a real, tangible person, with a bodily existence. It is also a fundamental teaching of Christianity that Jesus is the Son of God. If God is not a corporeal (bodily) being, then it is impossible for Him to have a son who was the "image of His person" (Heb.1:3). Further, it becomes difficult to develop a personal, living relationship with 'God', if 'God' is just a concept in our mind, a formless, shapeless thing, floating out in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and will.

It is tragic that the majority of religions have this unreal, intangible conception of God.

God being so infinitely greater than us, it is understandable that many people's faith has unwilling to accept the clear promises that ultimately we will see God. Israel lacked the faith to see God's "shape" (Jn. 5:37), clearly showing that He does have a real form. Such faith comes from knowing God and believing His word:

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt.5:8).

God has a soul

The word soul in the Bible always refers to bodily life living or dead 

Leviticus 26:11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.

So God has a soul and therefore a body.  A soul would indicate that this comprises of both spirit and body. 1Sa 2:35; Ps 11:5; 24:4; Pr 6:16; Isa 1:14; 42:1; Jer 5:9; 6:8; 12:7; 14:19; 15:1; 32:41; 51:14; La 3:20; Eze 23:18; Am 6:8; Mt 12:18; Heb 10:38.

God speaks of “my soul” (Le 26:11, 30; Ps 24:4; Isa 42:1) . By speaking of ‘my ne´phesh,’ The Deity clearly means “myself” or “my person. The Old Testament consistently talks of God as a person; God is spoken of as having eyes, hands, and so forth.

The word soul is used for the physical body:

1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 It is even so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 Nevertheless, the first is, not that which is spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual.

1 Corinthians 15:44  It is sown a body of the soul, it is raised a body of the spirit; if there is a body of the soul, there is also of the spirit:--

45  Thus, also, it is written--The first man, Adam, became, a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

46  Howbeit, not first, is the [body] of the spirit, but that, of the soul,--afterwards, that of the spirit.

God is not just spirit but also has his spirit contained within some almighty corporeal entity, i.e. a divine body. 

A divine/spiritual body implies a substance (Hypostasis Hebrews 1:3) of divine nature (2Peter 1:4) 

Hebrews 1:3 He is the reflection of [his] glory and the exact representation of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power; and after he had made a purification for our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in lofty places.

The Son is the character or exact representation, and the Father is the hypostasis.

Strong's #5287: hupostasis (pronounced hoop-os'-tas-is)

Hypostasis, the original cognate of substantia

Etymologically,

hypostasis = hypó ("under") + stásis ("a standing" = (hístēmi ("to stand") + -sis, verbal noun suffix)) = "that which stands under"

substantia = sub ("under") + stans ("standing", present active participle of stō ("stand")) = "that which stands under".

From this we can conclude that Hypostasis refers to the nature/essence or "substance" of the Father, the Father-Spirit is substantial.

However, in later centuries hypostasis began referring to the "person", not the "nature" or "being" of God. 

"an accurate representation in the manner of an 'impress' or 'stamp', as of a coin to a die" (NIBC); "the mark [which] is the exact impression of the seal" (Barclay). Christ is "the image of God" (2Co 4:4) and "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15); although in these two instances, the Gr word "eikon" is different from that used here. John expressed the same idea in the words "anyone who has seen me [Jesus] has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

the Son is the Character of his Hypostasis rendered, in the common version, "express image of his person." The Son is the character or exact representation, and the Father is the hypostasis. In reference to the former, the Father says, in Zech. iii. 9, "Upon One Stone there shall be Seven Eyes ; behold, I will engrave the graving thereof (that is, of the stone), saith He who shall be hosts." The graving engraved on the stone is termed, in Greek, character, an impress wrought into a substance after some archetype or pattern. This archetype is the hypostasis, so that hypostasis is the basis or foundation of character; wherefore the same apostle in Col. i. 15, styles the character engraved the IMAGE of Theos the Invisible. Seth was the image of Adam, and Adam, the image of Elohim (cf. Gen. i. 26 ; v. 3.). Like Seth, Jesus was an image of Adam, but only in relation to flesh. Adam the First was image of Elohim, and this was in relation to bodily form. Body and form were the hypostasis of Adam and Seth; that is, they were the basis or foundation of the images so named. 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. (Eureka by Dr. Thomas)

God’s holy SPIRIT emanates from His substance (Hypostasis) his body or divine nature. This helps us to understand the statement in The Apocryphon of John which says the Monad is both corporeal and none incorporeal at the same time: 

"The One is not corporeal and is not incorporeal." (The Apocryphon of John)

Tertullian notes that "This for certain is He who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, In what form of God? Of course he means in some form, not none. For who will deny that God is a body although God is a spirit? (John 4:24). For spirit has a bodily substance of its own kind, in its own form. Whatever therefore, was the substance of the Word that I designate a person, I claim for it the name of Son; while I recognize the Son, I assert the distinction as second to the Father." Now interestingly, in the footnote, the editors themselves note "This doctrine of the soul's corporeality in a certain sense is treated by Tertullian in his "De Ressur. Carn" xvii and "De Anima" v. By Tertullian, spirit and soul were considered identical." (ANF, Vol. 3, p. 467).

God is spirit but this is not a disembodied spirit it is in fact spirit embodied

Clement talked about angels, archangels and , First-Created (Exc.10:1,5) in the following Extracts from the Works of Theodotus: 10, 11, 12 and 14. Exc. 10

Extracts from the Works of Theodotus

10 But not even the world of spirit and of intellect, nor the archangels and the First-Created, no, nor even he himself is shapeless and formless and without figure, and incorporeal; but he also has his own shape and body corresponding to his preeminence over all spiritual beings, as also those who were first created have bodies corresponding to their preeminence over the beings subordinate to them. For, in general, that which has come into being is not unsubstantial, but they have form and body, though unlike the bodies in this world......– but they “always behold the face of the Father” and the face of the Father is the Son, through whom the Father is known. Yet that which sees and is seen cannot be formless or incorporeal. But they see not with an eye of sense, but with the eye of mind, such as the Father provided. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

14 The demons are said to be incorporeal, not because they have no bodies (for they have even shape and are, therefore, capable of feeling punishment), but they are said to be incorporeal because, in comparison with the spiritual bodies which are saved, they are a shade. And the angels are bodies; at any rate they are seen. Why even the soul is a body, for the Apostle says, “It is sown a body of soul, it is raised a body of spirit.” And how can the souls which are being punished be sensible of it, if they are not bodies? Certainly he says, “Fear him who, after death, is able to cast soul and body into hell.” Now that which is visible is not purged by fire, but is dissolved into dust. But, from the story of Lazarus and Dives, the soul is directly shown by its possession of bodily limbs to be a body. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

These two quotations from the Works of Theodotus shows that Valentinians understood the soul to be the natural body and that spiritual beings are Corporeal

If God is not a real, personal being, then the concept of spirituality is hard to wrestle with. If God is totally righteous but is not a material being, then we cannot really conceive of His righteousness manifested in human beings. However, once we appreciate that there is a personal being called God, then we can work on our characters, with His help and the influence of His word, to reflect the characteristics of God in our beings.

God's purpose is to reveal Himself in a multitude of glorified beings. His memorial name, Jehovah Elohim, indicates this ('He who shall be mighty ones', is an approximate translation). If God is not a corporeal being, then the reward of the faithful is to have a non-physical existence like God. But the descriptions of the reward of the faithful in God's coming Kingdom on earth show that they will have a tangible, bodily existence, although no longer subject to the weaknesses of human nature.

The faithful are promised that they will inherit God's nature (2 Peter 1:4). If God is not a person then this means we will live eternally as immaterial spirits. But this is not Bible teaching. We will be given a body like that of Jesus (Phil. 3:21), and we know that he will have a literal body in the Kingdom which will have hands, eyes and ears (Zech. 13:6; Isa. 11:3). The doctrine of the person of God is therefore related to the Gospel of the Kingdom.

It should be evident that there can be no sensible concept of worship, or personal relationship with God until it is appreciated that God is a person, that we are in His image physically, although a very imperfect image, and need to develop His mental image so that we may take on the fulnlless of His physical image in the Kingdom of God.

The Pleroma the Waters Above the Heavens Genesis 1:7

The Pleroma the Waters Above the Heavens

An Opening reading from The Dialogue of the Savior

The Lord said, "When the Father established the cosmos, he [collected] water from it, and his Word came forth from it, and it experienced many [troubles]. It was more exalted than the path [of the starts] surrounds the entire earth.

[He continued] the collected water [above] is beyond the stars and beyond the water is  a great fire encircling them like a wall. [Periods of ] time began to be measured once many beings that were within had separated from the rest. When the [word] was established, he looked [down], and The Father said to him, 'Go, and [send something] from yourself, in order that [the earth] may not be in want from generation to generation, and from age to age.' 

The Hebrew shamayim (always in the plural), which is rendered “heaven(s),” seems to have the basic sense of that which is high or lofty. (Ps 103:11; Pr 25:3; Isa 55:9)

Genesis Verse 1  In the beginning God created the heavens (Heb. hushomayim – plural) and the earth. (Genesis 1)

If we read the history of the creation as a revelation to inhabitants of Earth we find it informs us of the order in which the things narrated would have developed themselves to our view if we had been placed on some projecting rock and observed the events revealed. We must remember this. The Mosaic account is not a revelation of the formation of the boundless universe to inhabitants on other planets removed from the Earth. Rather, it was given to humans as inhabitants of this terrestrial system. (1)

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.
The Pleroma as well as being the dwellings place of the Aeons is also a state of consciousness.

What does it mean by "in the 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

When this "beginning" was we are not told. But we are taught that wisdom was revealed in the acts of creation from the beginning. John states that "in the beginning" was the Word or Logos (John 1:1). Logos signifies the outward expression of inward thought or reason. It represents more than a mere word, for it incorporates the thought behind the word expressed. Elsewhere, we learn that wisdom was with God in the beginning, and was manifested in His acts of creation (Prov. 8:22). Hence, all that was done, was done with His ultimate purpose in mind, and not as the result of blind force or chance

atmospheric region or sky

Mat 6: 26 Observe intently the birds of heaven, because they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses; still YOUR heavenly Father feeds them. Are YOU not worth more than they are?

Heavens of earth’s atmosphere. . “The sky” is sometimes meant, that is, the apparent or visual dome or vault arching over the earth.—Mt 16:1-3; Ac 1:10, 11.

After the very first verse of the Bible we are told that there is a body of ‘deep’ water presumably in or around the earth:

Genesis Verse 2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1)

This scripture also seems to be making a lot of play of the word ‘face’ or surface.

A little further on, God then made a firmament which divided the body of water into two bodies of water, one below and one above it: (2)

Genesis Verse 7  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. (Genesis 1)

This atmospheric region corresponds generally to the “firmament [Heb., raqia`]” formed during the second creative period, described at Genesis 1:6-8. It is evidently to this ‘heaven’ that Genesis 2:4; Exodus 20:11; 31:17 refer in speaking of the creation of ““the sky and the dry land. (3)

A typical dictionary definition of the word firmament is ‘expanse’ so this firmament would appear to be an expanse of space or sky surrounding the earth with a body of water on the earth and the other body of water sitting above the expanse of space.

Now it starts to get interesting. In verse 8 God now called the firmament ‘Heaven’. Whilst the word for heaven in verse 8 is also the plural ‘shomayim’ it does not contain the definite article as does the heavens in verse 1. OT Hebrew nouns without the definite article attached are likely to indicate a proper name, the ‘Sky’ or  atmospheric region it is the element of the heavens that mankind can see.

 The waters below the firmament are what formed the seas and the water in the earth’s atmosphere in the form of clouds and rainfall. So  the firmament is both the extent of the Earth’s atmosphere or sky and the visible universe therefore the firmament is intended to comprise both of these expanses: (4)

8  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (Genesis 1)

The firmament may have seemed like a glass dome.

“Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, the middle layer of water solidified,and the nether heavens and the uppermost heavens were formed. Rab said: [God's] handiwork [the heavens] was in fluid form, and on the second day it congealed; thus Let there be a firmament means ‘Let the firmament be made strong*. R. Judah b. R. Simon said: Let a lining be made for the firmament, as you read, And they did beat the gold into thin plates…R. Simon said: The fire came forth from above and burnished the face of the firmament.” Gen. Rab. 4:2

“R. Phinehas said in R. Oshaya’s name: As there is a void between the earth and the firmament, so is there a void between the firmament and the upper waters, as it is written, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, meaning, midway between them. R. Tanhuma said: I will state the proof. If it said, And God made the firmament, and He divided between the waters . . . which are upon the firmament, I would say that the water lies directly upon the firmament itself.” Gen. Rab. 4:3

“But after that he makes the firmament, that is, the corporeal heaven. For every corporeal object is, without doubt, firm and solid; and it is this which “divides the water which is above heaven from the water which is below heaven.” Origen. Homily on Genesis

The firmament is the limit, the middle or boundary between the Physical Heavens and the spiritual heavens called the pleroma

Outer space. 

The physical “heavens” extend through earth’s atmosphere and beyond to the regions of outer space with their stellar bodies, “all the army of the heavens”—sun, moon, stars, and constellations. (De 4:19; Isa 13:10; 1Co 15:40, 41; Heb 11:12 These heavens show forth God’s glory, even as does the expanse of atmosphere, being the work of God’s “fingers.” (Ps 8:3; 19:1-6)
The divinely appointed “statutes of the heavens” control all such celestial bodies. Astronomers, despite their modern equipment and advanced mathematical knowledge, are still unable to comprehend these statutes fully. (Job 38:33; Jer 33:25) Their findings, however, confirm the impossibility of man’s placing a measurement upon such heavens or of counting the stellar bodies. (Jer 31:37; 33:22;
Yet they are numbered and named by God.—Ps 147:4; Isa 40:26.

“Heavens of the heavens.

” The expression “heavens of the heavens” is considered to refer to the highest heavens and would embrace the complete extent of the physical heavens, however vast, since the heavens extend out from the earth in all directions.—De 10:14; Ne 9:6.

Solomon, the constructor of the temple at Jerusalem, stated that the “heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens” cannot contain God. (1Ki 8:27)

27 “But will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built!

Yahweh measures the physical heavens as easily as a man would measure an object by spreading his fingers so that the object lies between the tips of the thumb and the little finger. (Isa 40:12) Solomon’s statement does not mean that God has no specific place of residence.

Nor does it mean that he is omnipresent in the sense of being literally everywhere and in everything. This can be seen from the fact that Solomon also spoke of Yahweh as hearing “from the heavens, your established place of dwelling,” that is, the heavens of the pleroma the eternal realm.—1Ki 8:30, 39

. 30 And you must listen to the request for favor on the part of your servant and of your people Israel with which they pray toward this place; and may you yourself hear at the place of your dwelling, in the heavens, and you must hear and forgive.

, 39 then may you yourself hear from the heavens, your established place of dwelling, and you must forgive and act and give to each one according to all his ways, because you know his heart (for you yourself alone well know the heart of all the sons of mankind)

In Deuteronomy 10, we find the strongest evidence possible that there is more than one heaven. Verse 14 refers to the heavens in the plural but also references the heaven of the heavens. Whilst concordances and lexicons routinely consider the Hebrew word ‘shamay’ as an unused singular noun, this very rare form of the word for heaven in the OT scriptures does appear in this verse. This to my mind draws this specific word out with the special meaning of God’s home being singularly supreme and above the other heavens:

14 Behold,the heavens (Heb. Shamayim) and the heaven (Heb. Shamay – singular?) of heavens (Heb. Shamayim) is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. (Deuteronomy 10)

To further emphasise these points 1Kings Chapter 8 contains the same phraseology and Hebrew grammar:

27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? (1Kings 8)

Nehemiah Chapter 9 but with one added ingredient. Here each heaven comes with its own host. This could be referring to the stars in the sky as well as the sons of God beyond the stars.

6 Thou, even thou, art Yahweh alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. (Nehemiah 9)

Psalm 33 paints a similar picture:

6 By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (Psalms 33)

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Genesis 2)

Spiritual Heavens.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the Father of the [celestial] lights, and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.

the Father of the [celestial] lights, "Father of spirits" (Heb 12:9); "Father of the heavenly lights" (Jam 1:17

 The same original-language words used for the physical heavens are also applied to the spiritual heavens. As has been seen, Yahweh Elohim does not reside in the physical heavens, being a Spirit. However, since he is “the High and Lofty One” who resides in “the height” (Isa 57:15), the basic sense of that which is “lifted up” or “lofty” expressed in the Hebrew-language word makes it appropriate to describe God’s “lofty abode of holiness and beauty.” (Isa 63:15; Ps 33:13, 14; 115:3)

“army of the heavens,” often applied to the stellar creation, sometimes describes these angelic sons of God. (1Ki 22:19; compare Ps 103:20, 21; Da 7:10; Lu 2:13; Re 19:14.) So, too, “the heavens” are personified as representing this angelic organization, “the congregation of the holy ones.”—Ps 89:5-7; compare Lu 15:7, 10; Re 12:12.

12 Is not God in the height of heaven? (Heb. plural Shamayim) and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. (Job 22)

Job Chapter 22 teaches that God’s heaven is above the stars but that He can see through the darkness that covers Him from our sight.

4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. (Psalms 148)

Now while ‘waters’ refers to God’s heavenly hosts or dwelling pleace that is the Pleroma in the symbolic meaning, the literal meaning would be the waters of the flood:

Ge 7:11 ¶ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. (Psalms 148)

The allusion here is to the waters which are above the lower heaven, that is, the air or sky and outer space, this higher region where the waters are is a higher heaven called the upper waters or the Pleroma. (5)

Note the Pleroma and the Aeons are called the deep

The Pleroma is also called the ‘emanations of the Father’, the ‘treasuries of light’ and the ‘immeasurable deep’.

As the ‘immeasurable deep’: “After these things there is another place which is broad, having hidden within it a great wealth which supplies the All. This is the immeasurable deep.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

The Upper Aeons are spiritual, invisible, immobile and are filled with light. They are described as ‘the Silence’ or a ‘watery light’ and contain archetypal images or reflections of the One. The Lower Aeons are material, visible, mutable and filled with darkness. They are described as ‘fiery’ and contain shadows, copies or images.

- Called ‘Watery light and life’, ‘water-light’, ‘light-water’, ‘Luminous Waters’, ‘Living Waters’, ‘the Silence’, ‘the silent Silence’, ‘the living Silence’, ‘the Treasure-House’, ‘the Store-House’, ‘the Dwelling-Place’, ‘crown’, ‘the kingless realm’.

- As water: “...the waters which are above.” (Melchizedek), “...the waters which are above matter.” (Apocryphon of John)

- As Living Water: “...the Aeons in the Living Water.” (Trimorphic Protennoia)

- As a watery light and life: “For it is he who looks at himself in his light which surrounds him, namely the spring of the water of life. And it is he who gives to all the aeons and in every way, (and) who gazes upon his image which he sees in the spring of the Spirit. It is he who puts his desire in his water-light which is in the spring of the pure light-water which surrounds him.” (Apocryphon of John)

They will receive you into aeonian dwellings (Luke 16: 9). We have a building from God, an aeonian house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Cor 5: 1). I am going to prepare a place for you, so that you also may be where I am (John 14: 3). Ps 104:3  (103:3) Who covers his chambers with waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks on the wings of the wind. LXX

3  Who frameth of the waters the beams of his upper-chambers; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh along upon the wings of the wind:

Ps 104:3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

     Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters The word here rendered “layeth” — from hrq — means properly to meet; then, in Hiphil, to cause to meet, or to fit into each other, as beams or joists do in a dwelling. It is a word which would be properly applied to the construction of a house, and to the right adjustment of the different materials employed in building it. The word rendered “beams” — hYli — means “an upper chamber, a loft,” such as rises, in Oriental houses, above the flat roof; in the New Testament, the υπερωον, rendered “upper room,” #Ac 1:13 9:37,39 20:8. It refers here to the chamber — the exalted abode of God — as if raised above all other heavens, or above the universe.

The house which covers, frameth and layeth in the upper waters is the Pleroma 

The word “waters” here refers to the description of the creation in #Ge 1:6,7 — the waters “above the firmament,” and the waters “below the firmament.” The allusion here is to the waters above the firmament; and the meaning is, that God had constructed the place of his own abode — the room where he dwells — in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place the Pleroma outside of our universe.

 It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home — his dwelling-place — was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode. 

1. The earth is at the centre of the model;

2. The lower waters are upon and below the surface of the Earth in the form of its seas;

3. The outer surface of the sky (i.e. the outer edge of Earth’s atmosphere) being above the lower waters which were contained within Earth’s atmosphere either as clouds in the sky or on and below the Earth’s surface as the seas;

4. The heavenly bodies (stars, sun and moon) contained within the visible universe of outer space (the firmament) being above the outer surface of the Earth’s atmosphere; The waters below the firmament are what formed the seas and the water in the earth’s atmosphere in the form of clouds and rainfall

5. The upper waters being above the visible universe. On this basis we must reach the inescapable conclusion that the upper waters are the invisible heavens of God’s domain the Pleroma, outside of the physical universe.

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 God.

The Soul is Temporary

The Soul is Temporary

Next the psychic aeon. It is a small one, which is mixed with bodies, by begetting in the souls (and) defiling (them). For the first defilement of the creation found strength. And it begot every work: many works of wrath, anger, envy, malice, hatred, slander, contempt and war, lying and evil counsels, sorrows and pleasures, basenesses and defilements, falsehoods and diseases, evil judgments that they decree according to their desires. (The Concept of Our Great Power)

This realm of things made, or consciousness of condition, is termed the soul. The body is the outer court of the soul, and an exact representative, in form, of the ideals that are revolving in the inner realms of its domain.

soul, duality of the--That phase of the soul named subconsciousness, which draws its life from both the earthly side of existence and the spiritual; it answers to both good and evil, light and darkness.

I believe both canonical and gnostic text support the teaching that the soul is temporary.

Ezekiel 18:4 & 20:

"Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die."

"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."

Matthew 10:29:

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Revelation 6:9:

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne."

The Treatise of the Resurrection:

"From the savior we radiate beams, and we are held in his arms until our own sunset, our death in this life. We are drawn to heaven by him, like beams, by the sun, and nothing holds us down. This is the resurrection of the spirit, which swallows up the soul and the flesh."

Tripartite Tractate:

"They became flesh and soul, that is, eternally which (things) hold them and with corruptible things they die. "

The Gospel of Philip:

"Adam’s soul came from a breath. The soul’s companion is spirit, and the spirit given to him is his mother. His soul was [taken] from him and replaced with [spirit]. "

Apocalypse of Peter:

"For evil cannot produce good fruit. For the place from which each of them is produces that which is like itself; for not every soul is of the truth, nor of immortality"

And when we heard these things, we became elated, for we had been depressed on account of what we had said earlier. Now when he saw our rejoicing, he said: "Woe to you who are in want of an advocate! Woe to you who are in need of grace! Blessed are those who have spoken freely and have produced grace for themselves. Make yourselves like strangers; of what sort are they in the estimation of your city? Why are you troubled when you oust yourselves of your own accord and depart from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own accord, readying it for those who desire to dwell in it? O you exiles and fugitives! Woe to you, because you will be caught! Or perhaps you imagine that the Father is a lover of humanity? Or that he is persuaded by prayers? Or that he is gracious to one on behalf of another? Or that he bears with one who seeks? For he knows the desire and also that which the flesh needs. Because it is not the flesh which yearns for the soul. For without the soul the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the Spirit. But if the soul is saved when it is without evil, and if the spirit also is saved, then the body becomes sinless. For it is the spirit which animates the soul, but it is the body which kills it - that is, it is the soul which kills itself.

The Apocryphon of James

Heracleon: Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John Fragment 40

Fragment 40, on John 4:46-53 (In John 4:46, “So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose child was ill.) The official was the Craftsman, for he himself ruled like a king over those under him. Because his domain is small and transitory, he was called an “official,” like a petty princeling who is set over a small kingdom by the universal king. The “child” “in Capernaun” is one who is in the lower part of the Middle (i.e. of animate substance), which lies near the sea, that is, which is linked with matter. The child’s proper person was sick, that is, in a condition not in accordance with the child’s proper nature, in ignorance and sins. (In John 4:47, “When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his child , for it was at the point of death.”) The words “from Judea to Galilee” mean ‘from the Judea above.’. . . By the words “it was at the point of death,” the teaching of those who claim that the soul is immortal is refuted. In agreement with this is the statement that “the body and soul are destoyed in Hell.” (Matthew 10:28) The soul is not immortal, but is possessed only of a disposition towards salvation, for it is the perishable which puts on imperishability and the mortal which puts on immortality when “its death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54) Heracleon: Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John

14 The demons are said to be incorporeal, not because they have no bodies (for they have even shape and are, therefore, capable of feeling punishment), but they are said to be incorporeal because, in comparison with the spiritual bodies which are saved, they are a shade. And the angels are bodies; at any rate they are seen. Why even the soul is a body, for the Apostle says, “It is sown a body of soul, it is raised a body of spirit.” And how can the souls which are being punished be sensible of it, if they are not bodies? Certainly he says, “Fear him who, after death, is able to cast soul and body into hell.” Now that which is visible is not purged by fire, but is dissolved into dust. But, from the story of Lazarus and Dives, the soul is directly shown by its possession of bodily limbs to be a body.

The Scriptures give spirit, soul, and body as constituting all of man.

12 For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul [ ψυχή psykhḗ] and spirit [ πνεῦμα pneuma], and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart (Hebrews 4). Compare Php 1:27; 1Th 5:23.

The “spirit” (Heb., ruach; Gr., pneuma) should not be confused with the “soul” (Heb., nephesh; Gr., psykhe´), for they refer to different things.

Paul the Apostle used ψυχή (psychē) and πνεῦμα (pneuma) specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of נפש (nephesh) and רוח ruah (spirit)

So the soul and the spirit are two different things, and the difference between them is explained by the bible.

7 And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground [he made the body] and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life [he put a spirit in the body], and the man came to be a living soul [body + spirit = living soul] (Genesis 2).


1 Corinthians 15:44  It is sown a body of the soul, it is raised a body of the spirit; if there is a body of the soul, there is also of the spirit:--
45  Thus, also, it is written--The first man, Adam, became, a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46  Howbeit, not first, is the body of the spirit, but that, of the soul,--afterwards, that of the spirit. (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)

1 Corinthians 15:53  For this corruptible must needs clothe itself with incorruptibility, and this mortal, clothe itself, with immortality.

54  But, whensoever, this mortal, shall clothe itself with immortality, then, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written--Death hath been swallowed up, victoriously; (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)

Definition: A Body is a physical or spiritual vessel. In other words a human or angelic body.

Definition: A Soul is a human or angelic body.

Definition: A Dead Soul is a dead body

Definition: A Spirit is a character, a personality. It is 'you'.

Human Person = Spirit + Physical Body = Lining Soul (human)
Corpse = Physical Body with no Spirit = Dead Soul (human)
Angelic Person = Spirit + Angelic Body = Soul (angelic)
Second Dead angel = Spirit with Shared angelic Body = Spirit with no individual Soul (angelic).

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”