A Study of Bythos
**Bythos**
> *“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 Tripartite Tractate*
The term **Bythos** (Greek: Βυθός) signifies “the Deep” or “Depth.” In Gnostic theology, Bythos refers to the primal Source—the hidden, unfathomable origin of all existence. He is not simply a being among beings but the silent root of all that is, from whom the Aeons proceed and in whom they are contained. The name itself echoes the profound mystery that surrounds Him, pointing to the infinite depths of knowledge, wisdom, and love which mortals may glimpse but never fully comprehend.
The **Tripartite Tractate**, one of the central texts in the Valentinian corpus, speaks to the unknowable nature of this depth:
> *“While they (the members of the church) were in the Father's thought, that is, in the hidden depth, the depth knew them, but they were unable to know the depth in which they were; nor was it possible for them to know themselves, nor for them to know anything else.”*
> — *The Tripartite Tractate*
Bythos is not simply unknown; He is **unknowable** by natural means. Yet, this unknowability is not hostility. It is mystery. It is the sheer vastness of what the Deity is. The early followers of Christ, as described in this text, were within the Father’s thought—within the Depth itself—before they even had knowledge of themselves. Their existence was known to Him before they could speak or think or act. Such is the immensity and intimacy of Bythos.
### Bythos in Scripture
The Greek word **βυθός (bythos)**, translated as “depth,” shares linguistic roots with **βάθος (bathos)**—a word frequently used in the New Testament to refer to the inscrutable nature of the Deity's wisdom and purpose.
In **Romans 11:33**, Paul exclaims:
> *“O the depth (βάθος) of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”*
Here, the depth is not the abyss of despair but the bottomless richness of divine wisdom and knowledge. It is Bythos who holds these unfathomable riches. His judgments are “past finding out,” not because they are irrational, but because they operate on a scale and from a perspective far beyond human limitation.
The same word appears again in **Romans 8:39**:
> *“Nor height, nor depth (βάθος), nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”*
Here, "depth" contrasts with "height"—the full spectrum of possible extremes. The implication is that no matter how far one descends—into suffering, loss, confusion, or failure—there is nothing that can separate the faithful from the love of the Deity in Christ. Bythos is not only the hidden source, but also the loving sustainer of all those who are in Him.
The **Hebrew** equivalent of Bythos is **Tehom (תְּהוֹם)**—used in Genesis 1:2 to describe the primordial deep over which the Spirit of the Deity moved:
> *“And darkness was upon the face of the deep (Tehom). And the Spirit of Elohim moved upon the face of the waters.”*
Thus, even in the beginning, the concept of the Deep, or Bythos, was present. He is not a later invention, but the enduring mystery that has accompanied revelation from the first page of Scripture.
### The Deep Things of God
In **1 Corinthians 2:10**, Paul again invokes this idea:
> *“But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things (βάθος) of God.”*
The “deep things” of the Deity are not arcane doctrines or secrets reserved for a few; rather, they are realities that cannot be accessed except by the Spirit. This depth is not intellectual complexity alone—it is existential depth, reality at its most foundational level.
Likewise, **Ephesians 3:18-19** offers a profound prayer:
> *“May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”*
Here, the depth (βάθος) is part of the full measure of divine love—a love that surpasses knowledge, yet may be *known* experientially. This paradox is central to Bythos: He is unknowable, yet makes Himself known; He is invisible, yet fills all things; He is immeasurable, yet brings fullness.
### Bythos and the Natural World
The Scriptures affirm that the natural world reflects Bythos. As **Psalm 92:5** declares:
> *“O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.”*
Similarly, **Psalm 36:6** says:
> *“Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep.”*
This echoes the observation from **Job 38**, where the Deity confronts Job with questions about creation to remind him that divine wisdom is beyond human comprehension. And yet, that wisdom is not distant; it is active, shaping the world, redeeming it, guiding it.
The depth of Bythos is also moral and relational. The Deity calls for His children to mirror that depth—not in complexity for its own sake, but in heartfelt wisdom, compassion, and integrity:
> *“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked... Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”*
> — *Deuteronomy 10:16,19*
This depth is not philosophical aloofness. It is profound compassion and unfathomable grace. The deep love of Christ, as mentioned in Ephesians, is a reflection of the nature of Bythos.
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**Conclusion**
Bythos is the unknowable Depth—the origin and destiny of all. He transcends all measure, and yet He reveals Himself in Christ, in wisdom, in love, in the Spirit, and in the beauty of creation. As Paul writes, His ways are past finding out, yet He is not far from every one of us. As the Tripartite Tractate affirms, we were in His thought before we even knew ourselves. And though He is beyond all height and depth, His love reaches us wherever we are.
> *“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”*
> — *Romans 11:33*
**Bythos: The Deep Beyond the Pleroma**
*(Part II)*
The word *depth* in the Scriptures functions as a symbol for that which lies beyond comprehension—something that cannot be grasped by intellect, expressed by words, or traced to its origin. Just as the abyss of the sea has no visible foundation, so too the deep (*bathos*, *bythos*) represents something that exceeds the capacity of mortal knowledge. As it is written, “Thy judgments are a great deep” (Psalm 36:6), and again, “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). These verses anchor the mystery of the Divine in the metaphor of unfathomable waters—of vastness, obscurity, and limitless substance.
This symbol of the *deep* recurs in the Genesis creation account:
> “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (Genesis 1:7).
> “Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens” (Psalm 148:4).
Here, the waters above the heavens are not mere clouds or atmospheric vapors, but a symbolic representation of the invisible origin—the primal *deep* that precedes all formation. The physical universe is shaped by division and boundaries, but the deep remains undivided, untouched, and eternal.
In the Psalms, this primordial element is directly associated with the Deity:
> “O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep” (Psalm 92:5).
> “These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep” (Psalm 107:24).
Bythos, the depth, thus becomes not only the place of mystery but the very nature of the Divine. It is not a place but a condition—a reality beyond all visible boundaries. The Deity’s thoughts, judgments, and works issue from this abyssal source. It is no wonder, then, that when speaking of the Spirit, the New Testament adopts water imagery.
In John 7:37–39, Jesus declares:
> “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit.”
And again in Isaiah 44:3:
> “For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring.”
The Spirit is likened to water—not merely to express its nourishing or cleansing power, but to convey its origin from the deep. Just as rivers arise from hidden springs, so too the Spirit flows from Bythos. This is affirmed in 1 Corinthians 12:13:
> “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
This imagery finds parallel in the writings of the prophets:
> “They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
> “All that forsake thee shall be ashamed… because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 17:13).
The Deity is not merely the Creator, but the *Fountain*—the wellspring of Being itself. This fountain, this *Bythos*, is beyond the Pleroma. For the word *Pleroma* (Greek: πλήρωμα) means *fullness*—the realm of Aeons, the heaven of heavens. The Pleroma is the structured, emanated realm of divine powers. It is full, but not infinite. It is complete, but not ultimate. That which emanates the Pleroma is *Bythos*—the unformed, unbegotten source.
> “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 Tripartite Tractate).
In this way, the Gnostic writings reaffirm what the Prophets and Apostles also perceived: that there is a hidden depth beyond even the highest heavens. This depth is not nothingness, but fullness before fullness—a reality so vast that even the Pleroma proceeds from it. It is not an absence, but an overflowing source.
Paul hints at this in Ephesians 3:18–19:
> “…that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge…”
The love of the Christ flows from this abyss—from the fountain of living waters. It is as if the Deity, in His unknowable essence, is a sea of infinite depth. And from this sea, the Aeons were drawn forth. The Pleroma is the structured form of this love, but its origin is Bythos.
The Psalmist declares:
> “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God” (Psalm 46:4).
> This river flows from the throne in Revelation 22:1 and is echoed again in verse 17:
> “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
This river is the Spirit. The Spirit is the water. The water is from Bythos.
Thus, Bythos is not to be thought of as a place, but as the abyssal identity of the Deity—*the One who is, who was, and who is to come*—the source of Spirit, of Pleroma, of all that is formed, known, and living.
In conclusion, the ancient Scriptures, the prophets, the Psalms, the apostles, and the Gnostic texts all speak in harmony of this unfathomable reality. The *deep things of God* are not locked away, but revealed to those who, by faith, receive the Spirit:
> “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).
**Bythos: The Undivided Fountain of Power**
*(Part III)*
The emanations of the divine begin not in time but in principle, not from chaos but from Bythos—the Undivided, Eternal Source. The *Tripartite Tractate* speaks of the Aeons as "roots and springs and fathers," proceeding from Him who is called the *Father*, who is the hidden Deep. This Father, or Bythos, is not diminished by what flows from Him. Just as a spring remains full though it pours forth rivers, so the Deity remains whole, though from Him emerge innumerable Spirit-forms.
> “They were forever in thought, for the Father was like a thought and a place for them…”
> —*Tripartite Tractate*
Here, the Father is the Thought—the underlying rationality—and also the *Place*, that is, the context, condition, and environment of all Aeonic existence. This language is not metaphorical; it reflects an understanding that all being is contained *in* the Deity, who is both Fountain and Field, Springhead and Container. Those who dwell in His thought—who are “within” Him—are unable to know Him as He knows them. For while the Aeons are real and tangible, they are dependent; and the Deep is their foundation.
This relationship is described further:
> “He brought forth everything, like a little child, like a drop from a spring… in need of gaining nourishment and growth and faultlessness.”
The Aeons, therefore, though divine, are not unoriginated. They are begotten. They are not themselves fountains, but streams. They partake of divine nature because they emerge from it. They are not equal to the source, but owe their growth, maturation, and perfection to it. This origin does not degrade their status, but affirms their reality—they are not illusions or metaphors, but substantial beings.
Scripture echoes this understanding:
> “Out of Him are all things.”
> —1 Corinthians 8:6
This verse does not mean "from nothing," but *ex autou*—out of Him. The Deity did not make the cosmos from non-being; He poured it forth as water from a fountain. This is affirmed in Psalm 36:9:
> “For with Thee is the fountain of life.”
The Deity is not an impersonal force, but a fountain of Light, Life, and Power. As 1 John 1:5 states:
> “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
This Light is not metaphorical but essential—tangible, real, substantial. And this Light is Spirit. As Jesus says:
> “God is Spirit” (John 4:24).
> And Paul affirms:
> “Spirit is the Theos” (pneuma ho Theos esti).
So Spirit is not one part of the Deity—it is the Deity. Yet this Spirit is not abstract. It is the *Father-Spirit*—the Yahweh-Spirit Power who spoke to Moses, the One self-existent and supreme. This is what Moses and the prophets declared: not a trinity of persons, nor an abstraction of essence, but a singular Yahweh, the One who *will be* (ehyeh asher ehyeh), who alone is the Springhead of all that exists.
This Bythos—the Springhead—remains a unit, *undivided and indivisible*. He is not split into fractions or distinct persons. Rather, from this one Deity, many streams emerge, called *Elohim*—powers or mighty ones—who are described in the Scriptures and in the teachings of the apostles. These Elohim are Spirit-beings, because they are "born of Spirit" (John 3:6). They are “sons of the Deity,” not by adoption only, but by substance, having been formed from the very substance of Spirit, as spirit-forms modeled after His own hypostasis.
This aligns with Hebrews 1:3, where the Son is said to be:
> “The Character of His Hypostasis” —
> that is, the exact representation of His underlying substance.
Though these Elohim are created, the Spirit from which they are formed is uncreated. They are divine not in being unoriginated, but in partaking of the divine nature. They do not possess inherent immortality, but receive immortality as something put on (cf. 1 Cor. 15:53). They are forms with a beginning, but their substance is eternal. Their glory is real, but derivative.
Thus, the Aeons—“the Aeons of the Aeons”—are emanations, not equals. They were *in* the Father’s thought before they were manifested. The Deep knew them before they knew themselves. Their existence affirms both their distinction and their dependence.
This deep structure is mirrored in the New Testament teaching of the Spirit as the life-giver:
> “It is the Spirit that quickeneth” (John 6:63).
> And yet again:
> “The Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them” (John 5:21).
The Spirit and the Father are not two; they are one. The Father *is* the Spirit, when Spirit is understood in the highest sense—as Bythos, the original, unbegotten, unmeasured Fountain. This explains why Jesus could say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). For the Son veiled the substance of the Father in flesh, just as the Tabernacle veiled the Shekinah.
Even veiled, the Father-Spirit remains substantial. He is not abstract thought, but corporeal reality—Spirit that is tangible, radiant, and living. He is not merely force, but form; not merely being, but cause and pattern.
This understanding preserves the unity of the Deity, affirms the real generation of the Aeons, and establishes the foundation for divine relationality: the Aeons are children of the Father not by figure of speech, but by spiritual generation. They are rooted in the Deep, springing up like rivers from the eternal Fountain.
Therefore, when we speak of Bythos, we speak not of void, nor of absence, nor of an unknowable abstraction. We speak of the One who is, and was, and is to come—the Deity who is Spirit, who is Light, who is Power—the One from whom all things flow, and to whom all things return.
First a reading from some Gnostic text
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 Tripartite Tractate)
The Greek word Bythos and bathos is used in the bible to describe the unfathomable ways, and nature of the Deity
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
1037. βυθός
The Deep or Depth Bythos
1037. βυθός buthos boo-thos’; a variation of 899; depth, i.e. (by implication) the sea: — deep.
1037. βυθός from 899 βάθος bathos bath’-os
899 βάθος from the same as 901; n n; TDNT-1:517,89; {See TDNT 118 }
AV-depth 5, deep 1, deep + 2596 1, deepness 1, deep thing 1; 9
1) depth, height
1a) of "the deep" sea
1b) metaph.
1b1) deep, extreme, poverty
1b2) of the deep things of God
899. βάθος bathos bath’-os; from the same as 901; profundity, i.e. (by implication) extent; (figuratively) mystery: — deep(-ness, things), depth.
1. the bottom.
2. the depth of the sea, the deep sea: 2 Corinthians 11:25.†
Strong #: 4688 ‑ מְצוּלָה ((1,2) mets‑o‑law', (3,4) mets‑oo‑law'); 4688 ‑ מְצוּלָה ((1,2) mets‑o‑law', (3,4) mets‑oo‑law');
The True Hebrew word corresponding to Bythos is Tehom (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם)
The True Hebrew word corresponding to Bythos is Tehom (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם)
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth <899>, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"Nor depth" — Whilst pride may lift us up, destroying our humility before God and dependence upon Him, so a feeling of humiliating depression, which may result from failure or defeat, can have a similarly destructive effect, if permitted to influence us. We may feel that God has failed us, that He does not care for us. We may question the goodness οϊ God, or experience degrading ridicule or rejection by our fellows. Faith and hope provide the antidote to either "height" or "depth". Even the dreadful affliction which befell the faithful Job was not able to "separate him from the love of God" (cp. Job 19:25)
Rom 11:33 O the depth <899> of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
God's judgments are a "great deep" (Psa 36:6). His "riches" refer to His abounding grace (Rom 9:23; 10:12). Cp also Eph 3:18,19: "...How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Yahweh's children must manifest the same characteristic, revealing a depth of wisdom of such matters lodged in the heart (Deut. 10:16-19; Joel 2:12-13), not judging the issues of life through the "face" of the flesh
These are seen by a very careful examination of the divine excellence. The word "depth" (Gr. bathos signifies that which is profound; mysterious) indicates that which is vast and incomprehensible (see Psa. 36:6; ICor. 2:20). Mortal man cannot exhaust the greatness of the Almighty, as Job was reminded: ch. 38. The physical evidence of this majesty is seen as much in the vast expanse of the universe, as in the exquisite beauty of the tiniest flower petal.
1Cor 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things <899> of God.
Psa 92:5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth <899>, and height;
Eph 3:18 in order that YOU may be thoroughly able to grasp mentally with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge, that YOU may be filled with all the fullness that God gives.
The word depth is applied in the Scriptures to anything vast and incomprehensible. As the abyss or the ocean is unfathomable, so the word comes to denote that which words cannot express, or that which we cannot comprehend. #Ps 36:6, “Thy judgments are a great deep.” #1Co 2:10, “The Spirit searcheth — the deep things of God.”
The deep or depth is the waters above the Heavens
Psa 148:4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
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:
The deep or depth is also used to describe the deity
Psa 92:5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
The word Pleroma means "fullness". It refers to all existence beyond visible universe. The Parent, the the Mother-Father, the Uncreated Eternal Spirit existed prior to the creation or emanation of the Pleroma. Therefore Bythos or the Uncreated Eternal Spirit is beyond the Pleroma. In other words the Pleroma is the world of the Aeons, the heaven of heavens or spiritual universe. Bythos is the spiritual source of everything that emanates the pleroma.
The Pleroma is both the abode of God and the essential nature of the True Ultimate God.
Psa 92:5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
The Holy Spirit Described As Water
John 7:37-39
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Isaiah 44:3
'For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;
John 4:14
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
The Pleroma is both the abode of God and the essential nature of the True Ultimate God.
Jer 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jer 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
All those who came forth from him <who> are the aeons of the aeons, being emanations and offspring of <his> procreative nature, they too, in their procreative nature, have <given> glory to the Father, as he was the cause of their establishment. This is what we said previously, namely that he creates the aeons as roots and springs and fathers, and that he is the one to whom they give glory. (The Tripartite Tractate)
They were forever in thought, for the Father was like a thought and a place for them. When their generations had been established, the one who is completely in control wished to lay hold of and to bring forth that which was deficient in the [...] and he brought forth those [...] him. But since he is as he is, he is a spring, which is not diminished by the water which abundantly flows from it. While they were in the Father's thought, that is, in the hidden depth, the depth knew them, but they were unable to know the depth in which they were; nor was it possible for them to know themselves, nor for them to know anything else. (The Tripartite Tractate)
The Father brought forth everything, like a little child, like a drop from a spring, like a blossom from a vine, like a flower, like a <planting> [...], in need of gaining nourishment and growth and faultlessness. (The Tripartite Tractate)
The Deity who is Light, and with whom is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), and who is the great Fountain of life (Psa. 39:9), out of whom are all things (1 Cor. 8:6). "From everlasting to everlasting Thou art EL" (Psa. 90:2). El, as it is most frequently transliterated, is the Hebrew word that stands for God in this place. It denotes Power. Power, light, and life, inherent and underived, are the attributes of the Father who is Spirit (John 4:24);
The source or fountain of power in the universe is one. It is a unit. Therefore, everything which exists is ex autou out of (emanation) Him. Hence the Creator did not "make all things out of nothing."
The Supreme Power, or EL, is "Bythos the Springhead or source, fountain, or sole spring of Power. Moses and the prophets do not teach that "there are three persons, three essences, three somethings, or three anythings, in the One Deity; and that these three distinct units, or unities, constitute only one unit or one Unity -- and that that Tri-Unity is the God of Israel." They do not teach this.
By Bythos is meant the Springhead the source, or fountain of Deity -- the Divine Nature in its original pre-existence before every created thing. He teaches that this Springhead was a Unit --a Undivided Unit, undivided into thirds, or fractions.
Moses and the prophets teach "One" self-existent, supreme fountain of Power, EL who is Spirit, and self-named I SHALL BE, or Yahweh: that is ONE YAHWEH-SPIRIT POWER is "God" in the highest sense, and constitutes the "Bythos," or FATHER IN HEAVEN; and He is the Springhead of many streams, or rivers of spirit, which assume "organic forms," according to the will of the Yahweh-Spirit Power, and that when formed after the model, archetype, or the pattern, presented in HIS OWN HYPOSTASIS, or Substance, they become SPIRIT-ELOHIM, or sons of God; and are Spirit, because "born of the Spirit" -- Emanations of the formative Spirit being out of him. The Spirit-Elohim was also "God"; nevertheless they are created. They are formed and made out of and by that which is uncreated. They are Spirit-Forms, the substance of which (spirit) is eternal; while the forms are from a beginning. Each one is a God in the sense of partaking of THE DIVINE NATURE, and being therefore a Son of God.
the Scripture declares that pneuma ho Theos esti literally, Spirit is the Theos. I say simply theos, because we shall yet have to ascertain the New Testament sense of Theos. "Spirit," then, is the Theos commonly called God. But more than this, this Spirit is the Father; that is, the One ex autou, out of (emanation) whom are all things. This appears from what is affirmed of "Spirit" and of "Father." Jesus says in John 5:21: "The Father raises up the dead and quickeneth," or makes the grave-emergent dead incorruptibly living: and in chapt. 6:63, he says: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth," or makes alive. The Father and the Spirit are, therefore, the same; nevertheless, the word "spirit" is often used in other senses. It is the "Father-Spirit" that Paul refers to in 1 Tim. 6:16, whom no man hath seen in His unveiled splendour. Veiled in flesh, "the Vail o[ the Covering" (Exodus 35:12): he that discerneth him who spoke to Philip, "saw the Father" (John 14:9; 12:45). But, veiled or unveiled, the Father-Spirit is substantial. Speaking of the Unveiled Father-Spirit, Paul says in Heb. 1:2, 3, that the Son is the Character of his Hypostasis, rendered, in the common version, "express image of his person."
Proverbs 8:22 ¶ Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths Bythos, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains (Pleroma) abounding with water (Aeons). (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.)”
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens (Pleroma), I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth (Bythos):
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex
This is the ennead which came from the Father of those without beginning, who alone is Father and Mother unto himself, whose pleroma surrounds the twelve deeps -
1. The first deep is the all-wise from which all sources have come.
2. The second deep is the all-wise from which all the wise have come.
3. The third deep is the all-mystery from which, or out of which, all mysteries have come.
4. The fourth deep moreover is the all-gnosis out of which all gnoses have come.
5. The fifth deep is the all-chaste from which everything chaste has come.
6. The sixth deep is silence. In this is every silence.
7. The seventh deep is the insubstantial door from which all substances has come forth.
8. The eight deep is the forefather from whom, or out of whom, have come into existence all forefathers.
9. The ninth deep moreover is an all-father and a self-farther, that is, every fatherhood is in him and he alone is father to them.
10. The tenth deep is the all-powerful from which has come every power.
11. The eleventh deep moreover is that in which is the first invisible one, from which all invisible ones have come.
12. The Twelfth deep moreover is the truth from which has come all truth.
http://www.gnosis.org/library/untitl.htm
From the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex we can see that the deep has a number of different levels or it is structured as a hierarchy
The Supreme Power, or EL, is "Bythos the Springhead or source, fountain, or sole spring of Power. Moses and the prophets do not teach that "there are three persons, three essences, three somethings, or three anythings, in the One Deity; and that these three distinct units, or unities, constitute only one unit or one Unity -- and that that Tri-Unity is the God of Israel." They do not teach this.
By Bythos is meant the Springhead the source, or fountain of Deity -- the Divine Nature in its original pre-existence before every created thing. He teaches that this Springhead was a Unit --a Undivided Unit, undivided into thirds, or fractions.
Moses and the prophets teach "One" self-existent, supreme fountain of Power, EL who is Spirit, and self-named I SHALL BE, or Yahweh: that is ONE YAHWEH-SPIRIT POWER is "God" in the highest sense, and constitutes the "Bythos," or FATHER IN HEAVEN; and He is the Springhead of many streams, or rivers of spirit, which assume "organic forms," according to the will of the Yahweh-Spirit Power, and that when formed after the model, archetype, or the pattern, presented in HIS OWN HYPOSTASIS, or Substance, they become SPIRIT-ELOHIM, or sons of God; and are Spirit, because "born of the Spirit" -- Emanations of the formative Spirit being out of him. The Spirit-Elohim was also "God"; nevertheless they are created. They are formed and made out of and by that which is uncreated. They are Spirit-Forms, the substance of which (spirit) is eternal; while the forms are from a beginning. Each one is a God in the sense of partaking of THE DIVINE NATURE, and being therefore a Son of God.
Proverbs 8:22 ¶ Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths Bythos, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains (Pleroma) abounding with water (Aeons). (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.)”
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens (Pleroma), I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth (Bythos):
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex
This is the ennead which came from the Father of those without beginning, who alone is Father and Mother unto himself, whose pleroma surrounds the twelve deeps -
1. The first deep is the all-wise from which all sources have come.
2. The second deep is the all-wise from which all the wise have come.
3. The third deep is the all-mystery from which, or out of which, all mysteries have come.
4. The fourth deep moreover is the all-gnosis out of which all gnoses have come.
5. The fifth deep is the all-chaste from which everything chaste has come.
6. The sixth deep is silence. In this is every silence.
7. The seventh deep is the insubstantial door from which all substances has come forth.
8. The eight deep is the forefather from whom, or out of whom, have come into existence all forefathers.
9. The ninth deep moreover is an all-father and a self-farther, that is, every fatherhood is in him and he alone is father to them.
10. The tenth deep is the all-powerful from which has come every power.
11. The eleventh deep moreover is that in which is the first invisible one, from which all invisible ones have come.
12. The Twelfth deep moreover is the truth from which has come all truth.
http://www.gnosis.org/library/untitl.htm
From the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex we can see that the deep has a number of different levels or it is structured as a hierarchy
