Gnostic Teaching On the Soul The Nag Hammadi Library

Christian Gnostic teaching of the Soul The Nag Hammadi Library

What is the Soul?

In the Bible there are two words for Soul the Hebrew term נפש‎ nefesh and the Greek word ψυχή, psuché both words mean to breath

The Soul refers to the breathing frame (respiratory system) the seat of which is in the blood Lev 17:11

Genesis 9:4 Only flesh with its soul—its blood—YOU must not eat

Lev 17:11 For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I myself have put it upon the altar for YOU to make atonement for YOUR souls, because it is the blood that makes atonement by the soul [in it]

The statement of this verse is literally true, for the bloodstream is the bearer of life throughout the body: a teaching of the Bible which science has confirmed.
Blood was prohibited as an article of diet because it represented the life of the body which should be given up to God exclusively, as it is by self-sacrifice.

Both Humans and Animals are souls

Genesis 2:7 And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul

Genesis 1:24 And God went on to say: “Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.” And it came to be so.

Genesis 1:30 And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so

Genesis 2:19 Now Jehovah God was forming from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call it, each living soul, that was its name

All living creatures are living souls both "Man and beasts... they have all ONE spirit (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21)

Young's Literal Translation

For an event is to the sons of man, and an event is to the beasts, even one event is to them; as the death of this, so is the death of that; and one spirit is to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole is vanity.

The Bible also speaks about dead souls

“Soul” in the New Testament

The word translated “Soul” in the NT is the Greek word “Psuche”, which occurs 106 times and is translated variously “Soul” (58 times), “life” 40 times, mind 3 times.

The word is used 45 times in contexts where it is evident that it is subject to death. For example:

James 5:20 “.. he which converteth a sinner … saveth a soul from death”

Acts 3:23 “.. every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed..”

1cor 15:44 It is sown a body of the soul (literally in Greek - a soulical body) , 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)

The body of the soul is the natural body

A soul is a physical body.

Genesis 2:7 And Yahweh Elohim 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).

Spirit is a character, a personality. It is 'you'.

The soul is therefore the life carrying vehicle. Now the life, your life, you, is the spirit. We are spirits, our characters are spirits.

The soul (body) is the vehicle for the spirit.

The spirit is your character, it is 'you'. Things get confusing when one realises that spirit also represents your character as well as being the spirit of the Deity. 

A living human is a spirit within a physical body

Human Person = Spirit + Physical Body = Soul (human)
Corpse = Physical Body with no Spirit = Dead Soul (human)

psuchikos Psychical psychic – "soulful", Matter-dwelling spirits

The soul belongs to the “material” realm and is part of the flesh. Leviticus 17:11

The body is the whole being. In death, there is no separation of body and soul. The soul is as mortal as the body.

The Soul in Early Church teaching

Then I answered, "I am not so miserable a fellow, Trypho, as to say one thing and think another. I admitted to you formerly, that I and many others are of this opinion, and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise. Moreover, I pointed out to you that some who are called Christians, but are godless, impious heretics, teach doctrines that are in every way blasphemous, atheistical, and foolish. But that you may know that I do not say this before you alone, I shall draw up a statement, so far as I can, of all the arguments which have passed between us; in which I shall record myself as admitting the very same things which I admit to you. For I choose to follow not men or men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines [delivered] by Him. For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this [truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he would rightly consider it, would not admit that the Sadducees, or similar sects of Genist , Meristae,Gelilaeans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews (do not hear me impatiently when I tell you what I think), but are[only] called Jews and children of Abraham, worshipping God with the lips, as God Himself declared, but the heart was far from Him. But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare. (Justin Martyr: Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 80)

The “traditional view” today, the view most common among Conservative and Protestant Christians, is not in fact the view held by most of the Fathers of the Church.

The concept of the immortality of the soul comes from Greek philosophy it is not an idea found in Jewish-Christian scriptures known as the Holy Bible

Christian Gnostic understanding of the soul

According to April D. DeConick in her book The Gnostic New Age "most Gnostics thought that the psyche, or soul, was mortal." page 21

According to most Gnostics, the soul is not immortal, as Plato thought. Rather, it is mortal, just like the physical body, and will not endure. (The Gnostic New Age P. 212 April D. DeConick

The Soul is Female

Wise men of old gave the soul a feminine name. Indeed she is female in her nature as well. She even has her womb. (The Exegesis on the Soul)

The text from the Nag Hammadi Library The Exegesis on the Soul says "Wise men of old gave the soul a feminine name."

This is true because the word soul is a Feminine Noun, in Hebrew, Greek and Coptic.

Next the text says "Indeed she is female in her nature as well. She even has her womb."

If we compare this with the Letter of James from the Bible we can see that nothing good is born of the soul:

James 3:15 This wisdom is not one, from above, coming down, but is earthly, born of the soul, demoniacal! (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)

Philo: Now the female offspring of the soul are wickedness and passion, by which we are made effeminate in every one of our pursuits; but a healthy state of the passions and virtue is male, by which we are excited and invigorated.

The Psychic Aeon 

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, The Nag Hammadi Library)

The soul-endowed aeon is the human race after the flood. This aeon will remain in place until the final consummation

The defilement of the soul is by begetting negative emotions see James 3:15 as quoted above and Psalm 7:14

Psalm 7:14, ESV: Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies

The Origin of the Soul

Do the Gnostic texts speak about the the origin of the soul?

Yes the gospel of Philip and the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus describe the creation of the soul:

50 “Taking dust from the earth”: not of the land but a portion of matter but of varied constitution and colour, he fashioned a soul, earthly and material, irrational and consubstantial with that of the beasts. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

The soul of Adam came into being by means of a breath, the partner of his soul is the spirit, and the spirit given to him is his mother. (Gospel of Philip).

Is there a distinction between soul and spirit?

Yes like the Bible the Gnostic texts or apocryphal gospels make a distinction between soul and spirit

Then Peter answered, “Look, three times you have told us, ‘Be filled,’ but we are filled.”
The savior answered and said, “For this reason I have told you, ‘Be filled,’ that you may not lack. Those who lack will not be saved. To be filled is good and to lack is bad. Yet since it is also good for you to lack but bad for you to be filled, whoever is filled also lacks. One who lacks is not filled in the way another who lacks is filled, but whoever is filled is brought to an appropriate end. So you should lack when you can fill yourselves and be filled when you lack, that you may be able to fill yourselves more. Be filled with spirit but lack in reason, for reason is of the soul. It is soul.” (The Apocryphon of James)

The Soul is the body

According to the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus found in the works of Clement of Alexandria, the "soul is a body" (Extract 14) it was created from "dust from the earth" with which "he fashioned a soul, earthly and material" (Extract 50) Therefore according to Valentinian Christians he soul is a natural or physical body:

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." (1cor 15:44) 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. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

Here the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus is quoting from 1 Corinthians 15:44 this is to show the soul is a body notice it says "is a body" not "has a body"

Also the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus shows that the soul can be destroyed in Gehenna

The Psychic One

Psychic from the Greek psuchikos: natural, of the soul or mind
Original Word: ψυχικός, ή, όν
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: psuchikos
Phonetic Spelling: (psoo-khee-kos')
Definition: natural, of the soul or mind
Usage: animal, natural, sensuous.

And the natural man doth not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for to him they are foolishness, and he is not able to know them, because spiritually they are discerned; (1 Corinthians 2:14,)

Natural.--That is, literally, that part of our nature which we call "mind,"

People who have not been initiated are called by Paul “psychics,” people who have only their own psyches or souls but not yet God’s Spirit. Because God’s Spirit has not united with their own spirits, these people are unable to receive gnosis (1 Corinthians 2:14, 15:34).

In the Sethian book the Apocryphon of John, we learn that the soul parts are given by each of the planetary rulers, including the soul’s bone, sinew, flesh, marrow, blood, skin, and hair. Each of these soul parts is aligned with a psychic capacity [Mind], such as goodness, intention, piety, tyranny, domination, envy, or wisdom (Apocryphon of John, Nag Hammadi codices [NHC] II.1 11.23–12.25, 15.14–24; compare with Apocryphon of John in Berlin Codex 2 48.11–50.2). (The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick)

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)

Theodotus understood the incarnation to be a kind of ensoulment of God’s mind in matter, when the Logos descended into the flesh at Jesus’ birth and became Jesus’ psyche or soul. So Theodotus understood that Jesus came into being not through the water baptism only, but through the blood of birth too (1 John 5:6;)

Remember the soul of the flesh is in the blood Levit 17:11

The Soul is Temporary

Some Gnostic texts text speak about the death of the soul

- For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh needs! - (Or do you think) that it is not this (flesh) that desires 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 the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself. (The Apocryphon of James)

Here the soul is equivalent in value or interdependent with the flesh and the body the soul needs to be saved from death as the text says “it is it (the soul) which kills itself”

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. For every soul of these ages has death assigned to it in our view, because it is always a slave, since it is created for its desires and their eternal destruction, in which they are and from which they are. They love the creatures of the matter which came forth with them.`

In this text there are mortal souls of this age and immortal souls in the age to come

Apoc of Adam

`But we have done every deed of the powers senselessly. We have boasted in the transgression of all our works. We have cried against the God of truth because all his works [...] is eternal. These are against our spirits. For now we have known that our souls will die the death.`

Here the soul needs to be redeem from death if the soul is immortal how can it die?

Heracleon was a Valentinian Gnostic in his Commentary on the Gospel of John he rejects the doctrine of the immortal soul

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]

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

The true doctrine of immortality.

What is the resurrection? It is the revelation of those who have risen. If you remember reading in the gospel that Elijah appeared and Moses with him, do not suppose that the resurrection is an illusion. It is no illusion. It is truth. It is more proper to say that the world is illusion, rather than the resurrection that is because of our lord the savior, Jesus the Christ.

And I also disagree with others who say that the flesh will not arise. Both views are wrong. You say that the flesh will not arise? Then tell me what will arise, so we may salute you. You say it is the spirit in the flesh, and also the light in the flesh? But what is in the flesh is the word, and what you are talking about is nothing other than flesh. It is necessary to arise in this sort of flesh, since everything exists in it.

The Eighth Day Bible Prophecy 2 Enoch, The Epistle of Barnabas & Elpis Israel

God shows Enoch the age of this world, its existence of seven thousand years, and the eighth thousand is the end, neither years, nor months, nor weeks, nor days

2Enoch 33:1 And I appointed the eighth day also, that the eighth day should be the first-created after my work, that it should revolve in the revolution of the seventh thousand, so that the eighth thousand might be in the beginning of a time not reckoned and unending with neither years nor months nor weeks nor days nor hours like the first day of the week, so also that the eighth day of the week might return continually.

2 And now, Enoch, all that I have told thee, all that thou hast understood, all that thou hast seen of heavenly things, all that thou hast seen on earth, and all that I have written in books by my great wisdom, all these things I have devised and created from the uppermost foundation to the lower and to the end, and there is no counsellor nor inheritor to my creations.

3 I am self-eternal, not made with hands, and without change.

4 My thought is my counsellor, my wisdom and my word are made, and my eyes observe all things how they stand here and tremble with terror.

On the Origin of the World 

After the day of rest, Sophia sent her daughter Zoe, being called Eve, as an instructor, in order that she might make Adam, who had no soul, arise, so that those whom he should engender might become containers of light. When Eve saw her male counterpart prostrate, she had pity upon him, and she said, "Adam! Become alive! Arise upon the earth!" Immediately her word became accomplished fact. For Adam, having arisen, suddenly opened his eyes. When he saw her, he said, "You shall be called 'Mother of the Living'. For it is you who have given me life.

Now the first Adam, (Adam) of Light, is spirit-endowed and appeared on the first day. The second Adam is soul-endowed and appeared on the sixth day, which is called Aphrodite. The third Adam is a creature of the earth, that is, the man of the law, and he appeared on the eighth day [...] the tranquility of poverty, which is called "The Day of the Sun" (Sunday). And the progeny of the earthly Adam became numerous and was completed, and produced within itself every kind of scientific information of the soul-endowed Adam. But all were in ignorance.


The big find in Barnabas is chapter 15, concerning the sabbath, which says...

1 Furthermore it was written concerning the Sabbath in the ten words which he spake on Mount Sinai face to face to Moses. "Sanctify also the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and a pure heart."
2 And in another place he says, "If my sons keep the Sabbath, then will I bestow my mercy upon them."
3 He speaks of the Sabbath at the beginning of the Creation, "And God made in 6x days the works of his hands and on the 7th day he made an end, and rested in it and sanctified it."
4 Notice, children, what is the meaning of "He made an end in 6 days"? He means this: that the Lord will make an end of everything in 6,000 years, for a day with him means a thousand years. And he himself is my witness when he says, "Lo, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years." So then, children, in 6 days, that is in 6 thousand years, everything will be completed.
5 "And he rested on the 7th day." This means, when his Son comes [at the start of that day] he will destroy the time of the wicked one, and will judge the godless, and will change the sun and the moon and the stars, and then he will truly rest on the 7th day [Amen].
6 Furthermore he says, "Thou shalt sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart." If, then, anyone has at present the power to keep holy the day which God made holy, by being pure in heart, we are altogether deceived.
7 See that we shall indeed keep it holy at that time, when we enjoy true rest, when we shall be able to do so because we have been made righteous ourselves and have received the promise, when there is no more sin, but all things have been made new by the Lord  then we shall be able to keep it holy because we ourselves have first been made holy.
8 Furthermore he says to them, "Your new moons and the sabbaths I cannot away with." Do you see what he means? The present sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but that which I have made, in which I will give rest to all things and make the beginning of an eighth day, that is the beginning of another world.

9 Wherefore we also celebrate with gladness the eighth day in which Jesus also rose from the dead, and was made manifest, and ascended into Heaven (Chapter 15)

These Sabbaths will be no longer celebrated on the seventh day. They will be changed from the seventh to the eighth or first day of the week, which are the same. The "dispensation of the fullness of times" (Eph 1:10), popularly styled the Millennium, will be the antitype, or substance, of the Mosaic feast of tabernacles which was "a shadow of things to come." In this type, or pattern, Israel were to rejoice before Yahweh for seven days, beginning "on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when they had gathered the fruit of the land." In relation to the first day of the seven, the law says, "it shall be a sacred assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein." This was what we call Sunday. The regulation then continues, "on the eighth day," also Sunday, "shall be a sacred assembly unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein." Again, "on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath" (Lev 23:34-43).

Thus the Lord's day, the day of His resurrection from His seventh day imprisonment in the tomb, becomes the sabbath day of the future age which shall be hallowed by the priests of Israel, and be observed by all nations as a day of sacred assembly in which they shall rejoice, and do no manner of servile work at all.

This change of the sabbath from the seventh to the eighth, or first day of the week, is the full development and establishment of the observance of the Lord's day by the disciples of Jesus since the times of the apostles.

The Lord's day is the first day of the week, or day after the seventh, and therefore styled the eighth day. It is termed His day, because it is the week-day of His resurrection. Upon this day the disciples of Christ assembled to show forth His death, and to celebrate His resurrection;

The Pleroma as a Place Psalm 89:11

The Pleroma as a Place Psalm 89:11

or

The Concept of the Pleroma Colossians 2:9

The Pleroma is a word used in the Bible it means fullness is a derivative of pleroo and pletho (“to fill, to make full”) 

“Pleroo is an extremely common verb in both NT and LXX. Its simple meaning is “fill”; eg “I am filled with comfort” (2Co 7:4). “The house was filled with the odour of the ointment” (John 12:3).

Pleroma, “fulness”, is associated with this imagery a good deal. “In him (Jesus) dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9). “The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us; and we beheld his glory....full of grace and truth...and of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:14,16; 

The Greek word for "fullness" is pleroma - the same word is also found in Col. 1:19, regarding how all God’s “fullness” dwelt in Jesus. Although the Lord Jesus had human nature, He never sinned; because He was full of the God’s personality and character. To know Jesus was to know God- for He was and is God’s Son, and indeed the perfect replica of Him in human form. 

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness <4138> dwell;

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness <4138> of the Godhead bodily.

John 3:34  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

Jesus being filled with God's spirit or fullness refers to Jesus being filled with God's character and personality, as well as his divine power 

The fullness of the Deity the logos or the anointing spirit also known as the Divine Christ descended (Eph. 4:10) upon the man Jesus at his baptism, and at his crucifixion returned.

In The Nag Hammadi Library there is a text called The Letter of Peter to Philip in this document it has the Biblical understanding that the fullness/pleroma is manifested in Jesus. Jesus himself he says Concerning the fullness, it is I. 

The Letter of Peter to Philip:

“Concerning the fullness, it is I. I was sent down in the body for the seed that had fallen away. And I came down to their mortal model. But they did not recognize me, thinking I was a mortal. I spoke with the one who is mine, and the one who is mine listened to me just as you also who have listened to me today. And I gave him authority to enter into the inheritance of his fatherhood. And I took him . . . filled . . . through his salvation. Since he was deficiency, he became fullness.

The heavenly pleroma is [understood as] the centre of divine life, a region of light "above" our world...  The Christ is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma.

According to this text the logos or anointing spirit is the Fullness which came down at the baptism to fill Jesus with all the fullness of the Deity

The Pleroma of God

The Pleroma of God or the fullness of God refers to his personality, character and divine nature. This divine nature can be described as Aeonian the word Aeon is used to described the divine nature and the place or abode were the Deity dwells see Isaiah 57:15

Isaiah 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Yahweh is residing in eternity or as the Septuagint rendering puts it dwelling (in) the aeon. This shows that aeon is the nature of the Yahweh and his dwelling place 

1tim 6:16  Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person (5287 ὑπόστασις hupostasis), and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The Greek word hypostasis means substance and always refers to physical corporeal nature. 

God is corporeal because he has substance

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness <4138> dwell;

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness <4138> of the Godhead bodily.

God has a substance it is his divine nature and power which is the fullness of his being, he is immortal dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen. 

The Pleroma as a Place 

In the Bible the word Pleroma is used to described the divine nature and substance of God (Col 1:19  Col 2:9) however it also used to describe places and things whatever fills the earth or is contained in it, 1 Corinthians 10:26, 28 (Psalm 23:1 Jeremiah 8:16; Ezekiel 12:19, Psalm 95:11  1 Chronicles 16:32); those things with which the baskets were filled, Mark 6:43 the filling by which a gap is filled up, Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21 fullness = that which fills, entire contents,

If you where to ask someone what is heaven like they would not be able to describe it.  The best way to describe heaven would be to describe it as the fullness of God's glory or the fullness of God's presence. 

This is how the word fullness was used by the Gnostics to describe the invisible heavens a place full of divine beings filled with the divine nature, glory and power of the Uncreated Eternal Spirit

It is the spirit-world, a world perceptible only by the intellect however it is not a incorporeal world. 

psa 89:11  Thine are the heavens — the earth also is Thine, The habitable world and its fulness, Thou hast founded them.

psa 89:11 Heaven is yours, the earth also is yours;

The productive land and what fills it—you yourself have founded them.

The heavens to the earth the world and the fullness you have founded

There is no distinction here of the word fullness between heaven, earth and the world each one has its fullness. the fullness of the heaven of heavens is its entire contents they are the work of his hands, and the seat of his majesty, and the throne of his glory; the angels of heaven are his, his creatures and servants; a court of celestial beings

Compare Psalm 112:4-6 LXX 

4  (112:4) The Lord is high above all the nations; his glory is above the heavens.

5  (112:5) Who is as the Lord our God? who dwells in the high places,

6 (112:6) and [yet] looks upon the low things in heaven, and on the earth:

Compare Psalm 112:5 LXX 5 (112:5) Who is as the Lord our God? who dwells in the high places, the summits or hills literally the heights of the Most High define the space of his pleroma

There is a third signification (of place), in keeping with which God Himself is called a place, by reason of His containing all things and being contained by nothing whatever, and being a place for all to flee into, and because He is Himself the space which holds Him; for He is that which He Himself has occupied, and nought encloses Him but Himself. I, mark you, am not a place but in a place and each thing likewise that exists; for that which is contained is different from that which contains it, and the Deity, being contained by nothing, is of necessity Itself Its own place Philo, De Somniis, I, xi, 63-64. Likewise, see De Migrations AbraEami, xxxii, 181-182; xxxv, 192>; De ConTusione Lingu'arum, xxvii, 136; and Legum Allegoria, I, xiv, 44.

Here there is a spatial sense to the pleroma

Like Psalm 89:11 and Psalm 112 Genesis chapter 1 also speaks about God establish the heavens 

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (the entire universe).
Gen 1:1 ¶  In the beginning of God’s preparing (The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing) the heavens and the earth — 

We learn Genesis 1:1 that God exists outside of time and God existed before the creation of heavens and the earth

The heavenly places or the spiritual heavens (pleroma) is the waters above the firmament (outer-space) which is likened to a spread-out curtain.

These spiritual heavens are where Christ sits far above all heavens (Eph. 4:10), that is, far above the physical heavens called outer-space or the firmament which is the limit or boundary.

The Spiritual Heavens are called the Aeon Pleroma

The Pleroma in Gnostic Text

The Pleroma is sometimes compared by allegory to a city, temple tree, and body

The Heavens or 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 Pleroma is also called the ‘emanations 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.” (Gospel of Truth)

In the Untitled Bruce Codex ms, the Pleroma is described as a temple-city with four gates and a Holy of Holies: “He created the holy Pleroma in this way: four gates with four monads within it, one monad to each gate and six helpers (parastatai) to each gate, ... and an unutterable aspect - to each gate. One of his aspects looks forth from the gate to the outer aeons, the other looks inwards to the Setheus, and the other looks to the height, and the sonship is in each monad. ... The unutterable aspect of the overseer looks towards to the holy of the holies, that is, the infinite one who is the head of the sanctuary.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

- The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex also describes the Pleroma as ‘the body’ of the monad, which is like the mother-city “This is the manner in which they are all within the monad : there are twelve monads making a crown upon its head ; each one makes twelve. And there are ten decads surrounding its shoulders. And there are nine enneads surrounding its belly. And there are seven hebdomads at its feet, and each one makes a hebdomad. And to the veil which surrounds it like a tower, there are twelve gates. There are twelve myriad powers at each gate, and they are called archangels and also angels. This is the mother-city of the only-begotten one.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

- 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)

- One may also ‘become full’: “Become full, and leave no space within you empty.” (Apocalypse of James)

Summary

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 the dwellings place of the Aeons is also a a state of consciousness

The Pleroma is both a state of consciousness (the Ideas in the Divine Mind) and the dwellings place of the Aeons

As a state of consciousness the pleroma is the fullness of the Divine attributes. the various means by which God reveals Himself: it is the totality of the thirty aeons or emanations which proceed from God they are aspects of the divine mind

The word aeon means temporal sometimes a spatial concept in addition it is also used for personal beings whether divine or mortal.

The Mother Church is Jerusalem not Rome Acts 15

The Mother Church is Jerusalem not Rome Acts 15

In Christianity, a mother church is the church "considered as a mother in its functions of nourishing and protecting the believer"

a mother-church, is sometimes taken for an original church planted immediately by the Apostles, whence others were derived and afterwards spread. And in this sense the Church of Jerusalem is called 'the mother-church of all churches in the world.'"

It was in Jerusalem that the Church was established on the day of Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:1-41) and the Gospel of Christ spread from Jerusalem.

Beginning in Jerusalem, the gospel creates ever-widening circles in the world, just as a stone sends out ripples in a pond.

In the first and second century, Christianity consisted of an unknown number of local Churches that in the initial years looked to Jerusalem as its main centre and point of reference

When disproving that Peter is "the first pope" it is customary to turn to Acts 15, where it is stated that James (the Lord's half-brother) was clearly the chief spokesman for the ecclesia at Jerusalem; not Peter. In ch. 8:14 there is equally indisputable proof in regard to the question. Use of the terms "the apostles" and "they" are clear indicators that Peter possessed no supremacy over his fellow apostles. The decision to send Peter and John to Samaria was the result of a consensus discussion among all the apostles. Had Peter held any special authority over his fellows, he would either have elected to travel himself, or would have ruled as to who should be deputed in his place. No such thing occurred. The situation was similar to that recorded in ch. 6:2, "Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said..." This is now the sixth time that the names of Peter and John are linked together in their work in the Truth. This is the last time that John's name is mentioned in the book of Acts.


Eusebius provides the names of an unbroken succession of thirty-six Bishops of Jerusalem up to the year 324. The first sixteen of these bishops were Jewish—from James the Just to Judas († 135)—and the remainder were Gentiles

Jerusalem was the first center of the church, according to the Book of Acts, and the location of "the first Christian church". The apostles lived and taught there for some time after Pentecost. Jesus' brother James was a leader in the church, and his other kinsman likely held leadership positions in the surrounding area after the destruction of the city
The apostles had a regular meeting place in Jerusalem, an upstairs room where they usually stayed (verse 13: τὸ ὑπερῷον; cf. Acts 9:37,39; 20:8).

The bishop’s seat, the symbol of James’ position as leader, was an object of interest, right up to Eusebius’ day. It is clear that in the first centuries of church history, the Holy See was not in Rome, but in Jerusalem: 

Now the throne of James, who was the first to receive from the Saviour and the apostles the the office of a bishop of the church at Jerusalem, who also, as the divine books show, was called a brother of Christ, has been preserved to this day; and by the honour that the brethren in succession there pay to it, they show clearly to all the reverence in which the holy men were and still are held by the men of old time and those of our day, because of the love shown them by God (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History VII 19

The kingdom of the Heavens is a State of Consciousness

The kingdom of the heavens, is a state of consciousness

The kingdom of the heavens, is a state of consciousness in which mind, soul, and body are in harmony with Divine Mind.

Why is the kingdom of heaven like a mustard seed? The parable of the mustard seed shows us that the apparently small thought or idea of Truth (seed) has capacity to develop and expand in consciousness until it becomes the abiding place of a higher type of thoughts (birds of the air). 

13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.

A true idea transforms a mass of ignorance by allowing the light of understanding to spread throughout the mind until it is enlightenment.

13:44 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found, and hid; and in his joy he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

What is the field in which man's greatest treasure is hidden?

The field is the mind and heart of man. When planted with the seed which is the word of God they contain the hidden treasure of true spiritual identity the Christ consciousness or the Christ self that each believer discovers as they learns to know themselves as children of God.

What is represented by the "pearl of great price"? the Christ consciousness or the Christ self. 

13:47Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:13:48which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast away. 

What is represented by the net that gathered both the good and the bad, which had to be sorted? The net represents the capacity of the mind to gather all kinds of thoughts, which have to be tested; the good retained and the bad cast out. 

13:49So shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the righteous, 13:50and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

What is signified by "the end of the world"? "The end of the world" is more accurately translated "the consummation of the age." It signifies the end of a mental process in which the good thoughts have brought forth good and the bad thoughts have brought forth sin and wickedness. The error thoughts are then destroyed by the cleansing process of renouncing ("furnace of fire").

Spiritual Growth 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

spiritual growth

In the following testimonies, the apostle tells the followers of Christ that their belief and baptism is only the BEGINNING of their walk in the truth. To aspire to the full standard of development in the Messiah, they must grow BEYOND the milk of FIRST principles. They must SEARCH OUT and consume the strong MEAT: “the DEEP things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

“We have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are DULL of hearing. For when for the time ye OUGHT to be TEACHERS ye have need that one teach YOU ... and are become such as have need of MILK and NOT of strong MEAT. For every one that useth MILK is UNSKILLFUL in the word of righteousness; for he is a BABE. But STRONG MEAT belongeth to thee that are of FULL AGE, even those who BY REASON OF USE have their senses EXERCISED to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:11-14).

“Therefore, LEAVING the FIRST principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us GO ON unto perfection; not laying AGAIN the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God” (Hebrews 6:1-2).

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might KNOW the things that are freely GIVEN to us of God. Which things also we SPEAK, not in the words which MAN’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; COMPARING spiritual things WITH spiritual ... because they are SPIRITUALLY discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
For: “God hath revealed them unto us by His spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:20).

CAUTION: “Put NOT your trust in PRINCES” (Psalm 146:3).
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in MAN” (Psalm 118:8).

“To the law and to the testimony, if they speak NOT according to THIS WORD it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

“For man is to live by EVERY WORD that proceeds out of the MOUTH of God” (Matthew 4:4).

He is to add NOTHING to God’s word, neither is he to DIMINISH ought from it (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32; Revelation 22:18-19).

FOR: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is PROFITABLE ... that the man of God may be PERFECT” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

James the Just Was the Real Leader of the Early Church! Acts 15:13

James the Just Was the Real Leader of the Early Church!

Gospel of Thomas Saying (12) The disciples said to Jesus, "We are aware that you will depart from us. Who will be our leader?" Jesus said to him, "No matter where you come it is to James the Just that you shall go, for whose sake heaven and earth have come to exist."

The Gospel of Thomas tells us that after Jesus had departed from the disciples they were to go to James the Just as the new leader of the apostles

So who is James the Just or James the righteous?

James Greek equivalent of Jacob, meaning “One Seizing the Heel; Supplanter

Biography

James was the brother of the Lord (Gal. 1:19). A Son of Joseph and Mary, and half brother of Jesus . (Mark 6:3) He may have been next to Jesus in age, being the first named of Mary’s four natural-born sons: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. (Mathew 13:55;)

It also appears that the Lord’s brethren, James and Jude were married. Paul speaks of the married brothers of Jesus and the oldest gospel, Mark, mentions James, Joses, Judas and Simon as his brothers and besides sisters (Mark vi. 3).
It appears that during Jesus’ ministry James was well acquainted with his brother’s activity (Lu 8:19; John 2:12), but he was not one of the disciples and followers of Christ. (Mt 12:46-50; John 7:5)

He was probably with his non-believing brothers when they urged Jesus to go up to the Festival of Tabernacles, at a time when the rulers of the Jews were seeking to kill him. (John 7:1-10)

James also may have been numbered among the relatives that said of Jesus: “He has gone out of his mind.”—Mr 3:21.

However, after the death of Jesus James was assembled for prayer together with his mother, brothers, and the apostles in an upper chamber in Jerusalem. (Ac 1:13, 14)

It was evidently to this James that the resurrected Jesus appeared personally, as reported at 1 Corinthians 15:7, so convincing this one time non-believer that He was indeed the Messiah. This reminds us of Jesus’ personal appearance to Paul.—Ac 9:3-5.

The Gospel of the Hebrews confirms the account of Paul in 1 Corinthians regarding the risen Jesus' appearance to James:

'Now the Lord, after he had given his grave clothes to the servant of the priest, appeared to James, for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the Lord's cup until he should see him risen from the dead.' And a little further on the Lord says, 'bring a table and bread.' And immediately it is added, 'He took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to James the Just and said to him, "My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of Man is risen from the dead."' And so he ruled the church of Jerusalem thirty years, that is, until the seventh year of Nero

Apostle and Bishop

Thereafter James became a prominent member and, an “apostle” and Bishop of the Jerusalem church.

Thus, at Paul’s first visit with the brothers in Jerusalem (about 36 C.E.), he says he spent 15 days with Peter but “saw no one else of the apostles, only James the brother of the Lord.” (Ga 1:18, 19)

Although not one of the 12 apostles, it is evidently this James who was a bishop of the Christian Church at Jerusalem (Ac 12:17)

Peter, after his miraculous release from prison, instructed the brothers at John Mark’s home, “Report these things to James and the brothers,” thereby indicating James’ superiority. (Ac 12:12, 17)

James is styled the "bishop of bishops, who rules Jerusalem, the Holy Church of the Hebrews, and all the Churches everywhere"

Clement to James, the lord, and the bishop of bishops, who rules Jerusalem, the holy church of the Hebrews, and the churches everywhere excellently rounded by the providence of God, with the elders and deacons, and the rest of the brethren, peace be always. (Epistle of Clement to James)

Fragment X of Papias (writing in the second century) refers to "James the bishop and apostle" (Papias of Hierapolis,. Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. Fragment X).

According to Eusebius (3rd/4th century) James was named a bishop of Jerusalem by the apostles: "James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the episcopal seat at Jerusalem had been entrusted by the apostles".^[40] Jerome wrote the same: "James... after our Lord's passion... ordained by the apostles bishop of Jerusalem..." and that James "ruled the church of Jerusalem thirty years".^[41]

Leadership role

What about the great church meeting in Acts 15?

About 49 C.E. the issue of circumcision came before “the apostles and the elders” at Jerusalem.

Did Peter stand out as the leader in this great meeting? No, Peter did speak, but if you read the whole of that meeting, you will see that in fact James seemed to be the chief of the elders, as he was the one who gave the final decision on the question of circumcision (see Acts 15:19).

After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. James "ruled the church of Jerusalem thirty years". This James, whom the people of old called the Just because of his outstanding virtue, was the first, as the record tells us, to be elected to be bishop of the Jerusalem church

These verses also demonstrate the fraudulent impostering of the Roman Catholic Church in its claim that Peter was "the first pope." It is obvious that at this crucial gathering Peter accepted a lesser role than that shown, by common consent, to James. Had Peter been "the first pope" he would unquestionably have presided over such an assembly as this.

Acts 15:13  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men [and] brethren, hearken unto me:

James" — Not the apostle, who had been killed by Herod (ch. 12:2), but almost certainly the Lord's half-brother (ch. 12:17; Gal. 2:9), who appears to be the chief of the elders at Jerusalem (Gal. 1:19; 2:12), and president of the conference, also thought to be married (ICor. 9:5).

Acts 15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

"Wherefore my sentence is" — The word krino, "to judge" (as in the Diag.), or "judgment" (RV). As leader of the Jerusalem Church, James spoke with greater authority than Peter and John (Gal. 2:9).

Acts 21:18 And the [day] following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

The Lord's half brother (Acts 12:17), who was considered the leading brother of the Church.

Righteous or Just

Why is James called the righteous or James the Just?

Hegesippus records that James was known as the "Righteous One " who continually prayed in the Temple for the forgiveness of the people

James, the Lord's brother, succeeds to the government of the Church, in conjunction with the apostles. He has been universally called the Just, from the days of the Lord down to the present time. For many bore the name of James; but this one was holy from his mother's womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating liquor, nor did he eat flesh; no razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil. He alone was permitted to enter the holy place: for he did not wear any woollen garment, but fine linen only. He alone, I say, was wont to go into the temple: and he used to be found kneeling on his knees, begging forgiveness for the people-so that the skin of his knees became horny like that of a camel's, by reason of his constantly bending the knee in adoration to God, and begging forgiveness for the people. (Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History Book II, 23)

from this it would appear that James was a Nazarite

the Lord's brother, later wrote that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (ch. 5:16).

Early Christian Tradition 

Gospel of Thomas Saying (12) The disciples said to Jesus, "We are aware that you will depart from us. Who will be our leader?" Jesus said to him, "No matter where you come it is to James the Just that you shall go, for whose sake heaven and earth have come to exist."

This statement [logion 12] . . . is also at odds with the orthodox tradition of the succession of Peter. It represents nothing less than the lost tradition of the direct appointment of James as successor to his brother.

This saying is not in opposition to the Gospel tradition were Jesus grants Peter the "keys of the kingdom" it does not mean the keys of leadership but the key of knowledge  see saying 39 Mathew 16:19 Luke 11:52

Acts 15:13  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men [and] brethren, hearken unto me:
14  Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
15  And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,  

It is obvious that James knew of Peter's special commission the Lord had given him ("I will give unto thee the keys [plural] of the kingdom of heaven," Mat. 16:18-19) gave him irrevocably an exclusive responsibility concerning the unlocking of the divine purpose of salvation. Peter would unlock the door of entrance to the kingdom to both Jew and Gentile; a charge which he had faithfully fulfilled (Acts chapters 2, and 10).

 But further, James not only accepted Peter's words in this matter — which would have been fully supported by the other apostles — but quoted from two Old Testament prophets (Amos 9:11-12; Jer. 12:15) to prove that a commission such as that given to Peter was inevitable, according to the divine foreknowledge.

These verses also demonstrate the fraudulent impostering of the Roman Catholic Church in its claim that Peter was "the first pope." It is obvious that at this crucial gathering Peter accepted a lesser role than that shown, by common consent, to James. Had Peter been "the first pope" he would unquestionably have presided over such an assembly as this.











"Wherefore observe the greatest caution, that you believe no teacher, unless he bring from Jerusalem the testimonial of James the Lord's brother, or of whosoever may come after him.29 For no one, unless he has gone up thither, and there has been approved as a fit and faithful teacher for preaching the word of Christ, -- unless, I say, he brings a testimonial thence, is by any means to be received. (The Recognitions of Clement. Book IV. False Apostles. Chapter XXXV)



The Lord had earlier instructed his disciples to go "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mat. 10:6; 15:24). James later wrote "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (ch. 1:1).

The Gnostic Creation Story in the Tripartite Tractate

The Gnostic Creation Story in the Tripartite Tractate

Some Remarks on the Tripartite Tractate

The Tripartite Tractate is one text from the Nag Hammadi Scriptures as a different form of the Gnostic Creation myth which alters the myth ascribing the fall to a masculine Aeon the Logos 

In the beginning there was only the self-existent and transcendent Deity who is called the Eternal Spirit which has male and female attributes dwelling in silence and repose. The Deity is both corporeal and non-corporeal at the same time

From the transcendent Deity there was emanated a male principle called Mind and a female principle called Thought. In these principles emanated others, in male and female pairs to the total of thirty knows as Aeons who collectively constitute the fullness or the divine realm which others would call the spirit world which is beyond the physical heavens it is also called the 3rd Heaven.

Of all the Aeons only the first pair Mind and thought knew and comprehended the greatness of the self-existent Uncreated Eternal Spirit and could behold him but the last and youngest Aeon Logos or (Reason).

The intent, then, of this one who is the Logos, was good. When he had come forth, he gave glory to the Father, even if it led to something beyond possibility, since he had wanted to bring forth one who is perfect, from an agreement in which he had not been, and without having the command. and without the knowledge or consent of his female counterpart Sophia (wisdom) he projected from his own being a flawed emanation.

Thus the Logos motivated by abundant love and seeking only to give glory to the self-existent Uncreated Eternal Spirit creates other beings which are the seven archangels their leader is Michael who is the Demiurge the creator of the material cosmos or the physical heavens

But when the logos perceives that these are inferior to the emanations of the self-existent Uncreated Eternal Spirit indeed mere shadows and phantoms of them, lacking reason and light, dwelling in ignorance, bringing forth more and more defective creatures little weakling, hindered by the illnesses by which he too was hindered

This logos is the cause of the creation of the world and the lower beings including mankind but the logos is not the agent of creation the Demiurge is the agent of creation being used by the logos as a hand

This defective Logos is interceded for by his counterpart the Divine Logos or First Thought the Son in the Pleroma  

Heracleon interpreted this in the same way he identifies the logos not with the agent of creation but with the casue making the creator lower than the logos 

Fragment 1, on John 1:3 (In John 1:3, “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made.”) The sentence: "All things were made through him" means the world and what is in it. It excludes what is better than the world. The Aeon (i.e. the Fullness), and the things in it, were not made by the Word; they came into existence before the Word. . . “Without him, nothing was made” of what is in the world and the creation. . . "All things were made through Him," means that it was the Word who caused the Craftsman (Demiurge) to make the world, that is it was not the Word “from whom” or “by whom,” but the one “through whom (all things were made).”. . . It was not the Word who made all things, as if he were energized by another, for "through whom" means that another made them and the Word provided the energy.

The archon is the agent of creation being used by the logos as a hand