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Gospel of Philip · 11 of 13 · tr. Thomas O. Lambdin

Section 1k

If you become light, light will share you. If you are of those from above, one of those from above will rest in you. If you become a horse or a donkey or bull or dog or sheep or another animal that is wild or tame, then neither a person nor spirit nor thought nor light can love you. None of those from above or within can rest in you, and you have no part in them. SLAVES AND FREEDOM Those who are enslaved against their will can be free. Those who are freed by favor of a master but have sold themselves into slavery can no longer be free. FARMING Farming in this world demands four elements. A harvest is collected and taken into the barn as a result of water, earth, wind, and light. God’s farming also has four elements: faith, hope, love, and knowledge. Faith is our earth in which we take root. Hope is the water through which we are nourished. Love is the wind through which we grow. Knowledge is the light through which we ripen. Grace exists in four ways: earthborn, heavenly, from highest heaven, and living in truth. BLESSINGS ON ONE WHO NEVER HARMS A SOUL Blessings on one who never harms a soul. That person is Jesus Christ. He came to the whole earth and distressed no one. Blessings on one like him, the perfect person. This is the word. Tell us about the word, since it is hard to define. How shall we be able to accomplish such a feat? How will he comfort everyone? Especially, it is improper to cause anyone distress, whether that person be great or small, infidel or believer. It is improper to comfort only those who enjoy good deeds. Some find it useful to comfort one who is lucky. You who do good deeds cannot comfort them, for it goes against your will. You cannot cause them distress, since you are not afflicting them. Yet you who are lucky in life sometimes cause distress unintentionally. but the source is not you but the other person’s wickedness. Whoever has the qualities of the perfect human is happy in the good. Yet some are enormously put out by these distinctions. A HOUSEHOLDER WITH EVERYTHING There was a householder who had every possible thing, be it son or slave or cattle or dog or pig or wheat or barley or chaff or grass or castor oil or meat or acorn. He was sensible and knew what each one’s food was. He served children bread and meat. He served slaves castor oil and meal. He threw barley and chaff and grass to the cattle. He threw bones to the dogs, and to pigs he threw acorns and scraps of bread. Compare the student of god. If you are sensible, you understand the nature of learning. Bodily forms will not deceive you, since you will look at the condition of each person’s soul and speak with that form. There are many animals on earth in human form. When you identify them, then you throw acorns to swine, barley and chaff and grass to cattle, and bones to the dogs. To slaves you will give only what is preliminary, but to children you give what is complete. THE EARTHLY SON AND HIS SON There is the earthly son, and there is the son of the earthly son. The lord is the earthly son, and the son of the earthly son is he who is created through the earthly son. The earthly son received the capacity to create from god. He also had the ability to engender. He who has the ability to create is a creature. He who has the ability to engender is an offspring. But he who creates cannot engender. He who engenders also has the power to create.
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Themes
Aeonscosmology

Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.

Refers to 'those from above' as a collective group resting in the worthy.

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Alchemical Workpraxis

The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.

Uses farming metaphors (ripening, harvesting) to describe spiritual transformation.

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Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

Warns that bodily forms can deceive, noting many animals exist in human form.

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Childlike Innocenceanthropology

The infant or child as symbol of the unfallen, undivided spiritual state; return to primordial simplicity.

Children receive complete teaching while slaves receive only preliminary instruction.

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Correspondencecosmology

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

[auto] The text explicitly parallels worldly farming elements with divine spiritual elements (faith, hope, love, knowledge), embodying the 'as above, so below' principle.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

[auto] Contrasts the realm above with the animal state, and light with darkness/slavery.

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Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

Light is the central metaphor for transformation, sharing, and knowledge throughout the passage.

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Divine Sparkscosmology

Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.

[auto] Suggests divine beings or light can rest within the human person.

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Emanation Hierarchycosmology

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

Distinguishes between the Lord (earthly son) and the son of the earthly son in a creative chain.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] Knowledge is explicitly identified as the light through which the believer ripens in God's farming.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

Notes the Word is hard to define and implies esoteric understanding of learning.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

[auto] Knowledge is described as the internal light through which one ripens.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

[auto] States that one of those from above will rest within the individual.

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Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

Explicitly discusses 'The Word' and its difficulty to define as a central concept.

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Love Of Neighbourethics

Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.

[auto] Love is a key element of growth and blessings are pronounced on those who never harm a soul.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] Describes the divine resting in the individual and light sharing with the person.

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Numerical Mysticismtheology

Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.

The text explicitly structures God's farming and grace around the number four.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] Presents a paradoxical reversal regarding slavery and freedom based on will.

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Pleromacosmology

The divine fullness or totality of the highest realm, populated by aeons and divine attributes, contrasted with the deficient material world.

The realm of 'those from above' suggests the divine fullness contrasted with the lower state.

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Pneumatic Electsoteriology

A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.

[auto] Distinguishes between those from above who can be free and those who sold themselves into slavery.

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Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics

Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.

Instructs looking at the condition of the soul rather than being deceived by bodily forms.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] Becoming light and being of those from above implies a return to the divine origin.

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Soul Migrationcosmology

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

Hypothetically discusses becoming animals, implying potential transmigration of state.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

Encourages becoming light so that light shares you, implying transformation into divine nature.

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Related passages · 13 parallels
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism-m
“Of these shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, [is manifested] from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things. Hence pairing with each other…”
Shared concept: Aeons — Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 426
“Section 10 10. We have shown the inevitability of certain convictions as to the scheme of things: There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One, whose nature we have sought to establish in so far as such matters lend them…”
Shared concept: Logos — The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter V
“But why am I prolix about these particulars? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to point out to you the…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 2, Section 1n
“200 Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person. (So, too, is Creation. Cf. p. 65, n. 2). 201 i. e. We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God. Cf. Athan. Creed: “Neither confounding…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVIII-a
“Your next inquiry doubts, “ how some of the Gods are beneficent, but others malefic .” This opinion, therefore, is assumed from the predictors of nativities. It is, however, entirely remote from the truth. For all the Gods are good, and i…”
Shared concept: Pleroma — The divine fullness or totality of the highest realm, populated by aeons and divine attributes, contrasted with the deficient material world. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|3. The Triangle Of Solomon-c
“These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, are the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes. In the book Zohar , and in that of the Revolution of…”
Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 127
“Section 5 5. It may be objected that the Intellectual-Principle possesses its content in an eternal conjunction so that the two make a perfect unity, and that thus there is no Matter there. But that argument would equally cancel the Matter…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|INTRODUCTION-i
“The life of man is more than an experience or trial; it is an effort, a struggle to reproduce and represent upon earth some of that goodness, beauty, and truth which are diffused over the universe and constitute its harmony. Long, slow, an…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)
taoism|Tao Te Ching|Chapter 28
“Who knows his manhood's strength, Yet still his female feebleness maintains; As to one channel flow the many drains, All come to him, yea, all beneath the sky. Thus he the constant excellence retains; The simple child again, free from all s…”
Shared concept: Childlike Innocence — The infant or child as symbol of the unfallen, undivided spiritual state; return to primordial simplicity. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 18 (part 6)
“Starting from this, it becomes easy to understand how nature herself could have taught primeval mankind, even without the help of its divine instructors, the first principles of a numerical and geometrical symbol language.* Hence one finds…”
Shared concept: Numerical Mysticism — Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 10 (part 9)
“"All sacrificing without faith and divine desire is an p. 219 abomination before God, and does not reach the gate of divine glory; but if man enters therein with the power of faith, he surrenders to it his free will, and desires by that me…”
Shared concept: Rejection Of Hypocrisy — Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance. (derived)
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount|Section 1a
“The Key <This longer tractate presents itself explicitly as a summary or abridgement of the General Sermons (CH II-IX), and discusses the Hermetic view of knowledge and its role in the lives and afterlives of human beings. The attentive re…”
Shared concept: Pneumatic Elect — A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I|Sutra 39
“Or meditative brooding on what is dearest to the heart. Here is a thought which our own day is beginning to grasp: that love is a form of knowledge; that we truly know any thing or any person, by becoming one therewith, in love. Thus love h…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)