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Gospel of Thomas · 67 of 114 · tr. Thomas O. Lambdin

Logion 67

Jesus said, "If one who knows the all still feels a personal deficiency, he is completely deficient."
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Themes
Evil As Privationtheology

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

Deficiency is described as a lack of wholeness ('completely deficient') rather than an opposing positive force, aligning with the concept of evil as privation.

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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] The passage centers on 'knowing the all' as the defining condition for spiritual status, aligning with salvation through direct knowledge.

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Kenomacosmology

The void or emptiness outside the pleroma; the realm of matter, ignorance, and deficiency.

The concept of 'deficiency' corresponds to the state of emptiness or lack associated with the Kenoma.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] Consistent with Thomasine theology, the realization of 'the all' is presented as an internal state accessible without external mediation.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] Knowing 'the all' suggests a merging of the individual consciousness with the divine totality.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The statement uses a conditional riddle to challenge ordinary understanding of knowledge and deficiency.

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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 term 'the all' functions as a synonym for the divine fullness or Pleroma in this Gnostic context.

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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] The passage distinguishes between those who possess true knowledge and those defined by deficiency, implying a spiritual elite.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

[auto] The text contrasts knowing the all with feeling personal deficiency, emphasizing the recognition of one's true divine nature as the path to wholeness.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The feeling of deficiency despite knowing the all indicates a felt condition of exile or disconnection from the divine wholeness.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The reference to 'the all' implies a singular divine reality in which the knower participates or is united.

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Related passages · 4 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 85 (part 1)
Section 10 10. But if Matter is devoid of quality how can it be evil? It is described as being devoid of quality in the sense only that it does not essentially possess any of the qualities which it admits and which enter into it as into a…”
Shared concept: Evil As Privation — Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness. (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)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 489
Section 11 11. Similarly any one, unable to see himself, but possessed by that God, has but to bring that divine- within before his consciousness and at once he sees an image of himself, himself lifted to a better beauty: now let him ignore…”
Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (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)