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Gospel of Thomas · 69 of 114 · tr. Thomas O. Lambdin

Logion 69

Jesus said, "Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves. It is they who have truly come to know the father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled."
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Themes
Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The text uses human terms like Father and belly to describe the divine and spiritual states.

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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 explicitly states that those who undergo inner persecution truly come to know the father, emphasizing direct experiential knowledge as the path to salvation.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

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

The meaning of being 'persecuted within themselves' is esoteric and reserved for those ready to understand the inner truth.

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Inner Lightanthropology

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

[auto] The ability to know the Father through internal persecution suggests a luminous divine quality residing within the person.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] The Father is known through an internal process within themselves, suggesting the divine realm is accessible inside the individual without external mediation.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] Coming to know the father implies a profound relational union or merging with the divine source rather than distant worship.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The concept of being persecuted within oneself and spiritual hunger being filled presents a reversal of ordinary expectations typical of paradoxical instruction.

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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 beatitude format identifies a specific group distinguished by their internal spiritual state and knowledge of the father.

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Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

[auto] The requirement to be persecuted within themselves necessitates a deep inward scrutiny of one's own spiritual state.

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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 links the internal experience of persecution within oneself directly to the attainment of divine knowledge, prioritizing introspection as soteriology.

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Related passages · 4 parallels
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)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXI
Is, therefore, what you add in the third place more true; viz. “ that there is a certain mixed form of hypostasis, consisting of our soul and divine inspiration externally derived ?” Consider this then more accurately, lest we should be dec…”
Shared concept: Inner Light — The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection. (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)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 13 (part 10)
281 "The inner man continually kills the outer one by means of the love and sweetness of God, so that the external one cannot introduce into the soul-fire his earthly poisonous desire, which is infected by the devil; but the external man ca…”
Shared concept: Self Examination — Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice. (derived)