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Gospel of Thomas · 70 of 114 · tr. Thomas O. Lambdin

Logion 70

Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."
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Themes
Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The saving truth is concealed within the self and must be actively brought forth to be realized.

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Divine Sparkscosmology

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

The internal saving element is consistent with the Gnostic concept of a divine fragment trapped in humanity.

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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] Salvation is framed as accessing an internal possession rather than through external faith or works.

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Inner Lightanthropology

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

[auto] The 'that which you have' implies the presence of a divine luminous element within the human person.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] It locates the saving power entirely inside the individual rather than in an external realm or deity.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The second sentence uses a tautological structure to emphasize the fatal necessity of internal possession.

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Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

[auto] The instruction requires introspection to identify and retrieve what resides within oneself.

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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 passage explicitly commands the listener to bring forth salvation from within themselves, equating self-realization with soteriology.

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Related passages · 6 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)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 4)
Let them, therefore, again go out with their will from their wilful ignorance or malignity and enter again into the will of God." ( Menschwerdung , 3, 5.) All this goes to show that it is useless and vain to seek for divine wisdom, meaning…”
Shared concept: Self Knowledge — The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 6)
The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity. Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”
Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus)|Page 34
THE MOON. THE MOON. 18. צ 18th Hebrew letter (Tzaddi). ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE EIGHTEENTH CARD OF THE TAROT. The hieroglyphic idea connected with the Tzaddi is the same as that of the Teth (9th card); but it chiefly signifies a term…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (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)
christian_mysticism|Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation)|VI-e
Therefore sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and un…”
Shared concept: Self Examination — Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice. (derived)