Freethought & Rationalism Archive

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 08:52 AM

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Alone, therefore, the Lord, for the purification of the men who plotted against Him and disbelieved Him, drank the cup; in imitation of whom the apostles, that they might be in reality Gnostics, and perfect, suffered for the Churches which they founded. So, then, also the Gnostics who tread in the footsteps of the apostles ought to be sinless, and, out of love to the Lord, to love also their brother; so that, if occasion call, enduring without stumbling, afflictions for the Church, they may drink the cup. Those who witness in their life by deed, and at the tribunal by word, whether entertaining hope or surmising fear, are better than those who confess salvation by their mouth alone. But if one ascend also to love, he is a really blessed and true martyr, having confessed perfectly both to the commandments and to God, by the Lord; whom having loved, he acknowledged a brother, giving himself up wholly for God, resigning pleasantly and lovingly the man when asked, like a deposit. [Strom 4.9]

And again look at the reference to the 'embodying' of Jesus in response to the Basilideans:

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Providence being a disciplinary art; in the case of others for each individual's sins, and in the case of the Lord and His apostles for ours. To this point says the divine apostle: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication: that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, as the Gentiles who know not the Lord: that none of you should overreach or take advantage of his brother in any matter; because the Lord is the avenger in respect of all such, as we also told you before, and testified. For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but to holiness. Wherefore he that despises, despises not man, but God, who has also given His Holy Spirit to you. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 Wherefore the Lord was not prohibited from this sanctification of ours. If, then, one of them were to say, in reply, that the martyr is punished for sins committed before this embodying, and that he will again reap the fruit of his conduct in this life, for that such are the arrangements of the [divine administration], we shall ask him if the retribution takes place by Providence. [Strom 4.13]

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 10:05 AM

One can read almost all Clement's explanations of the 'mystery' of Paul as being the brother-making rite (adelphopoiesis):

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Rightly, therefore, the divine apostle says, By revelation the mystery was made known to me (as I wrote before in brief, in accordance with which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets. Ephesians 3:3-5 For there is an instruction of the perfect, of which, writing to the Colossians, he says, We cease not to pray for you, and beseech that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to the glory of His power. Colossians 1:9-11 And again he says, According to the disposition of the grace of God which is given me, that you may fulfil the word of God; the mystery which has been hid from ages and generations, which now is manifested to His saints: to whom God wished to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations. Colossians 1:25-27 So that, on the one hand, then, are the mysteries which were hid till the time of the apostles, and were delivered by them as they received from the Lord, and, concealed in the Old Testament, were manifested to the saints. And, on the other hand, there is the riches of the glory of the mystery in the Gentiles, which is faith and hope in Christ; which in another place he has called the foundation. Colossians 1:27 And again, as if in eagerness to divulge this knowledge, he thus writes: Warning every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man (the whole man) perfect in Christ; not every man simply, since no one would be unbelieving. Nor does he call every man who believes in Christ perfect; but he says all the man, as if he said the whole man, as if purified in body and soul. For that the knowledge does not appertain to all, he expressly adds: Being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of knowledge, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3 Continue in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2 And thanksgiving has place not for the soul and spiritual blessings alone, but also for the body, and for the good things of the body. And he still more clearly reveals that knowledge belongs not to all, by adding: Praying at the same time for you, that God would open to us a door to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am bound; that I may make it known as I ought to speak. Colossians 4:3-4 For there were certainly, among the Hebrews, some things delivered unwritten. For when you ought to be teachers for the time, it is said, as if they had grown old in the Old Testament, you have again need that one teach you which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and have become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. For every one that partakes of milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe, being instructed with the first lessons. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, who by reason of use have their senses exercised so as to distinguish between good and evil. Wherefore, leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection.
Barnabas, too, who in person preached the word along with the apostle in the ministry of the Gentiles, says, I write to you most simply, that you may understand. Then below, exhibiting already a clearer trace of gnostic tradition, he says, What says the other prophet Moses to them? Lo, thus says the Lord God, Enter into the good land which the Lord God swore, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and you received for an inheritance that land, flowing with milk and honey. What says knowledge? Learn, hope, it says, in Jesus, who is to be manifested to you in the flesh. For man is the suffering land; for from the face of the ground was the formation of Adam. What, then, does it say in reference to the good land, flowing with milk and honey? Blessed be our Lord, brethren, who has put into our hearts wisdom, and the understanding of His secrets. For the prophet says, Who shall understand the Lord's parable but the wise and understanding, and he that loves his Lord? It is but for few to comprehend these things. For it is not in the way of envy that the Lord announced in a Gospel, My mystery is to me, and to the sons of my house; placing the election in safety, and beyond anxiety; so that the things pertaining to what it has chosen and taken may be above the reach of envy. For he who has not the knowledge of good is wicked: for there is one good, the Father; and to be ignorant of the Father is death, as to know Him is eternal life, through participation in the power of the incorrupt One. And to be incorruptible is to participate in divinity; but revolt from the knowledge of God brings corruption. Again the prophet says: And I will give you treasures, concealed, dark, unseen; that they may know that I am the Lord . Isaiah 45:3 Similarly David sings: For, lo, You have loved truth; the obscure and hidden things of wisdom have You showed me. Day utters speech to day (what is clearly written), and night to night proclaims knowledge (which is hidden in a mystic veil); and there are no words or utterances whose voices shall not be heard by God, who said, Shall one do what is secret, and I shall not see him?

Wherefore instruction, which reveals hidden things, is called illumination, as it is the teacher only who uncovers the lid of the ark, contrary to what the poets say, that Zeus stops up the jar of good things, but opens that of evil. For I know, says the apostle, that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ; Romans 15:29 designating the spiritual gift, and the gnostic communication, which being present he desires to impart to them present as the fullness of Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery sealed in the ages of eternity, but now manifested by the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all the nations, in order to the obedience of faith, that is, those of the nations who believe that it is. But only to a few of them is shown what those things are which are contained in the mystery.

Rightly then, Plato, in the Epistles, treating of God, says: We must speak in enigmas; that should the tablet come by any mischance on its leaves either by sea or land, he who reads may remain ignorant. For the God of the universe, who is above all speech, all conception, all thought, can never be committed to writing, being inexpressible even by His own power. And this too Plato showed, by saying: Considering, then, these things, take care lest some time or other you repent on account of the present things, departing in a manner unworthy. The greatest safeguard is not to write, but learn; for it is utterly impossible that what is written will not vanish.

Akin to this is what the holy Apostle Paul says, preserving the prophetic and truly ancient secret from which the teachings that were good were derived by the Greeks: Howbeit we speak wisdom among them who are perfect; but not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, that come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery. 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 Then proceeding, he thus inculcates the caution against the divulging of his words to the multitude in the following terms: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, even to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, not with meat: for you were not yet able; neither are you now able. For you are yet carnal. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

If, then, the milk is said by the apostle to belong to the babes, and meat to be the food of the full-grown, milk will be understood to be catechetical instruction— the first food, as it were, of the soul. And meat is the mystic contemplation; for this is the flesh and the blood of the Word, that is, the comprehension of the divine power and essence. Taste and see that the Lord is Christ, it is said. For so He imparts of Himself to those who partake of such food in a more spiritual manner; when now the soul nourishes itself, according to the truth-loving Plato. For the knowledge of the divine essence is the meat and drink of the divine Word. Wherefore also Plato says, in the second book of the Republic, It is those that sacrifice not a sow, but some great and difficult sacrifice, who ought to inquire respecting God. And the apostle writes, Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; 1 Corinthians 5:7 — a sacrifice hard to procure, in truth, the Son of God consecrated for us. [Strom 5.10]

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 10:12 AM

Clement seems more open to explain the adelphopoiesis rite when referencing Plato and is teachings (probably because it sounds less like 'revealing' the sacred mysteries):

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Plato plainly calls us brethren, as being of one God and one teacher, in the following words: For you who are in the state (πόλει ἀδ) are all brethren (as we shall say to them, continuing our story). But the God who formed (πλάττων) you, mixed gold in the composition of those of you who are fit to rule, at your birth, wherefore you are most highly honoured; and silver in the case of those who are helpers; and steel and brass in the case of farmers and other workers. Whence, of necessity, some embrace and love those things to which knowledge pertains; and others matters of opinion. Perchance he prophesies of that elect nature which is bent on knowledge; if by the supposition he makes of three natures he does not describe three politics, as some supposed: that of the Jews, the silver; that of the Greeks, the third; and that of the Christians, with whom has been mingled the regal gold, the Holy Spirit, the golden. [Strom 5.14]

And he cites the same passage from Plato again in the same chapter:

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Rightly therefore Plato accustoms the best natures to attain to that study which formerly we said was the highest, both to see the good and to accomplish that ascent. And this, as appears, is not the throwing of the potsherds; but the turning round of the soul from a nocturnal day to that which is a true return to that which really is, which we shall assert to be the true philosophy. Such as are partakers of this he judges to belong to the golden race, when he says: You are all brethren; and those who are of the golden race are most capable of judging most accurately in every respect.

The idea then is that 'the true philosophy' (a term that appears at the end of the Letter to Theodore) is the mystic love of Jesus (= Wisdom).

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 10:28 AM

Not surprisingly since adelphopoiesis is so central to early Christianity in Alexandria Clement's Stromata begins and ends with allusions to this sacred rite. He begins in chapter 11 of this last book:

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But self-control, desirable for its own sake, perfected through knowledge, abiding ever, makes the man lord and master of himself; so that the Gnostic is temperate and passionless, incapable of being dissolved by pleasures and pains, as they say adamant is by fire. The cause of these, then, is love, of all science the most sacred and most sovereign. For by the service of what is best and most exalted, which is characterized by unity, it renders the Gnostic at once friend and son, having in truth grown a perfect man, up to the measure of full stature. E(phesians 4:13)

Further, agreement in the same thing is consent. But what is the same is one. And friendship is consummated in likeness; the community lying in oneness. The Gnostic, consequently, in virtue of being a lover of the one true God, is the really perfect man and friend of God, and is placed in the rank of son. For these are names of nobility and knowledge, and perfection in the contemplation of God; which crowning step of advancement the gnostic soul receives, when it has become quite pure, reckoned worthy to behold everlastingly God Almighty, face, it is said, to face. For having become wholly spiritual, and having in the spiritual Church gone to what is of kindred nature, it abides in the rest of God.

and then to explain himself more fully be brings forward the familiar references to the mystic concept of 'friends' and 'brothers' and a brotherhood of man within the Church:

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Let these things, then, be so. And such being the attitude of the Gnostic towards the body and the soul— towards his neighbours, whether it be a domestic, or a lawful enemy, or whosoever— he is found equal and like. For he does not despise his brother, who, according to the divine law, is of the same father and mother.

The point of course is that the modern notion of a brotherhood of man of people who simply had water sprinkled on their head when they were an ignorant baby is not what Clement has in mind. These are people who have been 'made into brothers' of Jesus, through a particular individual who served as 'the likeness of God' - i.e. the template in the adelphopoiesis rite.

Clement continues in what follows in the same chapter:

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He, in fulfilment of the precept, according to the Gospel, keeps the Lord's day, when he abandons an evil disposition, and assumes that of the Gnostic, glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself. Further, also, when he has received the comprehension of scientific speculation, he deems that he sees the Lord, directing his eyes towards things invisible, although he seems to look on what he does not wish to look on; chastising the faculty of vision, when he perceives himself pleasurably affected by the application of his eyes; since he wishes to see and hear that alone which concerns him.

In the act of contemplating the souls of the brethren, he beholds the beauty of the flesh also, with the soul itself, which has become habituated to look solely upon that which is good, without carnal pleasure. And they are really brethren; inasmuch as, by reason of their elect creation, and their oneness of character, and the nature of their deeds, they do, and think, and speak the same holy and good works, in accordance with the sentiments with which the Lord wished them as elect to be inspired.

For faith shows itself in their making choice of the same things; and knowledge, in learning and thinking the same things; and hope, in desiring the same things. [Strom 7.12]

and again in the same chapter:

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He impoverishes himself, in order that he may never overlook a brother who has been brought into affliction, through the perfection that is in love, especially if he know that he will bear want himself easier than his brother. He considers, accordingly, the other's pain his own grief; and if, by contributing from his own indigence in order to do good, he suffer any hardship, he does not fret at this, but augments his beneficence still more. For he possesses in its sincerity the faith which is exercised in reference to the affairs of life, and praises the Gospel in practice and contemplation. And, in truth, he wins his praise not from men, but from God, Romans 2:29 by the performance of what the Lord has taught.

and again:

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Now fear works abstinence from what is evil; but love exhorts to the doing of good, by building up to the point of spontaneousness; that one may hear from the Lord, I call you no longer servants, but friends, and may now with confidence apply himself to prayer.

And the form of his prayer is thanksgiving for the past, for the present, and for the future as already through faith present. This is preceded by the reception of knowledge. And he asks to live the allotted life in the flesh as a Gnostic, as free from the flesh, and to attain to the best things, and flee from the worse. He asks, too, relief in those things in which we have sinned, and conversion to the acknowledgment of them. Luke 18:18

He follows, on his departure, Him who calls, as quickly, so to speak, as He who goes before calls, hasting by reason of a good conscience to give thanks; and having got there with Christ shows himself worthy, through his purity, to possess, by a process of blending, the power of God communicated by Christ. For he does not wish to be warm by participation in heat, or luminous by participation in flame, but to be wholly light.

He knows accurately the declaration, Unless you hate father and mother, and besides your own life, and unless you bear the sign [of the cross]. Luke 14:26-27 For he hates the inordinate affections of the flesh, which possess the powerful spell of pleasure; and entertains a noble contempt for all that belongs to the creation and nutriment of the flesh. He also withstands the corporeal soul, putting a bridle-bit on the restive irrational spirit: For the flesh lusts against the Spirit. Galatians 5:17 And to bear the sign of [the cross] is to bear about death, by taking farewell of all things while still alive; since there is not equal love in having sown the flesh, and in having formed the soul for knowledge.

He having acquired the habit of doing good, exercises beneficence well, quicker than speaking; praying that he may get a share in the sins of his brethren, in order to confession and conversion on the part of his kindred; and eager to give a share to those dearest to him of his own good things. And so these are to him, friends. Promoting, then, the growth of the seeds deposited in him, according to the husbandry enjoined by the Lord, he continues free of sin, and becomes continent, and lives in spirit with those who are like him, among the choirs of the saints, though still detained on earth.

He, all day and night, speaking and doing the Lord's commands, rejoices exceedingly, not only on rising in the morning and at noon, but also when walking about, when asleep, when dressing and undressing; and he teaches his son, if he has a son. He is inseparable from the commandment and from hope, and is ever giving thanks to God, like the living creatures figuratively spoken of by Esaias, and submissive in every trial, he says, The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Job 1:21 For such also was Job; who after the spoiling of his effects, along with the health of his body, resigned all through love to the Lord. For he was, it is said, just, holy, and kept apart from all wickedness. Job 1:1 Now the word holy points out all duties toward God, and the entire course of life. Knowing which, he was a Gnostic. For we must neither cling too much to such things, even if they are good, seeing they are human, nor on the other hand detest them, if they are bad; but we must be above both [good and bad], trampling the latter under foot, and passing on the former to those who need them. [ibid]

The whole of chapter 12 reads like a secret reflection on the mystic adelphopoiesis rite.

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 10:35 AM

And it continues through in chapter 13:

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And is it not the Saviour, who wishes the Gnostic to be perfect as the heavenly Father, Matthew 5:48 that is, Himself, who says, Come, you children, hear from me the fear of the Lord? He wishes him no longer to stand in need of help by angels, but to receive it from Himself, having become worthy, and to have protection from Himself by obedience. Such an one demands from the Lord, and does not merely ask. And in the case of his brethren in want, the Gnostic will not ask himself for abundance of wealth to bestow, but will pray that the supply of what they need may be furnished to them. For so the Gnostic gives his prayer to those who are in need, and by his prayer they are supplied, without his knowledge, and without vanity. [ibid 7.13]

and chapter 14:

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And how shall one judge the apostate angels, who has become himself an apostate from that forgetfulness of injuries, which is according to the Gospel? Why do you not rather suffer wrong? he says; why are you not rather defrauded? Yea, you do wrong and defraud, 1 Corinthians 6:7-8 manifestly by praying against those who transgress in ignorance, and deprive of the philanthropy and goodness of God, as far as in you lies, those against whom you pray, and these your brethren,— not meaning those in the faith only, but also the proselytes. For whether he who now is hostile shall afterwards believe, we know not as yet. From which the conclusion follows clearly, if all are not yet brethren to us, they ought to be regarded in that light. And now it is only the man of knowledge who recognises all men to be the work of one God, and invested with one image in one nature, although some may be more turbid than others; and in the creatures he recognises the operation, by which again he adores the will of God. Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? 1 Corinthians 6:9 He acts unrighteously who retaliates, whether by deed or word, or by the conception of a wish, which, after the training of the Law, the Gospel rejects.

And such were some of you— such manifestly as those still are whom you do not forgive; but you are washed, 1 Corinthians 6:11 not simply as the rest, but with knowledge; you have cast off the passions of the soul, in order to become assimilated, as far as possible, to the goodness of God's providence by long-suffering, and by forgiveness towards the just and the unjust, casting on them the gleam of benignity in word and deeds, as the sun. The Gnostic will achieve this either by greatness of mind, or by imitation of what is better.

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 10:56 AM

The mystic concept of brotherhood in Theodotos's Selection from the Prophetic Scriptures:

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Now the Lord with His precious blood redeems us, freeing us from our old bitter masters, that is, our sins, on account of which the spiritual powers of wickedness ruled over us. Accordingly He leads us into the liberty of the Father, -- sons that are co-heirs and friends. "For," says the Lord, "they that do the will of my Father are my brethren and fellow-heirs." "Call no man, therefore, father to yourselves on earth." For it is masters that are on earth. But in heaven is the Father, of whom is the whole family, both in heaven and on earth. For love rules willing hearts, but fear the unwilling. One kind of fear is base; but the other, leading us as a pedagogue to good, brings us to Christ, and is saving.[20]

and again

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Lighting, then, our torch at the source of that light, by the passionate desire which has it for its object, and striving as much as possible to be assimilated to it, we become men full of light, Israelites indeed. For He called those friends and brethren who by desire and pursuit aimed after likeness to the Divinity. [33]

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 10:58 AM

Does it get more explicit than this next passage from the Excerpts of Theodotos:

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The priest on entering within the second veil removed the plate at the altar of incense, and entered himself in silence with the Name engraved upon his heart, indicating the laying aside of the body which has become pure like the golden plate and bright through purification. . . the putting away as it were of the soul's body on which was stamped the lustre of piety, by which he was recognized by the Principalities and Powers as, having put on the Name. Now he discards this body, the plate which had become light, within the second veil, that is, in the rational sphere the second complete veil of the universe, at the altar of incense, that is, with the angels who are the ministers of prayers carried aloft. Now the soul, stripped by the power of him who has knowledge, as if it had become a body of the power, passes into the spiritual realm and becomes now truly rational and high priestly, so that it might now be animated, so to speak, directly by the Logos, just as the archangels became the high-priests of the angels, and the First-Created the high- priests of the archangels. But where is there a right judgment of Scripture and doctrine for that soul which has become pure, and where is it granted to see God "face to face"? Thus, having transcended the angelic teaching and the Name taught in Scripture, it comes to the knowledge and comprehension of the facts. It is no longer a bride but has become a Logos and rests with the bridegroom together with the First-Called and First- Created, who are friends by love, sons by instruction and obedi ence, and brothers by community of origin. So that it belonged to the dispensation to wear the plate and to continue the pur suit of knowledge, but the work of power was that man becomes the bearer of God, being controlled directly by the Lord and becoming, as it were, his body. [27]

and again later:

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The Cross is a sign of the Limit in the Pleroma, for it divides the unfaithful from the faithful as that divides the world from the Pleroma. Therefore Jesus by that sign carries the Seed on his shoulders and leads them into the Pleroma. For Jesus is called the shoulders of the seed and Christ is the head. Wherefore it is said, "He who takes not up his cross and follows me is not my brother." . Therefore he took the body of Jesus, which is of the same substance as the Church. [42]

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 11:09 AM

And now in the Instructor (which clearly has been corrected by a later hand):

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In the same way, therefore, we also, repenting of our sins, renouncing our iniquities, purified by baptism, speed back to the eternal light, children to the Father. Jesus therefore, rejoicing in the spirit, said: I thank You, O Father, God of heaven and earth, that You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes; Luke 10:21 the Master and Teacher applying the name babes to us, who are readier to embrace salvation than the wise in the world, who, thinking themselves wise, are inflated with pride. And He exclaims in exultation and exceeding joy, as if lisping with the children, Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Your sight. Luke 10:21 Wherefore those things which have been concealed from the wise and prudent of this present world have been revealed to babes. Truly, then, are we the children of God, who have put aside the old man, and stripped off the garment of wickedness, and put on the immortality of Christ; that we may become a new, holy people by regeneration, and may keep the man undefiled. And a babe, as God's little one, is cleansed from fornication and wickedness. With the greatest clearness the blessed Paul has solved for us this question in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, writing thus: Brethren, be not children in understanding; howbeit in malice be children, but in understanding be men. 1 Corinthians 14:20 And the expression, When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a child, points out his mode of life according to the law, according to which, thinking childish things, he persecuted, and speaking childish things he blasphemed the Word, not as having yet attained to the simplicity of childhood, but as being in its folly; for the word νήπιον has two meanings. When I became a man, again Paul says, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11 [Paed 1.6]

and again:

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Thus, then, the milk which is perfect is perfect nourishment, and brings to that consummation which cannot cease. Wherefore also the same milk and honey were promised in the rest. Rightly, therefore, the Lord again promises milk to the righteous, that the Word may be clearly shown to be both, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end; Revelation 1:8 the Word being figuratively represented as milk. Something like this Homer oracularly declares against his will, when he calls righteous men milk-fed (γαλακτοφάγοι). So also may we take the Scripture: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ; 1 Corinthians 3:1 so that the carnal may be understood as those recently instructed, and still babes in Christ. For he called those who had already believed on the Holy Spirit spiritual, and those newly instructed and not yet purified carnal; whom with justice he calls still carnal, as minding equally with the heathen the things of the flesh: For whereas there is among you envy and strife, are you not carnal, and walk as men? 1 Corinthians 3:3 Wherefore also I have given you milk to drink, he says; meaning, I have instilled into you the knowledge which, from instruction, nourishes up to life eternal. But the expression, I have given you to drink (ἐπότισα), is the symbol of perfect appropriation. For those who are full-grown are said to drink, babes to suck. For my blood, says the Lord, is true drink. John 6:55 In saying, therefore, I have given you milk to drink, has he not indicated the knowledge of the truth, the perfect gladness in the Word, who is the milk? And what follows next, not meat, for you were not able, may indicate the clear revelation in the future world, like food, face to face. For now we see as through a glass, the same apostle says, but then face to face. 1 Corinthians 13:12 Wherefore also he has added, neither yet are you now able, for you are still carnal, minding the things of the flesh—desiring, loving, feeling jealousy, wrath, envy. For we are no more in the flesh, Romans 8:9 as some suppose. For with it [they say], having the face which is like an angel's, we shall see the promise face to face. How then, if that is truly the promise after our departure hence, say they that they know what eye has not known, nor has entered into the mind of man, who have not perceived by the Spirit, but received from instruction what ear has not heard, or that ear alone which was rapt up into the third heaven? But it even then was commanded to preserve it unspoken.

and finally again:

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Further, many also use the fat of milk, called butter, for the lamp, plainly indicating by this enigma the abundant unction of the Word, since He alone it is who nourishes the infants, makes them grow, and enlightens them. Wherefore also the Scripture says respecting the Lord, He fed them with the produce of the fields; they sucked honey from the rock, and oil from the solid rock, butter of cattle, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs; Deuteronomy 32:13-14 and what follows He gave them. But he that prophesies the birth of the child says: Butter and honey shall He eat. Isaiah 7:15 And it occurs to me to wonder how some dare call themselves perfect and gnostics, with ideas of themselves above the apostle, inflated and boastful, when Paul even owned respecting himself, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forth to those that are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 And yet he reckons himself perfect, because he has been emancipated from his former life, and strives after the better life, not as perfect in knowledge, but as aspiring after perfection. Wherefore also he adds, As many of us as are perfect, are thus minded, Philippians 3:15 manifestly describing perfection as the renunciation of sin, and regeneration into the faith of the only perfect One, and forgetting our former sins.

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 11:14 AM

And again in Book One of the Instructor the hint of adelphopoiesis becomes ever more explicit:

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Such is our Instructor, righteously good. I came not, He says, to be ministered unto, but to minister. Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45 Wherefore He is introduced in the Gospel wearied, John 4:6 because toiling for us, and promising to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28 For him alone who does so He owns to be the good shepherd. Generous, therefore, is He who gives for us the greatest of all gifts, His own life; and beneficent exceedingly, and loving to men, in that, when He might have been Lord, He wished to be a brother man; and so good was He that He died for us. [Strom 1.9]

stephan huller · 03-09-2012, 01:33 PM

And in Book Three of this thoroughly reworked book:

Quote:

"Know ye not yourselves," says the apostle, "that Christ Jesus is in you?" Whom, had we known as dwelling in us, I know not how we could have dared to dishonour. But the using of pitch to pluck out hair (I shrink from even mentioning the shamelessness connected with this process), and in the act of bending back and bending down, the violence done to nature's modesty by stepping out and bending backwards in shameful postures, yet the doers not ashamed of themselves, but conducting themselves without shame in the midst of the youth, and in the gymnasium, where the prowess of man is tried; the following of this unnatural practice, is it not the extreme of licentiousness? For those who engage in such practices in public will scarcely behave with modesty to any at home. Their want of shame in public attests their unbridled licentiousness in private.

For he who in the light of day denies his manhood, will prove himself manifestly a woman by night. "There shall not be," said the Word by Moses, "a harlot of the daughters of Israel; there shall not be a fornicator of the sons of Israel."

But the pitch does good, it is said. Nay, it defames, say I. No one who entertains right sentiments would wish to appear a fornicator, were he not the victim of that vice, and study to defame the beauty of his form. No one would, I say, voluntarily choose to do this. "For if God foreknew those who are called, according to His purpose, to be conformed to the image of His Son," for whose sake, according to the blessed apostle, He has appointed "Him to be the first-born among many brethren," are they not godless who treat with indignity the body which is of like form with the Lord?

The man, who would be beautiful, must adorn that which is the most beautiful thing in man, his mind, which every day he ought to exhibit in greater comeliness; and should pluck out not hairs, but lusts. I pity the boys possessed by the slave-dealers, that are decked for dishonour. But they are not treated with ignominy by themselves, but by command the wretches are adorned for base gain. But how disgusting are those who willingly practise the things to which, if compelled, they would, if they were men, die rather than do?

But life has reached this pitch of licentiousness through the wantonness of wickedness, and lasciviousness is diffused over the cities, having become law. Beside them women stand in the stews, offering their own flesh for hire for lewd pleasure, and boys, taught to deny their sex, act the part of women.

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