Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter XV.—Different Degrees of Knowledge.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XV.—Different Degrees of Knowledge.
The Gnostic, then, is impressed with the
closest likeness, that is, with the mind of the Master; which He
being possessed of, commanded and recommended to His disciples
and to the prudent. Comprehending this, as He who taught wished,
and receiving it in its grand sense, he teaches worthily “on
the housetops”3413
those capable of being built to a
lofty height; and begins the doing of what is spoken, in accordance
with the example of life. For He
enjoined what is possible. And, in truth, the kingly man and Christian
ought to be ruler and leader. For we are commanded to be lords over
not only the wild beasts without us, but also over the wild passions
within ourselves.
Through the knowledge, then, as appears,
of a bad and good life is the Gnostic saved, understanding and
executing “more than the scribes and Pharisees.”3414
“Exert thyself, and prosper, and reign” writes
David, “because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness;
and thy right hand shall guide thee marvellously,”3415
that is, the Lord. “Who then is the wise? and he shall understand
these things. Prudent? and he shall know them. For the ways of the Lord are right,”3416
says the prophet, showing that the Gnostic alone is able to understand
and explain the things spoken by the Spirit obscurely. “And
he who understands in that time shall hold his peace,”3417
says the Scripture, plainly in the way of declaring them to the
unworthy. For the Lord says, “He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear,”3418
declaring that hearing and understanding
belong not to all. To the point David writes: “Dark water
is in the clouds of the skies. At the gleam before Him the clouds
passed, hail and coals of fire;”3419
showing that the
holy words are hidden. He intimates that transparent and resplendent
to the Gnostics, like the innocuous hail, they are sent down from God;
but that they are dark to the multitude, like extinguished coals out of
the fire, which, unless kindled and set on fire, will not give forth fire
or light. “The Lord, therefore,” it is said, “gives me
the tongue of instruction, so as to know in season when it is requisite
to speak a word;”3420
not in the way of testimony alone, but also in
the way of question and answer. “And the instruction of the Lord
opens my mouth.”3421
It is the prerogative of the Gnostic, then, to know
how to make use of speech, and when, and how, and to whom. And already
the apostle, by saying, “After the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ,”3422
makes the asseveration that the Hellenic teaching
is elementary, and that of Christ perfect, as we have already intimated
before.
“Now the wild olive is inserted into
the fatness of the olive,”3423
and is indeed of the same
species as the cultivated olives. For the graft uses as soil the tree in
which it is engrafted. Now all the plants sprouted forth simultaneously
in consequence of the divine order. Wherefore also, though the wild
olive be wild, it crowns the Olympic victors. And the elm teaches the
vine to be fruitful, by leading it up to a height. Now we see that wild
trees attract more nutriment, because they cannot ripen. The wild trees,
therefore, have less power of secretion than those that are cultivated.
And the cause of their wildness is the want of the power of secretion.
The engrafted olive accordingly receives more nutriment from its growing
in the wild one; and it gets accustomed, as it were, to secrete the
nutriment, becoming thus assimilated3424
| 3424 i.e., the graft is assimilated; so the
Latin translator. But in the text we have συνεξομοιουμένη,
dative, agreeing with fatness, which seems to be a mistake. |
to the fatness of the cultivated tree.
So also the philosopher, resembling the wild
olive, in having much that is undigested, on account of his devotion
to the search, his propensity to follow, and his eagerness to seize
the fatness of the truth; if he get besides the divine power, through
faith, by being transplanted into the good and mild knowledge, like
the wild olive, engrafted in the truly fair and merciful Word, he both
assimilates the nutriment that is supplied, and becomes a fair and good
olive tree. For engrafting makes worthless shoots noble, and compels
the barren to be fruitful by the art of culture and by gnostic skill.
Different modes of engrafting illustrative of different
kinds of conversion.
They say that engrafting is effected in four modes:
one, that in which the graft must be fitted in between the wood and the
bark; resembling the way in which we instruct plain people belonging to
the Gentiles, who receive the word superficially. Another is, when the
wood is cleft, and there is inserted in it the cultivated branch. And
this applies to the case of those who have studied philosophy; for
on cutting through their dogmas, the acknowledgment of the truth is
produced in them. So also in the case of the Jews, by opening up the Old
Testament, the new and noble plant of the olive is inserted. The third
mode of engrafting applies to rustics and heretics, who are brought by
force to the truth. For after smoothing off both suckers with a sharp
pruning-hook, till the pith is laid bare, but not wounded, they are bound
together. And the fourth is that form of engrafting called budding. For
a bud (eye) is cut out of a trunk of a good sort, a circle being drawn
round in the bark along with it, of the size of the palm. Then the trunk
is stripped, to suit the eye, over an equal circumference. And so the
graft is inserted, tied round, and daubed with clay, the bud being kept
uninjured and unstained. This is the style of gnostic teaching, which is
capable of looking into things themselves. This mode is, in truth, of most
service in the case of cultivated
trees. And “the engrafting into the good olive” mentioned by
the apostle, may be [engrafting into] Christ Himself; the uncultivated
and unbelieving nature being transplanted into Christ—that
is, in the case of those who believe in Christ. But it is better
[to understand it] of the engrafting3425
| 3425 Or inoculation (ἐνοφθαλμισμός). |
of each one’s faith in the soul itself. For also the Holy Spirit is
thus somehow transplanted by distribution, according to the circumscribed
capacity of each one, but without being circumscribed.
Now, discoursing on knowledge, Solomon speaks
thus: “For wisdom is resplendent and fadeless, and is easily
beheld by those who love her. She is beforehand in making herself known
to those who desire her. He that rises early for her shall not toil
wearily. For to think about her is the perfection of good sense. And
he that keeps vigils for her shall quickly be relieved of anxiety. For
she goes about, herself seeking those worthy of her (for knowledge
belongs not to all); and in all ways she benignly shows herself
to them.”3426
Now the paths are the conduct
of life, and the variety that exists in the covenants. Presently
he adds: “And in every thought she meets them,”3427
being variously contemplated, that is, by all discipline. Then he
subjoins, adducing love, which perfects by syllogistic reasoning
and true propositions, drawing thus a most convincing and true
inference, “For the beginning of her is the truest desire of
instruction,” that is, of knowledge; “prudence is the love
of instruction, and love is the keeping of its laws; and attention
to its laws is the confirmation of immortality; and immortality
causes nearness to God. The desire of wisdom leads, then, to the
kingdom.”3428
For he teaches, as I think, that true instruction is
desire for knowledge; and the practical exercise of instruction produces
love of knowledge. And love is the keeping of the commandments which
lead to knowledge. And the keeping of them is the establishment of the
commandments, from which immortality results. “And immortality
brings us near to God.”
True knowledge found in the teaching of Christ alone.
If, then, the love of knowledge produces
immortality, and leads the kingly man near to God the King, knowledge
ought to be sought till it is found. Now seeking is an effort at grasping,
and finds the subject by means of certain signs. And discovery is the
end and cessation of inquiry, which has now its object in its gasp. And
this is knowledge. And this discovery, properly so called, is knowledge,
which is the apprehension of the object of search. And they say that a
proof is either the antecedent, or the coincident, or the consequent. The
discovery, then, of what is sought respecting God, is the teaching
through the Son; and the proof of our Saviour being the very Son of
God is the prophecies which preceded His coming, announcing Him; and
the testimonies regarding Him which attended His birth in the world; in
addition, His powers proclaimed and openly shown after His ascension.
The proof of the truth being with us, is the fact
of the Son of God Himself having taught us. For if in every inquiry
these universals are found, a person and a subject, that which is truly
the truth is shown to be in our hands alone. For the Son of God is the
person of the truth which is exhibited; and the subject is the power
of faith, which prevails over the opposition of every one whatever,
and the assault of the whole world.
But since this is confessedly established by eternal
facts and reasons, and each one who thinks that there is no Providence
has already been seen to deserve punishment and not contradiction,
and is truly an atheist, it is our aim to discover what doing, and
in what manner living, we shall reach the knowledge of the sovereign
God, and how, honouring the Divinity, we may become authors of our own
salvation. Knowing and learning, not from the Sophists, but from God
Himself, what is well-pleasing to Him, we endeavour to do what is just
and holy. Now it is well-pleasing to Him that we should be saved; and
salvation is effected through both well-doing and knowledge, of both of
which the Lord is the teacher.
If, then, according to Plato, it is only possible to
learn the truth either from God or from the progeny of God, with reason
we, selecting testimonies from the divine oracles, boast of learning
the truth by the Son of God, prophesied at first, and then explained.
Philosophy and heresies, aids in discovering the truth.
But the things which co-operate in the discovery of
truth are not to be rejected. Philosophy, accordingly, which proclaims a
Providence, and the recompense of a life of felicity, and the punishment,
on the other hand, of a life of misery, teaches theology comprehensively;
but it does not preserve accuracy and particular points; for neither
respecting the Son of God, nor respecting the economy of Providence, does
it treat similarly with us; for it did not know the worship of God.
Wherefore also the heresies of the Barbarian
philosophy, although they speak of one God, though they sing the
praises of Christ, speak without accuracy, not in accordance with
truth; for they discover another God, and receive Christ not as
the prophecies deliver. But their false dogmas, while they oppose
the conduct that is according to the truth, are against us. For
instance, Paul circumcised Timothy because of the Jews who believed,
in order that those who had received their training from the law
might not revolt from the faith through his breaking such points of
the law as were understood more carnally, knowing right well that
circumcision does not justify; for he professed that “all things
were for all” by conformity, preserving those of the dogmas
that were essential, “that he might gain all.”3429
And
Daniel, under the king of the Persians, wore “the chain,”3430
though he despised not the afflictions of the people.
The liars, then, in reality are not those who
for the sake of the scheme of salvation conform, nor those who err in
minute points, but those who are wrong in essentials, and reject the
Lord, and as far as in them lies deprive the Lord of the true teaching;
who do not quote or deliver the Scriptures in a manner worthy of God
and of the Lord;3431
for the deposit rendered
to God, according to the teaching of the Lord by His apostles, is the
understanding and the practice of the godly tradition. “And
what ye hear in the ear”—that is, in a hidden manner,
and in a mystery (for such things are figuratively said to be spoken
in the ear)—“proclaim,” He says, “on the
housetops,” understanding them sublimely, and delivering them
in a lofty strain, and according to the canon of the truth explaining
the Scriptures; for neither prophecy nor the Saviour Himself announced
the divine mysteries simply so as to be easily apprehended by all and
sundry, but express them in parables. The apostles accordingly say of
the Lord, that “He spake all things in parables, and without a
parable spake He nothing unto them;”3432
and if “all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made,”3433
consequently also prophecy and the law were by Him, and
were spoken by Him in parables. “But all things are right,”
says the Scripture,3434
“before those who understand,” that
is, those who receive and observe, according to the ecclesiastical rule,
the exposition of the Scriptures explained by Him; and the ecclesiastical
rule is the concord and harmony of the law and the prophets in the
covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord. Knowledge is then followed
by practical wisdom, and practical wisdom by self-control: for it may be
said that practical wisdom is divine knowledge, and exists in those who
are deified; but that self-control is mortal, and subsists in those who
philosophize, and are not yet wise. But if virtue is divine, so is also
the knowledge of it; while self-control is a sort of imperfect wisdom
which aspires after wisdom, and exerts itself laboriously, and is not
contemplative. As certainly righteousness, being human, is, as being a
common thing, subordinate to holiness, which subsists through the divine
righteousness;3435
| 3435 Heinsius,
in a note, remarks that Plato regarded ὁσιότης
and δικαιοσύνη
as identical, while others ascribe the former to
the immortals (as also θέμις);
ὁσιότης,
as the greater, comprehends δικαιοσύνη.
He also amends the text. Instead of κοινόν he reads
ὠς
κοινόν
τι, supplies κατά
before θείαν
δικαιοσύνην,
and changes ὺπάρχουσαν
into ὺπαρχούσῃ. |
for the righteousness of the perfect man does not rest on civil contracts,
or on the prohibition of law, but flows from his own spontaneous action
and his love to God.
Reasons for the meaning of Scripture being veiled.
For many reasons, then, the Scriptures hide the
sense. First, that we may become inquisitive, and be ever on the watch
for the discovery of the words of salvation. Then it was not suitable for
all to understand, so that they might not receive harm in consequence
of taking in another sense the things declared for salvation by the
Holy Spirit. Wherefore the holy mysteries of the prophecies are veiled
in the parables—preserved for chosen men, selected to knowledge
in consequence of their faith; for the style of the Scriptures is
parabolic. Wherefore also the Lord, who was not of the world, came as
one who was of the world to men. For He was clothed with all virtue;
and it was His aim to lead man, the foster-child of the world, up to
the objects of intellect, and to the most essential truths by knowledge,
from one world to another.
Wherefore also He employed metaphorical description; for
such is the parable,—a narration based on some subject which is
not the principal subject, but similar to the principal subject, and
leading him who understands to what is the true and principal thing;
or, as some say, a mode of speech presenting with vigour, by means of
other circumstances, what is the principal subject.
And now also the whole economy which prophesied
of the Lord appears indeed a parable to those who know not the truth,
when one speaks and the rest hear that the Son of God—of Him
who made the universe—assumed flesh, and was conceived in the
virgin’s womb (as His material body was produced), and subsequently,
as was the case, suffered and rose
again, being “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks
foolishness,” as the apostle says.
But on the Scriptures being opened up, and declaring
the truth to those who have ears, they proclaim the very suffering endured
by the flesh, which the Lord assumed, to be “the power and wisdom
of God.” And finally, the parabolic style of Scripture being of
the greatest antiquity, as we have shown, abounded most, as was to be
expected, in the prophets, in order that the Holy Spirit might show
that the philosophers among the Greeks, and the wise men among the
Barbarians besides, were ignorant of the future coming of the Lord,
and of the mystic teaching that was to be delivered by Him. Rightly
then, prophecy, in proclaiming the Lord, in order not to seem to some
to blaspheme while speaking what was beyond the ideas of the multitude,
embodied its declarations in expressions capable of leading to other
conceptions. Now all the prophets who foretold the Lord’s coming,
and the holy mysteries accompanying it, were persecuted and killed. As
also the Lord Himself, in explaining the Scriptures to them, and His
disciples who preached the word like Him, and subsequently to His life,
used parables.3436
| 3436 μετ᾽
αὐτὸν τὸ ζῇν
παρεβάλοντο.
The translation of Hervetus, which we have followed,
supposes the reading αὐτου
instead of αὐτόν.
Others, retaining the latter, translated τὸ ζῇν
παρεβάλοντο
(sacrificed life). But the former is most to the author’s
purpose. | Whence also Peter, in his Preaching, speaking of the
apostles, says: “But we, unrolling the books of the prophets which
we possess, who name Jesus Christ, partly in parables, partly in enigmas,
partly expressly and in so many words, find His coming and death, and
cross, and all the rest of the tortures which the Jews inflicted on Him,
and His resurrection and assumption to heaven previous to the capture3437
| 3437 If we retain the reading
of the text, we must translate “founding,” and understand
the reference to be to the descent of the new Jerusalem. But it seems
better to change the reading as above. | of Jerusalem. As it
is written, These things are all that He behoves to suffer, and what
should be after Him. Recognising them, therefore, we have believed
in God in consequence of what is written respecting Him.”
And after a little again he draws the inference that
the Scriptures owed their origin to the divine providence, asserting as
follows: “For we know that God enjoined these things, and we say
nothing apart from the Scriptures.”
Now the Hebrew dialect, like all the rest,
has certain properties, consisting in a mode of speech which exhibits
the national character. Dialect is accordingly defined as a style of
speech produced by the national character. But prophecy is not marked by
those dialects. For in the Hellenic writings, what are called changes
of figures purposely produce onscurations, deduced after the style of
our prophecies. But this is effected through the voluntary departure
from direct speech which takes place in metrical or offhand diction. A
figure, then, is a form of speech transferred from what is literal to
what is not literal, for the sake of the composition, and on account of
a diction useful in speech.
But prophecy does not employ figurative forms
in the expressions for the sake of beauty of diction. But from the
fact that truth appertains not to all, it is veiled in manifold ways,
causing the light to arise only on those who are initiated into
knowledge, who seek the truth through love. The proverb, according
to the Barbarian philosophy, is called a mode of prophecy, and the
parable is so called, and the enigma in addition. Further also, they are
called “wisdom;” and again, as something different from it,
“instruction and words of prudence,” and “turnings
of words,” and “true righteousness;” and again,
“teaching to direct judgment,” and “subtlety to the
simple,” which is the result of training, “and perception
and thought,” with which the young catechumen is imbued.3438
“He who hears these prophets, being wise, will be wiser. And
the intelligent man will acquire rule, and will understand a parable
and a dark saying, the words and enigmas of the wise.”3439
And if it was the case that the Hellenic dialects
received their appellation from Hellen, the son of Zeus, surnamed
Deucalion, from the chronology which we have already exhibited, it is
comparatively easy to perceive by how many generations the dialects
that obtained among the Greeks are posterior to the language of the
Hebrews.
But as the work advances, we shall in each section,
noting the figures of speech mentioned above by the prophet,3440
exhibit the gnostic mode of life, showing it systematically according
to the rule of the truth.
Did not the Power also, that appeared to Hermas
in the Vision, in the form of the Church, give for transcription
the book which she wished to be made known to the elect? And this,
he says, he transcribed to the letter, without finding how to complete
the syllables.3441
| 3441 [This
volume, p. 11, supra.] | And this
signified that the Scripture is clear to all, when taken according to
the bare reading; and that this is the faith which occupies the place
of the rudiments. Wherefore also the figurative expression is employed,
“reading according to the letter;” while we understand that
the gnostic unfolding of the Scriptures, when faith has already reached
an advanced state, is likened to reading according to the syllables.
Further, Esaias the prophet is ordered to take
“a new book, and write in it”3442
certain things:
the Spirit prophesying that
through the exposition of the Scriptures there would come afterwards
the sacred knowledge, which at that period was still unwritten, because
not yet known. For it was spoken from the beginning to those only who
understand. Now that the Saviour has taught the apostles, the unwritten
rendering3443
| 3443 [In the walk
to Emmaus, and by the Spirit bringing all things to remembrance. John
xiv. 26.] | of the written [Scripture] has been handed down also
to us, inscribed by the power of God on hearts new, according to the
renovation of the book. Thus those of highest repute among the Greeks,
dedicate the fruit of the pomegranate to Hermes, who they say is speech,
on account of its interpretation. For speech conceals much. Rightly,
therefore, Jesus the son of Nave saw Moses, when taken up [to heaven],
double,—one Moses with the angels, and one on the mountains,
honoured with burial in their ravines. And Jesus saw this spectacle below,
being elevated by the Spirit, along also with Caleb. But both do not see
similarly. But the one descended with greater speed, as if the weight he
carried was great; while the other, on descending after him, subsequently
related the glory which he beheld, being able to perceive more than the
other as having grown purer; the narrative, in my opinion, showing that
knowledge is not the privilege of all. Since some look at the body of
the Scriptures, the expressions and the names as to the body of Moses;
while others see through to the thoughts and what it is signified by
the names, seeking the Moses that is with the angels.
Many also of those who called to the Lord said,
“Son of David, have mercy on me.”3444
A few, too, knew
Him as the Son of God; as Peter, whom also He pronounced blessed,
“for flesh and blood revealed not the truth to him, but His Father
in heaven,”3445
—showing that the Gnostic recognises the
Son of the Omnipotent, not by His flesh conceived in the womb, but by
the Father’s own power. That it is therefore not only to those
who read simply that the acquisition of the truth is so difficult, but
that not even to those whose prerogative the knowledge of the truth is,
is the contemplation of it vouch-safed all at once, the history of Moses
teaches, until, accustomed to gaze, at the Hebrews on the glory of Moses,
and the prophets of Israel on the visions of angels, so we also become
able to look the splendours of truth in the face.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
