The only thing a slave desires is freedom. His master’s riches are far from his mind. But a child is not content with being a child. Instead, he lays claim to his father’s inheritance.
Those who inherit from the dead are themselves dead, and the things they inherit are also dead. The ones who inherit from the living are themselves alive, and they inherit both things that are alive and things that are dead.
The dead do not inherit anything. How could they? If the dead inherit something from the living, the living will not die, but the dead will live abundantly.
The Presence of Christ creates the new world; He brings order and beauty among us and death recedes. (The Gospel of Philip Chapter 2)
No one loves freedom more than a slave, and nothing else will satisfy their hunger to be free: not money, or fame, or anything else. Their minds are laser focused on their freedom.
A child’s desire to grow up and find their way in the world is nearly as voracious as the slaves appetite for freedom, but the child enjoys certain promises and guarantees related to their parents. They anticipate an inheritance of some kind, whether large or small.
Freedom and Inheritance
In the Gospel of Philip, we explore the relationship between the slave and the child, but that observation quickly shifts to examine the realities of life and death.
“Those who inherit from the dead are themselves dead…” In the natural world, that may not always ring true. In fact, don’t we all inherit from the dead? That’s sort of how inheritance works.
Maybe we’re not talking about the natural world anymore. Maybe we’re shifting to a metaphor about spiritual realities.
Things Alive and Thing That Are Dead
If so, then the next sentence makes more sense: “Those who inherit from the living are themselves alive, and they inherit both things that are alive and things that are dead.”
The question seems to stem from our understanding of what is meant by “Those who inherit from the dead.” My best guess is that this is a reference to receiving dead wisdom from dead prophets. Instead, we must first receive the living wisdom from the One who is alive within each of us.
A Matter of Life and Death
What do we inherit from the dead except more death? What do we inherit from the Living One but life?
In other words, we must first receive – or inherit – living things that are alive in us from the source of life and all human consciousness. This is always new and fresh. It is not dead but alive forever.
So, “If the dead inherit something from the living, the living will not die and the dead will live abundantly.” This makes sense in the terms we’re speaking of metaphorically. Those who are spiritually dead must inherit life from the living one. If they do they will have crossed over from death into life, and this life is fully abundant.
Desperation For Abundant Life
The same way a slave is desperate for freedom, we should single-mindedly desire to inherit this life that is already alive within us.
We are encouraged to expect this inheritance of life from the Living One and to have nothing to do with the inheritance of dead words from dead men whose end was death.
Ultimately, all of this leads us to “The Presence of Christ” who “creates the new world of the Kingdom of God and brings order and beauty from the chaos where death has no home.
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The newest book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” is available now on Amazon. Order HERE>
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has been interviewed on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Coast to Coast Radio with George Noory, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.”
He co-hosts The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast and his solo podcast, Second Cup With Keith which are both available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Podbean or wherever you find great podcasts.
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