“When he appeared to his disciples in glory on the mountain, he was great and not small. He made his disciples great so they could see him in his grandeur. On the day of the Eucharist he said, “You who has united the perfect Light with the Spirit [pneuma], let our images and our angels become one!”
“Do not despise the Lamb, or without him it is impossible to see the door. No one will be able to approach the king naked. The children of the heavenly human [Child of Humanity] are greater than the sons of the earthly human. Though the sons of Adam are numerous, they are mortal; the sons of the realized Human [tellios] never die, for they are constantly being reborn.” (The Gospel of Philip vs 26b-28)
In our previous chapters, we talked about how the way we perceive God has more to do with who we are than with who God is. Because God never changes. Therefore, our perceptions of God are what fluctuate over time, not the appearance or the reality of God. The verses just before this section said:
“To the great, he appeared as great, to the small, he appeared small, to the angels as an angel, to human beings as a man.”
Now, the author of this Gospel carries that idea into what was going on at the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of Christ fully glorified. How did that happen? Because “He made his disciples great so they could see him in his grandeur.” In other words, it’s not that Christ changed into a glorified body, it’s that the disciples were glorified so that they, as transfigured beings, could perceive Christ with transfigured eyes.
Next, we turn to the Eucharist, where Jesus symbolically refers to the elements of bread and wine as his body and his blood, at least in the Synoptic Gospels, but here, the symbolism is tied to Light and Spirit. In this Gospel, Jesus prays, addressing the Father as the one “who has united the perfect Light with the Spirit,” and asks that God would “let our images and our angels become one!” This is all about bringing everything together. Whereas in the New Testament Gospels the Eucharist is about breaking the bread apart and pouring the wine out into separate cups, here the emphasis is on bringing together the Light and the Spirit, and our human images with the Heavenly host. Both spiritual and material are blended together, even as Light and Spirit have been manifest as one substance in the reality of Christ, who inhabits all things.
What follows is a rapid-fire spinning of the metaphorical wheel: the Lamb, the Door, the Son of Man (Child of Humanity) – all references to the Messianic titles attributed to Jesus in the New Testament Gospels. The Lamb, the Door, the Son of Man, the Christ: these are all the same, and yet we need these images to see and to comprehend the reality of Christ. Once we see how these metaphors apply to Jesus, we can then begin to understand how these same metaphors apply to us. What we see in Jesus we see reflected in ourselves, even as the way we see ourselves impacts the way we see Christ.
Why does he say, “No one will be able to approach the king naked”? Because, as we remember, we are clothed with Christ. That means none of us needs to be ashamed, because we are not naked before God. We are covered in Christ – both on the outside and on the inside.
The next statement reminds us of what Jesus said to his disciples in the Gospel of Mary:
“Beware that no one leads you astray, saying ‘Look over here!’ or ‘Look over there!’ For the Child of Humanity [Son of Man] is within you. Follow it!” (Gospel of Mary, Chapter 9)
That title, “Son of Man,” was often used to refer to Jesus – and only Jesus – as the Messianic figure from the book of Daniel who would come and save Israel. But, here, Jesus suggests that this “Son of Man” or “Child of Humanity” isn’t limited to Jesus. Instead, he says that we have all been made fully human, and to be fully human is to be fully Divine.
In other words, all of us have already been created with everything necessary to reflect the Divine image of God. There is nothing we lack. Nothing we must seek out, or add, or find outside of ourselves to have full and complete access to God. This is why the Gospel of Philip says:
“The children of the heavenly human [Child of Humanity] are greater than the sons of the earthly human. Though the sons of Adam are numerous, they are mortal; the sons of the realized Human [tellios] never die, for they are constantly being reborn.”
True, these distinctions are not reflections of reality. Every “Son of Adam” is also the son of “the realized Human.” There is no difference, other than the perception. Those who know that they are “The children of the heavenly Human” are not substantially different from those who still believe they are merely “the sons (and daughters) of Adam.” Both are filled with the fullness of Christ, but those who are fully awake to this reality can rejoice because they know they will “never die, for they are constantly being reborn.”
What matters, then, is the perception. The way we see ourselves is the way we see Christ. The way we Christ is the way we understand ourselves. As this Gospel says:
“The Logos is the secret of all. Some who know themselves have known it.” (The Gospel of Philip v.26)
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The new book, “The Quantum Gospel of Mary and the Lost Gospel of Truth” is now available on Amazon.
The 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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