The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 181 -
Philopold's philosophy of creation.
Philopold then turns to Kisjonah sitting next to him saying: "Have you now finally got a good idea about an angel of God, as I have? You see, this was always my claim as well, that the angels are actually not persons, but only ideas filled with the will of God and are only seen in a particular form when such a thing is decided to be necessary by God. But since God has an eternal number of all sorts of greater and lesser sub-ideas, it is certain that these ideas, if they should be realized in any sort of way, must be filled with the power and strength of the divine, unchanging will, otherwise it could never become an acting or already effective being.
2
All creations which exist either for a time or forever in a designated visible form - for example, like a whole world and everything that it includes and bears, and what it consists of - are ideas emitted from God which are already found in a created being. But in order to bring into existence a being, formless, quite freely acting ideas must be emitted by God which are filled with His will, but only to work and to create forms, but not to be a form oneself in which power and intelligence are united in order to have an effect on the objectively emitted ideas as so divine, that they become a purposeful form in a certain planned order, but instead to be constantly formless and to be appropriately effective for all forms, as the wise Plato claimed about the origin of the human soul.
3
This angel certainly has a form, but this form is actually nothing in itself, because it does not remain; but it is there as it is, nonetheless standing free and independent from itself and the basic idea of God as a great thought, to work for itself, partly with the now separated, own material, and partly with what also constantly flows from God.
4
But the great idea about the actual, true childhood of God seems to me to lie in this. For as long as an idea is identical to the divinity, not isolated, no self-activity and also no independence can be conceived out of it; but only when it has been made equal to all the people of this Earth in all things, it can then become what we people are called to be in everything.
5
Tell me, is my opinion correct or not?!"
6
Kisjonah says, "Yes, yes, I find nothing to be wrongly judged! Certainly I am no less than any wise man, but nonetheless I find with my very natural worldly reason that you have spoken very wisely, and I rejoice to have such a wise friend and brother in the Lord. We will have a lot more to speak about at home; but now I am longing, however, for another word from the mouth of the Lord!
7
The angel there certainly announced something; but nothing is happening, and the Lord, as I notice, has fallen asleep a little during our discussion about wisdom, and that then seems to suggest that He will not open His holy mouth soon.
8
The wise girl who gave Cornelius so much to think about has also fallen asleep, also the supreme governor, and as I now notice, several are now dozing at our table; but at the other tables things are very lively! It seems to me that this table has become very sleepy through the discussion of wisdom by the angel and particularly by you!?
9
Do you know, my dearest Philopold, I love to listen to you when you begin to speak about extra-sensory things; but here in the presence of the very most wise you perhaps over-did things! Well, the angel gave us a long speech, but he spoke purely through the Lord, and so it was more or less the same thing as if the Lord had spoken Himself. But then when you began to speak, it was only your opinion, after everything that you had heard from the angel, and that, it seems to me, called forth the sleepiness at our table! Don't you think so yourself?"
10
Philopold says, "Yes, yes, you cannot be too wrong! I am now seriously sorry that I have let myself be led so far away from my reason; but I still cannot undo what has been done, although I still am of the conviction that I have committed no injustice!"