GOSPELS

 

New Testament

 

The Gospels have many references to Knowledge which make good sense when taken in the light of the Delphic maxim:

 

“Alas for you Lawyers who have taken away the key of Knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.”[1]

 

“And eternal life is this; to Know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”[2]

 

“If you Know me, you Know my Father too. From this moment you Know Him and have seen Him.”[3]

 

“For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of Knowledge.”[4]

 

“....by the one of whom you say “He is our God” although you do not Know him. But I Know him and if I were to say: I do not Know him I should be a liar as you are liars yourselves.”[5]

 

“We all have Knowledge, yes, that is so, but knowledge gives self-importance. But any man who loves God is Known by him.”[6]

 

‘There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother “Learn to Know the Lord” No they will all Know me, the least to the greatest, since I will forgive their iniquities and never call their sins to mind[7]

 

For to one is given by the Spirit the word [Logos] of Wisdom [Sophia]; to another the word [Logos] of Knowledge [Gnoseos].[8]

 

 

On Knowledge, Faith, and Ignorance [9]

 

Then the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’, he replied, ‘the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing of understanding.’[10]

 

Knowledge is the basis and End of Faith. The duty of the Mystic is to reinforce the Faith, of those who have Faith only, with Knowledge and to take away the ignorance of those who have not even faith, with the same Knowledge. True Faith can only be justified by True Knowledge, and if not all can have the Knowledge then True Faith must suffice until the End. But to those who have not even faith but ignorance then Knowledge takes away the ignorance and at least replaces it with True Faith, if not Knowledge, by the Grace of God.

 

‘A good man draws good things from his store of goodness; a bad man draws bad things from his store of badness.’[11]

 

Unto the good more good shall be given and the bad shall have even their badness taken away from them. Surely this is the duty of the religious person even in the world. But to the Mystic there is no ‘good’ nor ‘bad’, there is only ‘Truth’ or ‘Ignorance’ which is the ‘Not Knowing’ that is first cured by ‘Faith’ and resolved in the End by ‘Knowledge’.

 

The Knowledge of the Mystic is the experience, personal and universal, at the same time, of directly coming into contact with ‘the backside of God’[12] which is the greatest Knowledge mankind is allowed of the infinite God. This experience of God is the only witness of the action of God knowable on earth in this life, but is the Eternal Knowledge of those who have returned to the One True God.

 

The basis of all True Religion in all lands and all times is this ‘Knowledge of God’ of the Mystic and upon its witness all Faith rests. God is Good, All is Good. The division of good and bad on earth is the ignorance of the animal nature of mankind which chooses a ‘short-time good’ in place of a ‘long-time good.’ This ignorance, indeed to most, an ignorance of ignorance, is the ‘badness’ of mankind; the fall into the material world and the forgetting of our origin and end in the Good of God. To remove the first ignorance is to give faith, when ‘Ignorance’ itself is removed there remains only ‘Knowledge of God.’

 

“He who knows himself knows God and he who knows God knows also the dispensations which He makes for his creatures.”[13]

 

At this period in the first and second century many movements were afoot. Christianity was being formed and the Gospels written; the Hermetica was being collected; the Gnostic sects were gaining popularity. They all made use of the mystical understanding of the Delphic maxim in their teachings. Here are two examples, one Christian and one Gnostic. Jesus is speaking in both;

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you know My Father too. From this moment you Know Him and have seen Him.”[14]

And,

“I am the Knowledge of the Truth. So while you accompany Me, although you do not understand it, you have already come to Know, and you will be called ‘the one who Knows Himself.’ For whoever has not Known Himself has Known nothing, but whoever has Known Himself has simultaneously achieved knowledge about the depth of all things.”[15]