Jun 24, 2012 -- 9:43AM, miknik5 wrote:

Jul 21, 2009 -- 11:29PM, Xianmyst wrote:

Where is CHRIST in all this?  Who is the ONE who opens the mind to all this?  Who is the ONE who came to show/teach/reveal THE FATHER and had all authority to do so because HE came forth from GOD and is the GLORY OF GOD? 

The HIDDEN WISDOM OF GOD made known to mortal man is CHRIST and the MESSAGE OF THE CROSS.

Paul was not proud...he received revelation upon revelation from THE LORD, and he said as much...Paul counted everything as dung but that he had known the LORD, and he made it clear in many of his writings that all were to look to HIM, that he was only one who had laid a foundation, but that the foundation is CHRIST and no man can lay any other foundation BUT CHRIST...Paul desired to know nothing but CHRIST and HIM CRUCIFIED.

And GOD in HIS most awesome wisdom, used the one who tore down/persecuted the BODY, so profoundly to build up/edify  the BODY...

He included himself as the last in the procession, beaten and bruised.  Paul worked diligently for the building up of CHRIST'S BODY and he prayed for the baby church always asking that  GOD might give them the spirit of understanding to better know the great gift of salvation which is in CHRIST.

Where is CHRIST to a gnostic?  

For the testimony of JESUS CHRIST is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY...all prophecy, every word of scripture spoken in a hidden and vieled sense spoke of and pointed to CHRIST.

To the testimony and the law...if they do not speak according to THE WORD, their is no light in them...

All the prophets spoke of him...they did not fully understand what they "prophecied", they did not know that what they spoke was in service to us...they did not understand that by the GRACE which would come to us in the latter generation, they also would be made perfect with us in CHRIST JESUS...

They understand now...they longed to see HIS day, not fully understanding what they spoke of when the spirit of CHRIST in them pointed to the sufferings of CHRIST for the outpouring of GRACE of GOD'S GLORY upon those who would look to HIM and believe but they do now.

They longed to see HIS day...they saw it..and they were glad for it.

May the knowledge of Christ increase and fill your being.

Hello Miknik5,

I was just surfing through the various forums, and came to this post of yours.  It should have received a response.

I am a gnostic in the sense that Jesus exhorted us to gain gnosis.  Christ is the gnosis; therefore, the gnosis is within you if the spirit of Christ is in you.  But, it is also outside of you.  There is, then, a need to receive this gnosis, this knowledge of Christ, in ever increasing measure unto full growth in it.  The gnosis is fully grown in Christ Jesus, and if Christ is in you, then to whatever level of maturity you have attained, the gnosis is in you, and what remains outside of you, is destined to be in you as well.

"Jesus said, "If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."  Gospel of Thomas, saying #3

The idea here is that the kingdom of God is the nature of Christ Jesus that he manifested on earth.  Each of us has received of this knowledge or gnosis, when by faith, we accepted Christ into our lives.  At this point, then, it becomes necessary to grow in that knowledge to maturity.  Hence, the kingdom of God is both within and outside of us (waiting to get in).  Until this maturity, we exist in a kind of need, a need of spiritual growth, and what we still are as opposed to what Christ is, what his knowledge is, is the poverty in which we remain.

"You say, 'I have become rich and I do not need a thing'.  You do not realize that you are wretched, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you, therefore, to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may become rich, salve for your eyes that you may see and new clothes to wear to cover your shameful nakedness.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Here, we see Christ speaking of people who think that they know him, but they do not know him.  They are relying on worldly wealth as evidence of what they don't need, but Christ taught against such pursuits.  Contrast this behavior to that of the Smyrneans who were in poverty; yet, they were rich. (Revelation 2:9)  And, so because the Laodecians were relying on material wealth, they could not realize that they were blind, pitiful, etc...  Here, Christ invites them to open the door to him that he might consume them, and they might consume him.  This is the meal to which he refers.  And, by eating him (his flesh and blood) we are taking him inside of ourselves.  That is to say, that the kingdom that remains outside of ourselves, comes into us in the form of spiritual growth.  The items he mentions: gold, salve and clothes, are all representative of parts of his kingdom, which is the knowledge of the Father that he possesses.   

 This process is about coming to know ourselves as the very knowledge of Christ, and not of knowing our old selves.  It is the replacement of the old self, with the new self that is of the spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and is itself a spirit of Christ that John calls the anointing we have from the Holy One (1 John 2).  It teaches us all things, that we may grow.

Where is Christ in all of this?  He is inside of us, and he is outside of us, waiting, even knocking upon the door of our hearts to enter.  He is the center.  He is the all, in all desiring to be known by him, and, in being known, to see him as he truly is .  Paul spoke of this as well.