“It is from water and fire that the soul and the spirit came into being if is from water and fire and light that the son of the bridal chamber came into being.

“The fire is the chrism, the light is the fire. I am not referring to that fire which has no form, but to the other fire whose form is white, which is bright and beautiful, and which gives beauty.

“Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images. The world did not receive truth any other way.

“There is a rebirth and an image of rebirth. It is certainly necessary to be born again through the image, for resurrection.

“The image must rise again through the image. The bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth; this is the restoration.

“Not only must those who produce the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, do so, but they have produced them for you.

“The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and chrism and a eucharist and redemption and a bridal chamber.

“He said, ‘I came to make the things below like the things above, and things outside like those inside. I came to unite them in the one place.’”

–Gospel of Philip(58-61)

From Water and Fire

When we read ancient documents, we must understand that fire often means light as fire was the only way to make light back then. It is also true that fire often means energy of any kind, so this really means from Water and energy. The next sentence adds light. It is an allegorical use of those elements. It is not physical water or physical light that brought the soul into being, nor is it the physical elements that awaken and develop the soul in us. The soul is spiritual, and it is spiritual water, energy, and light that awakens the spirit.

Chrism and Light

The second paragraph in the quote now says that “fire is the chrism, the light is the fire”. So Philip is saying here that the words fire and light are used interchangeably. He adds that he is not referring to the fire which has no form, but to the fire that is white. So there are three levels of light: the mundane or physical light, the spiritual Light that comes to us primarily through the Spiritual Sun, and the highest level of Light which is Divine Light. Only a fully awakened and conscious Soul can partake of Divine Light.

Truth does not Come Naked

Truth comes into the physical world in symbols and images as its true spiritual nature cannot be comprehended by physical beings. Zeven as symbols, it cannot be understood by the human mind, but it is understood by the Soul.

Rebirth Through the Image

It is through the image of God that we are reborn as spiritual beings, and that image is the Light of the Spiritual Sun and the even higher Divine Light. When Philip says the image must rise again, he means that the world must become spiritual again, and that is happening now, but it is a slow process as people gradually awaken to the truth. That is what it means when Philip quotes Jesus saying “’I came to make the things below like the things above.”

“Christ said. Unless ye turn and become as children, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God. Again, he said to Nicodemus; except a man be born again, of Water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God; for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

“Scripture positively declares that the fleshly natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know or achieve them.

“Now seeing that all of us have Flesh and Blood bodies, and are mortal, as we find by experience, and yet scripture says that we are Temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in us, and the Kingdom of God is within us. … Therefore we should seriously consider what kind of person it is that is capable of being thus like the Deity.

“For it cannot be said of the mortal flesh … that it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost; much less can it be said that the New Birth comes to pass in this earthly flesh, which dies and putrifies.”

–Jacob Boehme

Become as Children

This is one of the most misunderstood things that Jesus said. He didn’t mean that we should physically shrink down to the size of children. Nor did he mean that we should be uneducated in a general sense. What he meant is that by the time we become adults, we are full of beliefs, ideas, and concepts that are sometimes false, or only partially true. These beliefs and concepts prevent us from seeing things that do not fit in with our beliefs. The best example of this is the Story of Christopher Columbus landing in the New World. The Native Americans saw the small boats that brought Columbus and some of his crew to shore, but they could not see the large ships those boats came from. Their beliefs blocked them from seeing something that contradicted those beliefs. Only the Medicine Man, the most open-minded of them, saw the big ships and slowly described them to the others. Once they were told about them, they were suddenly able to see them. This is true for many beliefs that we hold about God, spirits, and just about everything. It is most important for the spiritual student to learn to push aside those beliefs and concepts in order to see what is truly there.

Water and Spirit

This is an allegorical saying as well. It does not literally mean water, as in baptism, but the Spiritual Water, the Grace of God. The point is, to reborn does not mean to study scripture or to be ordained a minister. It means to take in the Spiritual Light that awakens and develops the Spirit. That is being Reborn.

Flesh is not The Temple

The material body of flesh cannot be the Temple of the Holy Spirit, yet Scripture tells us we are such a Temple. It is the spirit of man that is the Temple. The spirit is our link to heaven, to the Angels in Heaven, and to God. But that link doesn’t function if we allow the spirit to stay in the dormant state it was in when we were born. We must awaken and develop the Spirit until it becomes a conscious Soul. That is what the ancient mystery schools taught. It is what the Gnostic groups taught in secret to their members. It is what was truly taught by Jesus, Buddha, and the other founders of great religions. It is the developed Soul that will go to Heaven, not the physical body. The physical, being created by the Demiurge, cannot go to Heaven. In the not-very-distant future, though, matter will change back to its original form as spirit and all will be as God wants it to be.