This post is primarily a response to how this accusation is made with the intent of saying the New Testament is theologically inconsistent with the Hebrew Bible, especially The Torah. If you want to argue that the Hebrew Bible presents a Gnostic cosmology, or is in some way consistent with interpreting the New Testament that way, (and that maybe the Greek philosophers were influenced by Hebrew ideas), we can have that discussion in the future. This post is primarily to argue against the notion that these words make the New Testament philosophically Greek in exclusion or contrast to being Hebrew.
And even if you're not interested in that debate, it can be edifying to look into what Old Testament passages help us understand certain New Testament subjects.
Every Gnostic word that the New Testament uses has a Hebrew word that is equivalent and I feel can be shown is used in a similar way. The New Testament does not use the words Demiurge or Ialdobath. And Paul in Romans uses "Para Phusis" a term coined by Plato, in a way ultimately intended to refute the Platonic Philosophy behind it.
The most important is probably Logos, the Remember The Commands YouTube channel did an entire video about the Logos.
There are at least two Hebrew words Logos is used to translate in the Septuagint, though Rhema is also used for both those same words. Dabar and Memra. In my opinion a more coherent translation would just use Rhema for Memra and Logos for Dabar. [Correction: Apparently Memra/Memar/Mamar is an Aramaic word appearing only in parts of the Scripture where Aramaic words appear, like Daniel 2-7. Imrah is what works better as the Hebrew equivalent of Rhema. But Memra does seem to come from the same root as Imrah.]
Genesis 15 begins with "The Dabar of Yahuah came unto Abram" and it's in this chapter that Yahuah on His own performs the covenant ritual. So this is a strong argument for Dabar being used of a very tangible manifestation of God, even though what it means is word or speech. This is probably the basis for Philo identifying the Logos with the Angel of The LORD, since Malak in Hebrew and Angelos in Greek mean messenger or message, Malak and Dabar could be treated as synonyms. The Dabar of Yahuah appears throughout the Prophets also and in Psalm 33:4 which has been called a key to understanding the beginning of John's Gospel. Still I don't want this argument to be viewed as dependent on identifying the Word with the Angel of The LORD.
I think perhaps a better English translation of both Dabar and Logos would be Expression. This came to me as I was thinking of making an analogy out of how artists sometimes use the word Voice. Literally it means the sounds produced by our voice boxes via our mouths. But artists speak of their Voice in the sense of how they best express themselves, as an aspect of who they are. The Word of God is also the Expression of who God is, and Yeshua/Jesus is the ultimate Expression of who God is. Now defining things that way too much can became a gateway to Modalism, which I do not support. But I do think that is best translation of the word.
The Greek philosophical idea of The Logos as a "world permeating intelligence" is not really implied in any of John's usage of the word. I also disagree with those who translate it The Logic.
A number of scholars have written on how John's Logos is distinct from Philo, you'll find a few different results just googling it.
Sophia is a grammatically feminine Greek word for Wisdom. The New Testament basis for seeing Sophia as a being or spirit of some sort is mainly when Jesus said "Sophia is justified of her children" in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35.
The book of Proverbs (particularly chapter 8) repeatedly talks about Wisdom as if Wisdom is an entity or person of some sort (even telling us to call her Sister), and uses feminine pronouns for her. More then three different Hebrew words are translated Wisdom in the KJV of Proverbs, most are grammatically feminine. Some like Chuck Missler interpret the Wisdom of Proverbs to be Jesus, and I'm fine with that given my arguments for Jesus having female types in the TNAK in relation to the Song of Songs.
But Theophilus of Antioch makes what is considered the first Extra-Biblical reference to the Trinity, and refers to it as the Father, the Logos and Sophia. New Testament support for identifying Sophia with the Holy Spirit would include Acts 3:3&10, Ephesians 1:17, James 3:17 and 2 Peter 3:15. The only support for directly identifying Wisdom with Jesus is 1 Corinthians 1:30, but the context makes that not likely to be this same personified Wisdom, and either way Jesus had The Holy Spirit with Him during The Incarnation.
Sophia is a grammatically feminine Greek word for Wisdom. The New Testament basis for seeing Sophia as a being or spirit of some sort is mainly when Jesus said "Sophia is justified of her children" in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35.
The book of Proverbs (particularly chapter 8) repeatedly talks about Wisdom as if Wisdom is an entity or person of some sort (even telling us to call her Sister), and uses feminine pronouns for her. More then three different Hebrew words are translated Wisdom in the KJV of Proverbs, most are grammatically feminine. Some like Chuck Missler interpret the Wisdom of Proverbs to be Jesus, and I'm fine with that given my arguments for Jesus having female types in the TNAK in relation to the Song of Songs.
But Theophilus of Antioch makes what is considered the first Extra-Biblical reference to the Trinity, and refers to it as the Father, the Logos and Sophia. New Testament support for identifying Sophia with the Holy Spirit would include Acts 3:3&10, Ephesians 1:17, James 3:17 and 2 Peter 3:15. The only support for directly identifying Wisdom with Jesus is 1 Corinthians 1:30, but the context makes that not likely to be this same personified Wisdom, and either way Jesus had The Holy Spirit with Him during The Incarnation.
Isaiah 11:2 uses two of the words for Wisdom that Proverbs does and other feminine words with comparable meanings. And is often considered necessary to understand the Seven Spirits of God in Revelation, tied to the Seven Horns of the Arnion(Lamb in the KJV). Proverbs 8:14 uses the same words for Counsel and Understanding as Isaiah 11:2, and the word for Strength in the KJV of Proverbs 8:14 is Might in Isaiah 11:2.
Of the Hebrew words in question, Chokmah is considered the most likely to be the direct basis for Sophia. And it is used of a Spirit in The Pentateuch twice, in Exodus 28:3 and Deuteronomy 34:9, and associated with the Spirit of God twice in Exodus 31:3 and 35:31., those verses use the same word for knowledge that Isaiah 11:2 does as well. Deuteronomy 4:6 also pairs Wisdom and Understanding together in a similar way to Isaiah 11:2.
Pleroma is a Greek word that Paul is accused of using in it's Gnostic sense in Colossians 2:9 where the KJV translates it fulness. This verse was already discussed in my Godhead post. Paul also used Pleroma in Romans 11 where it's often viewed as a Greek translation of what Jacob says of Ephraim in Genesis 48 that the KJV renders "Multitude of Nations", and the Hebrew word there based on how it's used elsewhere can be argued to mean "fullness" rather then "multitude".
The Gnostic meaning of Pleroma is mostly as a synonym for Heaven or the Divine Realm. No New Testament author uses it that way.
In fact it seems the first Gnostic usage of Pleorma was Valentinius quoting this quote of Paul for his own purposes. So no, Paul's usage of the term is not evidence he was influenced by Gnosticism.
However Aion is the hardest Greek word to assert the New Testament uses the same way the Gnostics used it. Aions to the Gnostics are a class of divine beings, similar to the Hitorigami and/or Kamiyonanayo in Shintoism. The New Testament clearly uses it to translate the Hebrew Olam, which means Age or Eon but sometimes gets wrongly translated world, forever, eternal or everlasting.
Paraclete is a word that I know at least one Gnostic used, Mani. In the New Testament only John uses it, most famously of the Holy Spirit but also of Jesus, the Advocate of 1 John 2:1. It means Comforter. From what I've read it apparently isn't used in the Septuagint, but I feel it should have been, it is a perfectly valid Greek translation of Nachem and Menachem/Menahem. The Talmud quotes Lamentations as a basis for using Menahem as a name for The Messiah, and as such is used in the Sefer Zerubabel.
It's possible that Mani himself saw Paraclete as equivalent to Menahem and that he took the name Mani as a shortened form of that Hebrew name. Noah and Menoah are other Hebrew names based on the same root.
The idea of God as Father is not accused of being particularly Gnostic, but has been accused by some of being not Jewish. Here is a WordPress post about God as Father in the Old Testament.
Hypsistos is the Greek translation of Elyon, The Most High/Highest.
Monad doesn't seem to be accused of being used in a Gnostic way in the New Testament, either way it's Hebrew equivalent is Eched. In general though the idea behind calling God a title based on how old and ancient He is or being the first thing that existed, like Arche, has a basis in the title Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. Daniel 7 also provides the main Old Testament basis for Son of Man as a Messianic Title.
Kosmos is the most difficult Greek word to find a Hebrew equivalent for, and ironically is not particularly Gnostic, Gnostics used it I'm sure but it's not one people act like should be ringing Gnostic alarm bells every time you see it. Erets and Adamah equate to Ge/Gaea and Chthon in Greek, and Olam=Aion as I went over already. Tebel is another word translated world, but also does not seem to include outer space/the sky/heavens the way Kosmos does, or maybe Kosmos did not originally include all that as it does in how we use Cosmos now? Tebel seems like the best bet.
There are no shortage of Hebrew words that Archon could equate to. Arca, the root it comes from that gets translated "principalites", no doubt equates to the use of Sar in Daniel 10 and 12. And that use of Sar I think is also the basis for calling Michael the Archangel. So Archon could also be a type of Sar, or of others words for ruler.
Satan is depicted as the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28, and the Pharaoh of Mizraim is called the Great Dragon in Ezekiel 29. So there is some Old Testament basis for the New Testament's depiction of Satan as ruling the world.
Kosmokrator is a word that the Gnostics might have used as a synonym for Archon of the Kosmos. Paul in Ephesians 6 uses this word in Plural form and that's the only place the New Testament uses it. It's been my hunch in the past that the Kosmokrators are Angels ruling stars, while the Principalities and Powers rule nations and regions on earth. I may have to abandon that in light of recent theories of mine, but maybe not.
Update February 9th 2018: David Vose, who I mentioned in my post on The Serpent, is teaching a Gnostic Interpretation of The Bible but also combining it with a lot of Ancient Aliens type stuff.
So in addition to words that are more commonly labeled Gnostic, he's gone and used just more general Greek Mythology linked terms as evidence The New Testament was using more then the Hebrew Bible or even other Jewish texts as it's theological and cosmological source material.
Tartaros is the first such name he sites, that name appears only in II Peter 2. Tartaros is either a synonym for Hades/Sheol, or it's a specific part of Hades/Sheol, or it's the Abyss/Bottomless Pit (the last two options could go together) the third option is most likely. I've learned that in II Peter the word is used as a verb, so I now translate kata-tartara as "cast down".
Abusous from which comes the word Abyss, and is translated "Bottomless" in the phrase "Bottomless Pit", also gets translated Deep in Luke 8:31 and Romans 10:7. It is the Great Deep (Tehom) of the Hebrew Bible, from which came the Flood Waters. And the equivalent word for Pit (Phrear) would be in Hebrew (bowr) used in places like Isaiah 14:15.
The name Abaddon from Revelation 9:11 also appears in the Hebrew Bible, Strong Number 11. Though it is seemingly being used of a location rather then a personage. How it's used there could be equivalent to the Greek Apoleia in the New Testament, often translated Perdition, Destruction or Damnation. Like in the phrase "Son of Perdition" or "the Beast the ascends out of the Bottomless Pit and goes into Perdition".
Then there is the Hebrew word Shachath which gets translated both Pit and Destruction.
Vose also claims the New Testament refers to the Titans being cast into Tartaros. The word Titan isn't used in the New Testament, but again if he's referring to II Peter 2 and Jude 6, many see that as about Genesis 6 though I think it could be about Korah's rebellion which I talked about in my post The Nephilim and the Sons of God, where I also talk about the Rephaim.
Satan being cast into the Abyss in the future has an Old Testament precedent in Isaiah 14:15.
Of the Hebrew words in question, Chokmah is considered the most likely to be the direct basis for Sophia. And it is used of a Spirit in The Pentateuch twice, in Exodus 28:3 and Deuteronomy 34:9, and associated with the Spirit of God twice in Exodus 31:3 and 35:31., those verses use the same word for knowledge that Isaiah 11:2 does as well. Deuteronomy 4:6 also pairs Wisdom and Understanding together in a similar way to Isaiah 11:2.
Pleroma is a Greek word that Paul is accused of using in it's Gnostic sense in Colossians 2:9 where the KJV translates it fulness. This verse was already discussed in my Godhead post. Paul also used Pleroma in Romans 11 where it's often viewed as a Greek translation of what Jacob says of Ephraim in Genesis 48 that the KJV renders "Multitude of Nations", and the Hebrew word there based on how it's used elsewhere can be argued to mean "fullness" rather then "multitude".
The Gnostic meaning of Pleroma is mostly as a synonym for Heaven or the Divine Realm. No New Testament author uses it that way.
In fact it seems the first Gnostic usage of Pleorma was Valentinius quoting this quote of Paul for his own purposes. So no, Paul's usage of the term is not evidence he was influenced by Gnosticism.
However Aion is the hardest Greek word to assert the New Testament uses the same way the Gnostics used it. Aions to the Gnostics are a class of divine beings, similar to the Hitorigami and/or Kamiyonanayo in Shintoism. The New Testament clearly uses it to translate the Hebrew Olam, which means Age or Eon but sometimes gets wrongly translated world, forever, eternal or everlasting.
Paraclete is a word that I know at least one Gnostic used, Mani. In the New Testament only John uses it, most famously of the Holy Spirit but also of Jesus, the Advocate of 1 John 2:1. It means Comforter. From what I've read it apparently isn't used in the Septuagint, but I feel it should have been, it is a perfectly valid Greek translation of Nachem and Menachem/Menahem. The Talmud quotes Lamentations as a basis for using Menahem as a name for The Messiah, and as such is used in the Sefer Zerubabel.
It's possible that Mani himself saw Paraclete as equivalent to Menahem and that he took the name Mani as a shortened form of that Hebrew name. Noah and Menoah are other Hebrew names based on the same root.
The idea of God as Father is not accused of being particularly Gnostic, but has been accused by some of being not Jewish. Here is a WordPress post about God as Father in the Old Testament.
Hypsistos is the Greek translation of Elyon, The Most High/Highest.
Monad doesn't seem to be accused of being used in a Gnostic way in the New Testament, either way it's Hebrew equivalent is Eched. In general though the idea behind calling God a title based on how old and ancient He is or being the first thing that existed, like Arche, has a basis in the title Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. Daniel 7 also provides the main Old Testament basis for Son of Man as a Messianic Title.
Kosmos is the most difficult Greek word to find a Hebrew equivalent for, and ironically is not particularly Gnostic, Gnostics used it I'm sure but it's not one people act like should be ringing Gnostic alarm bells every time you see it. Erets and Adamah equate to Ge/Gaea and Chthon in Greek, and Olam=Aion as I went over already. Tebel is another word translated world, but also does not seem to include outer space/the sky/heavens the way Kosmos does, or maybe Kosmos did not originally include all that as it does in how we use Cosmos now? Tebel seems like the best bet.
There are no shortage of Hebrew words that Archon could equate to. Arca, the root it comes from that gets translated "principalites", no doubt equates to the use of Sar in Daniel 10 and 12. And that use of Sar I think is also the basis for calling Michael the Archangel. So Archon could also be a type of Sar, or of others words for ruler.
Satan is depicted as the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28, and the Pharaoh of Mizraim is called the Great Dragon in Ezekiel 29. So there is some Old Testament basis for the New Testament's depiction of Satan as ruling the world.
Kosmokrator is a word that the Gnostics might have used as a synonym for Archon of the Kosmos. Paul in Ephesians 6 uses this word in Plural form and that's the only place the New Testament uses it. It's been my hunch in the past that the Kosmokrators are Angels ruling stars, while the Principalities and Powers rule nations and regions on earth. I may have to abandon that in light of recent theories of mine, but maybe not.
Update February 9th 2018: David Vose, who I mentioned in my post on The Serpent, is teaching a Gnostic Interpretation of The Bible but also combining it with a lot of Ancient Aliens type stuff.
So in addition to words that are more commonly labeled Gnostic, he's gone and used just more general Greek Mythology linked terms as evidence The New Testament was using more then the Hebrew Bible or even other Jewish texts as it's theological and cosmological source material.
Tartaros is the first such name he sites, that name appears only in II Peter 2. Tartaros is either a synonym for Hades/Sheol, or it's a specific part of Hades/Sheol, or it's the Abyss/Bottomless Pit (the last two options could go together) the third option is most likely. I've learned that in II Peter the word is used as a verb, so I now translate kata-tartara as "cast down".
Abusous from which comes the word Abyss, and is translated "Bottomless" in the phrase "Bottomless Pit", also gets translated Deep in Luke 8:31 and Romans 10:7. It is the Great Deep (Tehom) of the Hebrew Bible, from which came the Flood Waters. And the equivalent word for Pit (Phrear) would be in Hebrew (bowr) used in places like Isaiah 14:15.
The name Abaddon from Revelation 9:11 also appears in the Hebrew Bible, Strong Number 11. Though it is seemingly being used of a location rather then a personage. How it's used there could be equivalent to the Greek Apoleia in the New Testament, often translated Perdition, Destruction or Damnation. Like in the phrase "Son of Perdition" or "the Beast the ascends out of the Bottomless Pit and goes into Perdition".
Then there is the Hebrew word Shachath which gets translated both Pit and Destruction.
Vose also claims the New Testament refers to the Titans being cast into Tartaros. The word Titan isn't used in the New Testament, but again if he's referring to II Peter 2 and Jude 6, many see that as about Genesis 6 though I think it could be about Korah's rebellion which I talked about in my post The Nephilim and the Sons of God, where I also talk about the Rephaim.
Satan being cast into the Abyss in the future has an Old Testament precedent in Isaiah 14:15.
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