The Power of the Spirit - Gospel of Thomas

Verse - The Power of the Spirit

Jesus said, “I will destroy this house and no one will ever be able to rebuild it.”

Comment

This saying follows directly on from the previous one, whereby the words "this house" refer both to the external human form, the body, and to the external world, whose deceptiveness and transience the previous saying made us aware of. They even have a threefold meaning, as shown by the similar statement that the high priests cited in their accusation against Jesus: We have heard him say:

I will destroy the temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.

Christ once meant his external form, the body, in which he would rise again after the crucifixion and become visible to his disciples, thereby also making it clear that the spirit controls matter and is able to create a new body when its bodily organs are destroyed. Secondly, he meant - with a view to the Temple in Jerusalem - the houses of God built by human hands, over which he would build the protective dome of that invisible church of all God-awakened ones, which is spiritually founded and indestructible as long as people live in this world.

And thirdly, he meant the earthly world and the visible cosmos, which, although they are nurseries and places of development for spiritual beings, are only a reflection of spiritual worlds and therefore subject to decay, while the development of all living things will continue in higher realms beyond all time and transience and will find its completion in the unification and directness of God for all beings.