Saying 29

English

Jesus said, ‘If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a marvel. If the spirit because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth came to dwell in this poverty.’

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Interpretation

The conditionality of the first two sentences (if, if) imply that neither ‘flesh’ nor ‘spirit’ were created for the purpose of accommodating the other, but a higher priority is granted to the spirit. Saying 3 stated that a person failing to understand their own self meant they were ‘poverty’. To come to a proper understanding about one’s self would raise them out of their impoverished condition. The prioritization of the spirit over the flesh, and the phrasing that ‘great wealth’ has come to ‘settle’ in the impoverished person, might suggest it is not their own spirit being discussed, but one which originated from outside the person. This could be the ‘holy spirit’, the transformative power of God that is active in the world.

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Parallels

Joel

2.28–29 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

Romans

8.5–9 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law. Indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the spirit, since a spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have a spirit of the Anointed One does not belong to him.

Mark

14.38 ‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’

John

3.6 ‘What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.’

Acts of the Apostles

2.17–18 ‘In the last days it will be,’ God declares, ‘that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy.’

Shepherd of Hermas

Parable 5.6.5 The preexistent holy spirit, which created all that was created, God made to dwell in the chosen flesh. This flesh, in which the holy spirit dwelt, served the spirit well, living in a manner distinguished and pure, in no way defiling the spirit.