The Way of the Spirit and the Mystery of Bone Formation

In the same way, the serpent cannot strike the wing of the man if it is outside the sandal. He who is 'shod with feet in preparation for the gospel' is not struck in the wing by the serpent. Thus indeed, in a manner of blessing, it is said to someone: 'iron and bronze is your sandal.' But you know that 'iron and bronze' is not received as a blessing for sandals; for it strikes the foot; for the sandal pulls the one 'shod' into its own shape and a wound occurs around the foot. Therefore, the one who has received 'authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy' (Luke 10:19) shows himself unhurt. The invincible and the unhurt are signified many times by these materials.

And seeing in the clouds, he will not reap (James 5:7). When 'he sees in the clouds,' he sees rain lying upon the earth, 'he will not reap.' We must force the meaning of the word; if a 'rain' is lying upon the crops, the 'rain' being driven down harms the things being reaped, making them moist, and they easily come to rot. This is therefore what the command is: in a suitable 'time' let every 'thing' be done by each one in his own way. Through these two words, he transfers them to all things.

For example, one being introduced into godliness, by way of divine knowledge, let him 'sow' when it is 'time,' receiving lessons which were fitting for the one being introduced to receive. And let him not 'reap' prematurely, but when he sees a 'rain' lying upon the ground capable of watering, then let him 'reap.' For at such times the harvest is taken. The diligent one begins and always has an end in the cutting ahead. The prior labors reach an end, but those following them take up the beginnings.

Such a thing, then, is this, and in the gospel the Savior says concerning the Spirit, of 'reapers' and 'sowers': 'that the sower may rejoice at the same time as the reaper' (Psalm 126:5). But it is not profitable in the same time to 'sow' and 'reap' in the sensible sense. But that of the word, the 'things being reaped' are grown, and those being grown come to 'being reaped.' For I said that some are left behind, but to others they come. For it has been said, 'when a man has completed, then he begins' (2 Timothy 4:18); and that which 'begins' and 'completes' happens 'at the same time.' The 'beginning' signifies the 'sowing,' and the 'end' the 'reaping.' 'The sower and the reaper rejoice at the same time.' And it is possible also to take it thus: when the s...

His harvest 'is completed', but it does not have the 'reaper'. The 'reaper', when he does not have 'seed', does not have that which 'he might reap'. Therefore, these things can happen simultaneously by the 'blessing' and 'grace of God'.

11,5a In which ones there is not a knowing one, what is the way of the Spirit. He says this: that 'in which there is not a knowing the way of the Spirit', these commandments are useful. And he said that the diligent and the perfect—indeed diligent and always progressing through progresses—is both; for he knows the 'way of the Spirit'. Thus, 'is the one knowing the way of the Spirit'; 'let him watch', if it is 'wind', not 'to sow', and when 'rain' is appropriate, and not 'to reap'.

11,5bc Just as a bone in the belly of a pregnant woman is formed, thus one will not know the 'works' of God. Regarding the incomprehensible of these 'works', it signifies either the hard-to-grasp. Those who have dealt with the nature of animals have spoken of a certain way and a sequence of change for each part; concerning 'bone' they did not have the power to say. 43 They say that blood is composed in such a way: when food is presented and digested—when it becomes through being sent to be processed—the food changes into blood; and that which is rejected must be cast out, it is not decomposed into the composition of the thing eaten, but is cast off as waste. But when it has been absorbed, then, through a change occurring successively, it is decomposed into blood. Then they say that from the blood, having become thick and congealed, flesh is made, and from the wastes of the food, hair, nails, and such things are made, which are as wastes. But concerning the generation of 'bone', none of them found it, so that this was as 'your judgments are a great abyss' (Psalm 139:6). Such a thing is also what is said in one of the Psalms: 'My bone was not hidden from you, which you made in secret' (Psalm 139:15). And 'which you made in secret', he says this, that its genesis is hidden; and 'was not hidden' this was 'from you'. Therefore, take this for an illustration.

She 'carries' is pregnant the woman who has received the seed from a man. But the seed, having been cast into the womb, undergoes the first change into nature. For there is nothing other than nature or seed having thickened, having near to change into flesh. After nature, the change leads to the embryo, the embryo...