Online Study - Paul's Hidden Wisdom. Discovering the Kabbalistic Ideas in Romans and Galatians

[@MaryAnn-j8u]

Thanks

[@igor3633]

I think you are missing a point here... It is all about new ruach that belier receives as promised in Ezekiel. This new ruach is devine in nature and supercedes all 5 levels of soul taught in Kabalah. It is about walking in this new reality of Devine spirit that produces all the fruit.

[@thehiddenorchardproject]

You are right that the Divine Spirit, (we can refer to as Ein Sof) is far above the human capacity, incomprehensible. As for the new Spirit, there is a lot said about this in the tradition that I have left out for time, but there is more on the website. Though the prophecy in Ezekiel is often co-opted in Christianity to mean something different, the prophecy generally refers to the full onset of our upper spiritual capacity (Yechidah) at some point in the Messianic era/Resurrection of the Dead. This is made possible through the eventual removal of the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, which can overpower us and prevent us from being obedient to the Torah. Ezekiel then goes on to explain the downstream effects, that people will be able to keep the Torah, and that the Jewish people will no longer be persecuted by the nations. I don't believe we are there yet on the collective level, sadly. In my read, it seems the Apostles and Paul believed that Yeshua had achieved the levels of Chaya, then likely Yechidah at death, which comes through extreme mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice). They saw this as the spark that allowed the nations to wake up from idolatry and receive some degree of Ruach HaKodesh to begin the journey toward sanctification. But one can only receive the degree of Divine Presence that they are able to withstand. The fact that Paul had to teach them the basics of moral life, not to slander, gossip, sleep around, etc. shows me that they were not sustainable yet, and definitely were receiving enough to get them going, but they would have to protect from impurifying this (1 Thess 5:23).

[@LA-kc7ev]

@@thehiddenorchardproject Did the language of the five levels of the Soul exist in the first century, or does it come many centuries later with Kabbalah? In other words, would the Apostles have understood that Jesus attained the level of Chaya and, with His resurrection, that of Yechida in this language?

[@thehiddenorchardproject]

@LA-kc7ev Good question. The root ideas seem to have existed, but the concepts are definitely developed more fully in the later centuries. I think what we are finding is that they had more cognizance of it than previously thought. I am reminded that Philo makes some references to Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah - but I am not comfortable saying it is 1-1 to what we see in the middle ages. Additionally though, when Jesus references eternal life, the word is Zoe, which corresponds to Chaya. These mentions align with the idea of Chaya in later centuries. More to come on this one.

[@LA-kc7ev]

@@thehiddenorchardproject Very interesting about Philo's use of these terms, also the correspondence of 'Zoe' and Chaya. I will look forward to the 'more' that will be coming on this topic, as well as many others. Thank you.

[@thehiddenorchardproject]

@@LA-kc7ev To be more accurate, Philo writes in Greek and uses the same terms largely, but differentiates between them in a primitive fashion that indicates to me that he was aware of these ideas though he may not have spoken Hebrew at all.