Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
INNER CIRCLE: Inheritance From the Living One

INNER CIRCLE: Inheritance From the Living One

Last updated on: March 14, 2025 at 7:51 pm by Keith Giles

0 Comments

INNER CIRCLE: Inheritance From the Living One 2025-03-14T19:51:50+00:00 Keith Giles

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

IMAGE: Keith Giles

The only thing a slave desires is freedom. His master’s riches are far from his mind. But a child is not content with being a child. Instead, he lays claim to his father’s inheritance.

Those who inherit from the dead are themselves dead, and the things they inherit are also dead. The ones who inherit from the living are themselves alive, and they inherit both things that are alive and things that are dead.

The dead do not inherit anything. How could they? If the dead inherit something from the living, the living will not die, but the dead will live abundantly.

The Presence of Christ creates the new world; He brings order and beauty among us and death recedes. (The Gospel of Philip Chapter 2)

No one loves freedom more than a slave, and nothing else will satisfy their hunger to be free: not money, or fame, or anything else. Their minds are laser focused on their freedom.

A child’s desire to grow up and find their way in the world is nearly as voracious as the slaves appetite for freedom, but the child enjoys certain promises and guarantees related to their parents. They anticipate an inheritance of some kind, whether large or small.

Freedom and Inheritance

In the Gospel of Philip, we explore the relationship between the slave and the child, but that observation quickly shifts to examine the realities of life and death.

“Those who inherit from the dead are themselves dead…” In the natural world, that may not always ring true. In fact, don’t we all inherit from the dead? That’s sort of how inheritance works.

Maybe we’re not talking about the natural world anymore. Maybe we’re shifting to a metaphor about spiritual realities.

Things Alive and Thing That Are Dead

If so, then the next sentence makes more sense: “Those who inherit from the living are themselves alive, and they inherit both things that are alive and things that are dead.”

The question seems to stem from our understanding of what is meant by “Those who inherit from the dead.” My best guess is that this is a reference to receiving dead wisdom from dead prophets. Instead, we must first receive the living wisdom from the One who is alive within each of us.

A Matter of Life and Death

What do we inherit from the dead except more death? What do we inherit from the Living One but life?

In other words, we must first receive – or inherit – living things that are alive in us from the source of life and all human consciousness. This is always new and fresh. It is not dead but alive forever.

So, “If the dead inherit something from the living, the living will not die and the dead will live abundantly.” This makes sense in the terms we’re speaking of metaphorically. Those who are spiritually dead must inherit life from the living one. If they do they will have crossed over from death into life, and this life is fully abundant.

Desperation For Abundant Life

The same way a slave is desperate for freedom, we should single-mindedly desire to inherit this life that is already alive within us.

We are encouraged to expect this inheritance of life from the Living One and to have nothing to do with the inheritance of dead words from dead men whose end was death.

Ultimately, all of this leads us to “The Presence of Christ” who “creates the new world of the Kingdom of God and brings order and beauty from the chaos where death has no home.

The newest book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” is available now on Amazon. Order HERE>

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has been interviewed on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Coast to Coast Radio with George Noory, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.”

He co-hosts The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast and his solo podcast, Second Cup With Keith which are both available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Podbean or wherever you find great podcasts.

Previous Post

March 11, 2025

Why the Gospel of Judas Is Relevant Today

Next Post

March 20, 2025 Why Progressives Need to Learn Empathy for Conservatives

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"The Anointed One within me today clears up all mysteries as I mature as a ..."

Herm

INNER CIRCLE: The Mystery Revealed

"But Paul rejected the Jewish Christians (under James) who were the originals. In Acts, Luke ..."

Daniel Johnson

INNER CIRCLE: Those Who Divide

"The "Word" in the beginning was not Christ (anointed), Jesus(Yehoshua, meaning Joshua), or the one ..."

Herm

INNER CIRCLE: Our Equality With God

"This might be a profound mystery from the perspective of the Apostle Paul, also known ..."

Herm

INNER CIRCLE: Profound Mystery (Of Christ ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Biblicism Christian Politics Cosmic Christ Deconstruction Discipleship Dispensationalism Divine Unity Ekklesia End Time Stuff Eschatology Evergreen Following Jesus Gender General Christian Topics Gnostics God's Love Gospel of Judas Gospel of Mary Gospel of Philip Gospel of the Kingdom Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth Hell Historical Jesus Inner Circle Investigative Reporting Islam LGBTQ Issues Marriage Mental/Emotional Health Mystery Non-Duality Philosophy Podcast Poetry Politics Poverty Preemptive Love Prophecy Psychology Quantum Theology Racism Reconstruction Satire Sex Technology Theology Uncategorized Universalism

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In what city was Paul shipwrecked?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rhodes Crete Malta Cyprus

Books by This Author Books by Keith Giles

See All Titles »