In doing some background reading for my preaching series on Romans 8:19 (sons of God being revealed to creation) I came across a note about a 2nd century writer called Basilides. Apparently he understood the phrase ‘manifestation of the sons of God’ as ‘the ascent of those who have sonship from the lower to the higher realms’ and there the ‘divine spark in them will come into contact with god’ and they will thus ‘escape bodily existence’.

This teaching, though quite fashionable among many at the time, was discredited as being gnostic. Basilides believed that only the soul would be saved by God – the body and all matter would be destroyed because it was not of God and therefore corrupt.

Such teaching still needs to be countered in my view as it flies in the face of both Old and New Testament teaching about a new heaven and a new earth. The direction of travel between the two – between God and humanity – in the Bible is always from heaven to earth and the golden thread that runs through scripture is the restoration of all creation by God.

Whatever access we get into the heavenly realms, it is worth remembering that its purpose is not our escaping creation but in order to bring more of heaven down to earth.


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