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Against Heresies
6.
But further, as to their calling material substances "on the left hand," and maintaining that those things which are thus on the left hand of necessity fall into corruption, while they also affirm that the Saviour came to the lost sheep, in order to transfer it to the right hand, that is, to the ninety and nine sheep which were in safety, and perished not, but continued within the fold, yet were of the left hand, 1 it follows that they must acknowledge that the enjoyment 2 of rest did not imply salvation. And that which has not in like manner the same number, they will be compelled to acknowledge as belonging to the left hand, that is, to corruption. This Greek word Agape (love), then, according to the letters of the Greeks, by means of which reckoning is carried on among them, having a numerical value of ninety-three, 3 is in like manner assigned to the place of rest on the left hand. Aletheia (truth), too, having in like manner, according to the principle indicated above, a numerical value of sixty-four, 4 exists among material substances. And thus, in fine, they will be compelled to acknowledge that all those sacred names which do not reach a numerical value of one hundred, but only contain the numbers summed by the left hand, are corruptible and material.
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"Alluding," says Harvey, "to a custom among the ancients, of summing the numbers below 100 by various positions of the left hand and its fingers; 100 and upwards being reckoned by corresponding gestures of the right hand. The ninety and nine sheep, therefore, that remained quietly in the fold were summed upon the left hand, and Gnostics professed that they were typical of the true spiritual seed; but Scripture always places the workers of iniquity of the left hand, and in the Gnostic theory the evil principle of matter was sinistral, therefore," etc., as above. ↩
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"Levamen," corresponding probably to the Greek anapausin. ↩
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'Agape ( a = 1, g = 3, a = 1, p = 80, e = 8 ) = 93. ↩
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'Aletheia ( a = 1, l = 30, e = 8, th = 9, e = 5, i = 10, a = 1 ) = 64. ↩
Translation
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Gegen die Häresien (BKV)
6.
Sie nennen ferner die materiellen Dinge das Linke und sagen, daß alles, was zur Linken gehört, notwendig ins Verderben stürze, daß weiter der Heiland zu dem verlorenen Schaf gekommen sei, um es zur Rechten, d. h. zu jenen neunundneunzig erlösten Schafen überzuführen, die nicht verloren gingen, sondern im Schafstall geblieben waren. Da nun aber bis neunundneunzig noch mit der Linken gezählt wird, so müssen sie zugeben, daß sie nicht erlöst waren. So werden sie alles, was die Zahl hundert nicht erreicht, der Linken und S. 171somit der Verdammnis zuweisen müssen. Das Wort Liebe, das auf griechisch Agape heißt, zählt nach dem griechischen Zahlenwert der Buchstaben, wonach sie ja ihre Berechnung anstellen, nur dreiundneunzig und gehört somit auch zur Linken; auf ähnliche Weise gilt die Wahrheit, Alethia, nach obiger Berechnung vierundsechzig und gehört zu den materiellen Dingen, und so müssen sie überhaupt all die heiligen Namen, welche die Zahl hundert nicht erreichen, sondern noch an der linken Hand gezählt werden, dann als materielle und vergängliche gelten lassen.
