Demiurge

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The word means literally a public worker,demioergós, demiourgós, and was originally used to designate any craftsman plying his craft or trade for the use of the public. Soon, however,technítes and other words began to be used to designate the common artisan while demiurge was set aside for the Great Artificer or Fabricator, the Architect of theuniverse. At first the wordstoû kósmou were added to distinguish the great Workman from others, but graduallydemiourgós became the technical term for the Maker ofheaven and earth. In this sense it is used frequently byPlato in his "Timæus". Although often loosely employed by the Fathers and others to indicate the Creator, the word never strictly meant "one who produces out of nothing" (for this the Greeks usedktístes), but only "one who fashions, shapes, and models". A creator in the sense ofChristiantheology has no place inheathen philosophy, which always presupposes the existence of matter. Moreover, according to Greek philosophy the world-maker is not necessarily identical withGod, as first and supreme source of all things; he may be distinct from and inferior to the supreme spirit, though he may also be the practical expression of the reason of God, the Logos as operative in the harmony of theuniverse. In this sense, i.e. that of a world-maker distinct from the Supreme God,Demiurge became a common term inGnosticism. TheGnostics, however, were not satisfied merely to emphasize the distinction between the Supreme God, or God the Father, and the Demiurge, but in many of their systems they conceived the relation of the Demiurge to the Supreme God as one of actual antagonism, and the Demiurge became the personification of the power ofevil, theSatan ofGnosticism, with whom the faithful had to wagewar to the end that they might be pleasing to the Good God. TheGnostic Demiurge then assumes a surprising likeness toAhriman, theevil counter-creator ofOrmuzd in Mazdean philosophy. The character of theGnostic Demiurge became still more complicated when in some systems he was identified withJehovah, theGod of theJews or of theOld Testament, and was brought in opposition toChrist of theNew Testament, the Only-Begotten Son of the Supreme and Good God. The purpose ofChrist's coming as Saviour and Redeemer was to rescue us from the power of the Demiurge, the lord of the world of this darkness, and bring us to the light of the Good God, His Father inheaven. The last development in the character of the Demiurge was due toJehovah being primarily considered as he who gave the Law on Sinai, and hence as the originator of all restraint on the human will. As the Demiurge was essentiallyevil, all his work was such; in consequence all law was intrinsicallyevil and theduty of the children of the Good God was to transgress thislaw and to trample upon itsprecepts. This led to the wildest orgies ofAntinomianGnosticism.

According to Valentinus the Demiurge was the offspring of a union of Achamoth (he káta sophía or lower wisdom) with matter. And as Achamoth herself was only the daughter ofSophía the last of the thirtyÆons, the Demiurge was distant by many emanations from the Propatôr, or Supreme God. The Demiurge in creating this world out of Chaos was unconsciously influenced for good byJesus Soter; and theuniverse, to the surprise even of its Maker, became almost perfect. The Demiurge regretted even its slight imperfection, and as he thought himself the Supreme God, he attempted to remedy this by sending aMessias. To thisMessias, however, was actually unitedJesus the Saviour, Who redeemed men. These are eitherhulikoí, orpneumatikoí. The first, or carnal men, will return to the grossness of matter and finally be consumed by fire; the second, or psychic men, together with the Demiurge as their master, will enter a middle state, neitherheaven (pleroma) norhell (hyle); the purely spiritual men will be completely freed from the influence of the Demiurge and together with the Saviour and Achamoth, his spouse, will enter thepleroma divested of body (húle) andsoul (psuché). In this most common form ofGnosticism the Demiurge had an inferior though not intrinsicallyevil function in theuniverse as the head of the psychic world. According toMarcion, the Demiurge was to be sharply distinguished from the Good God; the former wasdíkaios, severely just, the latteragathós, or loving-kind; the former was theGod of theJews, the latter thetrue God of theChristians.Christ, though in reality the Son of the Good God, pretended to be theMessias of the Demiurge, the better to spread thetruth concerning His heavenly Father. Thetrue believer inChrist entered intoGod's kingdom, the unbeliever remained forever the slave of the Demiurge. To this form ofGnosticism, the Demiurge has assumed already a moreevil aspect. According to the Naassenes theGod of the Jews is not merelydíkaios, but he is the great tyrant Jaldabaoth, or Son of Chaos. He is Demiurge and maker of man, but as a ray of light from above enters the body of man and gives him asoul; Jaldabaoth is filled withenvy; he tries to limit man'sknowledge by forbidding him the fruit ofknowledge inparadise. The Demiurge, fearing lestJesus, whom he had intended as hisMessias, should spread theknowledge of the Supreme God, had him crucified by theJews. At the consummation of all things all light will return to thepleroma; but Jaldabaoth, the Demiurge, with the material world, will be cast into the lower depths. Some of the Ophites or Naassenesvenerated allpersons reprobated in theOld Testament, such as Cain, or the people of Sodom, as valiant resisters of the Demiurge. In these weird systems theidea of the world-maker was degraded to the uttermost. Amongst theGnostics, however, who as a rule set some difference between the Demiurge and the Supreme God, there was one exception; for according to theEbionites, whose opinions have come down to us in the Pseudo-Clementine literature, there is no difference between the Highest God and the Demiurge. They are identical, and theGod Who madeheaven and earth is worthy of the adoration of men. On the other hand theGnostic system is tainted withpantheism, and its Demiurge is not a creator but only a world-builder. (SeeGNOSTICISM;VALENTINUS; MARCION.)

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