incompatible with His nature. The section which is typical and symbolical of the higher world. This part of the Decalogue includes such precepts as circumcision and fasting and was raised by the saviour from a sensible to a spiritual plane. References Elaine Pagels. The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis, ed. J. Ross (Atlanta, 1989) Bart Ehrman. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Oxford, 2003) Notes External links "Ptolemy's Letter to Flora" from the online Ancient History Encyclopedia Gnostics 2nd-century Christian theologians