Texts in Conversation
In Genesis, God tells the woman that her husband will rule over her. Exegesis on the Soul, a Nag Hammadi text, applies the husband’s authority to the soul’s marriage with her heavenly partner.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 3:16
Hebrew Bible
16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” 17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed the voice of52 your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Exegesis on the Soul 4:7
Nag Hammadi
Because of this the prophet said about the first man and the first woman, “They will become one flesh.” ‒ (Genesis 2:24) For they were at first joined to each other when they dwelt with the Father before the woman led astray the man who is her brother. This marriage has joined them together again, and the soul has been united with her true love, her original master; as it is written, “For the woman’s master is her husband.” ‒ (Genesis 3:16), (Ephesians 5:23) One step at a time she then recognized him, and she rejoiced again, weeping in his presence, recalling her earlier shame as a widow. And she beautified herself even more so that he would be delighted to abide with her.
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Notes and References
“... But [once] they unite [with one another], they become a single life. Wherefore the prophet said (Gn 2:24) concerning the first man and the first woman, They will become a single flesh. For they were originally joined to one another when they were with the father before the woman led astray the man, who is her brother. This marriage has brought them back together again and the soul has been joined to her true love, her real master, as it is written (cf. Gn 3:16; 1 Co 11:1; Ep 5:23), For the master of the woman is her husband. ...”
Robinson, William C., Jr.; Scopello, Maddalena
"The Exegesis on the Soul (II,6)" in Robinson, James M. (ed.) The Nag Hammadi Library in English
(p. 195) HarperCollins, 1990
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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