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In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus tells the disciples how to answer when asked where they came from and who they are. The First Apocalypse of James has the same kind of questions and answers for a soul rising past the powers after death.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gospel of Thomas 1:50
Nag Hammadi
49 Jesus said, “Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and to it you will return.” 50 Jesus said, “If they say to you, ‘Where did you come from?’ say to them, ‘We came from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established itself, and appeared in their image.’ If they say to you, ‘Is it you?’ say, ‘We are its children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’ If they ask you, ‘What is the sign of your Father in you?’ say to them, ‘It is movement and repose.’” 51 His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?” He said to them, “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.”
First Apocalypse of James 11:4
Nag Hammadi
They demand not only toll, but they take away souls violently as well. When you fall into their hands, one of them who is a Watcher among them will say to you: ‘Who are you, and where are you from?’ You will say to him: ‘I am a Son, and I am from the Father.’ He will say to you: ‘What kind of a son are you, and to which father do you belong?’ You will say to him: ‘I am from the Father who [existed] first, and a Son who [is] inside the First-Existent One.’
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Notes and References
“... On the other hand, salvation in the Gospel of Thomas is perceived in the same way as in many Gnostic writings. It is a result of one's knowing oneself (3; 70; cf. also 111) or, more precisely, one's divine origin in the realm of light (49; 50; 18; 19). Jesus' instruction in logion 50, which he gives his disciples who have to explain their identity, has its closest parallels in those Gnostic texts which describe the post-mortem ascent of the soul past archontic powers back to the realm of light. [...] Cf. Gos. Mary 15,1–17,7; 1 Apoc. Jas. 32,28–36,1; Ap. Jas. 8,35–36; Apoc. Paul 22,23–23,28; CH 1,24–26; Iren., Adv. haer. 1.21,5; Epiph., Pan. 26.13,2; 36.3,1–6; cf. also 2 Book of Jeu 127,5–138,4; PS 286,9–291,23. [...] Yet as regards the questions and answers presented in Gos. Thom. 50, the Gnostic ascent passages clearly provide the closest parallels. ...”
Marjanen, Antti
The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents
(p. 34) E. J. Brill, 1996
* 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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