Texts in Conversation
In Galatians 4, becoming a son means gaining both freedom and an inheritance. The Gospel of Philip separates these benefits, using Paul's comparison to distinguish a slave who wants freedom from a son who claims the father's possessions.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Galatians 4:7
New Testament
1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the basic forces of the world. 4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.
Gospel of Philip 1:7
Nag Hammadi
The slave seeks only to be free. He, however, does not seek the possessions of his master. The son, however, not only is he a son, but he claims for himself the inheritance of the father. Those who inherit the dead, they are dead also, and they inherit the dead. Those who inherit the living, they are living, and they inherit the living as well as the dead. The dead inherit nothing, because how could the dead inherit? If the dead were to inherit the living, he would not die, but the dead would instead live. A gentile does not die, because he has never lived to be able to die. He who has been faithful to the truth, he has lived, and this one has the potential to die, because he has been alive from the day Christ arrived.
Search:
Notes and References
“... Paul reveals in Galatians 4 two distinct ‘‘sonships."' The pneumatic, born as the “child of God,” develops naturally toward his mature status as “‘God's son” through a process of continual growth. The author of Philip apparently has this in mind as he contrasts the psychic “slave” with the pneumatic . ” son : The slave seeks only to be free, but he does not seek after the possessions (ousia) of his master. But the son is not only the son. but claims the inheritance (Aleronomia) of the father. . . . what the father possesses belongs to the son, and he also, the son, so long as he is small. is not entrusted with what is his. But when he becomes a man his father gives him al) that he possesses. ** ...”
Pagels, Elaine Hiesey
The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters
(p. 108) Fortress Press, 1975
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,