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The Gospel of Philip may draw its three Marys from John's list of women at the cross. Philip turns that brief list into a claim about Jesus' constant companions, giving Mary Magdalene a place alongside his mother and another woman named Mary.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
John 19:25
New Testament
24 So the soldiers said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but throw dice to see who will get it.” This took place to fulfill the scripture that says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they threw dice.” So the soldiers did these things. 25 Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, look, here is your son!” 27 He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time the disciple took her into his own home.
Gospel of Philip 5:1
Nag Hammadi
There were three who walked with the Lord continually: His mother Mary, and her sister, and Magdalene, who is called “his companion,” because Mary was his sister, and his mother, and his partner. The Father and the Son are single names. The holy Spirit is a double name, because they dwell everywhere, above, below, inside what is concealed, inside what is revealed. The holy Spirit dwells inside what is revealed, she being below. She dwells inside what is concealed, she being above. The holy ones are served through evil powers, because they have been blinded by the holy Spirit, in order that they will believe they are serving a man when they are serving the holy ones.
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Notes and References
“... This saying states, ‘There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister (ⲧⲉⲥⲥⲱⲛⲉ) and the Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister (ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲛⲉ) and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.’ This is similar to John 19:25, where the women around the cross are identified as, h` mh,thr auvtou/ kai. h` avdelfh. th/j mhtro.j auvtou/( Mari,a h` tou/ Klwpa/ kai. Mari,a h` Magdalhnh,. There are considerable difficulties in interpreting both passages. Firstly, ‘her sister (ⲧⲉⲥⲥⲱⲛⲉ)’ may be a scribal error and should be corrected as ‘his sister (ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲛⲉ)’ in order to align it with the second reference, or possibly the first list of Marys is influenced by John 19:25 and the second list is the author’s interpretation of this passage.54 Secondly, the number of women in John 19:25 may be: two—Jesus’ mother is Mary of Clopas and her sister is Mary Magdalene; three—Jesus’ mother, her sister Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene; four—Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. H.-J. Klauck has strongly argued that the author of the Gos. Phil. interpreted John 19:25 as a reference to three Marys, whereby the two occurrences of kaiv separate them.55 Regardless of the interpretation of both passages, the influence of John 19:25 on §32 is only one possible explanation of the parallel, since there is no direct indication that these women ‘always walked’ with the Lord, and Matt 27:55–56//Mark 15:40–41 also name three women near the cross (including two Marys) who ‘followed’ Jesus.56 ...”
Zelyck, Lorne R.
John among the Other Gospels: The Reception of the Fourth Gospel in the Extra-Canonical Gospels
(p. 119) Mohr Siebeck, 2013
* 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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