Texts in Conversation
Galatians describes Paul and the world as crucified to each other; the Gospel of Philip says Jesus came crucifying the world. The shared language makes the cross a break with the world's powers, connecting Philip's meal with Paul's freedom from them.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Galatians 6:14
New Testament
11 See what big letters I make as I write to you with my own hand! 12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. 14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! 16 And all who will behave in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God.
Gospel of Philip 6:47
Nag Hammadi
Some men do a lot of walking, and they make no progress toward any destination. When evening overtakes them, they have seen neither any city nor any village, nor anything man-made nor of nature, as well as any power and any angel. These despicable people have worked for nothing. The Eucharist is Jesus, because in Syriac it is called “Pharisatha,” that is, “he who is spread out,” because Jesus came crucifying the world. The Lord entered Levi’s dyeing-place, and took seventy-two colors, and cast them into the vat, and took out all of them white, and he said: “In this way the Son of the Son of Man has come [as] a dyer.”
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Notes and References
“... Finally Paul rejects any ‘‘boasting’’: as one of the elect, he owes his redeniption entirely to “*the cross’’ which signifies his separation from the material and the psychic cosmos.* So, according to the author of Philip, “Jesus came crucifying the cosmos,” separating the hylic and psychic from the pneumatic elements.*? He concludes by reminding the Galatians that finally ‘‘neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but a new creation” (6:15). All who recognize the eschatological hope common to psychics and pneumatics alike are blessed with ‘‘peace and mercy,”’ but especially the elect, the ‘Israel of God,’’** whom he commends to grace (6:18). ...”
Pagels, Elaine Hiesey
The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters
(p. 112) 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.
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