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The Gospel of Philip's damaged saying about salt may echo 1 Clement's account of Lot's wife. A sign of judgment becomes a name for barren Wisdom, connecting a warning about disobedience with the contrast between barrenness and the Spirit's many children.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 11:2
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Early Christian
1 For his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved from Sodom, when all the country round about was judged by fire and brimstone; the Master having thus foretold that He does not forsake those who set their hope on Him, but appoints unto punishment and torment those who swerve aside. 2 For when his wife had gone forth with him, being otherwise minded and not in accord, she was appointed as a sign, so that she became a pillar of salt unto this day, that it might be known to all men that those who are double-minded and those who doubt the power of God are set for judgment and as a sign unto all generations.
Gospel of Philip 5:13
Nag Hammadi
Consequently, a disciple one day asked the Lord for some thing of the world. He said to him: “Ask your Mother and she will give to you from the others.” The apostles said to the disciples: “May our entire sacrifice have salt.” They called [Wisdom] “salt.” Without her, the sacrifice is not [rendered] acceptable. Wisdom, however, [is] barren, [without] child. Consequently, [she] is called [...] of salt, where they will [...] in their manner. The holy Spirit [...] [...], and many are her children. What the Father possesses belongs to the Son. Even the Son himself, while he is young, he is not entrusted with what belongs to him. Then, when he becomes Man, his Father gives him everything that is his.
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Notes and References
“... 36. But Sophia is barren [(and) without] children. Because of this she is called '(the pillar](?) of salt'.- Wherever they shall [ ] intheirway, (there ] the Holy Spirit [ ]. (p. 60) (An]d (so) her children are (none the less) many. [...] 22. Cf. I Clem. 11.2; ZP X X X V I 3 0 1 ; but above all Iren. adv. Haer. IV 31.3. where Lot's wife who became a pillar of salt (statiui salis) is interpreted positively as an image of the Church. ...”
Schenke, Hans-Martin
"The Gospel of Philip" in Schneemelcher, Wilhelm; Wilson, R. McL. (ed.) New Testament Apocrypha, Volume 1: Gospels and Related Writings
(p. 192, 207) James Clarke & Co., 1991
* 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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