The Victory of Knowledge in Truth and Love

He who has knowledge of the truth is free, and a free man sins not, because “he who sins is a slave to sin.” Truth is the Mother, but knowledge is the ‹Father›. Those who do not let themselves sin, the world calls them “free.” The knowledge of the truth makes those who do not let themselves sin to be lifted up, which means that they are made free, and it lifts them up above all things, but love builds up,⁠a and he who has been made free by means of knowledge is a slave because (he has) love for those who have not yet been able to obtain [the] freedom of knowledge.⁠b [However], it is knowledge that makes them able [to] become free. Love [never says it owns] anything, yet [everything] is owned by it. It does not [say “That is mine,”] or, “This is mine,” but instead, [“Everything that is mine] is yours.”⁠c Spiritual love is wine as well as fragrance. All who anoint themselves with it [derive good from] it. Those who stand near them also derive good, as do those anointed ones who are standing there. If those who are anointed with ointment leave them and go away, those who are not anointed, who only stand near them, they return to being stuck in their stench. The Samaritan gave nothing to the injured man but wine and oil.⁠d It was nothing other than the ointment, and it cured the injuries, because “love covers a multitude of sins.”⁠e He whom the woman loves, he is the one whom those she will give birth to will look like. If this be her husband, they will look like her husband. If it be an adulterer, they will look like the adulterer. It is frequently the case that when a woman sleeps with her husband because she is obligated, yet her thoughts dwell on the adulterer with whom she is used to having sex, the one to whom she will give birth will look like the adulterer. You, however, who are united with the Son of God, love not the world, but love the Lord, in order that those you will give birth to will not to be like the world, but that they will be like the Lord. A human unites with a human, a horse unites with a horse, a donkey unites with a donkey. A species is accustomed to unite [with] the corresponding species. This is the way Spirit unites with Spirit, and Logos has communion with Logos, [and Light has] communion [with Light]. [If you] become Man, [the Man will] love you. If you become [Spirit], the Spirit will unite with you. [If] you become Logos, the Logos will mingle with you. If [you] become Light, the Light will have communion with you. If you become one of those above, those who dwell above will rest on you. If you become a horse, or a donkey, or a calf, or a dog, or a sheep, or some other of the animals that dwell outside and below, being neither Man, nor Spirit, nor Logos, nor Light, nor those above, nor those inside, they will be unable to love you. They will not be able to rest inside you, and you will have no share inside them. He who is a slave unwillingly, he will be able to be free.⁠f He who has been freed as the gift of his master, and has then sold himself into slavery, he will no longer be able to be free again. Agriculture in the world is carried out by four elements, gathering into the storehouse because of water, and earth, and wind, and light, and even the agriculture of God resembles this, because of four: because of faith, and hope, and love, and knowledge.⁠g Our earth is faith, in which we put down roots, [and] the [water] is hope, through [which we] feed. The wind is love, through which we grow, and the light [is] knowledge, through which we [ripen]. Grace is of [four modes, being] earthly, being [heavenly, ... being of] the heaven of the heaven, [...]. [Blessed] is he who has not [grieved] a soul. This is Jesus Christ. He traveled everywhere and burdened no one. This type of person is consequently a blessed one, given that he is Perfect Man, because the Logos explains to us how difficult it is to attain. How could we be capable of achieving what is great? How could he be capable of giving rest to everyone? Most importantly, it is not right to cause grief to anyone, whether great or small, or unfaithful or faithful, and (also most importantly, it is right) to give rest to those resting in the good. Some derive profit from giving rest to someone who is rich. He who does the good may feel unable to give rest to these, because he is not undertaking something that pleases him. He cannot, however, let himself cause grief, because he must not distress them. He, however, who becomes rich will at times cause them grief. It is not that he is like one (who causes grief), but it is something in them that is wrong that causes them grief. He who possesses the nature for it will bring joy to the good, but there are some who grieve intensely over this. An owner of a household gained everything, be it child, or slave, or cattle, or dog, or pig, or corn, [or] barley, or chaff, or hay, or [...], or meat, and acorn, [but he is] wise, and he knows which food is for each [one].⁠h He gave bread to the children, [...], but he gave [... and grain to] the slaves, and [he pitched barley], and chaff, and hay to the cattle. He threw bones to the dogs, [and] he threw acorns and slop to [the pigs]. This is the way of the disciple of God. If he be wise, he will know what being a disciple is. The forms of the body will not fool him, but he will assess the condition of each individual soul, and will speak with him. Many animals in the world are in the form of humans. If he recognizes them, he will throw acorns to the pigs, but he will pitch barley, and chaff, and hay to the cattle.⁠i He will throw bones to the dogs. To the slaves he will give what is preliminary, and to the children he will give what is perfect.⁠j The Son of Man is one, and the Son of the Son of Man is another. The Lord is the Son of Man, and the Son of the Son of Man is he who creates by means of the Son of Man. The Son of Man obtained from God the power to create. He possesses the power to beget. He who has obtained the power to create is a created entity. He who has obtained (the power) for begetting is a begotten entity. He who creates is unable to beget. He who begets is able to create. It is said that he who creates begets, but his offspring is a created entity, [because] it is not by being begotten [that they] are his children, but they are [created entities]. He who creates works [visibly], and he himself is [manifest]. He who begets does so in [secret], and he is concealed, [beyond all] image. [What is more], he who [creates, creates] visibly, but he who begets, [begets] children in secret. No [one can] know [when the husband] and the wife have sex with each other but they themselves, because marriage in the world is a symbolic image for those who have taken a wife. If marriage in pollution is secret, how much more is the unpolluted marriage a true symbolic image. It is not fleshly, but pure. It does not pertain to desire, but to choice. It does not belong to the darkness or to the night, but it belongs to the day and to the light. If a marriage be denuded, it becomes fornication, and not just if the bride takes in the sperm of another man, but even should she just leave her bedroom and be seen, she has fornicated. She must be seen only by her father, and her mother, and the friend of the bridegroom, and the sons of the bridegroom.⁠k These are the ones who are allowed to enter the bridal chamber on a daily basis. However, the others are allowed only to desire to hear her voice and to relish her ointment.⁠l They are also allowed to feed on the crumbs that fall from the table, like dogs.⁠m Bridegrooms and brides belong in the bridal chamber. No one can see the bridegroom together with the bride unless [he become] these. When Abraham [...] for him to see what he was to see, [he] circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, [instructing] us that we must destroy the flesh.⁠n [Most] in [the] world continue and remain alive as long as their [insides are concealed]. [If they are made visible], they will die, in accord with the [pattern] of the man (as a) visible (entity). [As long as] the insides of the man are concealed, the man will remain alive. When his insides are made visible, they fall out of him, and the man dies. The same is also the case with a tree. As long as its root remains concealed, it sprouts and grows. If its root be made visible, the tree will wither. It is this way with every offspring in the world, not only the visible, but also the concealed, because as long as the root of evil is concealed, it remains strong. If, however, one is made aware of it, it will die, and if it is made visible, it will be destroyed. Consequently, the Logos says: “Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees.”⁠o It will not cut. What is cut will sprout again. Instead, the axe digs down inside until it severs the root. Jesus ripped out the root entirely, but others (only) partly. Regarding us, may each one of us dig down to the root of evil that is inside him, and pull it out from its root inside his heart, and it will be uprooted if we are aware of it. If, however, we are unaware of it, it will take root inside us, and it will produce its fruits inside our heart. It controls us, and we become its slaves. It ensnares us, in order that we may do what we do [not] want to do.⁠p Those things we want to do, we do [not] do. [It is] powerful on account of our not being aware of it. As long as [it survives], it operates. [Ignorance] is the mother of [all evil]. Ignorance will lead to [death]. [This is because] those things whose cause of existence is [ignorance], they neither have existed, nor [do they exist now], nor will they come into existence [...]. They will be destroyed when the whole truth has been made manifest, because truth, like ignorance, when it is concealed, rests inside itself. If, however, it is made manifest and it has become (the object) of awareness, it will be glorified to the degree that it prevails over ignorance and error, (to the degree that) it frees. The Logos says: “If you know the truth, the truth will make you free.”⁠q Ignorance is a slave. Knowledge is freedom. If we know the truth, we will discover the fruits of truth inside us. If we unite with her, she will obtain for us the fullness.