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Gospel of Philip

About this book

Conclusion: The Perfect Light of the Holy of Holies, the Bridal Chamber

Chapter 12

Currently, we experience the visible things of creation.
We say that they are what is honorable, strong, but the concealed things are what is despised, weak.
It is this way with those that are manifested from the truth: They are what is weak and despised, but the concealed are what is strong and honorable.
However, the symbolic images of truth are made manifest as types and images.
By contrast, the bedroom is concealed.
It is the Holy inside the Holy.
Indeed, in the beginning, the veil concealed how God governed the creation.
When, however, the veil is rent, and those who belong to the inside are made manifest, this house will be forsaken [like] a desert, or instead, it will be [destroyed].
However, the fullness of the godhead will flee [from] these places, not into the Holies [of the] Holies, because it will not be able to mingle together with the unmingled [light] and the fullness without [lack], [but] it will come to be beneath the wings of the cross, [and beneath] its arms.
This ark will [be their] salvation when the deluge of water weighs down on them.⁠
If some, by chance, be of the priestly tribe, they will be able to enter inside the veil together with the high priest.
Consequently, the veil was rent not only above, given that it would have been opened only to those who belong to what is above, nor was it rent only below, given that it would have been made manifest only to those who belong to what is below.
Instead, it was rent from above to below.
Those above have opened for us, those below, in order that we can enter into the secrets of the truth.
This is truly what is honorable, what is strong, yet we will enter there by means of lowly types and weaknesses.
They are humbled before the perfect glory.
There is a glory that surpasses glory.
There is a power that surpasses power.
Consequently, the perfect things were opened for us by the secrets of the truth, and the Holies of the Holies was disclosed, and the bedroom invited us inside.⁠
As long as it is concealed, evil remains inactive.
However, it has not been removed from the presence of the offspring of the holy Spirit.
They are slaves to evil.
However, when it will be exposed, then the perfect light will pour out on everyone, and all those who dwell inside it will [obtain chrism].
The slaves will then be free, [and] the captives redeemed.⁠
“[Every] plant [that] my Father who is in heaven has not planted [will be] uprooted.”⁠
Those who have been divided will be united, [the empty] will be filled.
Everyone who will [enter into] the bedroom shall light their [lamp], because [it] is similar to the marriages that are [held in secret and] take place at night.
The fiery (light) [shines] in the night; it is put out.
However, the symbolic images of that marriage are performed in the day, and in the light.
Neither that day nor its light sets.
If someone becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he will obtain the light.
If someone does not obtain it while living in this place, he cannot obtain it in the other place.
He who will obtain that light will neither be seen, nor can he be held back, and no one can trouble such a person even while he lives in the world, and, furthermore, when he departs from the world, he already will have received the truth by means of the images.
The world has become the age (to come), because the age (to come) for him is the fullness, and this is the way it appears to him alone, not concealed in darkness and night, but concealed in a perfect day and a holy light. The Gospel according to Philip.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 7:23 and Gospel of Philip 12:10

Hebrew Bible · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip brings Genesis' ark into its picture of the cross. Shelter from the flood becomes shelter beneath the cross's arms, carrying Noah's image of survival into a final rescue that differs from entry into the hidden bridal chamber.

Passages

Genesis 7:23

Hebrew Bible
18 The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 20 The waters rose more than 20 feet above the mountains. 21 And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Gospel of Philip 12:10

Nag Hammadi
By contrast, the bedroom is concealed. It is the Holy inside the Holy. Indeed, in the beginning, the veil concealed how God governed the creation. When, however, the veil is rent, and those who belong to the inside are made manifest, this house will be forsaken [like] a desert, or instead, it will be [destroyed]. However, the fullness of the godhead will flee [from] these places, not into the Holies [of the] Holies, because it will not be able to mingle together with the unmingled [light] and the fullness without [lack], [but] it will come to be beneath the wings of the cross, [and beneath] its arms. This ark will [be their] salvation when the deluge of water weighs down on them. If some, by chance, be of the priestly tribe, they will be able to enter inside the veil together with the high priest.
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... A similar intertextual juxtaposition of the two symbols—the ark of the covenant and the one of Noah—is found in the Gospel of Philip (NHC II,3). The author of this Valentinian composition makes use of typological exegesis, while putting the imagery of the ark and the flood into the eschatological per- spective of final “restoration:’ MINOV: NOAH AND THE FLOOD IN GNOSTICISM 227 in the holy. The veil at first concealed how God controlled the creation, but when the veil is rent and the things inside are revealed, this house will be left desolate, or rather will be [destroyed]. And the whole (inferior) godhead will flee [from] here but not into the holies [of the] holies, for it will not be able to mix with the unmixed [light] and the [flawless] fullness, but will be under the wings of the cross [and under] its arms. This ark [ⲦⲈⲈⲒϬⲒⲂⲰⲦⲞⲤ] will be [their] salvation when the flood of water [ⲠⲔⲀⲦⲀⲔⲖⲨⲤⲘⲞⲤ Ⲙ̅ⲘⲞⲞⲨ] surges over them. An intriguing detail of this latter-days scenario is that we are presented with two distinct groups of people: those of the priesthood, who shall enter the ultimate mystery of the “bridal chamber”; and, inferior to them, the follow- ers of the lower divinity, who shall seek salvation “under the wings of the cross.” Unfortunately, the author of the Gospel of Philip prefers to remain elusive and does not provide his readers with a key that would allow us to decode his message and get a clearer understanding of the kind of groups to which he refers. However, it seems plausible to suggest that he projects into the eschatological perspective the difference between the two groups, namely, between the spiritual and psychic races of humankind, that appears in many gnostic interpretations of the flood. Albeit in a cryptic form, he describes two different scenarios of behavior in the eschatological future that shall separate between the gnostic Christians and the ordinary believers. ...”
Sergey Minov, “Noah and the Flood in Gnosticism,” in Noah and His Book(s), ed. Michael E. Stone, Aryeh Amihay, and Vered Hillel, EJL 28 (Atlanta: SBL, 2010), 226–227.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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