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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 Hebrews 9:8 and Gospel of Philip 12:19

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip develops Hebrews' picture of a sanctuary that remains closed for a time. Opening the veil reveals truth and admits people to the bridal chamber, so a restriction on worship becomes an explanation of what full restoration will reveal.

Passages

Hebrews 9:8

New Testament
6 So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties. 7 But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the Holy Place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing. 9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They served only for matters of food and drink and various ritual washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hebrews

Gospel of Philip 12:19

Nag Hammadi
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.
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... Certainly exegesis of Hebrews 9:1-10 also seems to have contributed to the development of these ideas, but an exegesis informed by Jewish traditions about the heavenly Temple: Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and a earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, an outer one ... it is called the Holy Place. Behind the second veil stood a tent called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant ... above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat ... The priests go continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties; but into the second tent only the high priest goes, and he but once a year ... The holy spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tent is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age) ... until the time of reformation. This is most vivid in the Gospel of Philip. On the great day of complete “restoration”, the spirit of the person finally will enter the bridal chamber and marry his angel (67:16-20). Until that time, the Bridal Chamber, the Holy of Holies, remains hidden behind the veil (84:20-26). At the eschaton, however, the veil will be rent “from top to bottom” (85:10) and the interior of the Holy of Holies will be revealed (84:25-26). The world will be left desolate and the Demiurge will flee the cosmos. He, however, will not be able to flee into the heavenly Temple shrines because he “will not be able to mix with the unmixed [light] and the [flawless] pleroma” (84:27-34). ...”
April D. DeConick, “Heavenly Temple Traditions and Valentinian Worship: A Case for First-Century Christology in the Second Century,” in The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism: Papers from the St. Andrews Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus, ed. Carey C. Newman et al. (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 340–341.

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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Hebrews 9:8 and Gospel of Philip 12:19

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