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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 Romans 6:18 and Gospel of Philip 12:24

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

Romans' movement from slavery to freedom gains a further stage in the Gospel of Philip. Those who have received truth through images still await its full disclosure, so freedom depends on seeing what the images conceal rather than changing masters.

Passages

Romans 6:18

New Testament
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
55–58 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Romans

Gospel of Philip 12:24

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

References

“... Heracleon explains that the psychics either must obey the will of the devil, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. or they obey “‘righteousness,”’ the demiurge’s law.'°* In the latter case, they become obedient to “the mpe of the teaching’ (6:17-18) which they received (since psychics receive only ‘‘types and images" of the truth).''" Nevertheless, although now they receive only “types and images," the writer of the Gospel} of Philip says that when the “hidden things of the truth” are revealed to them, “then the perfect light will pour out upon everyone; then the slaves will be free, and the captives delivered.''''' For the present, however, Paul says he must speak to them “‘in human terms, because of the weakness of your flesh” (6:19).'! ...”
Elaine Hiesey Pagels, The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975), 31.

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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Romans 6:18 and Gospel of Philip 12:24

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