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Gospel of Philip

About this book

Divine Names; Resurrection

Chapter 3

Some say that Mary conceived by means of the holy Spirit.⁠ They are wrong, not understanding what they say. Has a female ever conceived by means of a female? Mary is the virgin whom no power has defiled. It is a great anathema for the Hebrews, who are the apostles and [the] apostolic ones. This virgin, whom no power has defiled, [...] the powers have defile[d] themselves. The Lord also [would] not [have] said, “my [Father, who is in] heaven,” if he did not have another father. He instead would only have said, [“my Father.”] The Lord said to the [disciples:] “[Take] [from] every [house], and bring (it) into the house of the Father. Do not, however, steal from the house of the Father, and do not take away.” “Jesus” is a concealed name; “Christ” is a revealed name. “Jesus,” consequently, does not exist in any language. Rather, “Jesus” is his name by which he is called. However, regarding “Christ,” its name in Syriac is “Messiah,” but in Greek it is “Christ.” Everyone else has it in accord with each one of their respective languages. “The Nazarene” is the revealed (form) of the concealed. Christ possesses all things inside himself, regardless of whether that be a man, or an angel, or a symbolic image, as well as the Father. Those who say the Lord died first and then rose, they are wrong, because he rose first, and then he died. If someone does not gain the resurrection first, he will not (be able to) die. As God lives, that person would ‹not› d‹ie›. No one would conceal an important and valuable item in a container that looks valuable. Often, however, countless sums have been placed inside a container of little worth. This is the way it is regarding the soul: It is something valuable, and it has come to dwell inside a lowly body.⁠ Some are afraid that they might be resurrected naked. They consequently wish to rise in the flesh, and [they] do not understand that those who wear the [flesh] are the ones who are naked.⁠ These [able] to unclothe themselves [are] not naked. Flesh [and blood shall] not inherit the kingdom [of God].⁠ What shall not inherit? What we wear on us. What, however, shall also inherit? What belongs to Jesus and his blood.⁠ He consequently said: “He who will not eat my flesh and drink my blood, life is not in him.”⁠ What is this? His flesh is the Logos, and his blood is the holy Spirit.⁠ He who has obtained these possesses food, and he possesses drink and garments. Regarding myself, I find in error others who say that it will not rise, or both of them are in error. You say the flesh will not rise. Tell me, though, what shall rise, so we can congratulate you. You say “the spirit inside the flesh.” It is also this other light inside the flesh, it being a logos, because regardless of what you say, you say nothing except in the flesh. It is necessary to rise in this flesh, because all things dwell inside it.⁠ In this world, those who wear garments surpass the garments. In the kingdom of Heaven, the garments surpass those who have donned them.

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 1:18 and Gospel of Philip 3:1

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip challenges Matthew's account of Mary's pregnancy through the Holy Spirit by treating the Spirit as female. The disagreement shows how a claim about Jesus' birth could be rejected through a different understanding of the Spirit.

Passages

Matthew 1:18

New Testament
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. 20 When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Gospel of Philip 3:1

Nag Hammadi
Some say that Mary conceived by means of the holy Spirit. They are wrong, not understanding what they say. Has a female ever conceived by means of a female? Mary is the virgin whom no power has defiled. It is a great anathema for the Hebrews, who are the apostles and [the] apostolic ones. This virgin, whom no power has defiled, [...] the powers have defile[d] themselves. The Lord also [would] not [have] said, “my [Father, who is in] heaven,” if he did not have another father. He instead would only have said, [“my Father.”] The Lord said to the [disciples:] “[Take] [from] every [house], and bring (it) into the house of the Father. Do not, however, steal from the house of the Father, and do not take away.”
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... A third strategy is opposition, or correction. That is to say, although the Gospel of Philip assumes that to a degree Matthew and John are reliable repositories of dominical sayings, the author’s attitude to those prior Gospels is not one that assumes biblical infallibility. The evangelist would probably not agree with the dictum of his contemporary Irenaeus, that “the Scriptures are perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and his Spirit.” Just as certain Gnostic authors are keen to point out where Moses went wrong, so the Gospel of Philip is not afraid to issue correction to well-established early Christian tradition. [...] There is also correction of specific passages of the Gospels. For the Valentinian author, Jesus is straightforwardly the seed of Joseph, and there is a denial of the virgin birth, or at least of the conception by the Holy Spirit: Some say that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. They are deceived! They do not know what they are talking about! When did a woman ever conceive from a woman? Mary was a virgin whom no power defiled. She is a great anathema to the Hebrews who are apostles and friends of the apostles. This virgin whom no power defiled is . . . the powers defiled them. And the Lord would not have said “My Father in heaven” unless he had another father. Otherwise he would simply have said [“My Father”]. ...”
Simon Gathercole, “Afterword: Reading Gospels with the Gospel of Philip,” in Gospel Reading and Reception in Early Christian Literature, ed. Madison N. Pierce, Andrew J. Byers, and Simon Gathercole (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), 239–240.

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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Matthew 1:18 and Gospel of Philip 3:1

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