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About this book

Gospel of Philip

About this book

Baptism, Chrism, and Eucharist

Chapter 4

With water and fire are all things purified, the revealed with the revealed, the concealed with the concealed, there being some that are concealed with the revealed. Water is inside water, fire is inside chrism. Jesus overcame them all with concealment, because he did not appear as he was. Instead, it was as [they were] capable of seeing him that he appeared. [All of these], he appeared to them. He [appeared] to [the] large as large. He [appeared] to the small as small. He [appeared] [to the] angels as an angel, and to humans as a human. Consequently, his Logos concealed itself from everyone. Some saw him, imagining they saw themselves. When he, however, appeared to his disciples in glory on the mountain, he was not small; he became large.⁠ He, however, made the disciples large, in order that they could see him as large. He said on that day during the Eucharist: “He who has joined the perfect, the light, together with the holy Spirit, may he join together the angels also with us, together with the images.” Despise not the lamb, because without it no one can see the door. No one can approach the king naked.⁠ The heavenly man possesses more children than the earthly man.⁠ If the children of Adam are many, despite (the fact) that they die, how many more will be the children of the Perfect Man, these who die not, but are born perpetually? The Father begets a Son, and the Son is unable to beget a Son, because someone who has been begotten is unable to beget. The Son, by contrast, gets brothers, not sons. Everyone who is begotten in the world is begotten by means of what is physical. Also the others with [...] are begotten through what [...] from there. To the man [...] with the [...] from above. [...] him from the mouth, [...] the word came from there, he would be nourished from the mouth, [and] he would become perfect, because it is with a kiss that the perfect conceive and beget.⁠ Consequently, we, also, kiss each another, conceiving from the grace that dwells inside each other.

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 17:2 and Gospel of Philip 4:11

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip appears to rework Matthew's scene of Jesus shining before his disciples on a mountain. Philip adds that Jesus must change the disciples too, making their ability to see him part of the meaning of his glorious appearance.

Passages

Matthew 17:2

New Testament
1 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them privately up a high mountain. 2 And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him. 4 So Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Gospel of Philip 4:11

Nag Hammadi
Jesus overcame them all with concealment, because he did not appear as he was. Instead, it was as [they were] capable of seeing him that he appeared. [All of these], he appeared to them. He [appeared] to [the] large as large. He [appeared] to the small as small. He [appeared] [to the] angels as an angel, and to humans as a human. Consequently, his Logos concealed itself from everyone. Some saw him, imagining they saw themselves. When he, however, appeared to his disciples in glory on the mountain, he was not small; he became large. He, however, made the disciples large, in order that they could see him as large.
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... This passage seems to be a reference to the events on the Mount of Transfiguration, but, as Wilson notes, “a mountain is a common place for revelations of the risen Christ in Gnostic documents.” The impor- tant point here is that many failed to understand who Jesus really was because they were limited by their own experience: to the great he was great, to the small he was small, to the angels he was an angel, and to men he was a man. Their view and understanding of Jesus was limited by their reality. But just as climbing a mountain can enable an individual to gain greater perspective, in the temple setting of the mountain, Jesus was able to transform his disciples and unshackle them from the limita- tions of their mortality so that they could gain perspective and see him as he really was. ...”
Gaye Strathearn, “Reading the Gospel of Philip as a Temple Text,” (2013): 180.

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 17:2 and Gospel of Philip 4:11

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