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About this book

Gospel of Philip

About this book

Divine Names and the Holy Spirit-Wisdom; Straying

Chapter 5

There were three who walked with the Lord continually: His mother Mary, and her sister, and Magdalene, who is called “his companion,” because Mary was his sister, and his mother, and his partner.⁠ The Father and the Son are single names. The holy Spirit is a double name, because they dwell everywhere, above, below, inside what is concealed, inside what is revealed. The holy Spirit dwells inside what is revealed, she being below. She dwells inside what is concealed, she being above. The holy ones are served through evil powers, because they have been blinded by the holy Spirit, in order that they will believe they are serving a man when they are serving the holy ones. Consequently, a disciple one day asked the Lord for some thing of the world. He said to him: “Ask your Mother and she will give to you from the others.” The apostles said to the disciples: “May our entire sacrifice have salt.”⁠ They called [Wisdom] “salt.”⁠ Without her, the sacrifice is not [rendered] acceptable. Wisdom, however, [is] barren, [without] child. Consequently, [she] is called [...] of salt, where they will [...] in their manner.⁠ The holy Spirit [...] [...], and many are her children. What the Father possesses belongs to the Son. Even the Son himself, while he is young, he is not entrusted with what belongs to him.⁠ Then, when he becomes Man, his Father gives him everything that is his. O you who err, that to which the Spirit gives birth is also made idle because of her. Consequently, because of that one Spirit, the lamp is lit and extinguished. Echamoth is one, and Echmoth is another. Echamoth is Wisdom as one, but Echmoth is the Wisdom of death, that is, the Wisdom who knows death, who is called the minor Wisdom.⁠ Some animals have been tamed by man, such as the calf, and the donkey, and yet others of this kind. Some others have not been tamed, living by themselves in the deserts. Man ploughs the field with the tame animals, and in this way he feeds himself and the animals, regardless of whether they are tame or not. This is the way of the Perfect Man: He ploughs with powers that have been tamed, in preparation for everything to come into existence, because on account of this everything perdures, whether good or evil, and right and left. The holy Spirit shepherds everything, and she governs [all] the powers that have been tamed, as well as those that have [not been tamed], and those that dwell alone by themselves, because truly she [...] corrals them, [in order that ...] want to, they will be unable to [escape]. [He who was] formed [...]. you would find his children to be noble beings. If he had not been formed, but begotten, you would find his offspring noble. However, he was molded, and he begot. What nobility this is! First, an adulteress appeared, and she was followed by a murderer, even he who was begotten of adultery, because he was the son of the serpent.⁠ Consequently, he was a murderer like his father as well, and he killed his brother.⁠ Every act of sexual union that has occurred between those who are unlike each other equals adultery.

Texts in conversation

Compare John 19:25 and Gospel of Philip 5:1

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip may draw its three Marys from John's list of women at the cross. Philip turns that brief list into a claim about Jesus' constant companions, giving Mary Magdalene a place alongside his mother and another woman named Mary.

Passages

John 19:25

New Testament
24 So the soldiers said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but throw dice to see who will get it.” This took place to fulfill the scripture that says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they threw dice.” So the soldiers did these things. 25 Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, look, here is your son!” 27 He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time the disciple took her into his own home.
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

Gospel of Philip 5:1

Nag Hammadi
There were three who walked with the Lord continually: His mother Mary, and her sister, and Magdalene, who is called “his companion,” because Mary was his sister, and his mother, and his partner. The Father and the Son are single names. The holy Spirit is a double name, because they dwell everywhere, above, below, inside what is concealed, inside what is revealed. The holy Spirit dwells inside what is revealed, she being below. She dwells inside what is concealed, she being above. The holy ones are served through evil powers, because they have been blinded by the holy Spirit, in order that they will believe they are serving a man when they are serving the holy ones.
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... This saying states, ‘There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister (ⲧⲉⲥⲥⲱⲛⲉ) and the Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister (ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲛⲉ) and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.’ This is similar to John 19:25, where the women around the cross are identified ... There are considerable difficulties in interpreting both passages. Firstly, ‘her sister (ⲧⲉⲥⲥⲱⲛⲉ)’ may be a scribal error and should be corrected as ‘his sister (ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲛⲉ)’ in order to align it with the second reference, or possibly the first list of Marys is influenced by John 19:25 and the second list is the author’s interpretation of this passage. Secondly, the number of women in John 19:25 may be: two—Jesus’ mother is Mary of Clopas and her sister is Mary Magdalene; three—Jesus’ mother, her sister Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene; four—Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. H.-J. Klauck has strongly argued that the author of the Gos. Phil. interpreted John 19:25 as a reference to three Marys ... Regardless of the interpretation of both passages, the influence of John 19:25 on §32 is only one possible explanation of the parallel, since there is no direct indication that these women ‘always walked’ with the Lord, and Matt 27:55–56//Mark 15:40–41 also name three women near the cross (including two Marys) who ‘followed’ Jesus. ...”
Lorne R. Zelyck, John among the Other Gospels: The Reception of the Fourth Gospel in the Extra-Canonical Gospels (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 119.

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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John 19:25 and Gospel of Philip 5:1

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