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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 Galatians 4:1 and Gospel of Philip 5:16

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip uses Galatians' young heir to explain why a son may not yet receive his father's possessions. Both separate owning an inheritance from being ready to use it, making growth toward maturity central to the promise of becoming a son.

Passages

Galatians 4:1

New Testament
1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the basic forces of the world. 4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.
48–55 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Galatians

Gospel of Philip 5:16

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

References

“... Paul reveals in Galatians 4 two distinct ‘‘sonships."' The pneumatic, born as the “child of God,” develops naturally toward his mature status as “‘God's son” through a process of continual growth. The author of Philip apparently has this in mind as he contrasts the psychic “slave” with the pneumatic . ” son : The slave seeks only to be free, but he does not seek after the possessions (ousia) of his master. But the son is not only the son. but claims the inheritance (Aleronomia) of the father. . . . what the father possesses belongs to the son, and he also, the son, so long as he is small. is not entrusted with what is his. But when he becomes a man his father gives him al) that he possesses. ** ...”
Elaine Hiesey Pagels, The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975), 108.

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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