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About this book

Three Steles of Seth

About this book

Praise to Barbelo

Chapter 4

(You) who caused the masculinities that truly exist to be male threefold, the one divided into five, which was bestowed on us in threefold power, begotten without being begotten, who emerged from what is superior.
For the sake of what is inferior, he emerged from the center.
You are a father by means of a father, an utterance originating from a decree.
We praise you, Threefold-Male, because you have joined together the All by means of all of them, because you have enabled us.
You came to be from One.⁠
You have emerged from One, you have approached One.
You have saved, you have saved, you have saved us, O you crowned one who crowns!
We praise you forever, we praise you, we the saved, we the perfect individuals, being perfect owing to you, who have [become] co-perfect with you, the Perfect One who perfects the One perfect by means of all of these, who is similar in all places.
O Threefold-Male, you came to exist.
You are the first to exist.
You were separated in all places.
You continued as One, and those you desired to save you have saved, but you desire everyone who deserves it to be saved.
You are perfect, you are perfect, you are perfect! The First Stele of Seth

Texts in conversation

Compare Gospel of Thomas 61 and Three Steles of Seth 4:5

Nag Hammadi

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Summary

Salome asks Jesus about coming from One in the Gospel of Thomas. Similar language describes a divine being in the Three Steles of Seth, suggesting that her difficult phrase concerns where Jesus came from, not simply his arrival at her table.

Passages

Gospel of Thomas 61

Nag Hammadi
60 They saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples, “Why is that man carrying the lamb?” They said to him, “So that he may kill it and eat it.” He said to them, “While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse.” They said, “Otherwise he cannot do it.” He said to them, “So also with you: seek for yourselves a place of rest, lest you become a corpse and be eaten.” 61 Jesus said, “Two will rest on a couch; one will die, one will live.” Salome said, “Who are you, man? As if from One, you have ascended onto my couch and eaten at my table.” Jesus said, “I am he who comes from the one who is whole. I was given from my Father’s things.” Salome said, “I am your disciple.” Jesus said, “For this reason I say, if one is whole, he will be filled with light; but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness.” 62 Jesus said, “I speak my mysteries to those [who are worthy] of my mysteries. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

Three Steles of Seth 4:5

Nag Hammadi
We praise you, Threefold-Male, because you have joined together the All by means of all of them, because you have enabled us. You came to be from One. You have emerged from One, you have approached One. You have saved, you have saved, you have saved us, O you crowned one who crowns!
200–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Three Steles of Seth

References

“... 61.2 … as from one … . The phrase ‘as from one’ [...] has been a crux since the discovery of the text. There are five principal options. (1) Some argue that the text is corrupt. It is marked as such by Layton and left out of Lambdin’s translation altogether. [...] Finally, (6) it has also been suggested that the Coptic might make sense as it stands, given that according to Excerpta Theodoti 36.1, Theodotus’s Valentinians say that our angels were put forth in unity and ὡς ἀπὸ ἑνὸς προελθόντες. It is hard to decide. Option (2) is attractive, because dining is a natural setting for a ξένος (in the sense of ‘guest’), but since Dunderberg has shown that the phrase makes sense as it stands, the interpretation that Jesus is taken to be from a divine realm of unity is also possible. To Dunderberg’s reference can be added Steles Seth 120,32–34 (‘you have come from one …’); cf. 122,23–25. ...”
Simon Gathercole, The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 445–446.

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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Gospel of Thomas 61 and Three Steles of Seth 4:5

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