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The Gospel of Philip develops 1 Corinthians' contrast between the earthly and heavenly man through their children. Death and continuing birth distinguish the two families, extending Paul's hope of bearing the heavenly image into an account of new life.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Corinthians 15:47
New Testament
43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Gospel of Philip 4:16
Nag Hammadi
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.
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Notes and References
“... Paul goes on to say that “the pneumatic is not first, but the psychic. . . . the first anthropos was from earth, choic, but the second from heaven” (15:46-48). The author of the Gospel of Philip, interpreting this passage, says of the ‘“‘man from heaven,” many more are his sons than of the “man of earth.” If the sons of Adam are many, but nonetheless die, how much more are the sons of the Perfect Man, those who do not die, but continually are begotten. '** ...”
Pagels, Elaine Hiesey
The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters
(p. 85) Fortress Press, 1975
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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