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The Gospel of Philip turns Leviticus' requirement of salt in every offering into a requirement of wisdom. By calling Wisdom salt, it carries a rule for preparing sacrifices into a claim about what makes the disciples' own offering acceptable to God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 2:13
Hebrew Bible
11 “‘No grain offering which you present to the Lord can be made with yeast, for you must not offer up in smoke any yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord. 12 You can present them to the Lord as an offering of firstfruit, but they must not go up to the altar for a soothing aroma. 13 Moreover, you must season every one of your grain offerings with salt; you must not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be missing from your grain offering—on every one of your grain offerings you must present salt. 14 “‘If you present a grain offering of first ripe grain to the Lord, you must present your grain offering of first ripe grain as soft kernels roasted in fire—crushed bits of fresh grain.
Gospel of Philip 5:9
Nag Hammadi
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.
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Notes and References
“... 35. The apostles said to the disciples: 'May our whole offering obtain 'salt'!' They called (Sophia] 'salt'. Without it no offering is acceptable.^' 36. But Sophia is barren [(and) without] children. Because of this she is called '(the pillar](?) of salt'.- Wherever they shall [ ] intheirway, (there ] the Holy Spirit [ ]. (p. 60) (An]d (so) her children are (none the less) many. [...] 21. Cf. on the oiw hand Lev. 2:13 and Mk. 9:49 (widi varia lectio), ami wi dw odwr Col. 4:5f. Perhaps in dw background there is also the eucharist widi b r e ^ ami salt; on diis cf. Ps.-Clem. Hom. 14.1.4; 13.4.3; Acts ofThomas 29; and Lietzmann. Messe und Herrenmahl. 1926. pp. 239-241. 22. Cf. I Clem. 11.2; ZP X X X V I 3 0 1 ; but above all Iren. adv. Haer. IV 31.3. where Lot's wife who became a pillar of salt (statiui salis) is interpreted positively as an image of the Church. ...”
Schenke, Hans-Martin
"The Gospel of Philip" in Schneemelcher, Wilhelm; Wilson, R. McL. (ed.) New Testament Apocrypha, Volume 1: Gospels and Related Writings
(p. 192, 207) James Clarke & Co., 1991
* 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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