Texts in Conversation
Mark's cry of abandonment reappears in the Gospel of Philip as an explanation of Jesus' separation on the cross. Philip places it near the separation of Adam and Eve, linking Jesus’ suffering on the cross with its claim that division brings death.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Mark 15:34
New Testament
33 Around three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 34 When some of the bystanders heard it they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah!” 35 Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down!” 36 But Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. 37 And the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. 38 Now when the centurion, who stood in front of him, saw how he died, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
Gospel of Philip 8:25
Nag Hammadi
The days when Eve dwelt [inside] Adam, death did not exist. When she was separated from him, death came into being. When he enters again and receives it to himself, no death will occur. “[My] God, my God, why, O Lord, [have] you forsaken me?” It was on the cross that he spoke all this, because in that place he was divided. It was from what is [...] that he was begotten [...], through God. The [...] from among the dead [...] is, however, [...] he was complete [...] of flesh. However, this [...] is true flesh. [...] is not true, [but ...] image of what is true. A bridal chamber is not made for animals, nor is it made for slaves, nor for polluted women, but it is made for free men and virgins.
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Notes and References
“... In keeping with this, there is significant quotation of canonical language. In a baptismal context as in Matthew, Jesus says, “[This is how] we are to fulfil all righteousness.”14 There is reference by Jesus to “my Father in heaven,”15 to “the outer darkness,”16 and the instruction: “Go inside into your chamber and close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.”17 On the cross, Jesus in the Gospel of Philip utters a slight variation on the cry of dereliction: “My God, my God, why o Lord have you forsaken me?”18 As Watson has noted, this is an unusually “straight” repetition of a canonical saying: “The Gospel of Philip applies the cry of derelic- tion solely to the earthly event, not to any heavenly analogy.”19 As is evident here, Matthew is a clear influence. There is also Johannine language, however: “If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.”20 To that extent there is what one might call absorption of the ...”
Gathercole, Simon
"Afterword: Reading Gospels with the Gospel of Philip" in Pierce, Madison N.; Byers, Andrew J.; Gathercole, Simon (ed.) Gospel Reading and Reception in Early Christian Literature
(p. 237) Cambridge University Press, 2022
* 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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