Texts in Conversation
The Gospel of Philip quotes Matthew's instruction to pray behind a closed door, then reads the room as the deepest place within. The same saying moves from a warning against prayer for public praise to an explanation of where the Father can be found.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 6:6
New Testament
5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward! 6 But whenever you pray, go into your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 7 When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles because they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Gospel of Philip 8:18
Nag Hammadi
This is why the Lord called perdition, “the outer darkness,” and there is nothing further outside than it. He said: “My Father who is in secret.” He said, “Enter into your closet and close your door behind you, and pray to your Father who is in secret,” he who is the one inside all of them, but he who is inside all of them is the fullness, beyond which there is nothing else more interior. To describe this it is said, “what is above them.” Before Christ (came), some exited from where they could no longer enter, and they went to where they could no longer leave. Christ, however, came, and those who entered, he escorted them outside, and those who exited, he brought them inside.
Search:
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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,