Six Gnostic Texts
Six Gnostic Texts from the Nag
Hammadi
I. The Gospel of
Thomas.
II. The
Apocryphon of James.
III. The
Treatise on Resurrection.
IV. The Dialogue
of the Savior.
V. Thunder
Perfect Mind.
VI. The Prayer
of Thanksgiving.
These are the secret
sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas
Thomas wrote down.
1. And he said,
"Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not
experience death."
2. Jesus said, "Let
him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he
will be troubled. When he becomes troubled he will be astonished
and he will rule over the All."
3. Jesus said "If
those who lead you say to you 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,'
then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you
'It is in the sea,' then the fish wil precede you. Rather, the
Kingdom is inside of you and it is outside of you. When you come
to know yourselves then you will become known, and you will
realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But
if you will not know yourselves you will dwell in poverty and it
is you who are that poverty."
4. Jesus said "The
man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days
old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are
first will become last and they will become one and the same."
5. Jesus said, "Recognize
what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will
become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden that shall not
become manifest."
6. His disciples
questioned him and said to him "Do you want us to fast? How
shall we pray? Shall we give alms? What diet shall we observe?"
Jesus said "Do not tell lies and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."
7. Jesus said, "Blessed
is the lion which becomes a man when consumed by man; and cursed
is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man."
8. And he said "The
man is like a wise fisherman who cast net into the sea and drew
it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise
fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish
back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty.
Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
9. Jesus said "Now
the sower went out and took a handful of seeds and scattered them.
Some fell on the road, the birds came and gathered them up.
Others fell on rock and did not take root in the soil and did not
produce ears. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed and
the worms ate them. And others fell on the good soil and produced
good fruit: it bore sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty
per measure."
10. Jesus said,
"I have cast a fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding
it until it blazes."
11. Jesus said "This
heaven will pass away and the one above it will pass away. The
dead are not alive and the living will not die. In the days when
you consumed what is dead you made it what is alive. When you
come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you
were One you became Two. But when you become two what will you
do?"
12. The disciples
said to Jesus: "We know that you will depart from us. Who is
to be our leader?" Jesus said to them, "Wherever you
are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven
and earth came into being."
13. Jesus said to his
disciples: "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel."
Matthew said to him "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of
saying whom you are like." Jesus said "I am not your
Master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from
the bubbling spring which I have measured out."
James writes to [...]thos:
Peace [be with you from] Peace, [love from] Love,[grace from]
Grace, [faith from] Faith, life from Holy Life! Jesus said; [...]
Scorn death and take thought for life! Remember my cross and my
death and you will live!" I answered him and said to him,
"Lord, do not mention to us the cross and death, for they
are far from you." The Lord answered and said "Verily I
say unto you, none will be saved unless they believe in my cross.
But those who have believed in my cross theirs is the Kingdom of
God. Therefore become seekers for death, like the dead who seek
for life; for that which they seek is revealed to them. And what
is there to trouble them? As for you, when you examine death it
will teach you election. Verily I say unto you, none of those who
fear death will be saved; for the kingdom of death belongs to
those who put themselves to death. Become better than I; make
yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit!" Then I asked
him "Lord, how shall we be able to prophesy to those who ask
us to prophesy to them? For there are many who ask us and look to
us to hear an oracle from us." The Lord answered "Do
you not know that the head of prophesy was cut off with John?"
But I said "Lord, can it be possible to remove the head of
prophesy?" The Lord said to me: "When you come to know
what 'head' means, and that prophesy issues from the head then
understand the meaning of 'its head was removed.' At first I
spoke to you in parables and you did not understand; now I speak
to you openly and you still do not perceive. Yet it is you who
served me as a parable in parables and that which is open in the
words that are open." [...]
Some there are, my
son Rheginos, who want to learn much. They have this goal when
they are occupied with questions whose answer is lacking. If they
succeed with these, they usually think very highly of themselves.
But I do not think they have stood within the Word of Truth. They
seek rather their own rest, which we have received through our
Savior, our Lord Christ. We received it [rest] when we knew the
truth and rested ourselves upon it. But since you ask us
pleasantly what is proper concerning the resurrection, I am
writing to you [to say] that it is necessary. To be sure, many
are lacking Faith in it but there are a few who find it. So then,
let us discuss the matter. How did the Lord make use of things
while he existed in flesh and after he had revealed himself as
Son of God? He lived in this place where you remain, speaking
about the Law of Nature-but I call it "death"! Now the
Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them both,
possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on one hand he
might vanquish death through his being Son of God, and that on
the other through the Son of Man the restoration of the Pleroma
might occur; because he was originally from above, a seed of the
Truth, before this structure [kosmos] had come into being. In
this [structure] many dominions and divinities came into
existence. I know that I am presenting the solution in difficult
terms, but there is nothing difficult in the Word of Truth. But
since the solution appeared so as not to leave anything hidden,
but to reveal all things openly concerning existence-the
destruction of evil on the one hand, the revelation of the elect
on the other-that is the emanation of Truth and Spirit; Grace is
that which belongs to Truth. The Savior swallowed up death-[of
this] you are not reckoned as being ignorant-for he put aside the
world which was perishing. He transformed himself into an
imperishable Aeon and raised himself up, having swallowed the
visible by the invisible, and he gaveus the way of our
immortality. Then, indeed, as the Apostle said [...] (Romans 8:17,
Ephesians 2:5-6) "We suffered with him, and we arose with
him and we went to heaven with him." Now if we are manifest
in this world wearing him we are that one's beams, and we are
embraced by him until our setting, that is to say, our death in
this life. We are drawn to keaven by him, like beams by the Sun,
not being restrained by anything. This is the spiritual
resurrection which swallows up the psychic in the same way as the
fleshly. [...] "Strong is the system of the Pleroma; small
is that which broke loose "[and] became [the] world. But the
All is what is encompassed. It has "[not] come into being;
it was existing." [...] Many are looking forward to this
which I have written to you. To these I say: peace be among them
and grace. I greet you and those who love you [pl.] in brotherly
love.
[...] The disciples
said to him, "What is the pleroma and what is the
deficiency?" He said to them "You are from the Pleroma,
and you dwell in the place where the dificiency is. And behold,
its light was poured down upon me."Matthew said, "Tell
me, Lord, how the dead die and how the living live?" The
Lord said "You have asked me for a word [about that] which
eye hath not seen, nor have I heard about it, except from you.
But I say unto you, that when that which moves man is withdrawn
he will be called 'dead' and when the living one sets free the
dead one, he will be called the 'living.'" Judas said "Why
then, by the truth, do they die and live?" The Lord said
"He who is from the truth does not die; he who is from the
woman dies." Mariam said "Tell me, Lord, why I have
ocme to this place, to benefit or to suffer loss?" The Lord
said "Because you reveal the greatness of the revealer."
Mariam said to him "Lord, is there a place that is [...] or
is deprived of the truth?" The Lord said "The place
where I am not." Mariam said "Lord, you are fearful and
wonderful and [apart] from those who do not know you."
Matthew said "Why do we not put ourselves at rest at once?"
The Lord said, "You will when you lay down these burdens."
[...] Judas said to Matthew "We wish to know with what kind
of garments we will be clothed when we come from the corruption
of the flesh." The Lord said "The archons and the
governors have garments that are given to them for a time, which
do not abide. As for you, however, since you are sons of the
truth, it is not with these temporary garments that you will
clothe yourselves. Rather, I say to you that you will be blessed
when you strip yourselves, for it is still a great thing to [...]
outside. Mariam said "What is the mustard seed like? Is it
from heaven or earth?" The Lord said "When the Father
established the world for himself he left behind many things from
the Mother of the All. Because of this he speaks and acts. Judas
said "You have said this to us from the mind of truth. When
we pray, how shall we pray?" The Lord said "Pray in the
place where there is no woman." Matthew said "He says
to us 'Pray in the place where there is no woman.' and 'Destroy
the works of femaleness' not because she is another [...] but so
that the works will cease." Mariam said "Will they
never be destroyed?" The Lord said "The Mother is the
one who knows that the works of femaleness will dissolve and be
destroyed in this place."
I was sent forth
from the power, and I have come to those who reflect upon me, and
I have been found among those who seek after me. Look upon me,
you who reflect upon me, and you hearers, hear me. You who are
waiting for me, take me to yourselves. And do not banish me from
your sight. And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
Do not be ignorant of me. For I am the first and the last. I am
the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy
one. I am the wife and the virgin. I am the mother and the
daughter. I am the members of my mother. I am the barren one and
many are her sons. I am she whose wedding is great and I have not
taken a husband. I am the midwife and she who does not bear. I am
the solace of my labor pains. I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me. I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband and he is my offspring I am the
slave of him that prepared me. I am the ruler of my offspring,
but he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday. And
he is my offspring in due time and my power is from him. I am the
staff of his power in his youth, and he is the rod of my old age
and whatever he wills, happens to me. I am the silence that is
incomprehensible and the idea whose remembrance is frequent. I am
the voice whose sound is manifold and the word whose appearance
is multiple. I am the utterance of my name. Why, you who hate me,
do you love me, and you hate those who love me? You who deny me,
confess me and you who confess me, deny me. You who tell the
truth about me, lie about me, and you who have lied about me,
tell the truth about me. You who know me, be ignorant of me, and
those who have not known me, let them know me. For I am knowledge
and ignorance. I am shame and boldness. I am shameless and I am
ashamed. I am strength and I am fear. I am war and peace. Give
heed to me. I am the one who is disgraced and the great one. Give
heed to my poverty and my wealth. Do not be arrogant to me when I
am cast out upon the earth, and you will find me in those that
are to come. And do not look upon me on the dung- heap nor go out
and leave me cast out, and you will find me in the kingdoms. And
do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who are
disgraced and in the least places, nor laugh at me. And do not
cast me out among those who are slain in violence. But I, I am
compassionate and I am cruel. Be on your guard! Do not hate my
obedience and do not love my self control. In my weakness, do not
forsake me and do not be afraid of my power. For why do you
dispise my fear and curse my pride? But I am she who exists in
all fears and strength in trembling. I am she who is weak, and I
am well in a pleasant place. I am senseless and I am wise. [...]
Look then at his words and all the writings which have been
completed. Give heed then, you hearers; and you also, the angels
of those sent, and you spirits who have risen from the dead. For
I am the one who alone exists and I have no one who will judge me.
This is the prayer
that they spoke: "We give thanks to thee! Every soul and
heart is lifted up to thee, O undisturbed name, honored with the
name 'God' and praised with the name 'Father,' for to everyone
and everything comes the fatherly kindness and affection and love
and any teaching there may be that is sweet and plain, giving us
mind, speech and knowledge: Mind, so that we man understand thee
Speech, so that we may expound thee, Knowledge, so that we may
know thee. We rejoice because thou hast shown us Thyself. We
rejoice because we were in the body. Thou hst made us divine
through thy knowledge. The delight of the man who attains to thee
is one thing: that we know thee. We have known thee, O
intellectual light. O life of life, we have known thee. O womb of
every creature, we hve known thee. O womb pregnant with the
nature of the Father, we have known thee. O eternal permanence of
the begetting Father thus have we worshipped thy goodness. There
is one petition that we ask: we would be preserved in knowledge.
And there is one protection that we desire: we do not stumble in
this life. When they had said these things in prayer, they
embraced each other and went to eat their holy food, which has no
blood in it.