other · religious

The Gospel of Philip

c. 180–250 CE · Early Christian / Gnostic · Syria or Egypt

On Names and Mysteries

1A Hebrew makes a Hebrew, and such a person is called a proselyte.
2But a proselyte does not make a proselyte.
3Some are as they are and make others like themselves,
4While others simply are.
5Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left,
6Are brothers of one another.
7It is not possible to separate them from one another.
8Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil,
9Nor is life life, nor death death.
10For this reason each one will dissolve into its earliest origin.
11But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal.
12Names given to worldly things are very deceptive,
13For they divert our thoughts from what is correct to what is incorrect.
14The name of the Father is the Son.
15He gave the name Son to him who was to become the Father.
16For a father's child is not a son — only he who has received that name from the Father himself.

On the Bridal Chamber

17There are three buildings specifically for sacrifice in Jerusalem:
18One opening to the west, called the Holy;
19Another opening to the south, called the Holy of the Holy;
20The third opening to the east, called the Holy of Holies,
21The place where only the high priest enters.
22Baptism is the holy building. Redemption is the Holy of the Holy.
23The Holy of Holies is the bridal chamber.
24Baptism includes the resurrection and the redemption;
25The redemption takes place in the bridal chamber.
26But the bridal chamber is in that which is superior to it and the others.
27If some go down into the water and come up without having received anything,
28And say "We are Christians" — they have borrowed the name at interest.
29But if they receive the Holy Spirit, they have the name as a gift.

On Mary Magdalene

30There were three who always walked with the Lord:
31Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene,
32The one who was called his companion.
33His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.
34The Lord loved Mary Magdalene more than all the disciples,
35And used to kiss her often on her mouth.
36The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval.
37They said to him: Why do you love her more than all of us?
38The Saviour answered and said to them:
39Why do I not love you like her?

On Truth and the World

40Truth did not come into the world naked,
41But it came in types and images.
42The world will not receive truth in any other way.
43There is a rebirth and an image of rebirth.
44It is certainly necessary to be born again through the image.
45Which image? Resurrection. And image must rise through image.
46Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error.
47If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live,
48When they die they will receive nothing.
49So also when speaking about baptism they say,
50"Baptism is a great thing," because if people receive it they will live.

On Light and Knowledge

51God is a man-eater. For this reason, men are sacrificed to him.
52Before men were sacrificed, animals were being sacrificed,
53Since those to whom they were sacrificed were not gods.
54Glass decanters and earthenware jugs are both made by means of fire.
55But if glass decanters break, they are done over,
56For they came into being through a breath.
57If earthenware jugs break, they are destroyed,
58For they came into being without breath.
59An ass which turns a millstone did a hundred miles walking.
60When it was loosed, it found that it was still at the same place.
61There are men who make many journeys,
62But make no progress towards any destination.
63When evening came upon them, they saw neither city nor village, neither creation nor nature,
64Neither power nor angel.
65In vain have the wretches laboured.

notes

The Gospel of Philip is a Valentinian Gnostic text preserved in the Nag Hammadi Codex II, discovered in Egypt in 1945. Though no pre-1928 English translation exists, the text itself is a compilation of Gnostic theological reflections, aphorisms, and homilies, likely assembled in Syria in the 3rd century CE. Its central concern is the "bridal chamber" — the supreme Gnostic sacrament, representing the reunion of the soul with its angelic counterpart and ultimately with the divine. The text is remarkable for its portrayal of Mary Magdalene as the companion (Coptic: koinonos) of Jesus and the object of his special love, a passage that has attracted enormous scholarly and popular attention. Unlike the canonical gospels, the Gospel of Philip is not narrative but theological — it proceeds through a series of paradoxes, riddles, and meditations on the nature of names, sacraments, truth, and the relationship between the visible and invisible worlds. Its saying "Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images" encapsulates its hermeneutical approach: the physical world is a veil of symbols pointing toward higher realities. Composite rendering from the Coptic.

currently held: Coptic Museum, Cairo (Nag Hammadi Codex II)

RitualGnosticAfterlifePhilosophy

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