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The Gospel of Philip
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is a Valentinian anthology of Christian meditations on themes having to do with gnosis. The meditations take various forms: there are aphorisms, parables, dialogues, and sayings of Jesus. Among the themes addressed in the brief selection given here are light and darkness, life and death, conceiving with a kiss, embracing wisdom and Mary of Magdala, observing sacraments and the bridal chamber, and wearing the garment of light. According to the Gospel of Philip, Christ the anointed takes different forms for different people, yet he becomes great—and by beholding Christ, one becomes Christ.
As in other texts, the Semitic name Yeshua is used for Jesus and Miryam for Mary.
Light and Darkness
Light and darkness, life and death, on the right and left,
these are children, they are inseparably together.
But the good are not good, the wicked not wicked,
life not life, death not death
.
Each element fades to an original source.
But those who live above the world cannot fade.
They are eternal.
Conceiving with a Kiss
The heavenly man has more children
than a man on earth. If the offspring of Adam
are many and die,
how many more are the offspring of the perfect man
who do not die and are born each second!
The father makes a child.
The child cannot make a son. He has not the power
to make children. One recently born is not a parent.
The son has brothers and sisters, not children.
In this world there is a natural order to birth,
and one is nourished by ordinary means.
We are nourished by the promise of heaven.
If we are from the mouth of the word,
we are nourished from the mouth, and are perfect.
By a kiss the perfect conceive and give birth.
That is why we kiss.
From the grace in others we conceive.
God Is a Dyer
God is a dyer.
The good dyes, true dyes, dissolve into things
dyed in them.
So too for things god has dyed.
His dyes are imperishable because of their colors.
What god dips he dips in water
.
Seeing
It is impossible to see anything in the real realm
unless you become it.
Not so in the world. You see the sun without being the sun,
see sky and earth but are not them.
This is the truth of the world.
In the other truth you are what you see.
If you see spirit, you are spirit.
If you look at Christ the anointed, you are Christ the anointed.
If you see the father, you will be father.
In this world you see everything but yourself,
but there, you look at yourself and are what you see.
Pearl in the Mud
If a pearl is thrown into mud, it loses no value,
and if rubbed with balsam oil, it gains no value.
It always is precious in its owner’s eyes.
Wherever they are, the children of god
are precious in the eyes of the father.
Wisdom and Miryam of Magdala
Wisdom,
2
who is called “barren,” is mother of the angels.
The companion of the savior is Miryam of Magdala.
The savior loved her more than all his students
and kissed her often on her mouth.
3
The others said, “Why do you love her more than us?”
The savior answered, saying to them
,
“Why do I not love you like her? If a blind man
and one who sees are together in darkness,
they are the same.
When light comes, the one who sees will see light.
The blind man stays in darkness.”
Being
The lord said, “Blessings on you
who were before you came into being.
Whoever is, was, and will be.”
Marriage
Great is the mystery of marriage! Without it,
the world would not be.
The existence of the world depends
on marriage.
Think of pure sex. It possesses deep powers,
though its image is defiled.
Five Sacraments
The lord did everything through mystery:
baptism and chrism and eucharist
and redemption and bridal chamber
.
Things Below Like Things Above
The lord said, “I came to make things below
like things above, and the outside like the inside.
I came to join them in one place.”
He spoke here through symbols and images.
Those who say, “There is a heavenly person
and one even higher,” are wrong.
Who is seen in heaven is the heavenly person,
whom they call “lower,”
and the one to whom the hidden belongs
they call “higher.”
It is best to say “inner” and “outer” and “what is beyond the outer.”
So the lord called destruction “the outer darkness.”
There is nothing beyond.
He said, “My father who is in secret.”
He said, “Go into the chamber and shut the door behind you,
and pray to your father who is in secret,”
the one who is innermost.
What is innermost is the fullness.
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Beyond it there is nothing inside.
This is the place they call “the uppermost.”
Places of the Spirit
Before Christ the anointed, some came from a realm
they could not reenter,
and they went where they could not come out.
Then Christ came.
Those who went in he took out.
Those who went out he took in
.
Eve in Adam
When Eve was in Adam there was no death.
When she was cut from him,
death came into being.
If she enters him again and he takes her in,
death will disappear.
Garment of Light
The perfect human can neither be grasped nor seen.
If they see him, they can grasp him,
so there is no way to grace but to put on
the perfect light and become perfect.
All who put on that garment will enter the place of rest.
This is the perfect light.
We must become perfect before leaving this world.
Who is rich and has not thrown it off
will not share in the kingdom
but will go as imperfect into the middle.
Only Yeshua knows where that will end.
The Perfect Light
As long as the seed of the holy spirit is hidden, wickedness is ineffectual,
but it has not yet been removed from the midst of the seed
of the holy spirit.
Everyone is a slave of evil.
But when the seed is revealed, the perfect light will flow out on everyone
.
And all those who are in the light will receive the chrism.
Then the slaves will be free and the captives ransomed.
“Every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be uprooted.”
Those who are separated will be joined,
and those who are empty will be filled.
Eternal Light
Everyone who enters the bridal chamber will kindle the light,
for it burns just as in marriages performed,
though they happen at night.
That fire burns only at night and is put out.
Yet the mysteries of this marriage are perfected
rather in the day and the light.
Neither that day nor its light ever sets.
If you become an attendant of the bridal chamber,
you will receive the light.
If you do not receive it while in this place,
you cannot receive it in the other place.
You who receive the light will not be seen nor grasped.
And no one will be able to torment you
even while you live in the world.
And when you leave the world
you have already received the truth in the images.
The world has become the eternal realm,
because the eternal realm is fullness for you.
This is the way it is. It is revealed to you alone,
not hidden in the darkness and the night
but in a perfect day and a holy light.
