gnostic-texts

"The rulers wanted to deceive man, since they saw that he had a kinship with those that are truly good. They took the name of those that are good and gave it to those that are not good, so that through the names they might deceive him and bind them."

"And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth."

"Look, you have been told everything. Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the stars surrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star."

"Knowing that Judas was reflecting upon something that was exalted, Jesus said to him: Step away from the others [the disciples] and I shall tell you the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal. For someone else will replace you, in order that the twelve [elements] may again come to completion with their God."

"Those [i.e., the disciples] you have seen receiving the offerings at the altar — that is who you are. That is the God you serve, and you are those twelve men you have seen. The cattle you have seen brought for sacrifice are the many people you lead astray before that altar. [. . .] will stand and make use of My name in this way, and generations of the pious will remain loyal to Him."

"The first is Seth, who is called Christ."

"The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot during a week, three days before he celebrated Passover"

"In those days the Church decided for political reasons to include the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible. The other gospels were banned. It is highly logical that the Catholic Church would have kept a copy of the forbidden gospels. Sadly, the Vatican does not want to clarify further. Their policy has been the same for years – 'No further comment.'"

"This is a demonstrably late text which simply parallels a large number of quite well-known works from the more eccentric fringes of the early century Church... We are instantly fascinated by the suggestion of conspiracies and cover-ups; this has become so much the stuff of our imagination these days that it is only natural, it seems, to expect it when we turn to ancient texts, especially biblical texts. We treat them as if they were unconvincing press releases from some official source, whose intention is to conceal the real story; and that real story waits for the intrepid investigator to uncover it and share it with the waiting world. Anything that looks like the official version is automatically suspect."

"[Some] declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. . .They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictional history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas."

"Judas's act of "betrayal" is in fact his faithful obedience to Jesus' will."

"In the last days they will curse your ascent to the holy [generation]."

"You shall be cursed for generations... you will come to rule over them... You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me."

"[Λέγ]ει [᾿Ιησοῦς, ὅη]ου ἐὰν ὦσιν [β οὔκ] ε[ἰσι]ν ἄθεοι, καὶ [ὅ]που ε[ἷς] ἐστιν μόνος, [λέγω, ἐγώ εἰμι μετ᾿ αὐτ[οῦ·] ἔγει[ρ]ον τὸν λίθον κἀκεῖ εὑρήσεις με, σχίσον τὸ ξύλον κἀγὼ ἐκεῖ εἰμι."

"His disciples said to Him, "When will the Kingdom come?" [Jesus said,] "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'Here it is' or 'There it is.' Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.""

"Woe to the flesh that depends upon a soul. Woe to the soul that depends upon flesh."

"Whoever has found the world and become rich, let him deny the world."

"The Kingdom of the [Father] is like a certain woman who was carrying a jar full of meal. While she was walking [on] a road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty."

"You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment."

"Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that he who made the inside is also he who made the outside?"

"Whoever has become acquainted with the world has found the body, and the world is not worthy of the one who has found the body."

"Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine [garments], and they are unable to discern the truth."

"It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the All. From me did the All come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find Me there."

"If you bring forth that within yourselves, that which you have will save you. If you do not have that within yourselves, that which you do not have within you will kill you."

"He who knows the All but fails to know himself lacks everything."

"Consider the one who is alive while you are alive, lest you die and then seek to behold that one—and you will not be able to behold."

"His disciples said to Him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?" He said to them: "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.""

"Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven."

"His disciples said, "When will You become revealed to us and when shall we see You?" Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then [will you see] the Son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid"."

"I stood at rest in the midst of the world. And unto them I was shown forth incarnate; I found them all intoxicated. And I found none of them thirsty. And my soul was pained for the children of humankind, for they are blind in their hearts and cannot see. For, empty did they enter the world, and again empty they seek to leave the world."

"If you do not abstain from the world you will not find the kingdom. If you do not make the sabbath a sabbath you will not behold the father."

"Within a person of light there is light which lights the whole world. When this light does not shine there is darkness."

"When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter [the Kingdom]."

"The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will come to pass." Jesus said, "Then have you laid bare the beginning, so that you are seeking the end? For the end will be where the beginning is. Blessed is the person who stands at rest in the beginning. And that person will be acquainted with the end and will not taste death."

"Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me with someone and tell me whom I am like." Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just angel." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say whom you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. You have become intoxicated because you have drunk from the bubbling spring that I have tended.""

"This heaven shall pass away and the one above it shall pass away, and the dead are not alive and the living shall not die."

"I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am watching over it until it blazes."

"Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All."

"The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a little child of seven days about the place of Life, and he will live."

"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."

"If those who lead you say, '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 will 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 dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

"William G. Morrice, Hidden Sayings of Jesus: Words Attributed to Jesus Outside the Four Gospels (London: SPCK, 1997)"

"Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987)"

"Marvin W. Meyer, The Secret Teachings of Jesus: Four Gnostic Gospels (New York: Random House, 1984)"

"Thomas O. Lambdin, The Gospel of Thomas, in James M. Robinson (ed.) The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1977). Digitised, and somewhat revised, for The Gnostic Society Library, The Gnosis Archive"

"A. Guillaumont, H.-Ch. Puech, G. Quispel, W. Till and Yassah ʿAbd al Masīh, The Gospel According to Thomas: The Coptic Text Established and Translated (New York: Harper & Bros, 1959)"

"Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, New Sayings of Jesus and Fragment of a Lost Gospel from Oxyrhynchus (New York and London: for the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1904)"

"[T]he gnostic Gospel of Thomas relates that as soon as Thomas recognizes him, Jesus says to Thomas that they have both received their being from the same source...Does not such teaching—the identity of the divine and human, the concern with illusion and enlightenment, the founder who is presented not as Lord, but as spiritual guide—sound more Eastern than Western? Some scholars have suggested that if the names were changed, the "living Buddha" appropriately could say what the Gospel of Thomas attributes to the living Jesus. Could Hindu or Buddhist tradition have influenced gnosticism?"

"Λέγει Ἰησοῦς, πόλις ᾠκοδομημένη ἐπ᾿ ἄκρον [ὄ]ρους ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐστηριγμένη οὔτε πε[σ]εῖν δύναται οὔτε κρυ[β]ῆναι."

"Λέγει Ἰησοῦς, οὐκ ἔστιν δεκτὸς προφήτης ἐν τῇ πατρίδι αὐτ[ο]ῦ, οὐδὲ ἰατρὸς ποιεῖ θεραπείας εἰς τοὺς γινώσκοντας αὐτόν."