Lost scriptures: books that did not make it into the New Testament (81 page)

of my bones and flesh of my flesh.’8

mother also sent down her spirit which

Therefore the man will leave his father

is in her likeness and a copy of those who

and his mother and he will cleave to his

are in the pleroma, for she will prepare a

wife and they will both be one flesh. For

dwelling place for the aeons which will

they will send him his consort, and he

come down. And he made them drink

will leave his father and his mother.

water of forgetfulness, from the chief ar

“And our sister Sophia (is) she who

chon, in order that they might not know

came down in innocence in order to recfrom where they came. Thus the seed tify her deficiency. Therefore she was

remained for a while assisting (him) in

called Life, which is the mother of the

order that, when the Spirit comes forth

living, by the foreknowledge of the sovfrom the holy aeons, he may raise up and ereignty of heaven and [ ] to him [ ]. And

heal him from the deficiency, that the

through her they have tasted the perfect

whole pleroma may (again) become holy

Knowledge. I appeared in the form of an

and faultless.”

eagle on the tree of knowledge, which is

And I said to the savior, “Lord, will all

the Epinoia from the foreknowledge of

the souls then be brought safely into the

the pure light, that I might teach them

and awaken them out of the depth of

sleep. For they were both in a fallen state

and they recognized their nakedness. The

7Gen 2:21–22. 8Gen 2:23.

306

NON-CANONICAL APOCALYPSES AND REVELATORY TREATISES

pure light?” He answered and said to me,

ible one, it is saved and it is taken up to

“Great things have arisen in your mind,

the rest of the aeons.”

for it is difficult to explain them to others

And I said, “Lord, those, however, who

except to those who are from the immovhave not known to whom they belong, able race. Those on whom the Spirit of

where will their souls be?” And he said

life will descend and (with whom) he will

to me, “In those the despicable spirit has

be with the power, they will be saved and

gained strength when they went astray.

become perfect and be worthy of the

And he burdens the soul and draws it to

greatness and be purified in that place

the works of evil, and he casts it down

from all wickedness and the involveinto forgetfulness. And after it comes out ments in evil. Then they have no other

of (the body), it is handed over to the

care than the incorruption alone, to which

authorities, who came into being through

they direct their attention from here on,

the archon, and they bind it with chains

without anger or envy or jealousy or deand cast it into prison and consort with sire and greed of anything. They are not

it until it is liberated from the forgetfulaffected by anything except the state of ness and acquires knowledge. And if thus

being in the flesh alone; which they bear

it becomes perfect, it is saved.” . . .

while looking expectantly for the time

when they will be met by the receivers

And I said, “Lord, these also who did not

(of the body). Such then are worthy of

know but have turned away, where will

the imperishable, eternal life and the calltheir souls go?” Then he said to me, “To ing. For they endure everything and bear

that place where the angels of poverty go

up under everything, that they may finish

they will be taken, the place where there

the good fight and inherit eternal life.”

is no repentance. And they will be kept for

I said to him, “Lord, the souls of those

the day on which those who have blaswho did not do these works, (but) on phemed the spirit will be tortured, and

whom the power and Spirit descended,

they will be punished with eternal pun-

will they be rejected?” He answered and

ishment. . . . And behold, now I shall go

said to me, “If the Spirit descended upon

up to the perfect aeon. I have completed

them, they will in any case be saved and

everything for you in your hearing. And

they will change (for the better). For the

I have said everything to you that you

power will descend on every one, for

might write them down and give them sewithout it no one can stand. And after cretly to your fellow spirits, for this is the

they are born, then, when the Spirit of

mystery of the immovable race.”

life increases and the power comes and

And the savior presented these things

strengthens that soul, no one can lead it

to him that he might write them down

astray with works of evil. But those on

and keep them secure. And he said to

whom the counterfeit spirit descends are

him, “Cursed be everyone who will

drawn by him and they go astray.”

exchange these things for a gift or for

And I said, “Lord, where will the souls

food or for drink or for clothing or for

of these go when they have come out of

any other such thing.” And these things

their flesh?” And he smiled and said to

were presented to him in a mystery, and

me, “The soul, in which the power will

immediately he disappeared from him.

become stronger than the counterfeit

And he went to his fellow disciples and

spirit, is strong and it flees from evil and,

related to them what the savior had told

through the intervention of the incorrupthim.

On the Origin of the World

This tractate, which was discovered for the first time as part of the Nag Hammadi Library (see p. 9), is not provided with a title in its manuscript.

Modern scholars have called it “On the Origin of the World” simply as a summation of its contents. The unknown author appears to be writing for outsiders, and is concerned to provide in involved and intricate detail a Gnostic view of how the world came into being. Many important aspects of Gnostic mythology are covered here: the existence of the divine pleroma before all things, the emergence of Yaldabaoth the creator God, his generation of other divine beings, the creation of the material world, and the formation of the human race. As with other Gnostic myths, “On the Origin of the World” is largely based on an imaginative exposition of the opening chapters of Genesis, in which a number of the gaps of the narrative (including the events that transpired before Gen 1:1) are filled in.

In many ways the mythological exposition here is similar to what can be found in other important treatises of the Nag Hammadi Library; but as a comparison with the Secret Book of John shows, there are key differences as well. Gnostic Christians did not have a single myth at the root of their religion, but a number of different ways of explaining the existence of the world and the place of humans within it.

Scholars debate the dating of the work; possibly it was written near the end of the third century. The following excerpt gives approximately two-thirds of the treatise, from its beginning through the creation of Adam.

Seeing that everybody, gods of the world

with the origin of chaos, nor with its root.

and humankind, says that nothing existed

Here is the demonstration. How well it

prior to chaos, I in distinction to them

suits all people, on the subject of chaos,

shall demonstrate that they are all mis-

to say that it is a kind of darkness! But

taken, because they are not acquainted

in fact it comes from a shadow, which

Translation by Hans-Gebhard Bethge, Bentley Layton, Societas Coptica Hierosolymitana in James Robinson,
Nag
Hammadi
Library
in
English,
3rd ed. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1988) 172–81; used with permission.

307

308

NON-CANONICAL APOCALYPSES AND REVELATORY TREATISES

has been called by the name darkness.

their worlds has been apparent. Now as

And the shadow comes from a product

for that jealousy, it was found to be an

that has existed since the beginning. It is,

abortion without any spirit in it. Like a

moreover, clear that it (viz., the product)

shadow it came into existence in a vast

existed before chaos came into being, and

watery substance. Then the bile that had

that the latter is posterior to the first

come into being out of the shadow was

product.

thrown into a part of chaos. Since that

Let us therefore concern ourselves

day, a watery substance has been apparwith the facts of the matter; and furtherent. And what sank within it flowed away, more, with the first product, from which

being visible in chaos: as with a woman

chaos was projected. And in this way the

giving birth to a child—all her superflutruth will be clearly demonstrated.

ities flow out; just so, matter came into

After the natural structure of the imbeing out of shadow and was projected mortal beings had completely developed

apart. And it (viz., matter) did not depart

out of the infinite, a likeness then emafrom chaos; rather, matter was in chaos, nated from Pistis (Faith); it is called Sobeing in a part of it.

phia (Wisdom). It exercised volition and

And when these things had come to

became a product resembling the primepass, then Pistis came and appeared over val light. And immediately her will manthe matter of chaos, which had been exifested itself as a likeness of heaven, pelled like an aborted fetus—since there

having an unimaginable magnitude; it

was no spirit in it. For all of it (viz.,

was between the immortal beings and

chaos) was limitless darkness and botthose things that came into being after tomless water. Now when Pistis saw what

them, like . . . : she (Sophia) functioned

had resulted from her defect, she became

as a veil dividing mankind from the

disturbed. And the disturbance appeared,

things above.

as a fearful product; it rushed [to] her in

Now the eternal realm (aeon) of truth

the chaos. She turned to it and [blew]

has no shadow outside it, for the limitless

into its face in the abyss, which is below

light is everywhere within it. But its exall the heavens.

terior is shadow, which has been called

And when Pistis Sophia desired to

by the name darkness. From it there apcause the thing that had no spirit to be peared a force, presiding over the darkformed into a likeness and to rule over ness. And the forces that came into being

matter and over all her forces, there apsubsequent to them called the shadow peared for the first time a ruler, out of the

“the limitless chaos.” From it, every

waters, lionlike in appearance, androgy[kind] of divinity sprouted up . . . tonous, having great authority within him

gether with the entire place, [so that] also,

and ignorant of whence he had come into

[shadow] is posterior to the first product.

being. Now when Pistis Sophia saw him

It was �in� the abyss that [it] (shadow)

moving about in the depth of the waters

appeared, deriving from the aforemenshe said to him, “Child, pass through to tioned Pistis.

here,” whose equivalent is “
yalda
bao¯th.
”

Then shadow perceived that there was

Since that day there appeared the prinsomething mightier than it, and felt envy; ciple of verbal expression, which reached

and when it had become pregnant of its

the gods and the angels and mankind.

own accord, suddenly it engendered jeal

And what came into being as a result of

ousy. Since that day, the principle of jealverbal expression, the gods and the anousy amongst all the eternal realms and gels and mankind finished. Now as for

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD

309

the ruler Yaltabaoth, he is ignorant of the

Adonaios: his feminine name is

force of Pistis: he did not see her face,

Kingship.

rather he saw in the water the likeness

Eloaios: his feminine name is

that spoke with him. And because of that

Jealousy.

voice, he called himself Yaldabaoth. But

Oraios: his feminine name is

Ariael is what the perfect call him, for

Wealth.

he was like a lion. Now when he had

And Astaphaios: his feminine name

come to have authority over matter, Pistis

is Sophia (Wisdom).

Sophia withdrew up to her light.

These are the [seven] forces of the

When the ruler saw his magnitude—

seven heavens of [chaos]. And they were

and it was only himself that he saw: he

born androgynous, consistent with the