18. The Treatise on Resurrection
I he question of resurrection was a controversial one within Jewish
1 and Christian circles in the world of antiquity and late antiquity;
,.âJL,.. the issue of the survival of the soul and the possibility of reincar-
nation were discussed extensively by Greek philosophers as well. Resurrection,
reincarnation, and survival after death remain hot points of discussion to the
present day. The Valentinian Treatise on Resurrection offers a spiritual under-
standing of resurrection that picks up ideas from Paul's letters (see 1 Corinthi-
ans 15, for example) but parts company with Paul and his followers on several
significant matters. The author of the treatise, rejecting a literal interpretation
of the resurrection in favor of a spiritual understanding, emphasizes that the
spiritual resurrection is no illusion. It is real and it is true, more real and true,
in fact, than the material world. The author cites Paul approvingly as "the mes-
senger" (or apostle), and states with Paul, "We suffered with him [that is, Jesus],
we arose with him, and we went to heaven with him." The author of the Trea-
tise on Resurrection understands that suffering and death actually occur in this
material world, and the author proposes, in contrast to Paul's more apocalyp-
tic view, that resurrection is actually the transcending of the material world
through the liberation of the spirit. Referring to the Valentinian threefold divi-
sion of humanity into the spiritual (or pneumatic), the psychical, and the
fleshly or material (or hylic), author writes, "This is the spiritual resurrection