The Gnostic Bible: Gnostic Texts of Mystical Wisdom form the Ancient and Medieval Worlds

328 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM

speaking about the law of nature, which I call death. And more, Rheginos, the

son of god became a human son. He embraced both qualities, possessing hu-

manity and divinity so he could, by being the son of god, conquer death, and,

by being the human son, restore the pleroma.^3 At the beginning he was above

as a seed of truth, which was before the cosmos came into being.^4 In the cos-

mic structure many dominions and divinities have come into being.

TRUTH AS THE AGENT

I know that I am presenting the problem in difficult words, but there is noth-

ing in the word of truth that is difficult. After the solution appeared,^5 to ensure

that nothing be hidden and everything be openly revealed, there are two es-

sentials: the destruction of evil and the revelation of the elect. This solution

entails the emanation of truth and spirit, and of grace bestowed by truth.

THE SAVIOR SWALLOWED DEATH

The savior swallowed death. You must know this. He laid aside the perishable

world and made himself into an imperishable aeon, raised himself up, and

swallowed the visible with the invisible. Thereby he gave us our immortality.

Then, as the messenger Paul^6 said of him, "We suffered with him, we rose with

him, and we entered heaven with him."^7 Now, since we are seen in this world,

we wear it like a garment. From the savior we radiate beams, and we are held

in his arms until our own sunset, our death in this life. We are drawn to heaven

by him, like beams, by the sun, and nothing holds us down. This is the resur-

rection of the spirit, which swallows up the soul and the flesh.^8

3. Or "fullness," here and throughout the text. The restoration of the pleroma is the ultimate
   salvation of the light when it returns to the divine fullness, the fundamental act of Valentinian
   salvation.


4. Jesus is understood to be both human and divine, but his origin is from the divine realm
   above.


5. This is the appearance of the savior.


6. The apostle Paul.


7. See Romans 8:17, Ephesians 2:4-6, Colossians 2:12,3:1-3.


8. The spirit, soul, and flesh represent the Valentinian hierarchy of the pneumatic, psychic,
   and hylic. Here the spiritual resurrection consumes, or supersedes, the resurrection of soul
   and flesh.