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

(Elliott) #1
LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 267

THE LAMB


Don't hate the lamb.
Without the lamb you can't see the king.^21

MEETING THE KING


You don't meet the king
if you are naked.

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 perfect beings
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,
from the mouth of the word.
If the word emanated from the mouth, it is perfect.
By a kiss the perfect conceive and give birth.
That is why we kiss.
From the grace in others we conceive.

THREE MARYS


Three Marys walked with the lord:
His mother, his sister, and Mary of Magdala,
his companion.^22

2i. Or "door," "gate," as in sheepfold door or heaven.


  1. On the love between Jesus and Mary of Magdala, see "Wisdom, Mother of the Angels" later
    in the Gospel of Philip, as well as the Gospel of Mary.

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