LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 327
[or resurrection of the spirit], which swallows up the [resurrection of the] soul
and [the resurrection of] the flesh." So it was with Jesus, so it is with all of us.
Further, the Treatise on Resurrection proclaims that the resurrection is not
reserved for some future time but is a spiritual transition that has already
begun: "already you have the resurrection." Like Hymenaeus and Philetus ac-
cording to 2 Timothy 2:18, the author of this text announces the resurrection
as a present reality and thus adheres to a realized eschatology. With a formu-
lation reminiscent of Hindu and other statements, the Treatise on Resurrec-
tion affirms that one may call the world of matter illusion, but the world of
spirit, and the resurrection of the spirit, is truth.
The Treatise on Resurrection is found in the Nag Hammadi library. It was
composed in Greek by an unknown author who presents the treatise in the
form of a letter to a certain Rheginos. The circumstances of composition are
unknown.
THE TREATISE ON
RESURRECTION'
My son Rheginos,^2 some people want to become learned. That is their pur-
pose when they begin to solve unsolved problems. If they succeed, they are
proud. But I do not think they have stood in the word of truth. Rather, they
seek their own rest, which we have received from our savior and our lord, the
Christ. We received rest when we came to know the truth and rested on it.
Since your pleasant question concerns what is the truth about the resur-
rection, I am writing you today to tell you. Many do not believe in it, but a few
find it. So let us see.HOW GOD BECAME A HUMAN SON
How did the lord proclaim things while he was in flesh and after he had re-
vealed himself to be the son of god? He lived in this world that you live in,- The Treatise on Resurrection: Nag Hammadi Codex 1,4, pp. 43,25 to 50,18; translated by Mal-
colm L. Peel (Attridge, ed., Nag Hammadi Codex I,1.123-57,2.137-215; Robinson, ed., Nag
Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed., 54-57), and Bentley Layton (The Gnostic Scriptures,
320-24), revised by Willis Barnstone. - The recipient of the letter is known only from this text.