352 michael kaler
for those fortunate enough to work with the collection as a whole, paul
would have been one of several prominent figures from earliest chris-
tian history that they would have encountered. significantly, however, he
would potentially have been the one whose condition was the most simi-
lar to that of the reader. like this hypothetical reader, he is vitally engaged
in the pursuit of esoteric, salvific knowledge, but he is shown to gain his
knowledge without a direct link to Jesus (as was the case with Thomas),
without a strong connection to the earliest Jewish form of christianity (as
was the case with James), and without the accommodation to the main-
stream church represented by peter.
As readers of these codices learned about the real nature of the world,
the hidden interactions between the human and divine realms, and the
mission inaugurated by Jesus’ earthly career, they would have found before
them the figure of the Apostle to the gentiles, leading the way and show-
ing the potential rewards of their devotion to knowledge. This is so just as
a very different figure of paul provided inspiration for the first generation
of manichaeans26 or for christian leaders such as John chrysostom.27
And so, finally, we can return to Tertullian’s description of paul as the
“heretic’s apostle,” with which we began our brief examination of these
two pseudepigrapha. we will never know whether or not the readers of
the nag hammadi codices would have thought of themselves as “heretics,”
but we can surely affirm that of all the apostles, paul was the one shown
in the nag hammadi collection to be the most compatible with them, in
goals and context. it turns out that Tertullian was, to this degree and in
this context, basically correct.
26 see, for example, françois decret, “l’utilisation des épitres de paul chez les mani-
chéens d’Afrique,” in Julien ries (eds.), Le Epistole paoline nei Manichei i Donatisti e il primo
Agostino (sussidi patristici 5; rome: instituto patristico Augustinianum, 1979), 29–83.
27 see, for example, margaret m. mitchell, The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and
the Art of Pauline Interpretation (huT 40; Tübingen: mohr siebeck, 2000); maurice wiles,
The Divine Apostle: The Interpretation of Saint Paul’s Epistles in the Early Church (cam-
bridge: cambridge university press, 1967).