Readings from the Gospel of Truth

Rather than include a lot of commentary, here are the readings we went over in our last meeting from the Gospel of Truth. These are random pieces (but in order) from the Attridge translation, although I have made some changes in that translation, esp. capitalization of personified entities.

The gospel of truth is joy for those who have received from the Father of Truth the grace of knowing Him, through the power of the Word that came forth, the one who is in the thought and the mind of the Father....

When the totality went about searching for the one from whom they had come forth ... ignorance of the Father brought about anguish and terror; and the anguish grew solid like a fog, so that no one was able to see. For this reason, Error became powerful; it worked on its own matter foolishly, not having known the Truth. It set about with a creation, preparing with power and beauty the substitute for the Truth.

The gospel of the one who is searched for, which revealed to those who are perfect, through the mercies of the Father, the hidden mystery, Jesus the Christ, enlightened those who were in darkness through oblivion. He enlightened them; He showed (them) a way; and the way is the Truth which He taught them. For this reason, Error grew angry at Him, persecuted Him. He was nailed to a tree (and) He became fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did not, however, cause destruction because it was eaten, but to those who ate it, it gave (cause) to become glad in the discovery, and He discovered them in Himself, and they discovered Him in themselves.

[Jesus] became a guide, restful and leisurely. He appeared in schools; He spoke as a teacher. Men came, wise in their own estimation, putting Him to the test. He confounded them, because they were foolish. They hated Him, because they were not really wise. After all these, there came the little children also, those to whom the knowledge of the Father belongs. Having been strengthened, they learned about the impressions of the Father. They knew; they were known. They were glorified; they glorified. There was manifested in their heart the Living Book of the Living - the one written in the thought and the mind of the Father - which no one was able to take, since it remains for the one who will take it to be slain. No one could have become manifest from among those who have believed in salvation unless that Book had appeared. For this reason, the merciful one, the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in accepting sufferings until He took that Book, since He knows that His death is life for many.

For this reason Jesus appeared; He put on that book; He was nailed to a tree; He published the edict of the Father on the cross. O such great teaching! He draws Himself down to death, though life eternal clothes Him. Having stripped Himself of the perishable rags, He put on imperishability, which no one can possibly take away from Him.

The place where there is envy and strife is deficient, but the place where (there is) Unity is perfect.

If indeed these things have happened to each of us, then we must see above all to keep the house holy and silent for the Unity – it is like some people who moved out of dwellings having jars that were not good. They would break them, and the master of the house would not suffer loss. Rather, he is glad, because in place of the bad jars there are full ones which are made perfect, for such is the judgment which has come from above. It has passed judgment on all; it is a drawn sword, with two edges, cutting both ways. When the Word appeared, a great disturbance took place among the jars, because some had been emptied, others filled; some had been supplied, others poured out; some purified, others broken. All were shaken and disturbed…. Error was upset, not knowing what to do; it was grieved, in mourning, afflicting itself because it knew nothing. When knowledge drew near it - this is the downfall of Error and all its emanations - Error is empty, having nothing inside.

Blessed is he who has opened the eyes of the blind.

[Jesus] became a way for those who were gone astray, and knowledge for those who were ignorant, a discovery for those who were searching, a support for those who were wavering, and purity for those who were defiled. He is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep which were not lost. He went searching for the one which had gone astray. He rejoiced when He found it, for ninety-nine is a number that is in the left hand. But when the one is found, the entire number passes to the right (hand)...(and) draws what was deficient and takes it from the left-hand and brings (it) to the right.

Say, then, from the heart, that you are the perfect day, and in you dwells the light that does not fail. Speak of the Truth with those who search for it, and of knowledge to those who have committed sin in their error. Make firm the foot of those who have stumbled, and stretch out your hands to those who are ill. Feed those who are hungry, give repose to those who are weary, raise up those who wish to rise, and awaken those who sleep, for you are the understanding that is drawn forth.

That is why Christ was spoken of in their midst, so that those who were disturbed might receive a bringing-back, and He might anoint them with the ointment. This ointment is the mercy of the Father, Who will have mercy on them. But those whom He has anointed are the ones who have become perfect. For full jars are the ones that are usually anointed. But when the anointing of one is dissolved, it is emptied…, but from him who has no deficiency, no seal is removed, nor is anything emptied, but what he lacks, the perfect Father fills again. He is good. He knows his plantings, because it is He who planted them in His paradise. Now His paradise is His place of rest.

For the rest, then, may they know, in their places, that it is not fitting for me, having come to be in the resting-place, to speak of anything else. But it is in it that I shall come to be, and (it is fitting) to be concerned at all times with the Father of the all, and the true brothers, those upon whom the love of the Father is poured out, and in whose midst there is no lack of Him. They are the ones who appear in Truth, since they exist in true and eternal life, and (since they) speak of the light which is perfect, and (which is) filled with the seed of the Father, and which is in His heart and in the Pleroma, while His Spirit rejoices in it and glorifies the One in Whom it existed, because He is good. His children are perfect and worthy of His name, for He is the Father; it is children of this kind that He loves.