The Gospel of Philip is a writing from the Nag Hammadi Codices found in Egypt in 1945. The source material is written in Coptic and appears to be translated from ancient Greek. It is a non-canonical, Gnostic scripture. The approximate date of the source material is 400 C.E. 1 All references to The Gospel of Philip here are from the second codex of the Nag Hammadi library. Extensively damaged fragments of the gospel will not be examined.
The origin of The Gospel of Philip is commonly considered to be the Valentinian school of Gnosticism. Pagels considers the Valentinians’ discrimination “between the popular image of God – as master, king, lord, creator, and judge – and what that image represented – God understood as the ultimate source of all being" 2 to be a key factor in identifying The Gospel of Philip as a Valentinian source. The example given to demonstrate this line between name and reality are verses 53.24-35 where it is says in part “names given to the worldly are very deceptive, for they divert our thoughts from what is correct to what is incorrect. Thus one who hears ‘God’ does not perceive what is correct, but perceives what is incorrect." 3 Further emphases on names may be found in verses 56.3-13, 59.11-13 and 62.7-17.
The inclusion of several quotes from books that became New Testament canon is cause for a later dating of The Gospel of Philip. There are two citations from 1 Corinthians and a single passage from Mark 15:34 (or parallels). However there are five passages borrowed from Matthew and three from John. The fact that these two gospels are not synoptic, and so do not share a common origin, can lead to the conclusion of a later dating for The Gospel of Philip. The material must be dated after 80-110 C.E. Robinson dates the text to the latter half of the third century C.E. He holds the place of origin to be Syria due to the usage of Syriac words, Eastern sacramental practices, and the ascetic ethics. 4
The Gospel of Philip shows some affinity with Judaism. Indeed the gospel begins with the introduction “A Hebrew makes another Hebrew” in 51.29-31. 5 There are several other references to Judaism as well. In verses 52.15-17 it says, “A gentile does not die, for he has never lived in order that he may die." 6 This is a clear indication of some sympathy toward Judaism. Also, there is reference to the Jewish Temple. In verses 69.14-24 there is discussion of the Temple and “the holy,” “the holy of the holy,” and the “holy of the holies." 7 Each of these is compared with a Gnostic sacrament and so valued quite highly. Lastly, in reference to the serpent from The Book of Genesis it says in 61.6-8, “First adultery came into being, afterward murder. And he was begotten in adultery, for he was the child of the serpent." 8 Many Gnostic works venerate the serpent figure of Genesis. The denigrating opinion of the serpent here may be an indication of the earliness of this gospel and of its close ties to Judaism. All of these elements combine to show that it is possible that this Gnostic sect may have grown out of a Judaic-Christian community. At any rate they show a deep respect for Judaism.
Gnostic sacraments are a main community concern in The Gospel of Philip. The number of Gnostic sacraments is five. In verses 67.28-30 they are “a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber." 9
As has been mentioned, there is an association in The Gospel of Philip between Gnostic sacraments and the Temple in Jerusalem. It says in 69.14-25, “Baptism is ‘the holy’ building. Redemption is ‘the holy of the holy.’ ‘The holy of the holies’ is the bridal chamber." 10 The verses that follow these references to the Temple associate baptism with resurrection and redemption, redemption with bridal chamber, and makes note that bridal chamber is superior.
Little is known of the Gnostic sacraments and how they compare to those of the proto-orthodox. Aside from this mysterious mention of baptism as redemption and redemption as bridal chamber the sacrament of redemption is not further discussed. It is possible that marriage is considered a sacrament as well, though it is not listed along with the other sacraments in verses 67.28-30. In verses 64.31-33 it says, “Great is the mystery of marriage! For without it the world would not exist." 11 Strong words, and the reference to marriage as a mystery in 69.28 is a possible indication that marriage was indeed held to be sacramental.
The eucharist is brought up several times in The Gospel of Philip. The first passage to mention the eucharist occurs in verses 57.3-8 where John 6:53 is quoted and the passage is defined as the flesh being the Logos and the blood as the Holy Spirit 12 Rudolph comments that the Logos and the Holy Spirit represent aeons (presumably from the Pleroma) and that this is considered to be food and clothing for the spiritual life. 13 The motif of the wine as blood and a connection to the Holy Spirit continues in verses 75.14-21. Rudolph mentions another passage in connection to the eucharist citing verses 58.10-14 14 This cannot be verified using the Robinson text as the translation to English uses the word "thanksgiving." 15 A last example from the gospel on the subject of eucharist is to be found in verses 77.2-7 where a priest is consecrated because if he consecrates the bread and cup than he himself must be consecrated as well. 16 This shows that the Gnostics, like the proto-orthodox, saw the prayer over the eucharist as a sacred event that transformed it into divine substance to be ingested.
Baptism was the sacrament of distinction as a Christian for the proto-orthodox during this time period. According to Pagels the Valentinians held that Baptism alone did not make a Christian. 17 She cites verses 64.23-24 where many people “go down into the water and come up without having received anything." 18 Without disagreeing with Pagels, Rudolph mentions the “impressive definitions and images” applied to baptism. 19 He cites the “living water” of verses 75.21-25 and the odd saying of Jesus about the seventy-two dyes merging to form white in verses 61.12-30. 20
There are more references to baptism in The Gospel of Philip. A reference to baptism occurs in verses 73.1-8 where baptism is again compared to resurrection and to the ability to “live” after death for having received it. 21 This appears to be in contradiction to verses 64.23-24. A last reference to baptism shows a quite friendly opinion of it. In verses 77.8-15 those who receive baptism will be breathed upon by the Holy Spirit whereas those who do not will be “poured out into the spirit of the world." 22
Chrism is another initiative sacrament of the Gnostics. Chrism is an anointing with oil. It is compared favorably to baptism in verses 74.12-16 where the words chrism and Christian are associated. It is remarked that the word “Christian” owes its origin to chrism and not to baptism. Later in this passage it says, “He who has been anointed possesses everything.” This includes the resurrection, the light, the cross, the holy spirit." 23 Baptism and chrism are seen as working together in verses 67.2-9. In these verses water is baptism and fire is chrism. They are said, along with light, to be the origin of Christ. 24 With verses 73.12-19 we see a comparison between the olive tree from which the chrism oil is produced, the wood of the cross, and the tree of life in Eden. 25 The connection here between the old covenant and the new is strong and could be said to indicate the remnant of a connection to Judaism.
There is more said about the sacrament of bridal chamber, or perhaps mystery of bridal chamber is more suitable, than of any other sacrament in The Gospel of Philip. Verses 69.1-4 define who may participate in bridal chamber. The verses say, “a bridal chamber is not for the animals, nor is it for slaves, nor for defiled women; but it is for free men and virgins." 26 Robinson breaks this verse down by equating animals as those “outside or below,” or worldly men according to 79.5-11; slaves as sinners due to verse 77.18; and defiled women as those who engage in sexual intercourse from verses 81.34-82.10. 27
The bridal chamber was seen to be a reunification of the bodily man with the spiritual world. This is made clear in verses 70.9-22 where we see “Christ came to repair the separation which was from the beginning and again unite the two, and to give life to those who died as a result of the separation and unite them.” Later in the verse the source of the transgression is made clear, “thus Eve separated from Adam because it was not in the bridal chamber that she united with him." 28 This again differs from other forms of Gnosticism where Eve is seen as a salvific figure instead of the transgressor here.
The bridal chamber seems to be of consequence in the afterlife and have a supernatural component. In verses 65.1-8 we learn that evil spirits, both male and female, inhabit or possess people and that this detains them, preventing them from traveling onward. Further, we learn in verses 65.24-26 that “if the image and the angel are united with one another, neither can any venture to go in to the man or the woman." 29 Apparently the bridal chamber is a benign possession to counteract the malevolent inhabitation of evil spirits. There is more concerning the bridal chamber and the image in verses 67.16-19. Here there is a cryptic reference which says, “the bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth: this is the restoration." 30 This seems to reinforce the notion of a benign possession and shows it as a “restoration” from the fall of Man.
There is further evidence that the bridal chamber is not a sexual, worldly marriage but rather a spiritual thing. In verses 81.34-82.26 there is a comparison between worldly marriages and the bridal chamber. The worldly marriage is considered “the marriage of defilement” whereas the coming together in the bridal chamber is the “undefiled marriage.” It clarifies further that the bridal chamber “is not fleshly but pure.” The bonding that takes place in the bridal chamber is a private one. This can be seen in the phrase “no one shall be able to see the bridegroom with the bride unless he become such a one." 31 Here the bridegroom is the recipient of the bridal chamber and the bride is the benevolent possessing spirit.
But what did the Gnostics believe was the goal of this benign possession? At the end of the gospel, in verses 86.4-8, we have, “if anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he will receive the light. If anyone does not receive it while he is here, he will not be able to receive it in the other place. He who will receive that light will not be seen, nor can he be detained." 32 Rudolph comments that in these verses “here” would refer to life on this world and “the other place” would be the Gnostic heaven, the Pleroma. 33 This idea is reinforced by the passage 70.5-9 where one is “clothed in the perfect light” and so the powers (or rulers or archons) will be “not able to detain” the recipient of bridal chamber. 34 So we see here a desire for the Gnostic to be liberated of this world and to be free of the evil spirits in the next.
But who is the benign spirit that frees the bridegroom from the influence of evil spirits? In verses 71.4-13 it is said that, “the father of everything united with the virgin who came down." 35 They consecrate the first bridal chamber in eternity. The virgin appears again in verses 71.16-19. In verses 55.23-26 we read, “some said, ‘Mary conceived by the holy spirit.’ They are in error. They do not know what they are saying. When did a woman ever conceive by a woman?'" 36 The virgin, then, is the Holy Spirit. The femininity of the Holy Spirit is confirmed in verses 59.35-60.1 where it says, “the holy spirit [...] and her children are many.”
Harris sees the Holy Spirit as the Gnostic goddess Sophia. He says, “She (Sophia) is spoken of as Mother Wisdom, and the Spirit, and is set forth as sister power, as both Mother and Virgin, portrayed in The Gospel of Philip as the consort of the heavenly Father." 37 Sophia appears twice in The Gospel of Philip. The first appearance is before the broken passage where the Holy Spirit is mentioned as feminine. This is in verses 59.30-32 where she is compared to salt and said to be barren without a child. Her comparison to salt is in reference to offerings where, “without it no offering is acceptable." 38 Further on in verses 60.11-15 She is named Echamoth and she is said to exist as two beings: Sophia and “the little Sophia.” The little Sophia is the “Wisdom of death." 39 The Sophia myth is not fleshed out in this gospel but often it is “the little Sophia” who transgresses against creation and births the Demiurge who goes on to create the material world. The casual reference to the difference between Sophia and little Sophia seems to indicate that the Sophia myth is fleshed out by the creation of this gospel. It is taken for granted.
The Gnostic sacraments are a main theme of The Gospel of Philip but the actual details about them are few. More questions are raised than are answered. From what is revealed about them by this gospel it is clear that the Gnostic sacraments held with the proto-orthodox differ from the proto-orthodox interpretation in meaning if not in form. The supernatural content of these sacraments, particularly the bridal chamber, causes the proto-orthodox eucharist to pale in comparison. The Gnostic preoccupation with the afterlife is readily apparent with a reading of this gospel.
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Endnotes 1. James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1990), 2-3.
2. Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Vintage Books: 1989), 32.
3. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 142.
4. Ibid., 141.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 142.
7. Ibid., 151.
8. Ibid., 146.
9. Ibid., 150.
10. Ibid., 151.
11. Ibid., 148.
12. Ibid., 144.
13. Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980), 241.
14. Ibid.
15. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 145.
16. Ibid., 155.
17. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, 104.
18. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 148.
19. Rudolph, Gnosis, 227.
20. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 154 & 146-147
21. Ibid., 153.
22. Ibid., 155.
23. Ibid., 153.
24. Ibid., 150.
25. Ibid., 153.
26. Ibid., 151.
27. Ibid., 140.
28. Ibid., 151-152.
29. Ibid., 149.
30. Ibid., 150.
31. Ibid., 158.
32. Ibid., 160.
33. Rudolph, Gnosis, 246.
34. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 151.
35. Ibid., 152.
36. Ibid., 143.
37. John Glyndwr Harris, Gnosticism (Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 1999), 94.
38. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 146.
39. Ibid.
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