(NHC I, 3; XII, 2)
The gospel of truth is joy for people who have received grace from the father of truth, that they might know him through the power of the word. The word has come from the fullness in the father's thought and mind. The word is called "savior," a term that refers to the work he is to do to redeem those who had not known the father. And the term "gospel" refers to the revelation of hope, since it is the means of discovery for those who seek him.
All have sought for the one from whom they have come forth. All have been within him, the illimitable, the inconceivable, who is beyond all thought. But ignorance of the father brought terror and fear, and terror grew dense like a fog, so that no one could see. Thus error grew powerful. She worked on her material substance in vain. Since she did not know the truth, she assumed a fashioned figure and prepared, with power and in beauty, a substitute for truth.
This was not humiliating for the illimitable, inconceivable one. For this terror and forgetfulness and this deceptive figure were as nothing, whereas established truth is unchanging, unperturbed, and beyond beauty.
For this reason despise error.
Error had no root; she was in a fog regarding the father. She was there preparing works and deeds of forgetfulness and fear in order, by them, to attract those of the middle and take them captive.
The forgetfulness of error was not apparent. It is not...from the father. Forgetfulness did not come into being from the father, but if it did come into being, it is because of the father. What comes into being within him is knowledge, which appeared so that forgetfulness might be destroyed and the father might be known. Forgetfulness came into being because the father was not known, so as soon as the father comes to be known, forgetfulness will cease to be.
This is the gospel of him whom they seek, revealed to the perfect through the father's mercy. Through the hidden mystery Jesus Christ enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and showed the way, and that way is the truth he taught them.
For this reason error was angry with him and persecuted him, but she was restrained by him and made powerless. He was nailed to a tree, and he became fruit of the knowledge of the father. This fruit of the tree, however, did not bring destruction when it was eaten, but rather it caused those who ate of it to come into being. They were joyful in this discovery, and he found them within himself and they found him within themselves.
And as for the illimitable, inconceivable perfect father who made all, the realm of all is within him and needs him. Although the father kept within himself their perfection, which he had not given to all, he was not jealous. What jealousy could there be between the father and his own members? For even if, they could not have approached...the father. He kept their perfection within himself, giving it to them as a means to return to him with complete, single-minded knowledge. He is the one who set the realm of all in order, and the realm of all is within him and needs him.
Just as a person who is not known to other people wants them to know him and love him, so also with the father. For what did the realm of all need if not the knowledge of the father?
Jesus became a guide, a person of rest who was busy in places of instruction. He came forward and spoke the word as a teacher. Those wise in their own eyes came to test him, but he refuted them, for they were foolish, and they hated him because they were not really wise.
After them came the little children, who have knowledge of the father. When they gained strength and learned about the expressions of the father, they knew, they were known, they were glorified, they gave glory.
In their hearts the living book of the living was revealed, the book that was written in the father's thought and mind and was,since the foundation of all, in his incomprehensible nature. No one had been able to take up this book, since it was ordained that the one who would take it up would be slain. And nothing could appear among those who believed in salvation unless that book had come out.
For this reason the merciful, faithful Jesus was patient and accepted his sufferings to the point of taking up that book, since he knew that his death would be life for many.
As in the case of a will that has not been opened, the fortune of the deceased owner of the house is hidden, so also in the case of all that had been hidden while the father of all was invisible but that issues from him from whom every realm comes.
Jesus appeared,
put on that book,
was nailed to a tree,
and published the father's edict on the cross.
Oh, what a great teaching!
He humbled himself even unto death,
though clothed in eternal life.
He stripped off the perishable rags
and clothed himself in incorruptibility,
which no one can take from him.
When he entered the empty ways of fear, he passed by those stripped by forgetfulness. For he encompasses knowledge and perfection, and he proclaims what is in the heart teaches those who will learn. And those who will learn are the living who are inscribed in the book of the living. They learn about themselves, receiving instruction from the father, returning to him.
Since the perfection of all is in the father, all must go up to him. When all have received knowledge, they receive what is theirs and draw it to themselves. For those who are ignorant are in need, and their need is great, because they need what would make them perfect. Since the perfection of all is in the father, all must go up to him and receive what is theirs. The father inscribed these things first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him.
Those whose names the father knew at the beginning were called at the end, as it is with every person who has knowledge. Such names the father has uttered. One whose name has not been spoken is ignorant, for how could a person hear if that person's name had not been pronounced? Whoever remains ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it. Otherwise why do these wretches have noname, why no voice?
So whoever has knowledge is from above. If called, that person hears, replies, turns to the one who is calling, and goes up to him. He knows how he is called. That person has knowledge and does the will of him who called. That person wishes to please him, finds rest, and has the appropriate name. Those who have knowledge in this way know where they come from and where they are going. They know as one who, having become intoxicated, has turned from his drunkenness, and having come to his senses, has gotten control of himself.
The savior has brought many back from error. He went before them to the places from which they had turned when they followed error, because of the depth of him who surrounds every place, though nothing surrounds him. Indeed, it is amazing that they were in the father without knowing him and that they could leave on their own, since they were not able to contemplate or know the one in whom they were.
For if his will had not come from him...he revealed it as knowledge that is in harmony with the expressions of his will---that is, knowledge of the living book, which he revealed to the eternal realms at the end. He showed that they are not merely vowels or consonants, so that one may read them and think them devoid of meaning. Rather, they are letters of truth; they speak and know themselves. Each letter is a perfect truth like a perfect book, for they are letters written in unity, written by the father for the eternal realms, so that by means of his letters they might come to know the father.
As for the word,
his wisdom meditates on it,
his teaching utters it,
his knowledge has revealed it,
his patience is a crown upon it,
his joy is in harmony with it,
his glory has exalted it,
his character has revealed it,
his rest has received it,
his love has incarnated it,
his faith has embraced it.
Thus the father's word goes out in the realm of all as the fruition of his heart and expression of his will. It supports all and chooses all. It also takes the expression of all and purifies it, bringing it back to the father, to the mother. This is Jesus of infinite sweetness.
The father opens his bosom, and his bosom is the holy spirit. He reveals his hidden self, and his hidden self is his son, so that through the father's mercy the eternal realms may know him, end their wearying search for the father, and rest in him, knowing that he is rest. For he has filled what was deficient and has done away with its appearance. The mere appearance of what was deficient is the world, and mere appearance serves in the world.
For where there is envy and strife there is deficiency, but where there is unity there is completeness. Since deficiency came about because the father was not known, from the moment that the father is known, deficiency will cease to be. As one's ignorance about another vanishes when one gains knowledge, and as darkness departs when light comes,so also deficiency disappears in completeness. From then on the world of appearance will no longer be evident, but rather it will disappear in the harmony of unity.
Now the works of all lie scattered. In time unity will make the heavenly places complete, and in unity all individually will come to themselves. By means of knowledge they will purify themselves from multiplicity into unity, devouring matter within themselves like fire, darkness by light, death by life.
Since these things have happened to each of us, it is right for us to see to it above all that this house be holy and silent for the sake of unity.
This is like people who moved from one house to another. They had jars around that were not good, and they broke, but the owner suffered no loss. Rather, the owner was glad because instead of these defective jars there were full jars that were perfect.
This is the judgment that has come from above and has judged every person, a drawn two-edged sword cutting on this side and that, since the word that is in the heart of those who speak the word appeared. It is not merely a sound but it was embodied.
A great disturbance occurred among the jars, for some were empty and others were filled, some were ample and others were depleted, some were purified and others were broken.
All the realms were shaken and disturbed, for they had no order or stability. Error was agitated, and she did not know what to do. She was troubled, she lamented, she attacked herself, because she knew nothing. For knowledge, which leads to the destruction of error and all her expressions, approached. Error is empty; there is nothing within her.
Truth appeared, and all its expressions recognized it. They greeted the father in truth and power that is complete and joins them with the father.
Whoever loves truth, whoever touches truth, touches the father's mouth, because truth is the father's mouth. His tongue is the holy spirit, and from his tongue one will receive the holy spirit. This is the manifestation of the father and his revelation to his eternal realms. He revealed his hidden self and explained it. For who has anything within if not the father alone?
All the realms are from the father. They know that they have come from him as children who were within a mature person but who knew that they had not yet received form or been given a name. The father brings forth each of them when they receive the essence of his knowledge. Otherwise, though they were in him, they could not know him. The father is perfect, and he knows every realm within himself. If he wishes, what he wishes appears when he gives it form and a name---and he does give it a name. He brings into being those who before coming into being were ignorant of the one who made them.
I am not saying that those who have not yet come to be are nothing. They are within one who may wish that they come into being if at some future point he so wishes. On the one hand, he knows, before anything appears, what he will produce. On the other hand, the fruit that has not yet appeared knows nothing and does nothing. Thus each realm in the father comes from what is, but what has set itself up is from what is not. For whatever has no root has no fruit, and although thinking, "I have come into being," it will perish by itself. So whatever does not exist will never exist.
What then does he want such a one to think? It is this: "I have come into being like shadows and phantoms of the night." When the light shines, the person knows the terror that had been experienced was nothing.
Thus they were ignorant of the father, for they did not see him.Since there had been terror and confusion and uncertainty and doubt and division, there were many illusions among them, and inane ignorance---as if they were fast asleep and found themselves a prey to nightmares. In these dreams they are fleeing somewhere, or they cannot get away when chased, or they are in a fight, or they themselves are beaten, or they are falling from on high, or they fly through the air with no wings. Or, it seems people are trying to kill them, though there is no one chasing them, or they are killing their neighbors and are covered with their blood. This continues until those experiencing all these dreams wake up. Those caught in the middle of all these confusing things see nothing because the dreams are nothing.
So it is with those who cast off ignorance from themselves like sleep. They do not consider it to be anything, nor do they regard its features as real, but they put them aside like a dream in the night and understand the father's knowledge to be the dawn. This is how each person acts while in ignorance, as if asleep, and this is how a person comes to knowledge, as if awakened. Good for one who comes to himself and awakens. And blessings on one who has opened the eyes of the blind.
The spirit came to this person in haste when the person awakened. Having given its hand to the one lying prone on the ground, the spirit placed him firmly on his feet, for he had not yet risen.
Knowledge of the father and the revelation of his son gave them the means of knowing. For when they saw and heard him, he let them taste him and smell him and touch the beloved son. He appeared, informing them of the father, the illimitable, and he inspired them with what is in the father's thought, doing his will. Many received the light and turned to him. But material people were strangers to him and did not discern his appearance or recognize him. For he came in the likeness of flesh, and nothing blocked his way, for incorruptibility cannot be grasped. Moreover, while saying new things and speaking about what is in the father's heart, he produced the faultless word. Light spoke through his mouth and his voice brought forth life. He gave them thought and understanding and mercy and salvation and the spirit of strength from the father's infinity and sweetness. He made punishments and afflictions cease, for they caused those in need of mercy to stray from him in error and bondage. He destroyed them with might and confounded them with knowledge.
He became a way for those who strayed,
knowledge for those who were ignorant,
discovery for those who sought,
support for those who tremble,
purity for those who were defiled.
He is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep that had not strayed and went in search of the one that was lost. He rejoiced when he found it. For ninety-nine is a number expressed with the left hand, but when another one is found, the numerical sum is transferred to the right hand. In this way what needs one more---that is, the whole right hand---attracts what it needs, takes it from the left and brings it to the right, and so the number becomes one hundred. This is the meaning of the pronunciation of these numbers.
The father is like that. He labored even on the sabbath for the sheep that he found fallen into the pit. He saved the life of the sheep and brought it up from the pit.
Understand the inner meaning, for you are children of inner meaning. What is the sabbath? It is a day on which salvation should not be idle. Speak of the heavenly day that has no night and of the light that does not set because it is perfect. Speak from the heart, for you are the perfect day and within you dwells the light that does not fail. Speak of truth with those who seek it and of knowledge with those who have sinned in their error.
Steady the feet of those who stumble and extend your hands to the sick. Feed the hungry and give rest to the weary. Awaken those who wish to arise and rouse those who sleep, for you embody vigorous understanding. If what is strong acts like this, it becomes even stronger.
Focus your attention upon yourselves. Do not focus your attention upon other things---that is, what you have cast away from yourselves. Do not return to eat what you have vomited. Do not be moth-eaten, do not be worm-eaten, for you have already gotten rid of that. Do not be a place for the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen what stands in your way, what is collapsing, to support it. One who is lawless is nothing. Treat the lawless one more harshly than the just one, for the lawless does what he does because he is lawless, but the just does what he does with people because he is righteous. Do the father's will, then, for you are from him.
For the father is sweet, and goodness is in his will. He knows what is yours, in which you find rest. By the fruit one knows what is yours. For the father's children are his fragrance; they are from the beauty of his face. The father loves his fragrance and disperses it everywhere, and when it mixes with matter, it gives his fragrance to the light. Through his quietness he makes his fragrance superior in every way to every sound. For it is not ears that smell the fragrance, but it is the spirit that possesses the sense of smell, draws the fragrance to itself, and immerses itself in the father's fragrance. Thus the spirit cares for it and takes it to where it came from, the original fragrance, which has grown cold in psychical form. It is like cold water that has sunk into soft soil, and those who see it think there is only soil. Later the water evaporates when the wind draws it up, and it becomes warm. So cold fragrances are from division.
For this reason faith came, did away with division, and brought the warm fullness of love, so that what is cold may not return, but the unity of perfect thought may prevail.
This is the word of the gospel about the discovery of fullness, for those who awaitsalvation coming from above. Their hope, for which they are waiting, is in waiting, and this is their image, the light in which there is no shadow. At this time the fullness is about to come. Deficiency of matter is not from the infinity of the father, who came to give time to deficiency. In fact, it is not right to say that the incorruptible would actually come in this manner. The father's depth is profound, and the thought of error is not with him. It is something that has fallen, and something that can readily be set upright through the discovery of the one who has come to what he would restore.
This restoration is called repentance. The reason that the incorruptible breathed out and followed after the one who sinned was so that the sinner might find rest. Forgiveness is what remains for the light in deficiency, the word of fullness. For a doctor rushes to where there is sickness, since that is the doctor's wish. The person in need does not hide it, because the doctor has what the patient needs. Thus fullness, which has no deficiency but fills up deficiency,is provided to fill a person's need, so that the person may receive grace. While deficient, the person had no grace, and because of this a diminishing took place where there was no grace. When the diminished part was restored, the person in need was revealed as fullness. This is what it means to discover the light of truth that has shone toward a person: it is unchangeable.
Because of the coming of Christ it was said openly, "Seek, and the troubled will be restored, and he will anoint them with ointment." The ointment is the mercy of the father, who will have mercy on them, and those anointed are the perfect. For filled jars are usually sealed with wax. But when the seal of a jar is broken, it may leak, and the cause of its defect is the lack of a seal. For then a breath of wind and the power that it has can make it evaporate. But on the jar that is without defect the seal is not broken, nor does it leak, and the perfect father fills again what it lacks.
The father is good. He knows his plants because he planted them in his paradise. And his paradise is his place of rest. Paradise is the perfection within the father's thought, and the plants are the words of his meditation. Each of his words is the product of his will and the revelation of his speech. Since they were the depth of his thought, the word that came forth caused them to appear, along with mind that speaks the word, and silent grace. It was called thought, because they dwelled in silent grace before being revealed. So it happened that the word came forth when it was pleasing to the will of him who willed it.
The father is at rest in will. Nothing happens without the father's pleasure, nothing happens without the father's will. And his will is incomprehensible. His will is his footprint, but none can understand him, nor does he exist so that they might study him in order to grasp him. Rather, when he wills, what he wills is this, even if the view does not please people before God: it is the father's will. For the father knows the beginning and the end of all, and at their end he will greet them. The end is the recognition of him who is hidden, and he is the father,from whom the beginning has come and to whom all will return who have come from him. They have appeared for the glory and joy of his name.
The name of the father is the son. In the beginning he gave a name to the one who came from him, while he remained the same, and he conceived him as a son. He gave him his name, which belonged to him. All that exists with the father belongs to him. He has the name; he has the son. The son can be seen, but the name is invisible, for it alone is the mystery of the invisible, which comes to ears completely filled with it, through the father's agency. Yet the father's name is not pronounced; it is revealed through a son, and the name is great.
Who then can utter his name, the great name, except him alone to whom the name belongs, and the children of the name, on whom the father's name rests, and who themselves rest on his name? Since the father has no beginning, he alone conceived it for himself as a name before he created the eternal realms, that the father's name might be supreme over them. This is the true name, which is confirmed by his authority in perfect power. This name does not derive from ordinary words or name-giving, for it is invisible.
The father alone gave the son a name, because he alone saw him and he alone could name him. One who does not exist has no name, for what name would someone give to one who does not exist? One who exists exists with his name. He alone knows it, and to him alone the father has given a name. This is the father, and his name is the son. He did not hide it within, but it was in existence, and the son himself disclosed the name. The name, then, belongs to the father, just as the father's name is the beloved son. Otherwise where would he find a name except from the father?
But someone may say to an acquaintance, "Who could give a name to someone who existed before himself? Do not children receive their names from their parents?" First, we should consider this point: what is a name? This is the true name, the name from the father, and this is the proper name. The father did not receive the name on loan, as is the case with others, who receive names that are made up. This is the proper name, and there is no one else who gave it to him. He is unnameable, indescribable, until the time when the perfect one spoke of him, for the perfect one alone is able to pronounce his name and see him.
When it was pleasing to the father that his son should be his pronounced name, and when he who came from the depth disclosed this name, he divulged what was hidden, for he knew that the father is free of evil. That is why the father brought him forth, so that he might speak about the place from which he had come and his place of rest,and that he might glorify the fullness, the majesty of his name, and the father's sweetness.
All will speak individually about where they have come from and how they were established in the place of rest. They will hasten to return and receive from that place, the place where they stood once before, and they will taste of that place, be nourished, and grow.
Their own place of rest is their fullness. All the emanations from the father are fullnesses, and all his emanations find their root in the one who caused them all to grow from himself. He assigned their destinies. They all appear so that through their own thought. For the place to which they extend their thought is their root, which lifts them up through all the heights to the father.
They embrace his head, which is rest for them, and they hold him close so that, in a manner of speaking, they have caressed his face with kisses. But they do not make this obvious. For they neither exalt themselves nor diminish the father's glory. And they do not think of the father as insignificant or bitter or angry, but as free of evil, unperturbed, sweet, knowing all the heavenly places before they came into being, and having no need of instruction.
Such are those who possess something of this immeasurable majesty from above, as they await that unique and perfect One who is a mother to them. And they do not go down to the underworld, nor do they have envy or groaning, nor is death with them. They rest in one who rests, and they are not weary or confused about truth.
They are truth. The father is in them and they are in the father, perfect, inseparable from him who is truly good. They lack nothing at all but are at rest, fresh in spirit. They will hearken to their root and be involved with concerns in which they may find their root and do no harm to their souls.
Such is the place of the blessed, such is their place. As for the others, let them know, in their own places, that I should not say more, for I have been in the place of rest. There I shall dwell, to devote myself, constantly, to the father of all and the true brothers and sisters, upon whom the father's love is lavished, and in whose midst nothing of him is lacking. They appear in truth, dwelling in true and eternal life, and they speak of the perfect light filled with the father's seed, which is in his heart and in the fullness. His spirit rejoices in this and glorifies him in whom it was. For the father is good, and his children are perfect and worthy of his name. Children like this the father loves.