The Apocryphon of John (also known as the Secret Book of John and the Secret Revelation of John) is a 2nd-century Sethian Gnostic text and was known to Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 1.20.1). According to Munoa:
Seth is called the 'son of man' in Ap. John 1.24-25: 'And
when Adam had known the image of his own prior acquaintance, he begot the
likeness to the son of man, and called him Seth.' If Seth could be seen as the
'son of man', the identification of Adam with the 'Ancient of Days' who
empowers the 'one like a son of man' is not unthinkable. (Phillip B. Munoa,
III, Four Powers in Heaven: The Interpretation of Daniel 7 in the Testament
of Abraham [Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series
28; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998], 68)
In the
footnote to the above, Munoa notes that this interpretive possibility is strengthened
by the fact that,
Adam, according to the Apoc. Adam 8.16-17, 'empowered' Seth by
giving him the 'secret knowledge' which is 'the holy baptism' of those who know
the eternal knowledge through the ones born of the word and this imperishable
illuminators'. (Ibid., 68 n. 80)
Here is 1:24-25
of the Apocryphon of John:
24 preparing
herself for her husband. He was lord over her though he did not know the
mystery which had come to pass through the holy decree. And they were afraid to
blame him. And he showed his angels his ignorance which is in him. And he cast
down out of paradise and he clothed them in gloomy darkness. And the chief
archon saw the virgin who stood by Adam, and that the luminous Epinoia of life
had appeared in her. And Yaldabaoth was full of ignorance. And when the
foreknowledge of the All noticed (it), she sent some and they snatched life out
of Eve.
"And the chief archon seduced her and he begot in her two
sons; the first and second (are) Eloim and Yave. Elim has a bear-face and Yave
has a cat-face. The one is righteous but the other is unrighteous. (IV 38, 4-6:
Yave is righteous but Eloim is unrighteous.)
Yave he set over the fire and wind, and Eloim he set over the
water and the earth. And these he called with the names Cain and Abel with a
view to deceive.
"Now up to the present day sexual intercourse continued due
to the chief archon. And he planted sexual desire in her who belongs to Adam.
And he produced through intercourse the copies of the bodies, and he inspire
them with his counterfeit spirit.
"And the two archons he set over principalities so that they
might rule over the tomb. And when Adam recognized the likeness of his own
foreknowledge, he begot the likeness 25 of the son of man. He called him
Seth according to the way of the race in the aeons. Likewise the mother also sent
down her spirit which is in her likeness and a copy of those who are in the
pleroma, for she will prepare a dwelling place for the aeons which will come
down. And he made them drink water of forgetfulness, from the chief archon, in
order that they might not know from where they came. Thus the seed remains for
a while assisting (him) in order that, when the Spirit comes forth from the
holy aeons, he may raise up and heal him from the deficiency, that the whole
pleroma may (again) become holy and faultless."
And I said to the savior, "Lord, will all the souls then be
brought safely into the pure light?" He answered and said to me,
"Great things have arisen in your mind, for it is difficult to explain
them to others except to those who are from the immovable race. Those on whom
the Spirit of life will descend and (with whom) he will be with the power, that
they will be saved and become perfect and be worthy of the greatness and be
purified in that place from all wickedness and the involvements in evil. Then
they have no other care than the in corruption alone, to which they direct
their attention from here on, without anger or envy or jealousy or desire and
greed of anything. They are not affected by anything except the state of being
in the flesh alone, which they bear while looking expectantly for the time when
they will be met 26 by the receivers (of the body). . . . (Frederik Wisse, "The Apocryphon of
John," in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library: The
Definitive Translation of the Gnostic Scriptures [San Francisco: Harper
Collins, 1990], 118-19)
As an aside,
here is the text of the Apocalypse of Adam, referenced in the footnote quoted
above:
1 “Then the seed will fight against the power,
those who will receive his name upon the water, and of them all. 2 And a cloud of darkness will come upon them. 3 Then the peoples will cry out with a loud
voice, saying, ‘Blessed is the soul of those men because they have known God
with a knowledge of the truth. 4 They will live for aeons of aeons because
they have not been corrupted in their desire with the angels, nor have they
accomplished the works of the powers, but they have stood before him in a
knowledge of God like light that has come out of fire and blood. 5 But we have done every deed of the powers
senselessly. 6 We have gloried in the transgression of all
our works. 7 We have cried out against [God … 2 lines
missing] (84) is eternal. […] our spirits. 8 For now we know that our souls will surely
die.’ (G. Macrae, "Apocalypse of Adam (First
to Fourth Century A.D.) A New Translation and Introduction," in James H.
Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. [New York:
Yale University Press, 1983], 1:718)
