Friday, July 7, 2023

Jean Daniélouon on The Gospel of Truth and its interpretation of χειρογραφον in Colossians 2:14

  

Just as, s long as a Testament has not been opened, the fortune of the deceased master of the house remains hidden, so too the All remained hidden, so long as the Father of All was invisible, unique being existing through himself, from whom came forth all Spaces. This is why Jesus appeared and took that Book. He was nailed to a Tree; He was fastened to the Cross the ordinance of the Father. Oh! great, sublime teaching ([The Gospel of Truth, c. 140-180] 20:15-25)

 

This constitutes a most important exegesis of Col. 2:14. The χειρογραφον is the ordinance of the father, that is the Book itself, and this ordinance is promulgated on the Cross, for it is then that Christ wins the right to unfold it. Its content is the revelation of the father, which until then had remained hidden. (Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity: The Development of Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea [trans. John A. Baker; London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1964], 203)