Source for the following: Geoffrey S. Smith, Valentinian Christianity: Texts and Translations (Oakland, Calif.: University of California Press, 2020)
Background:
The Gospel of Philip is the third tractate in Nag Hammadi codex
II. While the title of the work is ancient, it is misleading, since the work is
not a gospel nor does Philip feature prominently in it. Philip’s name may have
become part of the work’s title simply because he is the only disciple
mentioned in the text, though the three Marys also make appearances, Jesus’s
mother, his aunt, and Mary Magdalene, and the latter enjoys a much closer
relationship with Jesus than Philip does.
The Gospel of Philip is a collection of short passages
belonging to various genres, including aphorisms, dialogues, sermons, and
epistles, that have been brought together in an anthology. Often connecting
these passages, however, are key words that recur throughout the text. These
serve to link seemingly disparate passages together. These connecting words
lend the Gospel of Philip as a whole an air of coherence, and many
scholars interpret the work as though it was composed as a coherent work,
inviting eager students to study the text and uncover the mystical connections
between seemingly related teachings.
Others, however, consider the text to be an eclectic miscellany, a
composite text created by someone who was taking notes or copying extracts from
a variety of Valentinian works. Those who hold this view find a parallel in the
Excerpts of Theodotus, a series of extracts made by Clement of
Alexandria from a variety of Valentinian sources. An important difference
between the Excerpts of Theodotus and the Gospel of Philip is,
however, that Clement includes among the Valentinian excerpts comments of his
own. No similar comments appear in the Gospel of
Philip.
Whatever the intent of the author or compiler of the Gospel of
Philip, the text contains valuable information about Valentinian biblical
interpretation and ritual practice. The focus on ritual is particularly
striking in the Gospel of Philip, where as many as five rituals are
discussed: baptism, chrism, the Lord’s Supper, redemption, and the bridal
chamber. (p. 255)
English
translation (from Coptic):
The cup of prayer contains wine and water, because it is established
as a type of the blood for which thanks is given. It is filled with the Holy
Spirit, and it is the possession of the wholly perfect human. When we drink
this, we will receive for ourselves the perfect human. The living water is a
body. It is necessary for us to put on the living human. For this reason when
he comes and goes down into the water, he undresses himself so that he might
put on that one (the living human). (p. 285)
