Need Some Gnosis to Know

“Great things have arisen in your mind, for it is difficult to explain them to others except those who are from the immovable race” (Ehrman 306).

Yea, I can see why it is difficult to explain them if we take this text as an example of explanation. You need a playbill to keep all of the characters straight and a map of this world and others to understand the characters in their appropriate realm. Finally, I would add that I think I saw a movie similar to the themes here except it had characters named Zeus, Hera, Apollos, Hercules, etc. It was on the Saturday afternoon special back in the 70s. I flippantly put it this way to say that what we have here sounds more like what we typically think of as a part of Greco-Roman mythology. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I don’t really know.

For those who aren’t familiar with the many “bracketed” words and phrases, particularly at the early parts of the text, these “bracketed” items represent breaks in the original manuscript. These breaks could represent literal holes in the text or a missing corner or an illegible section. These parts are then filled in with other extant manuscripts or filled in with best guesses.

What the Apocryphon of John illustrates for us is a clear example of the origin of creation and the means of salvation as understood by mythological Gnosticism. It presents a description of the high Spirit, the divine realm of light, the origin of Sophia, the origin of the god of creation – Yaldabaoth, who is clearly Yahweh of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the various other spiritual realms, and the means of salvation or release from Yaldabaoth’s creation.

The importance of this text seemingly lies with its comparative value with other texts from mythological Gnosticism as well as biblical interpretation in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Perhaps, our reading of this material encourages us to ask ourselves about our own understandings of creation (Is it good or evil, flawed or something else?) and the role God plays in creating and creation.