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Gospel of Truth — 3

Gospel of Truth — III Last week left off our survey of Valentinus’ Gospel of Truth with this thought: “He registered them first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him. Those whose name he knew first were called last, so that the one who has knowledge is he whose name the Father has pronounced. For he whose name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if his name has not been uttered? For he who remains ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it. If this is not so, why have these wretches no name, why do they have no sound? Hence, if one has knowledge, he is from above. If he is called, he hears, he replies, and he turns toward him who called him and he ascends to him and he knows what he is called.   [Sidebar: Appreciate for a moment the passionate poesy of this passage: “If this is not so, why have these wretches no name, why do they have no sound?” Are we to conclude from this that wretc...
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Gospel ofTruth —2

Gospel ofTruth —II Last week we plowed into the first section of the Gospel of Truth , attributed to Valentinus, ending with numerous descriptions of a Heaven on Earth. The last section that we read was this knotty Zen puzzle: “And as for him, them he found in himself, and him they found in themselves, that illimitable, inconceivable one, that perfect Father who made the all, in whom the All is, and whom the All lacks, since he retained in himself their perfection, which he had not given to the all.” A wondrous concept is embedded in the descriptor: “in whom the All is, and whom the All lacks”. And it generates much food for thought, much revamping of our WASP visual image of God as a benevolent Grandfather with an unconditional forgiving kiss for all his erring children. This sentence implies that God exists inside and outside of Himself, and was Himself responsible for the flawed universe that Valentinus complained of. Remember, last week we heard Valentinus accuse God...
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Gospel of Truth --1

Gospel of Truth - 1 The last two weeks have been spent taking an overview of Valentinus as seen through the eyes of a number of experts in the field of ancient texts. But there is no substitute for the real thing, and so today I will attempt to delve, in earnest, into Valentinus’ magnum opus, The Gospel of Truth. This sermon will cover the first few sections. First we will read a short summary out of Wikipedia, then we will go directly into the book. The work begins with a salutation and praise: “ The Gospel of Truth is joy!” This is followed by a discussion of language, then comes obeisance to Jesus Christ, “He it is who is called "the Savior”; then we turn to the a basic gnostic tenet: that ignorance of the Father brought about terror and fear, along with this remarkable thought, “Forgetfulness did not exist with the Father, although it existed because of him.” Remember “gnosis” means “knowledge”, and in a higher sense, “knowledge of God”. Of Jesus, Valentinus states: ...
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