Did the text mean what it says, or does the text mean what we think it means today?
It proposes an ideal lifestyle radically different from the common lifestyle we practice today. An aggressive revolution is not the intention. Rather, a gentle, empathetic, compassionate, and loving pathway forward is the goal.
According to James M. Robinson in the Introduction to The Nag Hammadi Library, “To be sure, these roots, fascinating and provocative as they are, can also be confusing and even frustrating, not only for the person scarcely open to what they have to say, but also to the more attentive who seek to follow the light glimmering through the flow of language.”
There is much to consider for the earnest heart seeking to know what has been held back from the knowledge, often for purposes of the fame, fortune, and political and religious domination.
Gnostic, Neoplatonism, and Christian agreed to exclude certain texts due to what they called “heresy.” But how is anyone able to make their own decision when MOST of the information has been withheld from them for centuries?
Those at the top of political, religious, as well as secular podiums of self-appointed prominence were the ones reaping the profits from their congregations, political parties, and special interest groups. And their followers mindlessly followed along with threats to their eternal souls if they did not acquiesce.
At this point, most educated people left those control systems. But that does not answer the questions that still exist about the missing words of Jesus spoken in the Nag Hammadi Scriptures. There is still more to know.
Here are some quotes of Jesus Christ that you most likely have not heard, unless you allowed yourself permission to read them. The following is also included at the end of the book, NOT DEMONS NOT GODS, THE CHRIST FACTOR.
Jesus’ words you probably haven’t heard:
From The Second Revelation of James (from the Nag Hamadi Scriptures, edited by Marvin Meyer, Harper One – “I tell you. Listen and understand. For many when they hear, will be faint hearted, but you, understand in the way I can tell you. My Father is not your father, but my Father has become a father to you.”
From the Nag Hamadi scriptures – translated by Douglas M. Parrott, using texts from two Coptic sources and one Greek source from the Berlin Gnostic Codex, the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus and the Nag Hamadi codex III, and published by the Coptic Gnostic Library Project – Jesus said –“I came from First Who Was Sent, that I might reveal to you Him Who Is from the Beginning, because of the arrogance of Arch-Begetter and his angels, since they say about themselves that they are gods. And I came to remove them from their blindness, that I might tell everyone about the God who is above the universe. Therefore, tread upon their graves, humiliate their malicious intent, and break their yoke and arouse my own. I have given you authority over all things as Sons of Light, that you might tread upon their power with your feet.”
“The Savior said: ‘He Who Is, is ineffable. No principle knew him, no authority, no subjection, nor any creature from the foundation of the world until now, except he alone, and anyone to whom he wants to make revelation through him who is from First Light. From now on, I am the Great Savior. For he is immortal and eternal. Now he is eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish. He is unbegotten, having no beginning; for everyone who has a beginning has an end. Since no one rules over him, he has no name; for whoever has a name is the creation of another.’” (Berlin Gnostic Codex 84, 13-17 adds: “He is unnameable. He has no human form; for whoever has human form is the creation of another”).
From The Gospel of Thomas (from the Nag Hamadi Scriptures, edited by Marvin Meyer, Harper One
Jesus said: “Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death. The Pharisees and the scribes have received the keys of knowledge, (but) they have hidden them. Neither have they entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to.”
Jesus said, “I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I’m guarding it until it blazes.”
“[You are] the one to whom I say: Hear and understand – for a multitude, when they hear, will be slow witted. But you, understand as I shall be able to tell you. Your father is not my Father. But my Father has become a father to you.”
“Woe to them, the Pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in a cattle trough, for it neither eats nor [lets] the cattle eat.”
“Jesus said: ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you.
If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you and outside of you.
“When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty.”
“Love your brother like your life!
Protect him like the apple of your eye!”
“If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’ If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’ If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’”
Jesus said: “The one who seeks should not cease seeking until he finds.
And when he finds, he will be dismayed. And when he is dismayed, he will be astonished.
And he will be king over the All.”
“The person old in his days will not hesitate to ask a child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become a single one.”
Jesus says: “Come to know what is in front of you, and that which is hidden from you will become clear to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest.”
“His disciples said, ‘When will the Kingdom come?’ ‘It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying here it is or there it is. Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth and men do not see it.’”
The disciples said to Jesus: “Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven is like!”
He said to them: “It is like a mustard seed. <It> is the smallest of all seeds.
But when it falls on cultivated soil, it produces a large branch (and) becomes shelter for the birds of the sky.”
Jesus saw infants being suckled.
He said to his disciples: “These little ones being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.”
They said to him: “Then will we enter the kingdom as little ones?”
Jesus said to them: “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below —
that is, to make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female will not be female —
and when you make eyes instead of an eye and a hand instead of a hand and a foot instead of a foot, an image instead of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]
His disciples said: “Show us the place where you are, because it is necessary for us to seek it.
He said to them: “Whoever has ears should hear!
Light exists inside a person of light, and he shines on the whole world. If he does not shine, there is darkness.”
“If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder.
But if the spirit (came into being) because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders.
Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has taken up residence in this poverty.”
His disciples said to him: “When will the <resurrection> of the dead take place, and when will the new world come?… He said to them: ‘That (resurrection) which you are awaiting has (already) come, but you do not recognize it.’”
“I am the light that is over all. I am the All. The All came forth out of me. And to me the All has come.”
“Split a piece of wood — I am there.
Lift the stone, and you will find me there.”
“The kingdom of the Father is like [a] woman. She took a little bit of yeast. [She] hid it in dough (and) made it into huge loaves of bread. Whoever has ears should hear.”
He who has known himself has already achieved knowledge about the depth of all. ~That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves.
The Gospel of Philip – “The earthly rulers wanted to deceive people, since they understood that people have the same origin with the really worthy. They took good names and gave these names to bad things in order to deceive people and bind them to the bad in this way. And now these earthly rulers suggest to people that they keep away from the ‘bad’ and cling to the ‘good’. These earthly rulers strive to make formerly free men slaves forever.”
Dialogue of the Savior – “What you seek after (is) within you.”
The Gospel of Mary – “Beware that no one lead you astray, saying ‘Lo here!’ or ‘Lo there!’ For the Son of Man is within you. Follow after him! Those who seek him will find him.”
“Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest.”
The Secret Book of James – Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven because I ordered it, but rather because you yourselves are filled…”
“You wretches! You poor devils! You pretenders to truth! You falsifiers of knowledge! You sinners against the spirit! Do you still dare to listen when from the beginning you should have been speaking? Do you still dare to sleep when from the beginning you should have been awake so that the kingdom of heaven might receive you? I tell you the truth, it is easier for a holy person to sink into defilement, and for an enlightened person to sink into darkness, than for you to reign—or not to reign.”
“My Father is not your father, but my Father has become a father to you.”
The Temple Scroll, The Dead Sea Scrolls – God said, “Behold, I will make a covenant.
[For it is something dreadful that I] will do [to you.] I myself will expel from before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girasites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. …”
In return, the scroll says: “You shall not worship another god, for YHWH, whose name is [Jealous] is a jealous god. …”
In return it says the second part of the covenant is – “… What you will offer on the [altar] two yearling lambs without blemish …”
Then follows dozens of pages of how the tons of livestock should be cooked, and how much grain and wine should be brought to YHWH. And then directions for building a temple for YHWH is provided.
And the same from the Bible
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons”. (Deut.7:1-3)
And from the Book of Enoch: [Chapter 7]
“And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
From The Dialogue of the Savior – What you seek after (is) within you.
From The Gospel of Mary – Beware that no one lead you astray, saying ‘Lo here!’ or ‘Lo there!’ For the Son of Man is within you. Follow after him! Those who seek him will find him.
And some words that are in the Bible, but many have forgotten
Acts 20:35 quotes Paul recalling Jesus saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”
In John 8:42-47 – “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
“Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.’”
In John 8:19 – “They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
In Mark 12:30-31 – “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Acts 2:12-15
This text holds an amazing lesson on the Christan life. There were three groups of people in this story: Those who received what God was doing, those who watched what God was doing, and those who mocked what God was doing!
And from Valentinus:
Valentinus taught that there were three kinds of people, the spiritual, psychical, and material; only those of a spiritual nature received the knowledge that allowed them to know the spiritual truth from birth, while those of a psychic nature could be taught the truth, or their children could be taught, and the material group would never know the truth. He said one group would know from birth the truth; one group could be taught, or their children could be taught, and one group would never know.
In Luke 17:20-21, it says: “And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God come not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.“
It is important to note that the original wording said that the Kingdom of God is WITHIN you. Many years later than was changed to say that the Kingdom of God is “AMONG” you, with the thinking that Jesus the Christ was the one walking AMONG them. But that is not what the original language said.
Current bibles, including the New King James Bible, is again changing these words to go back to the original, saying that the Kingdom of God in WITHIN you, because that is your Spark of Eternal Universal Life Force Energy which animates your Spirit/Soul.