The Emanation of the Savior – Selections from the Gnostic Nag Hammadi Library, Part 1 of 2

The Nag Hammadi Library is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic manuscripts, also called codices, that were discovered in 1945, near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. The writings in these ancient books date back nearly 2,000 years. Gnostics believe that a Divine spark exists within each person, through which a direct experience of God can be achieved. Now, we invite you to join us for excerpts of “The Emanation of the Savior” from The Tripartite Tractate in The Nag Hammadi Library.

“The Logos which moved had the hope and the expectation of him who is exalted. As for those of the shadow, He separated himself from them in every way, since they fight against Him and are not at all humble before Him. He was content with the beings of the thought. And as for the one who is set up in this way and who is within the exalted boundary, remembering the one who is defective, the Logos brought him forth in an invisible way, among those who came into being according to the thought, according to the one who was with them, until the light shone upon him from above as a life giver, the one who was begotten by the thought of brotherly love of the pre-existent Pleromas (the totality of Divine powers).”

“They gathered together, asking the Father with beneficent intent that there be aid from above, from the Father, for His glory, since the defective one could not become perfect in any other way, unless it was the will of the Pleroma of the Father, which He had drawn to himself, revealed, and given to the defective one.”

“The one in whom the Father is and the one in whom the Totalities are [was] created before the one who lacked sight. He instructed Him about those who searched for their sight, by means of the shining of that perfect light. He first perfected Him in ineffable joy. He perfected him for himself as a perfect one and he also gave him what is appropriate to each individual. For this is the determination of the first joy. And [He] sowed in Him in an invisible way a word which is destined to be knowledge. And He gave him power to separate and cast out from Himself those who are disobedient to Him.”