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

“The one who appeared was an assault for the two orders. Just as the beings of thought had been given the name ‘little one,’ so they have a faint notion that they have the exalted one, He exists before them, and they have sown within them an attitude of amazement at the exalted one who will become manifest. Therefore, they welcomed His revelation and they worshipped Him. They became convinced witnesses to [Him].”

“He generated manifest images of the living visages, pleasing among things which are good, existing among the things which exist, resembling them in beauty, but unequal to them in truth, since they are not from an agreement with Him, between the one who brought them forth and the one who revealed himself to Him. But in wisdom and knowledge He acts, mingling the Logos with Him(self) entirely. Therefore, those which came forth from Him are great, just as that which is truly great.”

“The one who appeared was a countenance of the Father and of the harmony. He was a garment (composed) of every grace, and food which is for those whom the Logos brought forth while praying and giving glory and honor. This is the one whom He glorified and honored while looking to those to whom He prayed, so that He might perfect them through the images which He had brought forth.”

“The thought of the Logos, who had returned to His stability and ruled over those who had come into being because of Him, was called ‘Aeon’ and ‘Place’ of all those whom He had brought forth in accord with the ordinance, and it is also called ‘Synagogue of Salvation,’ because he healed him (self) from the dispersal, which is the multifarious thought, and returned to the single thought. Similarly, it is called ‘Storehouse,’ because of the rest which he obtained, giving (it) to himself alone. And it is also called ‘Bride,’ because of the joy of the one who gave himself to Him in the hope of fruit from the union, and who appeared to him. It is also called ‘Kingdom,’ because of the stability which he received, while he rejoices at the domination over those who fought him. And it is called ‘the Joy of the Lord,’ because of the gladness in which he clothed himself. With Him is the Light, giving him recompense for the good things which are in him, and (with Him is) the thought of freedom.”