Gospel of Truth: Coptic

Definitions

ACQUAINTANCESHIP (4): see RECOGNITION in Ph Notes; Hos 6:6, Mt 5:8

COUNT (32): this refers to the ancient technique of finger-calculation, whereby numbers up to 99 were counted on the left hand but from 100 upward on the right hand (the number 100 itself was formed by touching the right forefinger-tip to the upper joint of the thumb)

DEAD, ABODE OF (52): Coptic  ("west", as place of entering the under-world); Hebrew SHEOL ("plead"); Greek AIDHC ("hades": "unseen")

EMANATION(14): Coptic Grobel (Bibliography #12) convincingly shows that this term alludes to the Neo-Platonic notion of divine radiation, wherein all beings are likened to sunbeams emanating from the one God

ETERNAL-ONES (15): see AEON in Ph Notes--all creatures considered as eternal, relative to the trans-dimensional mind of God (Lk 20:38)

FACE-FORM (8): Coptic ("form of face")-- countenance, visage

LOGOI (43): Greek LOGOI--this is the plural of LOGOC (see SAYING in Th Notes), indicating that each son-or-daughter of God is a divine Logos like unto the Savior (see Lk 6:40 with Jn 1:1 & Th 108, also Ph 133 where John the Baptist is quoted as Logos)

METANOIA (39): see RETHINK in Th Notes

MIDST (8): see TRANSITION in Tr 3 and in Ph Notes--amidst, in transition, hence this transitory world

SCHEME (18): Greek CXHMA--form, plan, appearance as opposed to the substantial reality

SEAL (42): sealant such as retsina, used to affix the top onto a jar/amphora to make it air-tight (perhaps led to tradition of retsina flavoring in Greek wine)

Gospel of Thomas

The author of the Gospel of Thomas is recorded as Thomas the Apostle, one of the Twelve. The text is a collection of over one hundred sayings and short dialogues of the Savior, without any connecting narrative. A few Christian authors in antiquity quoted one or another of its logia as Scripture— for example Sayings 2 22 27 37 by Clement of Alexandria (circa150-211 AD) in hisStromata<(Patches)— but without explicit attribution to Thomas.

Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Philip— as can be inferred from its entries 51 82 98 101 137— was composed at least in part after 70 AD by Philip called the Evangelist (notthe Apostle), who appears in the Book of Acts at 6:1-6 8:4-40 21:8-14. There is no known previous reference to or citation of this complex scripture, which is an elegant series of reflections on the Abrahamic tradition, on Israel and the (incarnate) Messiah, whilst elaborating a metaphysic of Spiritual Idealism.

Gospel of Truth

The Gospel of Truth was composed in about 150 AD by Valentine, the famous saint of Alexandria (borncirca100 AD). A continuous interwoven meditation on the Logos, it was scarcely mentioned in antiquity— and until the Nag Hammadi discovery not even a phrase from this noble composition was known to have survived.