586 - Evangelium Veritatis (Supplementium)

Evangelium Veritatis (Supplementium)
Edited by Michel Malinine and Others
83 pp. Zürich, Rascher Verlag, 1961. Sw. fr. 21.70.

The critical edition of the Gospel of Truth (see our review in THEOLOGY TODAY, XV (1958-59), pp. 131-135) was short of two leaves, namely, pp. 33-36. It turned out, however, that they were preserved in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and photographic reproductions were published by Dr. Pahor Labib. The European editors of the critical edition have now subjected that portion of the text to the same thorough examination as the rest of the manuscript and augmented it by translations into French, German, and English as well as by a brief and very instructive commentary. Although a number of other scholars had already availed themselves of Dr. Labib's text, this new reconstruction and the fresh translation offer a good many new suggestions. On the whole, the editors are inclined to be overly harsh with the author, and they only doubt whether his weakness should be explained as a result of poor logic or of faulty style. The real difficulty of the text, however, lies probably in the theology of the Gnostic author. He holds that the relationship of God and man is a dynamic process whose energies work in both directions simultaneously. Man is truly man, if and when God approaches him redemptively, yet also if and when man turns to God by faith.

Page 34 is particularly interesting, because the ethics of the group are here discussed. The Gnostics are the conscience of the world. To the psychikoi who are struggling toward the light and are time and again in danger of succumbing to temptation, every support is to be given. But the Gnostics' function as conscience requires discernment. Thus the hylikoi are to be shunned (33: 12-14). Then very strikingly the religious realism of this group is emphasized. Unlike the wicked one who disregards the Law of God, the Gnostic does not need the Law, because he is a law to himself. For through him God himself carries out his work on earth. In various ways, the author (Valentinus?) attempts to show that the Gnostic reaches his destination as a result of a divine move-

587 - Evangelium Veritatis (Supplementium)

ment that passes through man rather than through man's own efforts. Thus Paul's metaphor of the divine odor of the believers, for instance (II Cor. 2: 15; Phil. 4: 18; Eph. 5: 2), is explained as the odor of grace proceeding from God's face, which is imparted to the light as it emanates from God. In man's earthly life, this odor is, as it were, congealed, but God's love makes it melt, and the Spirit inhales it. Thus it returns to God again. Accordingly, gnosis is the result of God's grace, and faith is the divinely granted awareness of that fact. This sounds truly Pauline, yet with these Gnostics, grace is groundless friendliness shown to a single group of people, whereas in Paul it is the divine love that offers a possibility to all men. The good news of the Gospel of Truth consists in the fact that man is made aware of the love that God has for him. This message is not addressed to all men, however, but comes to the elect only.

Of special interest is the concept of metanoia, which here as in Manichean religion is understood as return (Hebrew shub), but not as return from disobedience to compliance with the will of God. Rather it denotes turning away from excessive egotism to life in communion with God. Like the numerous linguistic Hebraisms in the Gospel of Truth this feature points to the acquaintance which the author had with Jewish-Christian circles.

Another point which the Gospel of Truth stresses is the error of the Neo-Platonists who interpret man's need of redemption as indicative of a deficiency in God. Our document contends that man's need is caused by his depriving himself of contact with God. In turn, however, the Gospel of Truth states that it is not man who by his return to God makes God full, but rather that a world which does not have its origin in itself is enabled to have its relation with God restored through the descent of the pleroma, that is to say, by the fact that God takes a personal interest in man's plight. In this respect the Gnostic document sides with the New Testament over against the pagan idea of self-redemption.

Read in the context of the whole Gospel of Truth, these four pages confirm the impression that the references to Jesus found scattered over the other pages of this gospel are not to be understood as accommodations of a decidedly non-Christian mind. Rather the author is anxious to present the Christian Gospel as the church tradition has offered it Lo him. Yet he wants to present it in a manner acceptable to the philosophical mind of his contemporaries. For that purpose lie places special emphasis upon its ontological as well as upon its revelatory aspects. In his desire to find the approval of the educated people lie is often carried away by the logic of the means of expression used by him.

Otto A. Piper
Princeton, New Jersey