“The ignorance gave birth to the fear; the knowledge returns to the man to his true home.”

1. Identification and discovery

The Gospel of Truth this is a text gnostic found in 1945 in the Library of Nag Hammadi, in Egypt. Is in coptic sahídicowithin the A Codex I. It is not a gospel narrative or biographical, but a homily or theological treatise.

Although the manuscript is of the fourth century, a large part of the criticism holds that its original composition dates from the mid century II d. C.

2. Authorship: attribution Valentine

Many scholars link it with Valentine's day, influential teacher, a gnostic of the second century:

• The style matches the rhetoric valentiniana.
• The conceptual framework reflects the system valentinian early.
• Fathers of the Church mentioned a “gospel of truth” used by the valentinians.

Although not unanimous, the hypothesis valentiniana it is the most solid. If so, this text would be to work more closely than we have to original theology Valentine's day.

3. Nature of the text

The Gospel of Truth it is not a gospel narrative:
No recounts the life of Jesus, does not include miracles, or parables, or a historical chronology.

Instead, it is:

• A theological meditation.
• A proclamation of salvation through knowledge (gnosis).
• A homily on the error, ignorance, and the return to the Father.

Its central theme is the release of ignorance through knowledge revealed by Christ.

“The Truth did not come into the world to judge it, but to awaken them from their sleep.”

4. Historical context

The second century was a period of intense plurality christian:

• Gnostic schools (valentinians, setians, basilidianos).
• Proto-orthodoxy in training.
• Debates on the nature of Christ, creation, evil, ignorance, soul, resurrection.

The Gospel of Truth reflects this environment theological: it is a mystical christianity and interpretivehighly philosophical, influenced by the thinking judeo-hellenistic times.

5. Theological themes central

5.1. Ignorance as the cause of evil

The human condition drop is explained not by sin in a moral sense, but by the ignorance of God.

Ignorance generates:

• fear
• anxiety
• confusion
• error

This “Error” is personified as a feminine entity, a power that reigns temporarily on those who know the Father.

5.2. The Father as the source of fullness

God is described as:

• The Father (not as much as “Lord”).
• Untold and unfathomable, but revealed by the Son.
• Fullness (Pleroma): wholeness, abundance, perfection.

5.3. Christ as the revealer of the knowledge

Jesus is not presented primarily as a redeemer by blood, but as:

• Teacher who reveals the Father.
• The one who dispels ignorance.
• The Book Living sent for the elect to “read” the truth.

Salvation consists in know the truth of the Father, and the true identity of the soul.

5.4. The soul lost and found

The text uses metaphors powerful:

• The human being is like someone who has lost a valuable item but can't remember where or what it lost.
• Christ comes to remind him of who he is, where he comes from and where it must return.

5.5. The cross as a symbol of knowledge

The text mentions the cross, but not as an instrument of physical suffering, but as:

• “Tree of knowledge”
• “Establishment of the truth”
• “The foundation of the book of life”

There is a theology sacrificial paulina; the cross is a symbol of revelation.

5.6. The joy of the gnosis

When the person knows the truth:

• disappear fear
• it breaks the error
• it reveals the divine filiation
• the soul returns to its source

It is a soteriology cognitive and spiritual.

“Joy is the hallmark of those who have found the Truth and has dissolved the darkness.”

6. Cosmology in the Gospel of Truth

Unlike other gnostic texts, this treaty do not expose a myth complexbut it does present gnostic elements:

• A pleroma divine.
• A state of ignorance and cosmic.
• A redeemer sent.
• A drop caused by ignorance.

There is clearly a demiurge hostile, as in texts setians; it is a gnosticism moderate, spiritual, without dualisms ends.

7. Literature and style

The style is poetic, symbolic and philosophical:

• Rate almost liturgical.
• Metaphors: dream, book, perfume, root, fruit, trail.
• Language emotionally intense.

It is one of the greatest texts of literary and elegant Nag Hammadi.

8. Structured content of the Gospel of the Truth

8.1. Introduction

Proclaims the “good news” that the truth has been manifested in the world.

8.2. The source of the error

The world has gone astray by ignorance of the Father.

8.3. The revelation of the Son

Christ comes as a fullness that cure ignorance.

8.4. The parable of the sealed book

Humanity can not read the book of truth because it is sealed.
Christ breaks the seal and reveals its contents.

8.5. The return to the Father

Knowledge leads to restore communion with God.

8.6. Unity and fullness

The elect are those who hear the voice of the Child and return to the pleroma.

8.7. Conclusion

The Gospel ends with an exhortation to love, the unity and the pursuit of true knowledge.

“The soul does not seek what is not your own: looking for what he lost and that we will always belonged.”

9. Salvation according to the Gospel of the Truth

Salvation is:

• Reintegration
• Remember the forgotten
• To return to the Father
• Break the ignorance

It is not a salvation legal or sacrificial, but epistemological and contemplative.

10. Relationship with the theology valentiniana

This gospel represents:

• Valentine's day in your early stage, the closest to christianity, proto-orthodox.
• A vision less mythological than in his later followers (Heracleón, Ptolemy).
• A strong emphasis on the figure of Christ as the revelation of love.

It is one of the texts as “gnostic” more moderate and spiritual.

11. Reception in antiquity

The fathers of the Church knew of this text:

• Irenaeus mentions that the valentinians had a text called “the Gospel Truth”.
• Criticizes it for not being a gospel history.
• They considered it a deviation dangerous of christianity.

However, he never knew how he really was until the discovery of 1945.

12. Importance of academic

The Gospel of Truth is key to:

1. To understand the christian gnosticism early.
2. To understand the theology valentiniana original.
3. To analyze the diversity of christianity in the second century.
4. Compare it with the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and other mystical texts.
5. To reconstruct the history of the writing and canonization of the christian.

13. Main discussions among specialists

What is Valentine's day?

Likely, but not certain.

What is gnostic in the strict sense?

Yes, but with a gnosticism non-dualistic end.

What is a gospel?

In ancient sense “gospel” = good news.
It is not a story, but a proclamation.

Does your soteriology contradicts the classic christianity?

It depends. It is a vision deeply mystical and esoteric, focused on the interior lighting.

14. Doctrinal points key

• Ignorance is the root of all evil.
• Christ reveals the Father, not so much atones for sins.
• The gnosis is a transformative experience.
• There is a return to the divine source.
• The cross is the symbol of revelation.
• Humanity is destined to the fullness.

15. Conclusion

The Gospel of Truth it is one of the gnostic texts the most beautiful and theologically articulated. Features:

• a mystical vision of Christ,
• a theology centered on the knowledge,
• a return message to the Father,
• a spirituality of light and fullness.

It is a unique work that illuminates the complexity of early christianity, and the diversity of interpretations of Jesus in the second century.

“Knowledge is the victory of man over the shadows that tricked him.”