Relation To Valentinian Fragments
Layton printed eight fragments of Valentinian literature, each a quote a Church Father claimed to take from the Valentinian corpus although none from the "Gospel of Truth". Layton further noted where the excerpts agree with one another.
"Fragment G", which Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis 6.52.3-4) related to "On Friends", asserts that there is shared matter between Gnostic Christian material, and material found in "publicly available books"; which is the result of "the law that is written in the heart". Layton relates this to GTr 19.34 - when Jesus taught, "in their hearts appeared the living book of the living, which is written in the Father's thought and intellect". Both rely on a shared concept of pre-existent yet obscured knowledge, which emanated from the Father of the Gnostics.
"Fragment F" also comes from the Stromateis, 4.89.1-3. Directed to the Gnostics, it calls the congregation "children of eternal life" and hopes that they will "nullify the world without being yourselves nullified". Layton relates the former to GTr 43.22 at the end of the work, which emphasises that the Gnostics are the Father's children and will live eternally. Layton relates the latter to GTr 24.20, which proposes to "nullify the realm of appearance" and then explains this as the world that lacks the Father.
The concept that fear and the lack of knowledge are connected is evident;
- Having entered into the empty territory of fears, he (Jesus) passed before those who were stripped by forgetfulness, being both knowledge and perfection, proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the Father, so that he became the wisdom of those who have received instruction.
There is also the mentioning of an awakening brought about through the acquiring of knowledge, and the dismissal of that which is not real, namely fear. Fear is not real because it does not come from the Father. That which is not light is not from the Father, such as a tree only brings forth one fruit, the Father's only fruit is light.
The level to which these writings express the power of the "self" in the coming of knowledge, and the conflict of the innate perception that the average person is too weak, too full of misconceptions to be able to lift themselves up is addressed. A theme in the Gospel is the idea that we each have the mechanism within us to change, to awake, rather than the Father having to implant us with these gifts in order for a change to occur.
Read more about this topic: Gospel Of Truth
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