The Second Discourse of the Great Seth
NHC VII, 2
The following translation has been committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose. It is based on the Coptic text of Nag Hammadi Codex VII, 2. The Nag Hammadi texts were written in the fourth century, subsequently buried, and then rediscovered in 1945. Despite the title, Seth is never actually named in the text; the speaker is Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, perhaps understood as an incarnation of the heavenly Seth.
This translation from the Coptic is by Samuel Zinner and was edited by Mark M. Mattison with the generous support of Other Gospels.
Symbols
( ) Editorial insertion to clarify the text
< > Editorial correction of a scribal error
[49] Page number of the Coptic codex (hyperlinked)
The Perfect Greatness
[49] However, the perfect Greatness[1] reposes in unspeakable light, (that is,) in truth, (which is) the Mother of everything. Given that I am the only one who is perfect, each one of you reaches me because of the Logos,[2] because I dwell with the entirety of the Greatness of the Spirit, who is equally a friend to us and to the friends of our kindred.
I have spoken a discourse to the glory of our Father, by means of his goodness and indestructible thought, and this speech comes from him. It is an affair appropriate to slavery to say, “We will die together with Christ,” that is, with indestructible and unpolluted thought. What an inconceivable miracle! The Scripture concerning the unspeakable water used among us is this saying: “I am in all of you, and you are in me, precisely in the way the Father is in me <and in> you,” [50] without insincerity.
The Incarnation
Let us convoke a congregation. Let us scrutinize this creation of his and dispatch someone, precisely in the way he, too, has scrutinized thoughts in the nether realms.
I spoke this to all the members of the complete great assembly of the Greatness, causing them to rejoice, and the complete household of the Father of Truth rejoiced. Given that I belong to them, I recalled to them the things concerning the thoughts that originated from the unpolluted Spirit and had descended to the water, namely, to the nether realm. In every one of them one thought was present, given that it originated from one source. They informed me of their ruling, and I agreed and departed to manifest glory to my kindred, my spiritual friends.
The inhabitants of the world were made ready by the desire of our sister Sophia, whose indiscrete behavior had been innocent. She was not dispatched, nor did she ask for anything from the All, nor the greatness of the congregation, nor the Fullness when she first arrived [51] to make homes and dwellings ready for the Son of Light. Out of the lower elements she obtained coworkers for building physical dwellings for them, but in their conceit they plummeted to ruin. However, the inhabitants of the world arrived to dwell in these homes, and given that they had been made ready by Sophia, they were set to obtain the salvific Logos of the Unspeakable One and of the greatness of the congregation comprising all of those who remain in expectation, and who dwell in me already.
I came near a physical dwelling and expelled the earlier tenant, and I entered inside. The entire crowd of archons was disturbed, and all the materiality of the archons and the earth-born powers commenced shaking when it saw the amalgamated image. I was inside of it, and my appearance was unlike that of the earlier tenant, because he was a [52] cosmic Man, while I, however, I come from above the heavens. I did not resist them, and I became Christ, but I did not disclose myself to them because of the love that emanates from me. I instead disclosed that I am an alien to the nether realms.
In the whole world as well as in the council of the archons there was a loud commotion accompanied by consternation and agitation.
As they witnessed the powerful acts I achieved, some became convinced, those who are offspring of the one who escaped from the throne to Sophia of hope, given that earlier she had signified concerning us and all of those who dwell with me. They belong to the generation of Adonaios.
The Ruler of the World and His Collaborators Scheme
All of them were walking around, while others rushed to mete out to me every kind of chastisement from the ruler of the world and his collaborators. Their minds grew agitated over what they should scheme against me. They imagined their greatness was complete, and they spoke falsehoods concerning the Man as well, and concerning all the greatness [53] of the congregation. They were not able to know the Father of Truth, the Man of Greatness. They, however, usurped the name through <defilement> and ignorance, namely, a fiery flame and a vessel made for the annihilation of Adam, fashioned to hide all of those who similarly belong to them.
However, the archons of the place of Yaldabaoth made known the circuit of the angels, for which humans had been searching, because they did not recognize the True Man, because Adam appeared to them, the one they had shaped. However, all through their habitation there was restlessness and dread that the angels encircling them could array themselves against them, because I died for the ones offering praise — though (I died) not in reality — because their archangel was rendered ineffective.
The voice of the ruler of the world then declared to the angels: “I am God, and no one else exists other than me.” I laughed out loud when I thought about how arrogant he was. He repeated continually: “Who [54] is the Man?” His entire host of angels, who had beheld Adam and his dwelling-place, mocked its triviality. In this way their thought departed from the heavenly Greatness, namely, the True Man, whose name they recognized in the triviality of (his) dwelling-place. They are base, irrational in their vacuous thought, in their mockery, and it caused their pollution.
The complete Greatness of the Fatherhood of the Spirit was in repose in its places, and I accompanied him, given that I possess a thought concerning one sole emanation from the eternal ones, even the inscrutable ones, unpolluted and beyond measure. I troubled and shocked the entire crowd of the angels and their archon, and into the world I inserted a minor thought. I, however, scrutinized everything through the use of flame and fire by means of my thought, and everything they did was by means of me.
There was, however, distress and conflict surrounding the seraphim and the cherubim, whose glory will pass away, [55] and on all sides (there was also) a tumult surrounding Adonaios, which surrounded their dwelling-place as well, reaching up to the ruler of the world, who spoke: “Let us capture him.” Others spoke: “This plot will never succeed,” because by means of hope Adonaios recognizes me.
Crucified Not in Reality, but in Appearance
I, however, was in the mouths of lions. They plotted a scheme against me to thwart the annihilation of their error and irrationality, but I did not surrender to them the way they expected. I was not in the least injured. Even though they punished me, I did not die in reality, but in appearance, so that I would not be humiliated by them, as though they were a part of me.
I liberated myself from humiliation, and I did not grow fearful in mind on account of what they perpetrated against me. I was going to be fettered by fear, but I suffered only in their vision and their imagination, so that nothing could ever be said about them. The death they imagine that I suffered, they (themselves) suffered in their mistake and blindness. They nailed the man they had to their (own) death, because their minds did not recognize [56] me, given that they could neither hear nor see. By perpetrating these deeds they declare judgment against themselves. Regarding myself, on the one hand, they saw me; they punished me. On the other hand, it was not I, but their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar. They were beating me with a reed. Someone else, though, carried the cross on his shoulder, namely, Simon. Someone else bore the crown of thorns. I, however, was jeering in the height at all the overabundance of the archons and the offspring of their error and arrogance, and I was laughing at their ignorance.
The Son of Greatness is Conveyed to the Height
I, however, brought all of their powers to subjection. As I descended, no one saw me, because I constantly transformed my shapes while in the height, changing from shape to shape, so that when I arrived at their gates, I retained their likeness, because in silence I passed by them. I saw their places, but I was neither afraid nor humiliated, because I was unpolluted. I spoke with them, even mixing with them, by means of those who belong to me. I stomped on those who in jealously [57] are cruel to them, and I stamped out the fire. I, however, was accomplishing all this at my desire in order to finish what I had desired (together) with the desire of the lofty Father.
We conveyed the Son of the Greatness, concealed in the nether region, up to the height. There I dwell in the aeons no one has seen or comprehended, where the robe of the greatest wedding resides[3] — the new, not the old (wedding) — and it will not perish, because the new bridal chamber pertains to the heavens, even being perfect.
As I have disclosed, there are three paths, and this is an unpolluted mystery in a spirit of the aeon that is neither annihilated nor separated, nor is it even spoken of; on the contrary, it cannot be separated, being universal and perpetual.
The soul from the height will not speak of error present here, nor will she bear herself away from these aeons, given that she will be carried forth when she has been freed and experienced nobility in the world, and when she stands [58] in front of the Father without trouble or anxiety, perpetually conversing with the mind of ideal power. These will view me from every angle without enmity, because they will see me, and they will be seen, mixing together with them. They neither humiliated me, nor were they humiliated. In my presence they will not feared, and they will fearlessly pass through all the gates, and they will be perfected in the third glory.[4]
The Meaning of the Crucifixion
The world did not accept my visible exaltation, my third baptism in a visible image. When they had dowsed the flame of the seven authorities, even the sun of the powers of the archons set, darkness overtaking them, and the world fell into poverty. With several fetters they fettered this one, even nailing him to the cross, and they fastened him with four bronze nails. He rent the veil of his (own) temple with his very hands. An earthquake overtook the earthly Chaos, because the souls of the dead were liberated and resurrected, and they walked out into the open. They put away [59] the jealousy of ignorance and absence of understanding at the dead tombs, and they donned the New Man. They had attained knowledge of the blessed, perfect one of the eternal, ungraspable Father, even the infinite light, which I am.
When I approached those who belong to me and joined myself together with them, a lot of words became unnecessary, because our thinking became one, so that they comprehended what I spoke. We plotted schemes for the annihilation of the archons, and by this I fulfilled the desire of the Father, which I am.
Triumph over Persecution
When we departed from our home, descended to this world, and entered into bodies in the world, we were loathed and persecuted, not only by the ignorant, but also by those who say they are promoting the name of Christ, while being vacuous and ignorant. Like unreasoning beasts, they know not who they are. They loathe and persecute the ones I have freed. If they would be silent, they would weep and moan without profit, because [60] they have not fully known me. They have instead served two masters, and more than that.
You, however, will triumph in all things, in jealous and furious battles, bouts, and schism. On the contrary, we are without guile, pure, and good in the sincerity of our love, and we possess the mind of the Father in an unspeakable mystery, because it was a bluff; I testify to you that it was a bluff. The archons are unaware that the entire matter is an unspeakable harmony of unpolluted truth, such as is among the Sons of Light. They mimicked it, and they declared the teaching concerning a dead man, together with deceitful doctrines that scorn the liberty and purity of the perfect congregation. In their teaching they fasten themselves to fear, and bondage, and worldly worries, and rejected ways of worship, because they are unknowing and trivial. They do not receive the nobility of truth, loathing the one for whom they exist, and loving the one for whom they do not exist.
They possess no [61] knowledge of the lofty Greatness, the fountain of truth, and it does not originate from bondage, jealousy, fear, or love of the world of matter, because with audacity and without reticence they exploit what does not belong to them as well as what belongs to them. Because they possess authority and a Law governing what they desire they do not covet, and those who lack the Law are impoverished, not possessing one and yet desiring it, and they lead astray people who by means of them are similar to those who possess the truth of their liberty, in order to put us under a yoke and to intimidate us with worry and fear. Such a one is in slavery.
However, having been violently forced by threats, this one was defended by God, but the one born of the nobility of the Fatherhood are left undefended, given that he defends what belongs to him by himself, apart from mandate or force, being joined to his desire, belonging to the thought of the Fatherhood, so that the Fatherhood may be perfect and unspeakable by means of [62] the living water, if it exists in wisdom among yourselves, not only in audible words, but also in action and words done, because the perfect ones deserve to be established and joined together with me in this way, and they will possess no hostility.
The Hebdomad Creates Farces
With beneficial friendship I will fulfill all things by means of the Good One, because the harmony of truth is that they should be without an enemy. However, none of those who cause division learns wisdom, because causing division is not to be a friend, but an enemy to everyone. The one, however, who lives in the union and friendship of brotherly love, out of nature and not just out of obligation, perfectly and not just partly, that one is truly the desire of the Father, being universal and perfect love, because Adam was a farce, and he was created by the Hebdomad from the image of a type of a man, as if he had grown stronger than myself and my brethren, but we are innocent with regard to him, given that we did not sin.
Abraham, however, was a farce, like Isaac and Jacob were, given that the Hebdomad gave them a name, that is, “patriarchs,” from the image, as if [63] he had grown stronger than myself and my brethren, but we are innocent with regard to him, given that we did not sin.
David was a farce, given that his son was named Son of Man, having been put into action by the Hebdomad, as if he had grown stronger than myself and my race, but we are innocent with regard to him. We did not sin.
Solomon was a farce, given that he grew proud by means of the Hebdomad, even thinking he was Christ, as if he had grown stronger than myself and my brethren, but we are innocent with regard to him. I did not sin.
The 12 prophets were a farce, given that they appeared as mimicries of the true prophets. They came to exist from the image by means of the Hebdomad, as if it[5] had grown stronger than myself and my brethren, but we are innocent with regard to it, and we did not sin.
Moses was a farce, “a faithful servant” called “friend.” They testified of him falsely, given that he never knew me. He knew me not, and not one of those who preceded him, from Adam to Moses and John the Baptizer, knew myself or [64] my brethren. They possessed teaching from angels to keep dietary rules, even bitter bondage. They never knew the truth, and they will never know it, because their souls are in bondage, and they will never be able to find a free mind in order for them to know, unless they come to know the Son of Man.
However, owing to my Father, I was the one the world knew not, and this is why it rose up in opposition to me and my brethren, but we are innocent with regard to it. We did not sin, because the archon was a farce, given that he said, “I am God, and there is no one who is greater than I am. I am the only one who is Father and Lord, and no one exists other than me. I am a jealous God, and I assign the sins of the fathers to the children for three and four generations” — as if he had grown stronger than myself and my brethren, but we are innocent with regard to him, because we did not sin. Although we learned his teaching, he abides in pride, and he does not concur with our Father, because he was a farce, with his [65] judgment and false prophecy.
I am Christ, the Son of Man
O, those who see not! You see not your own blindness, that this is the unknown one. Neither have they ever known or understood him. They refused to listen to a legitimate account regarding him, and so they followed their criminal justice, and lifted up their defiled murderous hands against him, as though they were striking the air, and the irrational and blind are irrational always, ever slaves of the Law and cosmic fear.
I am Christ, the Son of Man, the one from all of you, who is inside of you. I am despised for your sake, so that you can disregard what is mutable, and do not become female, so that you will not give birth to evils and to related things, to jealousy, rebellion, anger, fury, deceit, and never-satisfied avarice.
I, however, am an unspeakable mystery to you. At the time before the foundation of the world, when the entire multitude of the congregation in the places of the Ogdoad had gathered [66] and completed plans, they joined together, marrying spiritually, and in this way, it was consummated in the unspeakable places by a living Logos, by the means of Jesus, who dwells inside all of them, and rules them, abiding inside of them with an inseparable and strong love. He, however, turned himself, so that he appeared as a monad of all of these, as a thought and a father, being One, and from all of them he stands apart, because he came forth wholly on his own, and he is life, given that he is from the unspeakable, perfect Father of Truth, of those dwelling there, the harmony of peace, friend of good things, perpetual life and unsullied joy, in a great union of life and faithfulness, by means of perpetual life of fatherhood, and of motherhood, and of sisterhood, and of Sophia of Logos.
They were in harmony with a mind that stretches itself outwards, that will stretch itself outwards in glad harmony. He is revered [67] and faithfully listens to the One, and this subsists in fatherhood and motherhood, and brotherhood of Logos, and Sophia, and this is a wedding of truth, indestructible repose in a spirit of truth, in every mind, and a perfect light in a mystery without name.
Salvation and Harmony
This is not, however, and will not come to pass among us in any region or place where there is rebellion and rending of peace. Instead, this is a harmony, a love feast, and everyone is completed in the One Who Is. (Love) was also in the regions beneath heaven united with them. Those who attained to knowledge of me by means of salvation and harmony, and those who lived to the glory of the Father, even of Truth, were once were separated, but they have been joined together with the One by means of the living Logos, and I abide in the spirit and truth of motherhood, given that harmony dwells there, and I abide with those who are harmoniously in the constant friendship of friends. Neither do they in the least know animosity and evil, but they are joined together [68] by my knowledge in Logos and peace, which prevails completely with all of them and inside all of them, and those who donned the likeness of my form will don the likeness of my Logos. They will indeed come out into the light perpetually, in shared friendship in the Spirit, given that they have attained to complete and perfect knowledge that the One Who Is is (indeed) one, and that everyone is one, and in this way they were instructed concerning the One, and concerning the congregation, and concerning the members of the congregation, because the Father of the All is beyond measure, beyond change, mind, speech, separation, jealousy, fire. Instead, he is utterly one, the all of all of these in a single source, because all of these derive from a single spirit.
O you who do not look, why have you not truly recognized the mystery? The archons, however, surrounding Yaldabaoth disobeyed because of the thought that descended into him from her sister Sophia. They made for themselves an exclusive union with those who dwelt with them in a blending of [69] a cloud of fire, which was their jealousy, and those who remained were produced by their creatures, as though they had assembled the noble pleasure of the congregation, and because of this they manifested their own blending of ignorance through a fake image of fire and earth and murderer. Given that they number only a few, and being unlearned, they are unaware. These things they dared to do, but they did not understand that light joins with light, and darkness with darkness, and what is polluted joins with things destructible and what is indestructible with what is unpolluted.
Conclusion
However, I, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, superior to the heavens, have granted these things to you, O perfect and unpolluted ones, because of the perfect, unspeakable mystery that is unpolluted.
They, however, imagine that we ordained all of this before the foundation of the world, in order that when we come out from the places of the world, there we will be able to bestow the symbols of indestructibility from the spiritual harmony with [70] knowledge.
You know this not because of the fleshly cloud overshadowing you. Rather, I am the only one who is the friend of Sophia, abiding in the bosom of the Father from the beginning, in the place where dwell the Sons of Truth, and the Greatness. So rest in me, my spiritual friends, even my brethren, perpetually.
Second Discourse of the Great Seth
Notes
[1] “Greatness,” or “majesty,” here and following in the text.
[2] Logos, Coptic šače, presumably rendering Greek logos.
[3] I have emended the text which reads “the wedding of the wedding robe.”
[4] “Third glory,” probably a superlative meaning “the greatest/highest/final glory.”
[5] “It,” i.e., the twelve as a group.