The Gospel of Philip is a Valentinian Christian anthology of sayings, meditations and short arguments, preserved in a single Coptic copy in Codex II of the Nag Hammadi Library. It is not a narrative gospel. It is a loose collection of about a hundred excerpts on the meaning of names, images and sacraments, above all the mystery of the Bridal Chamber. It is best known today for two passages about Mary Magdalene, the Lord's "companion," one of which is famously damaged.[1]
Date, origin and character
The title appears only in a colophon at the end; Philip is the only apostle named in the text. Scholars date it anywhere from the late second to the second half of the third century; the Early Christian Writings site gives c. 180–250. It was probably composed in Greek, perhaps in Syria, since it plays on Syriac words.[1][2] Its translator Wesley Isenberg thought it "a collection of excerpts mainly from a Christian Gnostic sacramental catechesis"; Bentley Layton called it "a Valentinian anthology containing some one hundred short excerpts taken from various other works."[2]
Major themes
Images and truth
Philip holds that the world receives truth only in symbolic form: "Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images. The world will not receive truth in any other way. There is a rebirth and an image of rebirth. It is certainly necessary to be born again through the image."[3] Seeing is becoming: "You saw the Spirit, you became spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ."[1]
Five mysteries
"The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber." The sacraments are arranged like the three rooms of the Jerusalem temple, with the bridal chamber as the "Holy of the Holies."[3] See Bridal Chamber.
Resurrection now
"Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing."[3]
Reuniting what was divided
"When Eve was still with Adam, death did not exist. When she was separated from him, death came into being. If he enters again and attains his former self, death will be no more." Christ came "to repair the separation," and the spiritual union of the bridal chamber is the cure for death.[3]
Sophia and the Holy Spirit
Philip treats the Holy Spirit as feminine and mocks the idea that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit ("When did a woman ever conceive by a woman?"). It speaks of Wisdom as "barren," "the mother of the angels," and "salt": "They called Sophia 'salt'. Without it, no offering is acceptable."[3]
Mary Magdalene in Philip
"His companion"
The first passage is intact:
"There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary."[3]
The Greek word koinōnos ("companion," "partner," "sharer") can mean a spouse, but in Christian usage it also means a companion in faith or a co-worker, and Philip uses its cognates for both literal marriage and spiritual partnership. Scholars note that Philip uses the ordinary Coptic word for "wife" elsewhere, which suggests koinōnos is reserved for something more specific.[1]
The kiss, and the lacuna
The second passage comes just after the saying about Wisdom, "the barren... the mother of the angels." The manuscript is damaged here, and several key words are missing. In Marvin Meyer's translation, with restored words in brackets:
"The companion of the [savior] is Mary of Magdala. The [savior loved] her more than [all] the disciples, [and he] kissed her often on her [mouth]. The other [disciples]... said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?'"[4]
There is a hole in the papyrus after "on her." "Mouth" is a restoration, adopted by Isenberg and Meyer, but other scholars have proposed "hand," and the kiss might equally have been on the cheek, forehead or feet as a sign of respect. The text as it survives does not say where Jesus kissed her.[1] Earlier in the gospel Philip explains its own symbolism of kissing: "For it is by a kiss that the perfect conceive and give birth. For this reason we also kiss one another. We receive conception from the grace which is in one another."[3] Bart Ehrman and others read the kiss as the early Christian "kiss of peace," a symbol of passing on truth, not romance.[5]
The Savior's answer to the jealous disciples is about perception, not affection: "When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness."[3] In Philip, Mary is loved because she sees.
The closing promise
The gospel ends with a promise about the light of the bridal chamber: "If anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he will receive the light... He who will receive that light will not be seen, nor can he be detained. And none shall be able to torment a person like this, even while he dwells in the world... The world has become the Aeon (eternal realm), for the Aeon is fullness for him."[3]
In the Alien Archive
- Lady of Light — Philip is a gospel of light: the one who receives it "will not be seen, nor can he be detained," and "The powers do not see those who are clothed in the perfect light." The Archive's Lady of Light, radiant and protective, "Transmitter of compassion, clarity, inner peace, and energetic purification," is a modern image of that same clothing of light. Philip's feminine Wisdom, "the mother of the angels," is another.
- Shadow Entities and Mimic Entities — Philip describes "forms of evil spirit" (male and female) that attach themselves to a person who is "sitting alone," but cannot approach a united pair: "if the image and the angel are united with one another, neither can any venture to go into the man or the woman." The Archive's liminal beings, which appear to those in isolated or emotionally charged states, are a modern echo of this ancient idea of spiritual vulnerability and protection.
- Energy Beings — Philip's "fire whose form is white, which is bright and beautiful, and which gives beauty" is an ancient description of luminous, non-physical presence.
See also
- Bridal Chamber
- Mary Magdalene
- Valentinianism
- Sophia
- Gospel of Mary
- Christ in Gnosticism
- Nag Hammadi Library
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Gospel of Philip — Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gospel of Philip — Early Christian Writings (Peter Kirby), quoting Wesley Isenberg, Bentley Layton and Hans-Martin Schenke. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 The Gospel of Philip, trans. Wesley W. Isenberg — The Gnostic Society Library (gnosis.org). Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ The Gospel of Philip, trans. Marvin Meyer — The Gnostic Society Library (gnosis.org). Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ↑ Mary Magdalene — Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-09-19.