Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TRUTH, GOSPEL OF

(I, 3; XII, 2)

A gnostic sermon or reflection upon the gospel, discovered at Nag Hammadi. This tractate is a rhetorical masterpiece and can be described as both gnostic and Valentinian. It exists in two Coptic recensions found in Codices I, 3 (Subakhimic) and XII, 2 (Sahidic). Since the latter exists in an extremely fragmentary form, the former has, of necessity, become the focus of scholarly analysis.

Since its discovery this text has provoked scholarly speculation regarding its authorship. The debate is sparked by Irenaeus’ comment ca. 180 that “reckless” Valentians claimed to possess numerous gospels, including a “Gospel of Truth” which “they themselves only recently wrote” and which “agrees at no point with the gospels by the apostles” (Adv. haer. 3.11.9). From this statement, many scholars have attributed this work to the gnostic teacher Valentinus (a.d. ca. 100-ca. 175). As support commentators have pointed to stylistic similarities between the Gospel of Truth and the extant fragments which are attributed to Valentinus, the Valentinian conceptual character of the text, and the opening line of the tractate itself which refers to the “gospel of truth.” However, Irenaeus does not directly attribute the Gospel of Truth to Valentinus himself, but rather to his followers. The stylistic similarities are dubious due to the brevity of the comparative fragments and a lack of a Greek original; they may merely reflect similar rhetorical training. Realistically, the eagerness of commentators to attribute this work to Valentinus may be more fancy than fact.

Bibliography. H. W. Attridge and G. W. MacRae, “The Gospel of Truth (I,3 and XII,2),” in Naq Hammadi Codex I, ed. Attridge. NHS 22 (Leiden, 1985); J. A. Williams, Biblical Interpretation in the Gnostic Gospel of Truth from Nag Hammadi. SBLDS 79 (Atlanta, 1988).

Andrea Lorenzo Molinari

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TRUTH, GOSPEL OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)