Gospel of Philip

A bridal chamber is not for the animals [human beasts], nor is it for the slaves [of lust], nor for the defiled women, but it is for free men [see below *] and virgins [of sin]. Through the Holy Spirit [Binah in Daath] we are indeed begotten again [born again], but we are begotten through Christ in the two. We are anointed through the Spirit.

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The powers [below] do not see those who are clothed in the perfect light, and consequently are not able to detain them. One will clothe himself in this light sacramentally in the union [of man and woman].

If the woman had not separated from the man, she would not die with the man. His separation became the beginning of death. Because of this Christ came to repair the separation which was from the beginning and to again unite the two, to give life to those who died as a result of the separation and unite them. But the woman is united to her husband in the bridal chamber. Indeed, those who have united in the bridal chamber will no longer be separated. Thus Eve separated from Adam because she was never united with him in the bridal chamber.

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Is it permitted to utter a mystery? The Father of everything united with the virgin who came down, and a fire shone for him on that day. He appeared in the great bridal chamber. Therefore his body came into being on that very day. It left the bridal chamber as one who came into being from the bridegroom and the bride. So Jesus established everything in it through these. It is fitting for each of the disciples to enter into his rest.

Adam came into being from two virgins, from the Spirit and from the virgin of earth. Christ therefore, was born from a virgin to rectify the Fall which occured in the beginning.

There are two trees growing in Paradise. One bears animals, the other bears men. Adam ate from the tree which bore animals. He became an animal and he brought forth animals. For this reason the children of Adam worship animals. The tree whose gift Adam ate is the Tree of Knowledge [for he should not have eaten of it]. That is why sins increased. If he ate the fruit of the other tree, that is to say, the Tree of Life, the one which bears men, then the gods would worship man. For in the beginning God created man. But now men create God [idols]. That is the way it is in the world - men make gods and worship their creation. It would be fitting for the gods to worship men!

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A horse sires a horse, a man begets man, a god brings forth a god. Compare the bridegroom and the bride. Their children were conceived in the bridal chamber. No Jew was ever born to Greek parents as long as the world has existed. And, as a Christian people. we ourselves do not descend from the Jews. There was another people and these blessed ones are referred to as The chosen people of the Living God and The true man and Son of Man and the seed of the Son of Man. In the world it is called this true people. Where they are, there are the sons of the bridal chamber.

Whereas in this world the union is one of husband with wife - a case of strength complemented with weakness - in the Aeon the form of the union is different, although we refer to them by the same names. There are other names,however, they are superior to every other name that is named and are stronger than the strong. For where there is a show of strength, there those who excel in strength appear. These are not separate things, but both of them are this one single thing. This is the one which will not be able to rise above the heart of flesh.

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He who has knowledge of the truth is a free man [*], but the free man does not sin, for He who sins is the slave of sin [John8:34] Truth is the mother, knowledge the father. Those who think that sinning does not apply for them are called free by the world. Knowledge of the truth merely makes such people arrogant, which is what the words, it makes them free mean. It even gives them a sense of superiority over the whole world. But Love builds up [1Cor8:1]. In fact, he who is really free through [the Tree of] knowledge is a slave [or servant] because of love for those who have not yet been able to attain the freedom which comes from knowledge. [The Tree of] Knowledge makes them capable of becoming free.

Love never calls somethings its own, and yet it may actually possess that very thing. It never says,This is mine but All these are yours. Spiritual love is wine and fragrance. All those who anoint themselves with it take pleasure in it. While those who are anointed are present, those nearby profit from the fragrance. If those anointed with ointment withdraw from them and leave, then those anointed, who merely stand nearby, still remain in their bad odor. The samaritan gave nothing but wine and oil to the wounded man. It is nothing other than the ointment. It healed the wounds, for love covers a multitude of sins [1Pet4:8]

The children a woman bears resemble the man who loves her. If her husband loves her, then they resemble her husband. If it is an adulterer, then they resemble the adulterer. Frequently, if a woman sleep with her husband out of necessity, while her heart is with the adulterer with whim she usually has intercourse, the child she will bear is born resembling the adulterer. Now you who live together with the Son of God, love not the world, but love the Lord.

The human being has intercourse with the human being. The horse has intercourse with the horse, the ass with the ass. Members of a race usually have associated with those of like race. So spirit mingles with spirit, and thought consorts with thought, and light shares with light. If you are born a human being, it is the human being which will love you. If you become a spirit, it is the spirit which will be joined to you. If you become thought, it is thought which will mingle with you. If you become light, it is light which will share with you. If you become one of those who belong above, it is those who belong above who will rest in you. If you become horse or ass or bull or dog or sheep or another of the animals which are outside and below, then neither human being nor spirit nor thought nor light will be able to love you. Neither those who belong above nor those who belong within will be able to rest in you, and you have no part in them.

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There is the Son of man and there is the son of the Son of man. The Lord is the Son of man, and the son of the Son of man is he who created through the Son of man. The Son of man received from God the capacity to create. He also has the ability to beget. He who has received the ability to create is a creature. He who has received the ability to beget is an offspring. He who creates cannot beget. He who begets also has the ability to create. Now they say, He who creates begets. But his so-called offspring is merely a creature. Therefore his children are not offspring but creatures. He who create works openly; he himself is visible. He who begets, begets in private; he is himself hidden, since he is superior to every image. He who creates, creates openly. But one who begets, begets children in private. No one will be able to know when the husband and the wife have intercourse with one another, except the two in them. Indeed, marriage in the world is a mystery for those who have taken a wife. If there is a hidden quality to the marriage of defilement, how much more is the undefiled marriage a true mystery! It is not fleshly but pure. It belongs not to desire but to the will. It belongs not to the darkness or the night but to the day and the light. If a marriage is open to the public, it has become prostitution, and the bride plays the harlot not only when she is impregnated by another man but even if she slips out of her bedroom and is seen. Let her show herself only to the father and her mother and the friend of the bridegroom and the sons of the bridegroom. There are permitted to enter every day into the bridal chamber. But let the others yearn to listen to her voice and to enjoy her ointment, and let them feed from the crumbs that fall from the table, like dogs. Bridegrooms and brides belong to the bridal chamber. No one shall be able to see the bridegroom with the bride unless one becomes one.

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As long as it is hidden, wickedness is indeed ineffectual, but it has not been removed from the midst of the seed [semen] of the Holy Spirit. They [who remain this way] are slaves of evil [lust]. But when it [sin] is revealed [and removed], then the perfect light will flow out on everyone. And all those who are in it will receive the chrism. Then the slaves will be free and the captives ransomed. Every plant which my father in heaven has not planted will be plucked out [Matt15:13]. Those who are seperated will be united and will be filled. Every one who will enter the bridal chamber will kindle the light, for it burns just as in the marriages which are observed, though they happen at night. That fire [of sex in teh comon marriage] burns only at night and is put out. But the mysteries of this [sacramental] marriage are perfected rather in the day and the light. Neither that day nor its light ever sets. If anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber [the secret knowledge of sex], he will receive the light [of Christ]. If anyone does not receive it while he is in these [physical] places, he will not be able to receive it in the other [non-physical]place. He who will receive the 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. And again, when he leaves the world he has allready received the truth in the images. The world has become the Aeon, for the Aeon if fullness for him. This is the way it is: it is revealed to him alone, not hidden in the darkness and the night, but hidden in a perfect day and a holy light.