Chapter 35. The Confusion of the Heretics as to Which God Inspired the Prophets
Chapter 35
1. So there are the Valentinians and the rest of the falsely so-called Gnostics, who assert that sometimes in the Scriptures things were spoken about by Supreme Power for the sake of the Offspring that also comes from there but at other times about the middle regions, for the sake of the <audacious> Mother, Prunikos; but at still other times many things were spoken about by the Maker of the world, from whom also the Prophets were sent. In opposition to these people we say that it is very irrational to reduce the Father of all things to so great need, as if he did not have his own means, by which the things that are in the Fullness might be announced intact. Really, whom did he fear that he would not of his own accord and independently make known his will, freely and without any association with the Spirit who was made in degeneracy and ignorance? Did he fear lest many should be saved when they would hear intact the things of the Truth? Or again, was he powerless to prepare for himself those who would announce the Savior’s coming?
2. If the Savior, when he came to this earth, sent his apostles into the world to herald his coming intact and to teach his Father’s will, [the apostles] would in no way have anything in common in doctrine with the Gentiles or the Jews. Then much more, while remaining in the Fullness, would he have appointed his own heralds who would announce his future coming to this world, without having anything in common with the prophecies that are from Demiurge? If, on the other hand, while he was in the Fullness, he had made use of the Prophets of the Law, and by means of them manifested his own things, much more would he have used these same teachers, when he came to this earth and would have announced the Gospel to us through them.
Therefore, let them no longer assert that Peter and Paul and the other apostles proclaimed the Truth, but that it was the scribes and the Pharisees and the rest, through whom the Law was preached. Now, if at his coming he sent his own apostles in the spirit of truth, and not in the spirit of error, he did the very same with the Prophets, because the Word of God was always the self-same. Since, moreover, according to the rule of these men, the Spirit from the Supreme Power was the Spirit of light, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of perfection, the Spirit of knowledge, while the Spirit of Demiurge was the Spirit of ignorance, degeneracy, error, and the offspring of a shadow, how could perfection and degeneracy, knowledge and ignorance, error and truth, light and darkness, be in one and the same Spirit? If, however, it was impossible for this to be so in the case of the Prophets—but that [as inspired] from the one God, they preached the Word of God, and proclaimed the coming of his Son—much more would the Lord himself never have held discourses, now about the Supreme Power, now about the Degeneracy rejected here below, thus acting as a teacher both of knowledge and of ignorance. Nor would he ever have glorified now the Creator of this world, now the Father who is above him, as Christ himself said, No one [takes] a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; and no one puts new wine into old wine skins. So, either let them lay off altogether from the Prophets, as from the ancients, and let them not assert that these were sent ahead by Demiurge and spoke some things about the message which is according to Supreme Power; or, on the contrary, they will be convicted by the Lord who says, New wine is not put into old wine skins.
3. From where could the Offspring of their mother get his knowledge about the mysteries within the Fullness and speak about them? To be sure, the mother was outside the Fullness when she gave birth to this Offspring. But what is outside the Fullness, they assert, is outside of knowledge, and that means it is ignorance. How, then, could the Offspring which was conceived as ignorance be able to announce knowledge? Or, how could the mother herself know the mysteries of the Fullness, formless and shapeless as she was, cast outside as an abortive child, and there fashioned and formed, and hindered by Limit from going within, and continuing till the consummation to be outside the Fullness, namely, outside of knowledge? Again, if they assert that the Lord’s passion is a type of the straining forward of Christ from on high, who, when he strained forward, formed their mother by the aid of Limit, they are refuted in regard to other particulars, since they can no longer show a likeness of the type. For example, where was the Christ on high given vinegar and gall to drink? Or, where were his garments divided? Or, where was he pierced so that blood and water flowed? Or, where did he sweat drops of blood? And all the rest that happened to the Lord, and that the Prophets spoke of? From where, then, did either the mother or her Offspring divine the things that had not yet taken place but would take place?
4. Besides these things they assert that certain others were spoken by Supreme Power. But they are refuted by the things related in the Scriptures about Christ’s coming. What these things were, they cannot agree on; they give different answers about them. In fact, if one would want to make an experiment with them and question their renowned men separately about some word, he would find him saying that the question is about Pre-father, namely, Profundity; another, about the Beginning of all things, namely, Only-begotten; another, about the Father of all things, namely, Word; again, another will say that it is about one of the Aeons in the Fullness; another, that it is about Christ; and another, about Savior. But one who is more skilled than these, after having been silent for a long time, says it is said of Limit; another will say that Wisdom in the Fullness is manifested; another, that the mother outside the Fullness is announced; and still another will say it is God the Maker of the world. So great are the differences among them about the one [being], because they have various opinions about the same Scripture texts. And when a passage has been read, all wrinkle their eyebrows and shake their heads and say they are making a most profound discourse, but that not all are able to understand the greatness which is contained in it! And so, silence is of greatest importance among the wise. Really, the Silence that is above must have its pattern in the silence they are keeping. Thus all, many as they are, disperse, holding so many opinions about one being, and secretly carrying within themselves their clever excogitations.
So, when they agree among themselves on just what was predicted in the Scriptures, then we will refute them. In the meantime, by not thinking wisely, they convict themselves inasmuch as they do not agree on the same words. We, on the contrary, follow one and the same true Lord as teacher, and possess his words as the Rule of the Truth, and so we all speak the same things always about the same passages. We know that there is one God, the Creator of the universe; he sent the Prophets who led the people out of Egypt; he revealed his Son in the last times, that he might confound the unbelievers and search after the fruit of righteousness.