The Savior Appears to Peter in a Bright Light (82,3-83,15)

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The Revelation of Peter - Part 9 (Jesus speaks to Peter)

 

The Savior Appears to Peter in a Bright Light (82,3-83,15)

 

(p.496) Then I saw someone about to approach us who looked like the one laughing

above the cross,[50] but this one was intertwined[51] with holy spirit, and he

was the Savior. And there was an unspeakably bright light surrounding them and a

multitude of ineffable and invisible angels praising them. When the one who

glorifies[52] was revealed, I myself saw him.

 

He said to me, " Be strong, for these mysteries have been given to you so that

you might know clearly[53] that the one they crucified is the firstborn, the

abode of demons, the stone vessel in which they live,[54] the man of Elohim, the

man of the cross, who is under the law.[55] But the one who is standing near him

is the living Savior, who was in him at first and was arrested but was set free.

He is standing and observing with pleasure that those who did evil to him are

divided among themselves. And he is laughing at their lack of perception,

knowing that they were born blind. The one capable of suffering must remain,

since the body is the substitute, but what was set free was my bodiless body. I

am the spirit of thought filled with radiant light. The one you saw approaching

me is our fullness of thought, which unites the perfect light with my holy

spirit.

 

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (The International Edition)

Edited by Marvin Meyer; Advisory Board: Wolf-Peter Funk, Paul-Hubert Poirier,

James M. Robinson; Introduction by Elaine H. Pagels

The Revelation of Peter, p.496

HarperCollins Publishers - New York

ISBN:978-0-06-052378-7

ISBN-10: 0-06-052378-6

 

Notes:

 

[50] Lit., " like him, even (or and [m('superscript e')n]) the one laughing above

the cross. " If m('superscript e')n is taken as the conjunction " and, " then two

beings are mentioned in the comparison with the spiritual Savior, most likely

the crucified one and the laughing Jesus.

 

[51] Or " interwoven, " as with a garment (Coptic 'seh'). Brashler, in 'Nag

Hammadi Codex VII', 242-43, prefers to emend the text and read <m>eh, " filled. "

 

[52] Or, with an emendation of the text, " the one who <is> glorified. "

 

[53] Or " through revelation. "

 

[54] According to the 'Testament of Solomon', Solomon confined the demons in

such vessels. Cf. 'Testimony of Truth' 70; perhaps 'On the Origin of the World'

122. Here these vessels refer to physical bodies, particularly the physical body

that was crucified on the cross.

 

[55] Cf. Paul's statements about the cross and the law, e.g., in 'Galatians'.