The Idea of Our Great Power
NHC VI, 4
The following translation has been committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose. It is based on the Coptic text of Nag Hammadi Codex VI, 4. The Nag Hammadi texts were written in the fourth century, subsequently buried, and then rediscovered in 1945. This tractate narrates the story of creation, the coming of Jesus and the Antichrist (“the archon of the west”), and the final judgment.
This translation from the Coptic is by Samuel Zinner and was edited by Mark M. Mattison with the generous support of Other Gospels.
Symbols
[ ] Gap in the text (known as a “lacuna”)
( ) Editorial insertion to clarify the text
< > Editorial correction of a scribal error
[36] Page number of the Coptic codex (hyperlinked)
[36] The perception of discursive thought—
the idea of the great power—[1]
he who would know our great power will become invisible, and fire will not be able to devour him, but it will purify and destroy everything that all of you possess, because all of those inside whom my form appears will be saved, from seven days to one hundred twenty years old, whom I <compelled> to gather together the entire ending[2] and the letters[3] of our great power, that the great power may write your name in our bright light and end their thoughts and their works, so as to purify, and scatter, and destroy, and bring them together in the place no one can see, and all of you will see and prepare your dwelling places inside our great power.
Know how what has passed away came to be, so as to know the coming into being of what exists, what is the appearance of that aeon, or [37] what kind it is, or how it came into being.
[Why] do you not ask of what [kind] you will be, or, instead, how you came into being?
In the Beginning
Understand the size of this sea,[4] that it is inconceivably beyond measuring, both its beginning and its end, supporting the earth, blowing in the atmosphere where dwell the gods and angels, and fear and light dwell in him who is exalted above all these, and my letters[5] are revealed through him.
I have supplied them[6] to serve in the physical[7] creation, because it is impossible for any entity to stand[8] without that One, nor can the aeon live without him, given that what is inside it[9] inheres in him, understanding it in a clear[10] way.
Behold, then, the Spirit, and understand where he exists. He bestowed him[11] on men in order for them to receive life each day, given that he[12] possesses life inside him, bestowing on them everything. Then Darkness and Hades received the fire, and he[13] will free from himself what belongs to me. His eyes were not able to endure my light.
The Aeon of Matter
The spirit-winds[14] and waters moved. [38] [And] the remainder came into being as well, and the entire aeon of the creation, and their <powers>, from where the fire came into being.
Power came into being from among the powers, and the powers desired to behold my image, and the soul became a simulacrum of it; this is what came into being.
Behold what it resembles, that before coming into being it was unseeing, because the aeon of flesh[15] came to be in the massive bodies, and long days in creation were appointed to them, because when they had become corrupted, and had entered into flesh,[16] into the father of flesh,[17] the water revenged itself, because when he had found the pious and deserving Noah, the father of flesh,[18] who maintains the angels in subjugation, he[19] preached piety for one hundred and twenty years, and no one listened to him.
And he[20] built a wooden ark, and whoever he found entered into it, and the deluge occurred, [39] and in this way Noah and his sons were saved, because, indeed, if <the> ark had not been designed for humans to enter, the water of the deluge would not have come. This is how he had thought, planned to save the gods, and the angels, and all their powers <of> greatness, and magnificence,[21] and manner of life, by taking them out of that aeon, nurturing them in places that endure permanently, and the judgment of flesh[22] unleashed; the action of the Power was all that remained standing.[23]
The Psychic (or Soulish) Aeon
Next, the psychic aeon, a minor one, imbricated in bodies, begetting in the psychic (realm), was unclean, because the first defiling of creation obtained strength, and it begot all works, multiple works of fury, wrath, envy, maliciousness, hatred, calumny, scorn, and war, lies and wicked counsel, sorrows and joys, humiliations and (forms of) uncleanness, deceptions and diseases, and wicked judgments delivered according to their arbitrary wishes.
Yet you are all sleeping, [40] dreaming dreams: Wake up and repent, taste and eat real food, dole out the Logos and the water of life. Stop the evil desires and cravings, even what is of the Anomoeans, baseless evil heresies, even the powerless mother of fire.
She placed fire on the soul and on the earth, and she burned all <the> dwellings in her;[24] even her shepherd perished. When she furthermore finds nothing to burn, she will devour herself, and it[25] will become immaterial,[26] without flesh,[27] and it will burn flesh,[28] purging all, even all evil, because when it finds nothing else left to burn, it will turn on itself until it devours itself.
The Life and Death of the One Who Knows
Then in this aeon, the psychic one, will come into being the Man [29] who knows the great power that he will receive, and he will know me. In fact, he will drink of the milk of the mother. He will speak in parables and preach the aeon to come, [41] just as he spoke to Noah during the first aeon of flesh.[30] Regarding the words he spoke, he spoke all of them in seventy-two languages, and with his words he opened the gates of the heavens, and he humiliated the ruler of Hades, raising the dead and destroying his rule.
Then there came a loud commotion. The archons lifted up themselves in fury against him, wanting to hand him over to the ruler of Hades.
They also knew one of his followers;[31] a fire overpowered his soul. He handed him over, because there had been no one who knew his identity.
They started moving and seized him, bringing judgment on themselves, and they delivered him over to the ruler of Hades, even handing him over to Sasabek for nine coins of bronze.[32]
He prepared himself to descend, even to humiliate them.
He Defeats the Archons
The ruler of Hades then took him, [42] and he discovered that his flesh was of the kind that cannot be grasped in order to show to the archons.
He, however, was saying: “Who is this? What is this? His word has abolished the law of the aeon; he is of the Logos of the power of life.”
He also overcame the command of the archons, and they were unable to control him by their work.
The archons tried to discern what had occurred. They knew not that this was the sign of their dissolution, and the transition (to another) aeon.
The sun set in the day, the day darkened, the demons became troubled; and after these events his ascent will become visible, and the sign of the aeon to come will become visible, and the aeons will dissolve, and those who discern these things that had been discussed with them will be blessed, and they will reveal them, and they will be blessed because they will discern the truth, because you have all found repose in the heavens.
Many Follow Him
Then many will follow him, and they will set in motion a birth in the places. [43] They will go around, writing down his words according to their desire.
Behold, these aeons have passed away. What was the measure of the sea[33] of the aeon that has dissolved? What measures do aeons possess? How will people prepare themselves, how will they last, how will they become imperishable aeons?
At first, however, after his preaching, he announces the second aeon together with the first, and the first aeon will pass away as time passes.
He made the first aeon, which perished after he traveled around in it for one hundred and twenty years while he preached. This is the perfect, extremely lofty number.
He desolated the western border, and he destroyed the east. Then <came> your seed and those who <desired> to follow our great message and its preaching.
The Archons Strike Back
Then the fury of the archons seethed. They were humiliated by their dissolution, and they raged and grew wrathful towards life. The The cities were <overthrown>; the mountains dissolved; the archon came to the east together with the [44] archons of the west, to the place where the Logos had appeared previously.
Then the earth shook and the cities were in commotion. Moreover, the birds gorged and were filled with <the> dead.[34] The earth lamented together with the inhabited world; they became deserted.
When the times were then completed, then wickedness grew exceedingly, until the final end of the matter.[35]
The Archon of the West
Then arose the archon of the west, and from the east he will undertake an action, even instructing men in his evil, and he desires to abolish every spoken doctrine of the true Sophia, while loving the false Sophia,[36] because he lifted up hand against what is ancient, desiring to inaugurate wickedness, and to don dignity, but he could not do it, because great was the uncleanness of his garments. He then grew furious, appearing and wanting to ascend and pass beyond that place.
The predetermined time arrived, being at hand.
He changes the commandments.
Then came the time when the child was to grow up. When he had attained his maturity, [45] the archons dispatched the impersonator[37] to that man,[38] so that they could understand our great power, and they were waiting for him to work a sign for them, and he exhibited great signs, and he reigned over all the earth and <over> everyone who dwells under the sky. He erected his throne at the end of the earth, because: “I shall make you god of the world.”
He will perform signs and miracles. Then will they turn away from me and err.
Then those men who will follow after him[39] will institute circumcision, and he[40] will deliver the judgment of those who are of the uncircumcision, who are the people,[41] because in fact he[42] had sent many preachers (to them) previously, who preached for him.[43]
Judgment by Fire
When he has finished the time appointed for the kingdom of the earth, then will come the purgation of souls, because evil is stronger than all of you. Every power of the sea will shake and dry up, and the firmament will not send down dew. The springs will halt; the rivers will not flow down [46] into their springs, and the waters of the springs of the earth will halt.
Then the depths will be exposed and will open up. The stars will swell and the sun will cease, and I will depart with all those who know me, and they will enter into the infinite light. There will no one of flesh, nor consuming excess of fire to lay hold of them. They will be unhindered, holy, because nothing will pull them downward. I protect them with my own hand, because they possess sacred garments the fire cannot touch, nor darkness, nor a wind, not (even) for a moment, that causes the eyes to close.
Then will he come to destroy all these things, and they will be chastised until they are purged. Furthermore, the time allotted to them to exercise power is 1,468 years.
When the fire has devoured everything, and when it finds nothing else to burn, then will it destroy itself by its own power.[44] Then the [47] [judgment by fire], being the [second] power, will be finished.
The Aeon of Beauty
Then mercy will arrive [. . .] through Sophia[45] [. . .].
Then [will] the firmaments [crumble] down to the depth.
Then will the sons of matter perish, to be no more from that moment on.
Then will appear the souls who are holy through the light of the power that is exalted above all powers, measureless, universal.
I and everyone who knows me, even they will exist in the aeon of beauty, of the aeon of marriage,[46] and they will be prepared[47] through Sophia,[48] having lavished praise on him who is in inconceivable unity, and they gaze on him because of his will that is in them, and all of them have become as images (reflecting) in his light. All of them have glowed, and they have found repose in his repose, and he will liberate the souls being judged, and they will enter into purity, and they will gaze on the saints, and cry out toward them, “Have mercy on us, O Power, you who are above all powers,” because [48] [. . .] and in the tree [of] sin that subsists [. . .] their eyes to him, [and they] seek him not, because they seek us not, nor are they faithful to us, but they have behaved in accord with the creation of the archons and its other archons.
We, however, have behaved in accord with our origin of flesh,[49] in accord with the creation of the archons, which confers the law.
We, too, have come to be in the unchangeable[50] aeon.
The Idea of Our Great Power
Notes
[1] The first two lines are synonymous statements, and they function not only as titles, but as the beginning of the first paragraph-long sentence.
[2] The meaning of Coptic haeie is uncertain here, referring either to destruction, falling, or finality. The context suggests a correlation between the “final ending” and the “letters” of the alphabet (see the next footnote), suggesting the notion of the gathering together of all the letters that form the alphabet, which has a beginning and an ending, namely, the first and last letters of the alphabet.
[3] “Letters”: Coptic shai can mean “writings” or “letters” of the alphabet, but the context suggests the letters of the alphabet are intended.
[4] Literally “water,” but the context demands a global body of water.
[5] Coptic shai here meaning “letters” of the alphabet, not “writings.” This interpretation is confirmed in the subsequent mention of creation by means of (various combinations of) the divine letters, a widespread ancient trope.
[6] “Them,” i.e., the letters of the divine alphabet.
[7] “Physical,” literally “fleshly,” but the passage indicates that the wider physical, material creation is meant, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[8] “Stand,” i.e., “exist.”
[9] “It,” i.e., the physical creation.
[10] “Clear,” or “pure.”
[11] I.e., the Spirit.
[12] I.e., the Spirit.
[13] I.e., the dyad Darkness and Hades.
[14] Literally “spirits,” but winds are also implied; cf. Gen 1:2, where Hebrew ruaḥ also implies both “wind” and “spirit.”
[15] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[16] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[17] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[18] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[19] I.e., Noah.
[20] I.e., Noah.
[21] “Magnificence”; here tryphē must bear a positive valence that is synonymous with the preceding “greatness,” rather than a negative valence, such as “extravagance.”
[22] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[23] “Standing,” i.e., “existing.”
[24] “Her,” i.e., the dyad of soul and earth.
[25] I.e., the fire.
[26] Literally, “incorporeal.”
[27] Literally, “body.”
[28] “Matter,” hylē.
[29] I.e., Jesus.
[30] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[31] An allusion to Judas.
[32] “For nine coins of bronze,” berōtth, which some, probably unnecessarily, understand and render as a personified “Berotth.”
[33] Literally, “water.”
[34] The manuscript literally reads “their dead,” but the dead are humans, not other birds.
[35] “Matter,” logos, but the sense, contextually, is “matter,” “thing,” “scenario.”
[36] Some see here a reference to abstract, non-personified wisdom rather than to two personified Sophias.
[37] I.e., the Archon of the West.
[38] I.e., Jesus.
[39] I.e., the impersonator.
[40] It is unclear whether this “he” also refers to the impersonator. If this “he” is the impersonator, then the judgment he delivers to the uncircumcised would be a negative judgment, a condemnation. On the other hand, this “he” could be a positive figure who pronounces a judgment/decision of innocence for the uncircumcised, James the Righteous does in Acts 15.
[41] The text seems to imply “the true/real people.”
[42] It is unclear just who this “he” is.
[43] The sentence is enigmatic and ambiguous. The impersonator seems to be James the Righteous, brother of Jesus, as depicted in the Letter to the Galatians, where the delegation from James insists on circumcision for non-Jews. (This starkly contrasts with Acts 15). Paul combats this by claiming that Gentiles who are spiritually and not physically circumcised are the true Israel (see Galatians 6:16).
[44] “Power,” literally, “hand,” the latter being a frequent ancient idiom for “power.”
[45] The text here may or may not refer to a personified wisdom.
[46] “Marriage,” Coptic hap, which here might alternatively mean “judgment.”
[47] “Prepared”; if this is preceded by a mention of marriage, then the preparation would be the adornments for the marriage celebration; see Meyer’s translation, “and they will be adorned.”
[48] The text here may or may not refer to a personified wisdom.
[49] “Flesh” here seems to refer to the wider physical, material creation, with a hint at its temporal and therefore mortal status.
[50] “Unchangeable,” accepting Krause’s emendation of atroptos to atropos.