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Nag Hammadi Coptic Text Funk's Parallels
Manichaean Psalm Book
121,25-33.

BLATZ LAYTON DORESSE

(15) Jesus said: When you
see him who was not born
of woman, fall down upon
your faces and worship him;
that one is your Father.
(15) Jesus said, "When you
(plur.) see one who has not
been born of woman, fall
upon your faces and
prostrate yourselves before
that one: it is that one who
is your father."
16 [15]. Jesus says: "When
you see Him who has not
been born of woman, bow
down face to the earth and
adore Him: He is your
father!"

Visitor Comments Scholarly Quotes

Compare with Qur'an, 17-61.
- dustonthepath
See also Qur'an, 25:2.
- dustonthepath
We are all not born in our
true nature as souls. When
you have achieved contact
with your soul you have
achieved contact with God.
There is only One of us.
- active-mystic
When you apprehend the
living one who is not of the
dead world, drop your
personal masks and worship
Him. That is the source of all
life.
- Simon Magus
This refers to the innate adult
self, which develops with
puberty; but I wouldn't
advise you to worship it, as it
is yourself and should not be
idolised.
- Rodney
Marvin Meyer says that "Manichaean Psalm Book 121,25-33 also declares an
identity between the father and the one not of human birth" and quotes: "[I] hear that
you are in your father (and) your father hidden in [you]. My Master. [When I say],
'The son was [begotten],' I [shall] find [the] father also beside him. My master. Shall I
destroy a kingdom that I may provide a womb of a woman? My master. Your holy
womb is the luminaries that conceive you. In the trees and the fruit is your holy body.
My master Jesus." (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, pp. 75-76)
Funk and Hoover write: "There are no parallels to this saying in early Christian or
gnostic tradition. Among some gnostic groups, the highest god is referred to as the
'unbegotten' (one not born), since birth would imply that the god was finite. This may
be the background of the saying. Another possibility is this: Jesus may here be
equating himself with the Father, as he sometimes does in the Gospel of John (10:30;
14:9). In either case, the Fellows took this to reflect later Christian or gnostic
tradition." (The Five Gospels, p. 482)
Robert M. Grant: "Man who is born of woman is subject to sin, according to Job
14:1, as Doresse notes (page 143). The greatest of those born of women was John the
Baptist (Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28). Therefore, for our Gnostic (as for other
Gnostics), Jesus cannot have been born of a woman (in spite of the fact that Paul says
he was - Galatians 4:4). Of course it is possible that like some Gnostic teachers he
held that while Jesus was born of a woman, the spiritual Christ descended upon him
at the time of his baptism; the Naassenes believed that the threefold being descended
upon Jesus. In any event, the one not born of woman is to be worshipped, since he is
the (heavenly) Father. This conclusion seems to reflect the words of John 14:9: 'He
who has seen me has seen the Father' (cf., John 10:30: 'I and the Father are one')."
(The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 135)
F. F. Bruce writes: "But for the last clause, we might have interpreted this saying to
Perhaps it is the ego that is mean that Jesus - unlike John the Baptist (cf. Saying 46) - was not born of woman.
born of a woman; when we But whatever the compiler or editor believed about the mode of Jesus's coming into
come to know That which is the world (see Saying 19a), this is probably not in view here, since Jesus and the
All, That which is not born Father are distinguished (cf. Saying 3). Even so, he would no doubt have drawn his
but Is, That which defies the own conclusions from such a saying of Jesus as that of John 10.30: 'I and the Father
illusion of separateness that are one.' The Father is in any case the unbegotten One." (Jesus and Christian Origins
our born ego endures, then Outside the New Testament, pp. 119-120)
should we worship That.
- LJewel
Reminds me of the koan
"...what was your true face
before your mother was
born?". We have identified
ourselves with our material
forms, sensations and
thoughts. We are urged to go
beyond this illusion.
- Zooie
The true teacher is certainly
born of earthly woman. But
he has transcended his lower
nature [commanding self,
nafs-i-ammara] and so is
reborn. So it is correct to say
he is not born of woman.
- Thief37
Woman can be generally
broken down to that which
produces a body from within
its body - the creative aspect
of the self. The development
of one's personality,
knowledge of self/other, the
worldly vision, etc., are
fruits of this creative womb.
Meditative practice is said to
bring forth the experience of
'emptiness' which lies
outside of the realm of
interdependence where
knowledge exists. It is to this
emptiness that Jesus alludes.
- slur
This provides
incontrovertible evidence
that Shakespeare was a
closet Gnostic (cf. Macbeth,
5.8--"I bear a charmed life,
which must not yield, / To
one of woman born").
- hypertextualist
This passage says to bow to
no man and believe in you
until you meet someone who
had no physical mother,
obviously a non-existent
human.
- David
As disciples, you will cross
paths with many souls. If
you encounter one who is so
different that he or she could
not have been born of
woman (no man that you are
likely to meet in this world)
only then bow your face to
the ground and worship the
Adonai [Lord].
- StarChaser
Translation: "When males
can circumvent the natural
dependence on females for
reproduction then they
become gods."
- postmodernkid
The one not born of woman
is the inner true self, the
spirit, the I. When you see
the I, which isn't something
you will perceive with your
eyes, recognize your true
self!
- Maitreya
15

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