Aeonic Life – Selections from the Gnostic Nag Hammadi Library, Part 2 of 2

Now, we continue to share excerpts of “Aeonic Life” from The Tripartite Tractate in “The Nag Hammadi Library.” In this context, spiritual liberation involves repenting the mistakes of physical existence so that we may return to the formless Divinity of the Aeon. Another concept in Gnostic teachings is Logos. Logos symbolizes the universal Divine principle as expressed through physical form. One such representation of Logos in Gnostic scriptures is the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ.

“It is by virtue of His will that the Father, the one who is exalted, is known, that is, (by virtue of) the spirit which breathes in the Totalities and it gives them an idea of seeking after the unknown one, just as one is drawn by a pleasant aroma to search for the thing from which the aroma arises, since the aroma of the Father surpasses these ordinary ones. For His sweetness leaves the aeons in ineffable pleasure and it gives them their idea of mingling with Him who wants them to know Him in a united way and to assist one another in the spirit which is sown within them.”

“Each one of the aeons is a name, [that is], each of the properties and powers of the Father, since He exists in many names, which are intermingled and harmonious with one another. It is possible to speak of Him because of the wealth of speech, just as the Father is a single name, because He is a unity, yet is innumerable in His properties and names.”

“The aeons have brought themselves forth in accord with the third fruit by the freedom of the will and by the wisdom with which he favored them for their thought. They do not wish to give honor with that which is from an agreement, though it was produced for words of praise for each of the Pleromas. Nor do they wish to give honor with the Totality.”

“This aeon was last to have [been] brought forth by mutual assistance, and he was small in magnitude. And before he begot anything else for the glory of the will and in agreement with the Totalities, he acted, magnanimously, from an abundant love, and set out toward that which surrounds the perfect glory, for it was not without the will of the Father that the Logos was produced, which is to say, not without it will he go forth. But He, the Father, had brought him forth for those about whom he knew that it was fitting that they should come into being.”