Post by rakovsky on Feb 21, 2020 16:51:45 GMT -5
QUESTION: How do you understand the statement in bold below?
The key passage is where Jesus theorizes about the soul-flesh relationship:
The sense is that God knows what the flesh needs and that the flesh doesn't desire the soul. He sees the soul's union with the body as a requirement for the body to sin. This makes sense because a physical body could not be considered to act sinfully without a soul directing it, just as a soulless object would not be considered to act sinfully.
The author sees the spirit's union with the soul as a requirement for salvation, which he explains by saying that the spirit raises the soul. This method of salvation could also be explained as inspiration leading the soul to salvation.
Next, the author reasons that if the soul is sinless, then the soul is saved, and that if the spirit is saved too, then as a consequence, the body becomes sinless. This makes sense in light of the explanation above, as well as the soul-spirit-body union. Namely, that sin and salvation are actions or states of the soul that are impart to the body via the soul-body union.
Next, the author says that the spirit animates the soul, which makes sense because "pneuma" in Greek means both spirit and breath, and in Genesis, God breathed into Adam to make Adam a "living soul" or "living being."
The author says that the body kills the soul, which could make sense in that the physical body experiences suffering and death, and in that the soul could experience them via its union with the dying body. To kill means to cause to die. So since the dying body causes the soul to experience death, it could be considered to be killing the soul. This sentence in the Apocryphon implies that just as the spirit raises the soul to salvation, the body brings the soul to death.
The author explains the statement that God won't forgive the soul's sin nor forgive the flesh's guilt by the next, key sentence that runs "for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved." And the author explains this key sentence in bold by saying that the kingdom of heaven hasn't been found by many people.
The larger context is that the Apocryphon of James, Jesus tells James not to be a lover of the flesh and not to fear sufferings, calling the flesh an encircling wall for the Spirit and saying that none who fear death will be saved:
Later, when Jesus had promised blessings for the apostles, the apostles became happy, and Jesus returned to the concept of not loving the state of being in the flesh:
Two things that confuse me about the sentence in bold are (1) Why it is that those who have worn the flesh won't be saved, and (2) how categorical it sounds. To say that "none" of those who wore the flesh will be saved makes it sound like literally no one - including of course the Gnostics themselves - who has been born in literal flesh in the physical world will be saved.
Regarding Part 1 (Why none who have worn the flesh won't be saved):
Earlier in the text, Jesus had said, "Will you not cease, then, being lovers of the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? ...none of those who are afraid of death will be saved." So Jesus is demanding that people not fear suffering or death and do not love the flesh. Plus, he is considering giving up the fear of death to be a requirement for salvation. Since sinlessness, lack of fear of death, and not having worn the flesh are considered to be requirements for salvation, one could suppose a relationship. Namely, one could suppose that having worn the flesh leads to fear of death, a fear of death leads to sinful actions (or is a sinful action), and sinful actions prevent sinlessness and salvation.
So one answer could be that having worn the flesh leads to fear of death, and hence sinning.
A second answer could mean that the body-soul connection is a requirement for performing good or evil in the world, and since as James' Epistle, and other writings like Paul's generalize, we have all sinned, the statement could combine these two concepts. Namely, that all who have worn the flesh have sinned due to wearing the flesh being a requirement for sin and due to the ubiquity of sinning.
A third answer could be that being in the flesh prevents one from having the clothes needed to ascend to heaven. Citing the Apocryphon of James, John Tvedtnes notes in "Priestly Clothing in Biblical Times" that in the Apocryphon of James,
A fourth answer is that wearing the flesh could mean to glory in it, as F. Lapham theorizes as a possibility in An Introduction to the New Testament Apocrypha
:
I am very skeptical of this explanation. Jesus says in the Apocryphon:
Certainly, even on earth Jesus had devoted himself to asceticism and not gloried in the flesh in the Gnostic view of Jesus. So wearing the flesh doesn't mean glorying in it, apparently.
Plus, the stripping here refers to what Jesus did when he was ascended to heaven, which refers to a literal process that his soul undertakes. ie. the stripping is not merely a figure of speech for giving up glorying in the flesh.
2 Peter 1 runs:Peter is apparently referring to Jesus' prediction of Peter's death in John 21, wherein
So it sounds like Peter in 2 Peter 1 is talking about his own physical death when his soul will separate from his physical body.
A fifth answer would be based on the spirit-body dualism regarding obeying God vs. disobeying God's instructions in the Bible:
In Matthew 26, Jesus instructed the disciples to stay awake, and noted that the spirit was willing, ie. to follow the instruction, but warned that they should not fall into temptation as a result of the body's weakness, presumably toward being tempted:
In Galatians 5:16-26, Paul speaks of the "works of the flesh" as sins, in contrast with the works of the Spirit:
This dualism shows up in Romans 7 as well:
The complaint in the Apocryphon, "O you sinners against the spirit! Do you even now dare to listen, when it behooved you to speak from the beginning?" seems to be in line with the soul-body connection.
Darrell Bock writes in The Missing Gospels:
A sixth answer could be Augustine's theory. He theorized that everyone was guilty personally of Adam's sin due to the guilt of that act being passed down biologically. However, in the Orthodox East, such a theory was not accepted. In the Orthodox view, sin entered into the world by Adam's act, as Paul says in Romans 5. But the Orthodox did not interpret Paul as meaning that everyone bore personal guilt for Adam's act. For instance, in Romans 5, Paul asserts:
That is, in Paul's explanation, Adam's sin made people sinners, whereas Christ's obedience made His people righteous.
Paul had a theory also that we are spiritual sons of Christ by believing in Christ, and that he takes us by adoption. The NT view of someone's spiritual status is based on belief and loyalty and spiritual descent, rather than by biological descent, since for instance we are not physically descended from Christ and don't inherit his salvation biologically via physical fleshly descent. The converse would naturally apply then, that people aren't personally guilty due to purely physical descent from Adam, but rather spiritual loyalty and faith to the carnal, sinful realm, like obedience to the serpent's command.
However, the Apocryphon does not really openly get into whether Augustine's theory was correct or not. Augustine was a 5th century Roman Christian, and his theory was perhaps not around yet.
For Part 2 (how categorical the declaration sounds), it is hard to think that the text means this categorically. John Tvedtnes notes that in the Apocryphon of James, ie. Jesus Himself was in the flesh, wherein He experienced crucifixion and death.
Plus, Jesus in the text repeatedly asserts that his audience, the apostles, will be saved, as when he says to them:
One answer could be that the author is talking about people's default status due to having been in the flesh, and that he doesn't mean that no one who has been in flesh will ever be saved no matter what. ie. People are born in flesh and so the default result is for them to suffer, rather than for them to be saved from their suffering.
For instance, in the Apocryphon's statement about salvation that uses the word "unless", it sounds like Jesus gives a default condition of no one being saved, and then provides a second condition under which one would be saved from the default status: "Truly I say to you, none will be saved unless they believe on my cross. But those who have believed on my cross, theirs is the Kingdom of God."
The author uses the same line of speaking when he has Jesus say,That is, the default condition is that people won't receive the kingdom of heaven, but they all can receive it through knowledge.
The statement of a default condition about lack of salvation that is qualified by another one shows up in John 3:
Here, the concept comes up about being born of spirit vs. being born of flesh. This relates to the Gnostic concept in the Apocryphon of a person's duality of spirit and body.
In John 3, Jesus is talking about being born in a spiritual sense. A person should avoid being spiritually a fleshly being, with the temptations of the flesh, and instead become one of Spirit. John 3's statement does not actually say that the flesh itself is a burden or that it is a condition for sin, so it is not really as hostile to the status of having flesh as the Gnostic text seems to be.
R. Culpepper writes in John, the Son of Zebedee:
So the statements in the Apocryphon about the Flesh vs. the Spirit could be related at least indirectly to those in John 3.
In his essay, "'Unless One Is Born Again": The Use of a Heavenly Journey in John 3
', William C. Grese refers to the Apocryphon of James and writes:
Grese goes on to quote Paul's description of the body being reborn as a spirit body.
The concept that the flesh is not necessarily ultimately doomed but rather can be transformed shows up in the Gospel of Philip too, where it says:
Another relevant text is Jesus' parable in the Gospels on how unless a grain dies, it doesn't become a plant. This is relevant (A) because this kind of seed parable is used in the Apocryphon as a follow up to the author's declaration that those who wore the flesh won't be saved, and (B) because the same kind of reasoning applies, ie. there is a default condition (the seed won't grow), and then an exception is created (ie if the seed dies), and (C) because the underlying message in the parable is about transformation of a person's status from flesh to spirit, in line with Paul's explanation about a fleshly body dying and being raised a spiritual one.
Or the author could be making a simplification. His follow-up statement implies that it hasn't been many people who entered the kingdom of heaven. But this follow-up statement doesn't explicitly say that no one has found the kingdom of heaven.
This could be like the statements in the Bible that we have all sinned. It's debated between Christians whether infants are personally guilty of sin. Augustine theorized that we literally all bear personal guilt for Adam's sin, whereas the usual idea in Orthodox circles is that Adam's personal guilt was not passed down.
So in conclusion, it looks like the best explanation for the sentence in bold is the "Fifth answer" that I gave above, whereby the author is talking about a spirit-body dualism, wherein the flesh is related to temptations and works of the flesh as the NT calls them.
Further, the statement is not a categorical denial that anyone can be saved, since the apostles are to be saved. Rather, it's a description of the default state about people who are in the flesh.
The statement in the Apocryphon is best explained in light of John 3, due to the author's likely familiarity with John's Gospel. There in John 3, Jesus teaches the necessity of being born of the spirit rather than of the flesh, and uses language referring to one's default status in the flesh and the condition (unless...) by which one may be saved from it.
The key passage is where Jesus theorizes about the soul-flesh relationship:
Marvin Meyer's Translation:
“He [the Father] knows about desire and what the flesh needs. Does it not desire the soul? The body does not sin apart from the soul just as the soul is not saved apart from the spirit. But if the soul is saved from evil and the spirit too is saved, the body becomes sinless. The spirit animates the soul but the body kills it. The soul kills itself.
“I tell you the truth, he will never forgive the sin of the soul or the guilt of the flesh, for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. Do you think that many have found the kingdom of heaven?
Williams' Translation
For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh needs! - (Or do you think) that it is not this (flesh) that desires the soul? For without the soul, the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved (when it is) without evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself. Verily, I say unto you, he will not forgive the soul the sin by any means, nor the flesh the guilt; for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. For do you think that many have found the kingdom of heaven? Blessed is he who has seen himself as a fourth one in heaven!"
SOURCE: Meyer's Translation: gnosis.org/naghamm/jam-meyer.html ; Williams' Translation: gnosis.org/naghamm/jam.html
“He [the Father] knows about desire and what the flesh needs. Does it not desire the soul? The body does not sin apart from the soul just as the soul is not saved apart from the spirit. But if the soul is saved from evil and the spirit too is saved, the body becomes sinless. The spirit animates the soul but the body kills it. The soul kills itself.
“I tell you the truth, he will never forgive the sin of the soul or the guilt of the flesh, for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. Do you think that many have found the kingdom of heaven?
Williams' Translation
For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh needs! - (Or do you think) that it is not this (flesh) that desires the soul? For without the soul, the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved (when it is) without evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself. Verily, I say unto you, he will not forgive the soul the sin by any means, nor the flesh the guilt; for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. For do you think that many have found the kingdom of heaven? Blessed is he who has seen himself as a fourth one in heaven!"
SOURCE: Meyer's Translation: gnosis.org/naghamm/jam-meyer.html ; Williams' Translation: gnosis.org/naghamm/jam.html
The sense is that God knows what the flesh needs and that the flesh doesn't desire the soul. He sees the soul's union with the body as a requirement for the body to sin. This makes sense because a physical body could not be considered to act sinfully without a soul directing it, just as a soulless object would not be considered to act sinfully.
The author sees the spirit's union with the soul as a requirement for salvation, which he explains by saying that the spirit raises the soul. This method of salvation could also be explained as inspiration leading the soul to salvation.
Next, the author reasons that if the soul is sinless, then the soul is saved, and that if the spirit is saved too, then as a consequence, the body becomes sinless. This makes sense in light of the explanation above, as well as the soul-spirit-body union. Namely, that sin and salvation are actions or states of the soul that are impart to the body via the soul-body union.
Next, the author says that the spirit animates the soul, which makes sense because "pneuma" in Greek means both spirit and breath, and in Genesis, God breathed into Adam to make Adam a "living soul" or "living being."
The author says that the body kills the soul, which could make sense in that the physical body experiences suffering and death, and in that the soul could experience them via its union with the dying body. To kill means to cause to die. So since the dying body causes the soul to experience death, it could be considered to be killing the soul. This sentence in the Apocryphon implies that just as the spirit raises the soul to salvation, the body brings the soul to death.
The author explains the statement that God won't forgive the soul's sin nor forgive the flesh's guilt by the next, key sentence that runs "for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved." And the author explains this key sentence in bold by saying that the kingdom of heaven hasn't been found by many people.
The larger context is that the Apocryphon of James, Jesus tells James not to be a lover of the flesh and not to fear sufferings, calling the flesh an encircling wall for the Spirit and saying that none who fear death will be saved:
Ron Cameron's Translation
The Lord answered and said: "What is your merit when you do the will of the Father if it is not given to you by him as a gift, while you are tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan and are persecuted and you do the Father's will, I say that he will love you and will make you equal with me and will consider that you have become beloved through his providence according to your free choice. Will you not cease, then, being lovers of the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? Or do you not know that you have not yet been mistreated and have not yet been accused unjustly, nor have you yet been shut up in prison, nor have you yet been condemned lawlessly, nor have you yet been crucified without reason, nor have you yet been buried shamefully, as was I myself, by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the spirit is an encircling wall? If you contemplate the world, how long it is before you and also how long it is after you, you will find that your life is one single day and your sufferings, one single hour. For the good will not enter the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take concern for life. Remember my cross and my death and you will live."
And I answered and said to him: "Lord, do not mention to us the cross and the death, for they are far from you."
The Lord answered and said: "Truly I say to you, none will be saved unless they believe in my cross. But those who have believed in my cross, theirs is the Kingdom of God. Therefore, become seekers for death, just as the dead who seek for life, for that which they seek is revealed to them. And what is there to concern them? When you turn yourselves towards death, it will make known to you election. In truth I say to you, none of those who are afraid of death will be saved. For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who have put themselves to death. Become better than I; make yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit."
(SOURCE: gnosis.org/naghamm/jam2.html)
The Lord answered and said: "What is your merit when you do the will of the Father if it is not given to you by him as a gift, while you are tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan and are persecuted and you do the Father's will, I say that he will love you and will make you equal with me and will consider that you have become beloved through his providence according to your free choice. Will you not cease, then, being lovers of the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? Or do you not know that you have not yet been mistreated and have not yet been accused unjustly, nor have you yet been shut up in prison, nor have you yet been condemned lawlessly, nor have you yet been crucified without reason, nor have you yet been buried shamefully, as was I myself, by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the spirit is an encircling wall? If you contemplate the world, how long it is before you and also how long it is after you, you will find that your life is one single day and your sufferings, one single hour. For the good will not enter the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take concern for life. Remember my cross and my death and you will live."
And I answered and said to him: "Lord, do not mention to us the cross and the death, for they are far from you."
The Lord answered and said: "Truly I say to you, none will be saved unless they believe in my cross. But those who have believed in my cross, theirs is the Kingdom of God. Therefore, become seekers for death, just as the dead who seek for life, for that which they seek is revealed to them. And what is there to concern them? When you turn yourselves towards death, it will make known to you election. In truth I say to you, none of those who are afraid of death will be saved. For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who have put themselves to death. Become better than I; make yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit."
(SOURCE: gnosis.org/naghamm/jam2.html)
Later, when Jesus had promised blessings for the apostles, the apostles became happy, and Jesus returned to the concept of not loving the state of being in the flesh:
Ron Cameron's Translation
And when we heard these things [eg. Jesus' statement "I intercede on your behalf with the Father"], we became elated, for we had been depressed on account of what we had said earlier.
Now when he saw our rejoicing, he said: "Woe to you who are in want of an advocate! Woe to you who are in need of grace! Blessed are those who have spoken freely and have produced grace for themselves. Make yourselves like strangers; of what sort are they in the estimation of your city? Why are you troubled when you oust yourselves of your own accord and depart from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own accord, readying it for those who desire to dwell in it? O you exiles and fugitives! Woe to you, because you will be caught! Or perhaps you imagine that the Father is a lover of humanity? Or that he is persuaded by prayers? Or that he is gracious to one on behalf of another? Or that he bears with one who seeks? For he knows the desire and also that which the flesh needs. Because it is not the flesh which yearns for the soul. For without the soul the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the Spirit. But if the soul is saved when it is without evil, and if the spirit also is saved, then the body becomes sinless. For it is the spirit which animates the soul, but it is the body which kills it - that is, it is the soul which kills itself. Truly I say to you, the Father will not forgive the sin of the soul at all, nor the guilt of the flesh. For none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. For do you imagine that many have found the Kingdom of Heaven? Blessed is the one who has seen himself as a fourth one in Heaven."
And when we heard these things [eg. Jesus' statement "I intercede on your behalf with the Father"], we became elated, for we had been depressed on account of what we had said earlier.
Now when he saw our rejoicing, he said: "Woe to you who are in want of an advocate! Woe to you who are in need of grace! Blessed are those who have spoken freely and have produced grace for themselves. Make yourselves like strangers; of what sort are they in the estimation of your city? Why are you troubled when you oust yourselves of your own accord and depart from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own accord, readying it for those who desire to dwell in it? O you exiles and fugitives! Woe to you, because you will be caught! Or perhaps you imagine that the Father is a lover of humanity? Or that he is persuaded by prayers? Or that he is gracious to one on behalf of another? Or that he bears with one who seeks? For he knows the desire and also that which the flesh needs. Because it is not the flesh which yearns for the soul. For without the soul the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the Spirit. But if the soul is saved when it is without evil, and if the spirit also is saved, then the body becomes sinless. For it is the spirit which animates the soul, but it is the body which kills it - that is, it is the soul which kills itself. Truly I say to you, the Father will not forgive the sin of the soul at all, nor the guilt of the flesh. For none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. For do you imagine that many have found the Kingdom of Heaven? Blessed is the one who has seen himself as a fourth one in Heaven."
Two things that confuse me about the sentence in bold are (1) Why it is that those who have worn the flesh won't be saved, and (2) how categorical it sounds. To say that "none" of those who wore the flesh will be saved makes it sound like literally no one - including of course the Gnostics themselves - who has been born in literal flesh in the physical world will be saved.
Regarding Part 1 (Why none who have worn the flesh won't be saved):
Earlier in the text, Jesus had said, "Will you not cease, then, being lovers of the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? ...none of those who are afraid of death will be saved." So Jesus is demanding that people not fear suffering or death and do not love the flesh. Plus, he is considering giving up the fear of death to be a requirement for salvation. Since sinlessness, lack of fear of death, and not having worn the flesh are considered to be requirements for salvation, one could suppose a relationship. Namely, one could suppose that having worn the flesh leads to fear of death, a fear of death leads to sinful actions (or is a sinful action), and sinful actions prevent sinlessness and salvation.
So one answer could be that having worn the flesh leads to fear of death, and hence sinning.
A second answer could mean that the body-soul connection is a requirement for performing good or evil in the world, and since as James' Epistle, and other writings like Paul's generalize, we have all sinned, the statement could combine these two concepts. Namely, that all who have worn the flesh have sinned due to wearing the flesh being a requirement for sin and due to the ubiquity of sinning.
A third answer could be that being in the flesh prevents one from having the clothes needed to ascend to heaven. Citing the Apocryphon of James, John Tvedtnes notes in "Priestly Clothing in Biblical Times" that in the Apocryphon of James,
A number of passages speak of removing one's corrupt
earthly clothing and replacing it by the divine... Jesus, before ascending to heaven after a special visit to his
apostles, reputedly declared, "From this moment on, I shall
strip myself that I may clothe myself."
earthly clothing and replacing it by the divine... Jesus, before ascending to heaven after a special visit to his
apostles, reputedly declared, "From this moment on, I shall
strip myself that I may clothe myself."
A fourth answer is that wearing the flesh could mean to glory in it, as F. Lapham theorizes as a possibility in An Introduction to the New Testament Apocrypha
:
Those who have 'worn the flesh' are they, presumably, who have not contended for freedom from the flesh, but rather gloried in it, seeking earthly things. The Gnostic's primary aim is to escape from the body, to find freedom from the demands of the flesh, and to return to his or her spiritual home. The symbolism of 'stripping off' the body, as if a garment, is a particularly potent one, used in many of the Apocryphal Gostic works; but it is also a concept that is firmly rooted in the New Testament itself (cf. 2 Pet. 1.14).
I am very skeptical of this explanation. Jesus says in the Apocryphon:
Now I have said my last word to you. I shall part from you. For a chariot of wind has taken me up, and from now on I shall strip myself in order that I may clothe myself. But give heed: blessed are those who have preached the Son before he descended, in order that, when I have come, I may ascend.
Certainly, even on earth Jesus had devoted himself to asceticism and not gloried in the flesh in the Gnostic view of Jesus. So wearing the flesh doesn't mean glorying in it, apparently.
Plus, the stripping here refers to what Jesus did when he was ascended to heaven, which refers to a literal process that his soul undertakes. ie. the stripping is not merely a figure of speech for giving up glorying in the flesh.
2 Peter 1 runs:
13. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of my body, 14. since I know that it will soon be laid aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
...Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after He had said this, He told him, "Follow Me."
So it sounds like Peter in 2 Peter 1 is talking about his own physical death when his soul will separate from his physical body.
A fifth answer would be based on the spirit-body dualism regarding obeying God vs. disobeying God's instructions in the Bible:
In Matthew 26, Jesus instructed the disciples to stay awake, and noted that the spirit was willing, ie. to follow the instruction, but warned that they should not fall into temptation as a result of the body's weakness, presumably toward being tempted:
40. Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter. 41. “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
This dualism shows up in Romans 7 as well:
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
...
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
...
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
...
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
...
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
The complaint in the Apocryphon, "O you sinners against the spirit! Do you even now dare to listen, when it behooved you to speak from the beginning?" seems to be in line with the soul-body connection.
Darrell Bock writes in The Missing Gospels:
In Apocryphon, the soul is like a force choosing between following the spirit or the flesh. It has responsibility for the person's spiritual welfare. ... Loving the flesh involves self-protection from suffering... In 6:15-18, Jesus teaches that those who fear death will not be saved. ...in the care of the Apocryphon of James, the soul is like a judge, capable of going either way in choosing between good and evil.
A sixth answer could be Augustine's theory. He theorized that everyone was guilty personally of Adam's sin due to the guilt of that act being passed down biologically. However, in the Orthodox East, such a theory was not accepted. In the Orthodox view, sin entered into the world by Adam's act, as Paul says in Romans 5. But the Orthodox did not interpret Paul as meaning that everyone bore personal guilt for Adam's act. For instance, in Romans 5, Paul asserts:
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
That is, in Paul's explanation, Adam's sin made people sinners, whereas Christ's obedience made His people righteous.
Paul had a theory also that we are spiritual sons of Christ by believing in Christ, and that he takes us by adoption. The NT view of someone's spiritual status is based on belief and loyalty and spiritual descent, rather than by biological descent, since for instance we are not physically descended from Christ and don't inherit his salvation biologically via physical fleshly descent. The converse would naturally apply then, that people aren't personally guilty due to purely physical descent from Adam, but rather spiritual loyalty and faith to the carnal, sinful realm, like obedience to the serpent's command.
However, the Apocryphon does not really openly get into whether Augustine's theory was correct or not. Augustine was a 5th century Roman Christian, and his theory was perhaps not around yet.
For Part 2 (how categorical the declaration sounds), it is hard to think that the text means this categorically. John Tvedtnes notes that in the Apocryphon of James,
Jesus, before ascending to heaven after a special visit to his
apostles, reputedly declared, "From this moment on, I shall
strip myself that I may clothe myself."
apostles, reputedly declared, "From this moment on, I shall
strip myself that I may clothe myself."
Plus, Jesus in the text repeatedly asserts that his audience, the apostles, will be saved, as when he says to them:
Therefore I say to you, be sober. Do not go astray. And many times I have said to you all together - and also to you alone, James, I have said - 'Be saved!' And I have commanded you to follow me, and I have taught you the response in the presence of the rulers. Observe that I have descended, and I have spoken, and I have troubled myself, and I have received my crown, when I saved you.
One answer could be that the author is talking about people's default status due to having been in the flesh, and that he doesn't mean that no one who has been in flesh will ever be saved no matter what. ie. People are born in flesh and so the default result is for them to suffer, rather than for them to be saved from their suffering.
For instance, in the Apocryphon's statement about salvation that uses the word "unless", it sounds like Jesus gives a default condition of no one being saved, and then provides a second condition under which one would be saved from the default status: "Truly I say to you, none will be saved unless they believe on my cross. But those who have believed on my cross, theirs is the Kingdom of God."
The author uses the same line of speaking when he has Jesus say,
For the word is like a grain of wheat.when someone sowed it, he believed in it; and when it sprouted, he loved it, because he looked forward to many grains in the place of one; and when he worked it, he wassaved, because he prepared it for food. Again he left some grains to sow. Thus it is also possible for you all to receive the Kingdom of Heaven: unless you receive it through knowledge, you will not be able to find it.
The statement of a default condition about lack of salvation that is qualified by another one shows up in John 3:
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Here, the concept comes up about being born of spirit vs. being born of flesh. This relates to the Gnostic concept in the Apocryphon of a person's duality of spirit and body.
In John 3, Jesus is talking about being born in a spiritual sense. A person should avoid being spiritually a fleshly being, with the temptations of the flesh, and instead become one of Spirit. John 3's statement does not actually say that the flesh itself is a burden or that it is a condition for sin, so it is not really as hostile to the status of having flesh as the Gnostic text seems to be.
R. Culpepper writes in John, the Son of Zebedee:
Johanine allusions in the Apocryphon of James suggest that the author knew the Gospel of John. The clearest parallel is the repetition of the beatitude in John 20:29, which in the Apocryphon of James reads, "Blessed will be those who did not see but believed."
So the statements in the Apocryphon about the Flesh vs. the Spirit could be related at least indirectly to those in John 3.
In his essay, "'Unless One Is Born Again": The Use of a Heavenly Journey in John 3
', William C. Grese refers to the Apocryphon of James and writes:
The saying in John 3:3 has as its requirement that one must be 'bornn from above,' that is, 'born of te spirit'(v. 5). The reason is given in v. 6: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.' The reason for the requriement is a contrast between flesh and spirit and the assumption that flesh is unable to participate in the kingdom of God (or heaven). The principle here, as was seen above, is that like can only be knowwn by like. Only those who are from above, spiritual, are able to participate in the divine, heavenly kingdom, which is also spiritual and above. This principle, which is presupposed here, occurs elsewhere in the Gospel in other contexts: "God is spirit, and those worshiping him must worship in spirit and truth" (4:24). "He sad to them again, '...where I go you are not able to come.' ...You are from below, I am from above'"(8.21,23).
...
[In] John 3, we have a saying on entrance [into heaven], taken from a traditional saying of the lord, that sets a specific kind of new birth as a requirement for entrance into, or a vision of, the kingdom. The interpretation given to the requirement in the surrounding verses is that change is necessary because only those who are spiritual, not those who are fleshly, will be able to enter the kingdom.27
FOOTNOTE 27
Cf. Ap. Jas. 12: "For none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved"; Dialogue of the Savior 132: "[Matthew] said, 'Lord, I want [to see] that place of life... where there is no wickedness, [but rather] there is pure light!' The Lord [said], 'Brother, you will not be able to see it [as long as you are] carrying flesh around.'; also Gos. Phil 61; Gos. THomas log. 37; First Apocalypse of James 27:1-12.
...
[In] John 3, we have a saying on entrance [into heaven], taken from a traditional saying of the lord, that sets a specific kind of new birth as a requirement for entrance into, or a vision of, the kingdom. The interpretation given to the requirement in the surrounding verses is that change is necessary because only those who are spiritual, not those who are fleshly, will be able to enter the kingdom.27
FOOTNOTE 27
Cf. Ap. Jas. 12: "For none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved"; Dialogue of the Savior 132: "[Matthew] said, 'Lord, I want [to see] that place of life... where there is no wickedness, [but rather] there is pure light!' The Lord [said], 'Brother, you will not be able to see it [as long as you are] carrying flesh around.'; also Gos. Phil 61; Gos. THomas log. 37; First Apocalypse of James 27:1-12.
Grese goes on to quote Paul's description of the body being reborn as a spirit body.
The concept that the flesh is not necessarily ultimately doomed but rather can be transformed shows up in the Gospel of Philip too, where it says:
I find fault with the others who say that it [the flesh] will not rise. Then both of them are at fault. You say that the flesh will not rise. But tell me
what will rise, that we may honour you. You say the spirit is in the flesh, and it is also the light in the flesh. But this too is a matter which is in the flesh, for whatever you shall say, you say nothing outside the flesh. It is necessary to rise in this flesh, once everything exists in it.
what will rise, that we may honour you. You say the spirit is in the flesh, and it is also the light in the flesh. But this too is a matter which is in the flesh, for whatever you shall say, you say nothing outside the flesh. It is necessary to rise in this flesh, once everything exists in it.
Or the author could be making a simplification. His follow-up statement implies that it hasn't been many people who entered the kingdom of heaven. But this follow-up statement doesn't explicitly say that no one has found the kingdom of heaven.
This could be like the statements in the Bible that we have all sinned. It's debated between Christians whether infants are personally guilty of sin. Augustine theorized that we literally all bear personal guilt for Adam's sin, whereas the usual idea in Orthodox circles is that Adam's personal guilt was not passed down.
So in conclusion, it looks like the best explanation for the sentence in bold is the "Fifth answer" that I gave above, whereby the author is talking about a spirit-body dualism, wherein the flesh is related to temptations and works of the flesh as the NT calls them.
Further, the statement is not a categorical denial that anyone can be saved, since the apostles are to be saved. Rather, it's a description of the default state about people who are in the flesh.
The statement in the Apocryphon is best explained in light of John 3, due to the author's likely familiarity with John's Gospel. There in John 3, Jesus teaches the necessity of being born of the spirit rather than of the flesh, and uses language referring to one's default status in the flesh and the condition (unless...) by which one may be saved from it.
