Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 18:1 (Sep 2014)
Article: The Nature Of Christ In The Valentinian Sources From The Nag Hammadi Library And Its Relationship With The Fourth Gospel
Author: Michael D. Makidon

Conspectus 18:1 (September 2014) p. 35

The Nature Of Christ In The Valentinian Sources From The Nag Hammadi Library And Its Relationship With The Fourth Gospel

Michael Makidon

and

Dan Lioy1

Abstract

This article analyses the nature of Christ in the Valentinian Sources from the Nag Hammadi Library and its relationship with the fourth gospel. Both the origin of Christ and the human and spiritual components of the nature of Christ are included. While the Valentinian Sources include both a heavenly and earthly origin and spiritual and human components of the nature of Christ, the earthly seems to be continually qualified in some way. At the same time, the Valentinian myth, through which the Valentinians filter their theology, demands an incarnation at some level. This tension between the spiritual and human Christ is analysed in order to better understand the development and variation of the nature of Christ in Valentinian theology.

1. Introduction

Concerning the nature of Christ in the Nag Hammadi Library (NHL),2 four options exist: (a) a heavenly form that allows for human contact,

Conspectus 18:1 (September 2014) p. 36

(b) a human form that complements his heavenly form (two-natures) (Harnack 1909:286, n. 1; Rudolph 1977:162), (c) a Jesus who abandons part of his heavenly form so that he can be more of a human in some sense, or pneumatic human being (Franzmann 1996:71), and (d) Jesus appears solely as a human figure (Bock 2006b:97-98). The Valentinians would have repudiated the last three and found the first option the most congenial, but would have felt the need to qualify the statement. The Valentinians believed that Christ had a spiritual body, but the psychic Jesus was a point of contention. The Eastern concept of mutual participation—where the spirituals co-incarnate with the saviour, ultimately reuniting with the Pleroma—may have been at the heart of the debate. This Eastern doctrine demands a human body so that Christ could release the spirituals. Hence, Hippolytus insists that in the Eastern view, Jesus took ‘shape’ (διαπλασθῄ) in Mary’s womb and left that body at the cross (Ref VI:35, 5-7).

Franzmann nuances the discussion by adding that the nature of Christ in the NHL should be seen as a three-dimensional graph. The more the text necessitates an earthly connection, the greater the need to split Jesus’ nature into two. Conversely, the less human contact required, the less the author needs to split these natures. Debate exists over the degree to which the Valentinian Sources (VSS) describe Jes...