B. 4. Gospel of Philip.— A solitary fragment of this Gospel is preserved in Epiplianius (Hwr. 26, 13), who states: 'The Gnostics cite a Gospel, forced in the name of Philip the holy Apostle, a-s saying :
' The Lord revealed to me what the soul must say in ascending to heaven, and how she must answer each of the upper powers : ••I have knoim myself and gathered myself from all quartos, and 1 have borne no children to the Archon [the ruler of this world), but I have rooted up his roots and gathered the scattered members, and I know who thou art. For I am one of those who are from above." And so she is released. But if one be found who has borne a son, she is kept below until she is able to recover her own children and to educate them for herself.'
The Coptic Gnostic writing, the Plstis Sophin, bears witness to the existence in the 3rd cent, uf the Gospel of Philip in Gnostic circles in E;.'\ jit. It is there stated : ' And when Jesus had made an end of speaking these words, Philip leaped up and stood, and laid Ao\m the book which was in his hand, for he it is who writes all things which Jesus said and did' (Harnack, Gesch. d. altchr. Litt.
GOSPELS (APOCEYPHAL)
GOSPELS (APOCRYPHAL) 681
i. 14). It is clear from this notice, as well as from the passage quotud by Epiphanius, that the con- tents of the Gusjjil ijf Philip were not of the same character as those of the canonical Gospels, but were of an esoteric nature, revelations of hidden truth purporting to have been communicated by the Kisen Lord. The extreme Encratite views of the Gnostic writer are apparent ; the assertion of the soul that on earth it has abstained from marriage, is the only passport into heaven.
The Gospel of Fkilip belongs to the large class of Gnostic writings well described as Gospel- Apocalypses, which owed their origin to the peculiar conception which the Gnostics entertained regarding the person of Christ. The true Saviour was not the earthly Jesus, but the heavenly Christ who sojourned in Him, and who was fully liber- ated for the work of salvation by I he la-surrection. Salvation consisted in freeing; I lie simls of men from the dominion of the God ol this wuikl, by the communication of the hca\euly knowledge (Gnosis) ; and this knowledge was revealed by Christ as a mystery to His Apostles, partly in parables whose meaning was hid from the com- mon crowd, partly in a secret tradition given after the Resurrection. The true gnosis was reserved for the small number of irveviiaTLKoi, whose spirit was derived from the upper world, and who, when purified from their connexion with the earth, returned into the kingdom of light. These views are clearly reflected i'X the fragment of the Gospel of Philip.
The date of the Gospel is towards the end of the 2nd century.
Literature.— Harnaok, Altchr. Lilt. i. 14 f., Chran. i. 602 f. ; Zahn, NT Kan. ii. TClfl.; Hennecke, iVT ^poir. iO,Uandb. 91.
C. (a) 1. ProteYangelium of James.— This w rit- ing, dealing with the history of Mary and the Infancy of Jesus, was first published in the West in a Latin translation by the French humanist Postellus about the middle of the 16th century. Some years later the Greek text was issued by Michael Neander. The title ' Protevangelium ' (Earlie.st Gospel) occurs for the first time, so far as we know, in the edition of Postellus ; the \\ ritmg itself claims to be, not a Gospel but a histoiy ('The History of James concerning the buth of the All-Holy Mother of God, oi som. thin, smiil u is the title in the MSS. feeeli li n loif / Apocr. 1). It is not improbill tl I tl i ' Protevangelium ' was gi\ en b\ 1 I Ihi liii who had an extremely high o] iniun ot the buoL In earlier times it is never refeired to as a Guspd save in the lists of spurious writmgs condemned by ecclesiastical authoiity in the 4th and 5th cents. : ' cetera autem (e\ angelii) quT? ^ el sub nomine Matthise sive Jatnbi vimoif. non
solum repudianda, verum etiani no\eiis esse dam nanda' (Decree of Innocent I , A D 4(15) The per son referred to as the author ('I, James, wrote this history') was in eaily times unuersally believed to be the Lord's biothei, the head of the Church at Jerusalem The tiue author is unknown.
The earliest certain reference to the Piofpvan gelmm occurs in Origen (middle of 3id cent ), who states that many, on the authority of the ' Book of James ' (and the Gospel of Petei ) belie\ ed the brothers of Jesus to have been the sons ot Joseph by a former mamap,e Allusions to details mentioned in the Gospel aie found (r 200) in Clement of Alexandria C^doi)) mi 10 'tS), and (r. 140) in Justin Martyi {Dir)l 7s 100, Apol 3.'?); these, however, do not neiessauly point to dependence on the Profeinv(feh it m but may have been, and in Justin's case piobabh weie, diavvTi from floating tradition. Zahn dates the wilting in the early decades of the 2nd cent ; but most
the peopl a sign wl obedience