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The Gospel of Philip

[Sayings] [Nag Hammadi II,3] [LNV, from the Coptic] [In progress]

A hundred and forty-three sayings on naming, images, the chrism and the bridal chamber — bound in the same codex as the Gospel of Thomas, directly after it. Where Thomas refuses to say what things are like, Philip explains the machinery. This rendering is made from the Coptic directly.

How this is made, and where the Coptic comes from

Every saying is worked from a Unicode transcription of Codex II, tractate 3. Where a reading turns on a particular Coptic or Greek word, that word is shown with the reasoning attached, so the argument can be checked rather than taken.

The transcription cites no scholarly edition. It carries full papyrological apparatus — square brackets for restorations, angle brackets for emendations, underdots for uncertain letters — so it derives from a critical edition, but which one is not stated. That is weaker provenance than this codex’s Gospel of Thomas, which came from a named academic transcription, and it is said here rather than glossed over.

So it was checked before any of it was used. R. McL. Wilson’s independent 1962 translation prints no Coptic, but its English follows the Coptic line for line and page for page — and 14 of 15 distinctive markers appear in both, from Echamoth and the dyeworks of Levi to the ass at the mill. Saying 101 was then checked word by word: every Greek loanword the translations imply is present in the Coptic. Photographs of the manuscript pages themselves are available through gospels.net for any passage that carries real weight.

The numbering is the transcription’s 1–143. Editors divide Philip differently, so other editions will not line up.

23 of 143 sayings rendered · 58 notes from the source · Liberty Narrative Version

Saying 1

A Hebrew man makes a Hebrew, and people like that are called a proselyte. But a proselyte does not make a proselyte. […] they are as they […] and they make others […] only that they should exist.

3 from the Coptic
[ϣ]ⲁ̣ϥⲧⲁⲙⲓⲉ tamie — to make, to fashion, to produce. The bracketed ϣ is an editorial restoration; that letter is not on the papyrus. Not to convert and not to teach. The opening line of the book is about reproduction: a Hebrew makes another of his kind, and the convert cannot. Whatever is being described propagates by being what it is, not by persuading.
ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲏⲗⲩⲧⲟⲥ prosēlytos — Greek: one who has come over, a convert. The word is imported, and so is the status: a category that exists only relative to the group that named it. It appears three times in one saying and never again.
[......].ⲉ ⲙⲉ̣ⲛ ⲥⲉϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛ̅ⲑⲉ ⲉⲧⲟⲩϣ[.........] the second half of this saying is badly damaged — the square brackets are lacunae in the papyrus, and the dots are letters the editor could not read with confidence. Anything rendered across them is a guess. The gaps are left visible here rather than filled in smoothly, because the difference between what survives and what a translator supplied is the whole point of doing this from the Coptic.

Saying 2

The slave seeks only to be free; he does not seek after his master’s estate. But the son is not only a son — he claims the father’s inheritance for himself.

3 from the Coptic
ⲉϥϣⲓⲛⲉ ⲁⲣ̅ⲉⲗⲉⲩⲑⲉⲣ̣ⲟ[ⲥ] eleutheros — Greek: free, a free man. THE DISTINCTION IS THE WHOLE SAYING. The slave wants eleutheria, freedom FROM. He does not want the ousia, the estate itself. Being let go and inheriting what is yours are two different objects, and the text separates them in one sentence. Wanting only to be released is described here as the smaller ambition.
ⲧⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉϥϫⲟ[ⲉⲓ]ⲥ joeis — lord, master, owner, all one word; the same term that runs through Thomas 21, 47 and 90, and the one Philip uses again at 101 for the chrism being LORD over baptism. And ousia is Greek for substance, property, estate — the root of the modern word for a person’s assets. The slave’s horizon stops at the far side of the man who owns him.
ⲧⲕⲗⲏⲣⲟⲛⲟⲙⲉⲓⲁ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉⲓⲱⲧ klēronomia — inheritance, and note what a son does with it: sahs nsōf, he pursues it, chases it down, claims it. It is not handed over because of who he is. Sonship gets him standing to make the claim, not the estate.

Saying 3

Those who inherit the dead are themselves dead, and what they inherit is the dead. Those who inherit the living one are alive, and they inherit both the living and the dead.

The dead inherit nothing. How could the dead inherit? If the dead one inherits the living, he will not die — he will live all the more.

3 from the Coptic
ⲕⲗⲏⲣⲟⲛⲟⲙⲉⲓ klēronomeō, to inherit, SEVEN TIMES in one short saying. The repetition is the argument: the text hammers a single legal verb until the ordinary meaning wears through and what is left is a question about what can be transmitted at all. Compare saying 2, where the same root separates the slave from the son.
ⲛⲉⲧⲣ̅ⲕⲗⲏⲣⲟⲛⲟⲙⲉⲓ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲛϩ petonh — THE LIVING ONE, the incipit’s word in Thomas: “the sayings that the LIVING Jesus spoke.” Here it is the thing inherited. Inheritance normally requires a death; this one requires the opposite.
ⲡⲉⲧⲙⲟⲟⲩⲧ' ⲉϥⲛⲁⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̅ϩⲟⲩⲟ “he will live all the more” — n-houo, in excess, beyond. The saying does not end where the logic points. Having established that the dead inherit nothing, it grants the dead man the living inheritance anyway and says he overshoots life rather than merely reaching it.

Saying 4

A Gentile does not die, for he has never lived in order to die. The one who has trusted the truth has come alive — and that one is in danger of dying, because he is alive.

3 from the Coptic
ⲡⲉⲛⲧⲁϩⲡⲓⲥⲧⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲧⲙⲉ pisteuō — TO BELIEVE, TO TRUST, and here is a real difference between the two books in this codex. Thomas uses it once, in the students’ mouths as a request, and refuses it. Philip uses it approvingly, and attaches life to it. Two texts bound in the same volume disagreeing about whether belief is the way in.
ϥϭⲛ̅ⲇⲩⲛⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲙⲟⲩ kindyneuō — Greek: to be in danger, to run a risk. The reversal is exact and it is not consoling. Being alive is what exposes you to death; the Gentile is safe because he was never in the game. Coming alive is described as an increase in risk, not a rescue from it.
ϫⲓⲙ̅ ⲡϩⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̅ⲧⲁ ⲡ<ⲭⲥ> ⲉⲓ “since the day Christ came” closes this saying in the Coptic, though the English translation alongside the transcription moves the clause forward to open the next one. The angle brackets mark a nomen sacrum, the contracted sacred name, written short by the scribe. Where one saying ends and the next begins is an editor’s decision here, not the manuscript’s.

Saying 5

The world is created. The cities are adorned. The dead are carried out.

2 from the Coptic
ⲥⲉⲥⲱⲛⲧ' ⲙ̅ⲡⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ ⲥⲉⲣ̅ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲉⲓ ⲛⲙ̅ⲡⲟⲗⲉⲓⲥ A PUN THAT NO ENGLISH VERSION KEEPS. kosmos, the world; kosmeō, to adorn, to arrange, to set in order. Same root, one clause apart — the ordering of the world and the decoration of the cities are the same act, and the Greek word for cosmos is the word for ornament. English has to choose between "world" and "adornment" and loses the identity between them.
ⲥⲉϥⲓ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉⲧⲙⲟⲟⲩⲧ' ⲉⲃⲟⲗ fi ebol — to carry out, the ordinary word for removing a corpse from a house. Three flat clauses with no connective: the world made, the cities decorated, the dead taken out. The third belongs to the same sentence as the first two, which is the observation being made.

Saying 6

When we were Hebrews we were orphans — we had only our mother. But when we became Christians, we came to have a father and a mother.

2 from the Coptic
ⲛ̅ⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓⲁⲛⲟⲥ THE SCRIBE SPELLS IT WITH AN ETA HERE — chrEstianos, from chrEstos, useful, kind, serviceable. At saying 101 the same word is written ⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲓⲁⲛⲟⲥ with an iota, from christos, anointed. Both spellings sit in one manuscript. This is the christos/chrEstos ambiguity that ancient writers themselves remarked on, present in the ink rather than argued about afterwards — and chrEstos is the same adjective given to the vineyard owner in Philip 65 and to the yoke in Thomas 90.
ⲛ̅ⲟⲣⲫⲁⲛⲟⲥ orphanos — Greek: orphaned, fatherless. The claim is not that the earlier state was wrong, but that it was incomplete in one specific way: a mother and no father. Compare saying 2, where the son gets standing to claim the inheritance. You cannot inherit from a parent you do not have.

Saying 7

Those who sow in winter reap in summer. The winter is the world; the summer is the other age. Let us sow in the world, so that we may reap in the summer.

Because of this it is fitting for us not to pray in the winter.

What comes out of winter is summer. But if anyone reaps in winter he will not really reap — he will only tear out, and a person like that gets no fruit from it. Not only does it come out […] but on the sabbath too […] it is barren.

3 from the Coptic
ϣϣⲉ ⲉⲣⲟⲛ' ⲉⲧⲙ̅ⲧⲣⲛ̅ϣⲗⲏⲗ' ϩⲛ̅ ⲧⲡⲣⲱ “IT IS FITTING FOR US NOT TO PRAY IN THE WINTER.” shlEl is prayer, the same verb Thomas uses at 6, 14 and 104 — and Thomas is equally unwilling to leave it standing: “if you pray, you will be condemned.” Two books in one codex, both refusing prayer in the present arrangement. Here the reason is agricultural rather than moral: winter is the season for sowing, and asking is not sowing.
ⲧⲡⲣⲱ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ the equation is stated flatly, then acted on: the world is the winter, so the world is where you work. Nothing here says to leave it. It says the season you are in determines what the work is, and that reaping early destroys the crop — halE, to tear out or pluck up, rather than harvest.
ⲡⲕⲉⲥⲁⲃⲃⲁⲧⲟⲛ sabbaton, and here it is barren. Thomas 27 asks you to “make the sabbath a sabbath”; Philip files it with reaping out of season. The two books take the same loanword in opposite directions, which is worth more than either taken alone.

Saying 8

Christ came: to ransom some, to save others, to redeem others. Those who were strangers he ransomed and made his own. And he set apart his own, those he laid down as a pledge by his own will.

It was not only when he appeared that he laid down the soul when he wished — from the day the world came to be he laid down the soul at the moment he wished. Then he came first to take it back, since it had been laid down as a pledge.

It fell among robbers and was taken captive. But he rescued it, and he redeemed the good in the world, and the evil.

3 from the Coptic
ϩⲁ ⲛⲗⲏⲥⲧⲏⲥ lEstEs — Greek: robbers, brigands, the word Thomas uses twice for what you gird yourself against (21) and what you must know the approach of (103). The soul falls among them here, exactly as the traveller does in the parable Philip alludes to at 118. Whatever this book is doing, it is working from the same stock of images as the gospel bound next to it.
ⲁⲩϥⲓⲧⲥ̅ ⲛ̅ⲁⲓⲭⲙⲁⲗⲱⲧⲟⲥ aichmalOtos — Greek: a prisoner of war, one taken at spear-point. Not lost, not fallen, not asleep. Captured — which implies a captor with an interest, and a ransom that has to be paid to somebody.
ⲛⲉⲧⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩⲟⲩ ϩⲙ̅ ⲡⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ ⲁϥⲥⲟⲧⲟⲩ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲛⲉⲑⲟⲟⲩ “the good in the world, AND the evil.” The saying ends by refusing the sorting it spent three clauses setting up. Compare Thomas 57, where the owner forbids his workers to pull the weeds early because nobody can tell them apart yet.

Saying 9

Light and darkness, life and death, right and left — these are brothers to one another. They cannot be separated.

Because of this, the good are not good, the evil are not evil, life is not life and death is not death. So each one will dissolve back into what it was at first.

But those who are lifted above the world cannot be dissolved. They are eternal.

3 from the Coptic
ⲛ̅ⲥⲛⲏⲩ ⲛⲉ ⲛ̅ⲛⲟⲩⲉⲣⲏⲩ snEu — BROTHERS, the same noun Thomas commands love toward at 25 and hatred toward at 55. Here the opposites themselves are the brothers, and the point is that you cannot pick one and discard the other. Light does not defeat darkness in this book; they are family and they arrive together.
ⲛⲁⲃⲱⲗ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ' ⲁⲧⲉϥⲁⲣⲭⲏ ϫⲓⲛ ϣⲟⲣⲡ archE — Greek: beginning, origin, and equally FIRST PRINCIPLE, RULE; the root inside archon and anarchy. Thomas 18 sends the question about the end back to it: “have you uncovered the beginning, that you are looking for the end?” Philip says what happens there — everything paired dissolves back into its archE. What survives is what was never one of a pair.
ⲛⲉⲧϫⲟⲥⲉ ⲇⲉ ⲁⲡⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ ϩⲛ̅ⲛⲁⲧⲃⲱⲗ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲛⲉ at-bOl ebol — literally UN-dissolvable, the negative prefix on the same verb. Being above the world is defined here purely as not coming apart, which is what you would expect if everything below it is held together by being half of a pair.

Saying 10

The names given to worldly things hold a great deception, for they turn the heart away from what is fixed toward what is not fixed. Whoever hears “God” does not perceive what is fixed — he perceives what is not fixed.

So it is with “the Father” and “the Son” and “the Holy Spirit” and “life” and “light” and “the resurrection” and “the assembly” and all the rest: people do not perceive what is fixed, they perceive what is not — unless they have been taught what is fixed.

The names that are heard exist in the world […] deceive. Had they been in the age, they would never have been used as names in the world, nor set among worldly things. They have an end in the age.

3 from the Coptic
ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ̣ ekklEsia — AND IT IS ON THE LIST OF DECEIVING NAMES. This is the term the Comparative Analysis on the LNV page treats as “called-out assembly” against “Church/Institution”. Philip goes further than either: the name itself misleads, and it is filed alongside “God”, “the Father”, “the Son”, “the Holy Spirit”, “life”, “light” and “the resurrection”. The complaint is not that the word was corrupted later. It is that a name in the world cannot point at what is not in the world.
ⲛ̅ⲟⲩⲛⲟϭ ⲙ̅ⲡⲗⲁⲛⲏ planE — Greek: a wandering, a going astray; the root of “planet”, the wandering star. Not a lie told on purpose. A drift — which is why the saying says names TURN THE HEART (pOhs m-p-hEt, to bend or divert it) rather than that they state falsehoods.
ⲛⲉⲧⲥⲙⲟⲛⲧ' … ⲉⲛⲉⲧⲥⲙⲟⲛⲧ' ⲁⲛ smont — established, fixed, standing firm. The contrast running through the whole saying is fixed against unfixed, not true against false. And the closing line is the sharpest thing in it: these names “have an end in the age.” The vocabulary is temporary equipment, including the vocabulary this book is written in.

Saying 11

One name alone is not uttered in the world: the name the Father gave to the Son. It is higher than everything — it is the name of the Father.

For the Son would not have become Father unless he had put on the Father’s name. Those who have this name perceive it, but they do not speak it. Those who do not have it do not perceive it.

But truth brought names into being in the world for our sake, because it cannot be learned without names.

3 from the Coptic
ⲥⲉⲣ̅ⲛⲟⲉⲓ ⲙⲉⲛ' ⲙ̅ⲙⲟϥ ⲥⲉϣⲁϫⲉ ⲇⲉ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ⲁⲛ noeO, to perceive with the mind, set against shaje, to speak. Having the name and being able to say it are separated on purpose. This is the same distinction Thomas 13 makes when Thomas says his mouth is wholly unable to say what he is like — and is told, for that, that he no longer has a teacher.
ⲥⲁⲃⲏⲗ ϫⲉ ⲁϥϯ ϩⲓⲱⲱϥ' ⲙ̅ⲡⲣⲁⲛ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉⲓⲱⲧ ti hiOOf — to PUT ON, as clothing. The Son becomes Father by wearing the name, which makes the name a garment rather than a label. Set that against Thomas 37, where seeing requires taking your garments off and treading on them, and the two books are using the same image for opposite operations.
ⲁⲧⲙⲉ ϫⲡⲉ ϩⲉⲛⲣⲁⲛ ϩⲙ̅ ⲡⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ ⲉⲧⲃⲏⲧⲛ̅ jpe — TO BEGET, the verb that runs through Thomas at 14, 15, 46, 53 and 70. Truth begets names, in the world, for our sake. Saying 10 has just called those names a great deception. Both are allowed to stand: the equipment misleads and is nevertheless the only way in.

Saying 12

Truth is one single thing. It is many things — and for our sake it teaches this one thing, in love, through many.

2 from the Coptic
ϩⲛ̅ ⲟⲩⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ ϩⲓⲧⲛ̅ ϩⲁϩ agapE — Greek: love, and it is the mechanism rather than the sentiment. The many are how the one gets taught, and love is the manner of the teaching. Placed immediately after two sayings about names deceiving, this is the answer to them: multiplicity is not the failure, it is the method.
ⲟⲩⲉⲓ ⲟⲩⲱⲧ' ⲧⲉ ⲧⲙⲉ oua ouOt — a single one, the exact phrase Thomas uses at 4, 22 and 23 for what you become when the two are made one. Philip applies it to truth rather than to a person. The dagger in the transcription marks a place the editor judged the text corrupt.

Saying 13

The rulers wanted to deceive the man, since they saw that he had a kinship with what is truly good. They took the name of the good things and gave it to what is not good, so that through the names they might deceive him and bind him to what is not good.

And afterwards — what a favour they do him! They have him removed from what is not good and set among the good. They knew what they were doing.

For they wanted to take the free man and make him their slave forever.

3 from the Coptic
ⲉⲧⲣⲟⲩϥⲓ ⲡⲉⲗⲉⲩⲑⲉⲣ[ⲟ]ⲥ ⲛ̅ⲥⲉⲕⲁⲁϥ' ⲛⲁⲩ ⲛ̅ϩⲙ<ϩⲁⲗ'> ϣⲁ ⲉⲛⲉ̣ϩ THE SAME PAIR AS SAYING 2, AND HERE IT IS DELIBERATE. eleutheros, the free man; hmhal, the slave. In saying 2 the slave wants only release while the son claims the estate. Here the rulers set out to convert the first into the second — and the stated method is not force. It is renaming. They take the name belonging to good things and attach it to things that are not, and the man is bound by the word rather than by a chain.
ⲁⲣ̅ⲁⲡⲁⲧⲁ ⲙ̅ⲡⲣⲱⲙⲉ apataO — Greek: to deceive, to cheat, to seduce by trickery. Saying 10 said names carry a great planE, a wandering — something that happens. This says who arranges it and why. The two sayings are the same claim, once as a condition and once as a policy.
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲙ̅ⲙⲛ̅ⲛ̅ⲥⲱⲥ ⲉϣϫⲉ ⲉⲩⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛⲁⲩ ⲛ̅ⲟⲩϩⲙⲟⲧ' hmot — a favour, a grace, a kindness. The sarcasm is in the Coptic, not supplied by the translator: having moved him among what is not good under a false name, they then move him back and it is recorded as a favour done for him. Rescue from a situation you engineered.

Saying 14

If the man is saved there will be no more sacrifices […] and animals will not be offered up to the powers. It was the animals they used to offer up.

They were offered up alive — and once offered, they died. The man was offered up to God dead — and he lived.

2 from the Coptic
ⲛⲉⲩⲧⲉⲗⲟ ⲙⲉⲛ ⲙ̅ⲙⲟⲟⲩ ⲉϩⲣⲁϊ ⲉⲩⲟⲛϩ̣ ⲛ̅ⲧⲁⲣⲟⲩⲧⲉⲗⲟⲟⲩ ⲇⲉ ⲉϩⲣⲁϊ ⲁⲩⲙⲟⲩ the whole saying turns on a reversal stated without comment: what goes up alive comes down dead, and what goes up dead comes down alive. No explanation is offered. It is left as an observation about which direction the traffic runs.
ⲑⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ' ⲉϩⲣⲁϊ ⲛ̅ⲛ̅ⲇⲩⲛⲁⲙⲓⲥ thErion, a beast; dynamis, a power. Sacrifice is described as feeding the powers, and the saying opens by making it conditional: if the man is saved, the supply stops. The arrangement depends on the transaction continuing.

Saying 15

Before Christ came there was no bread in the world — just as Paradise, where Adam was, had many trees to feed the animals but no wheat to feed the man. The man fed like the animals.

But when Christ came, the complete man, he brought bread out of heaven, so that the man might be fed with the food of a man.

2 from the Coptic
ⲡⲧⲉⲗⲓⲟⲥ ⲣ̅ⲣⲱⲙⲉ teleios — Greek: complete, brought to its end, finished; usually rendered “perfect”, which imports a moral standard the word does not carry. It means nothing is missing. The claim is not that he behaved well but that he was the whole article, and the bread follows from that.
ⲛⲉⲣⲉ ⲡⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲥⲟⲉⲓϣ ⲛ̅ⲑⲉ ⲛ̅ⲛ̅ⲑⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ the diagnosis is dietary and it is not moralised: in the garden there was food for beasts and none for men, so the man ate as a beast eats. He was not expelled from somewhere good. He was in a place that had nothing for him.

Saying 16

The rulers thought that what they did, they did by their own power and their own will. But the Holy Spirit, in secret, was working the All through them — as it wished.

3 from the Coptic
ⲛⲉϥ'ⲉⲛⲉⲣⲅⲉⲓ ⲙ̅ⲡⲧⲏⲣϥ energeO — Greek: to be at work, to operate, to be active in something; the verb behind the noun ENERGEIA. This matters beyond Philip: the essence-and-energies distinction Gregory Palamas defended, and which the Councils of Constantinople upheld in 1341, 1347 and 1351, rests on exactly this word — God unknowable in essence, really participated in the energies. Here the Spirit energeO-s ptErf, the All, through people who believe they are acting on their own.
ϩⲛ̅ ⲟⲩⲡⲉⲑⲏⲡ' ethEp — hidden, concealed; the incipit’s word in Thomas, “these are the HIDDEN sayings”, and the thing saying 5 promises will be uncovered. Here it describes a mode of operation rather than a body of teaching: the work is hidden while it is being done, including from the people doing it.
ⲛⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̅ⲁⲣⲭⲱⲛ' ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ archOn — a ruler, one who holds the archE. Saying 13 has them deceiving on purpose and knowing it; here they are mistaken about the most basic fact of their own agency. Both are allowed to stand. Deliberate about the deception, deceived about themselves.

Saying 17

Truth, which has existed from the beginning, is sown everywhere. And many see it being sown — but few are those who see it being reaped.

2 from the Coptic
ⲧⲁⲗⲏⲑⲉⲓⲁ ⲥⲉⲥⲓⲧⲉ ⲙ̅ⲙⲟⲥ ⲙ̅ⲙⲁ ⲛⲓⲙ alEtheia sown in EVERY PLACE, ma nim. Not deposited with a lineage or entrusted to an institution. Set beside Thomas 113, where the kingdom is “spread out across the earth and people do not see it” — the same geography, and the same problem, which is not scarcity but attention.
ϩⲛ̅ⲕⲟⲩⲉⲓ ⲇⲉ † ⲉⲧⲟⲩⲛⲁⲩ ⲉⲣⲟⲥ ⲉⲩⲱⲥϩ ⲙ̅ⲙⲟⲥ the asymmetry is the saying: sowing is public and reaping is not. Compare 7, where reaping out of season only tears the crop up. The dagger marks a place the editor judged the text corrupt.

Saying 18

Some say Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. They are wrong — they do not know what they are saying. When did a woman ever conceive by a woman?

Mary is the virgin whom no power defiled. She is a great curse to the Hebrews, who are the apostles and the apostolic men. This virgin whom no power defiled […] the powers defile themselves.

And the Lord would not have said “my Father who is in heaven” unless he had another father — he would simply have said “my father”.

2 from the Coptic
ⲁϣ ⲛ̅ϩⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲛⲉϩ ⲡⲉⲛⲧⲁ ⲥϩⲓⲙⲉ ῶ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ' ϩⲛ̅ ⲥϩⲓⲙⲉ THE ARGUMENT IS GRAMMATICAL AND IT ONLY WORKS IN A SEMITIC LANGUAGE. “Spirit” is feminine in Hebrew and Aramaic — ruach — so a conception by the Spirit would be a woman conceiving by a woman. Whoever framed this was thinking in a language where the gender of the noun does that work, then wrote it down in Coptic, where the Greek loanword pneuma is neuter and the joke no longer bites. It is a fossil of the text’s own prehistory.
ⲉⲧⲉ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉ ⲇⲩⲛⲁⲙⲓⲥ ϫⲁϩⲙⲉⲥ jOhm — to defile, to stain. The powers defile; she was not defiled; and the closing clause turns it round — the powers defile THEMSELVES. What they do to others is described as something they are doing to their own condition.

Saying 19

The Lord said to the students: […] out of every house. Bring into the house of the Father. But do not steal in the house of the Father, and do not carry anything off.

1 from the Coptic
ⲙ̣̅ⲡⲣ̅ϫⲓⲟⲩ<ⲉ> ⲇⲉ ⲛ̅ⲧⲟϥ' ϩⲛ̅ ⲡⲏⲉⲓ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉⲓⲱⲧ jioue — TO STEAL. The instruction is asymmetric on purpose: carry in from everywhere, take nothing out. The angle brackets mark an editorial emendation, so the final letter is a correction rather than what stands on the papyrus. Compare Thomas 21 and 103, where the whole problem is a house being entered by someone who intends to remove things.

Saying 20

“Jesus” is a hidden name; “Christ” is a revealed name. That is why “Jesus” is not particular to any language — he is always called by the name Jesus. But “Christ” in Syriac is Messiah, and in Greek it is Christ; certainly all the rest have it in their own tongue.

“The Nazarene” is the one who reveals what is hidden.

2 from the Coptic
ⲟⲩⲣⲁⲛ ⲡⲉ ⲉϥϩⲏⲡ' ⲡⲉⲭ<ⲣⲥ> ⲟⲩⲣⲁⲛ ⲡⲉ ⲉϥⲟⲩⲟⲛϩ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ' hEp and ouOnh ebol — HIDDEN and MADE MANIFEST, the founding pair of Thomas, running from its incipit through sayings 5, 6 and 57. Philip applies it to the names themselves: one name resists translation and one exists only in translation. A name that changes in every language is by that fact a revealed one.
ⲡⲛⲁⲍⲁⲣⲏⲛⲟⲥ ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲟⲛϩ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲡⲉ ⲙ̅ⲡⲡⲉⲑⲏⲡ' the title is treated as a job description rather than a place of origin: the Nazarene is the one who makes the hidden manifest. Both halves of the Thomas pair in a single clause, with a person in between them doing the work.

Saying 21

Christ has everything within him — whether man, or angel, or mystery — and the Father.

2 from the Coptic
ⲉⲓⲧⲉ ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲉⲓⲧⲉ ⲁⲅ'ⲅⲉⲗⲟⲥ ⲉⲓⲧⲉ ⲙⲩⲥⲧⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲓⲱⲧ the list is graded — man, angel, mystErion — and then the Father is added outside the eite…eite construction that holds the other three. Not a fourth item in the series. A separate clause, appended.
ⲡⲉ<ⲭⲥ> ⲟⲩⲛ̅ⲧⲁϥ' ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ' ϩⲣⲁϊ ⲛ̅ϩⲏⲧϥ “has everything in him” — ouon nim, every single one. Compare saying 101, where the anointed one HAS the All, and Thomas 77, “I am the All.” Having and being are kept distinct across the two books, and this saying is on the having side.

Saying 22

Those who say the Lord died first and then rose are wrong — for he rose first, and then died.

If someone does not first obtain the resurrection, he will not die. As God lives, that one would […]

2 from the Coptic
ⲁϥⲧⲱⲟⲩⲛ ⲅⲁⲣ' ⲛ̅ϣⲟⲣⲡ' ⲁⲩⲱ ⲁϥⲙⲟⲩ RESURRECTION BEFORE DEATH, AND IT IS STATED AS A CORRECTION OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE ORDER WRONG. Not a promise about what happens after you die. A claim that the rising is the earlier event and the dying follows it — which makes resurrection something that happens to the living, and the ordinary sequence the error.
ⲉⲧⲙ̅ ⲟⲩⲁ ϫⲡⲉ ⲧⲁⲛⲁⲥⲧⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲛ̅ϣⲟⲣⲡ' ϥⲛⲁⲙⲟⲩ ⲁⲛ jpe — to beget, to obtain, to bring forth; the verb that runs through Thomas at 14, 15, 46, 53 and 70, and through Philip at 11. You BEGET the resurrection, and until you have, you cannot properly die. Set beside Thomas 1 — whoever finds the interpretation “will not taste death” — the two books are describing the same reordering from opposite ends.

Saying 101

The chrism is lord over baptism. It is from the chrism that we were called Christians — not because of the baptism. And the Christ was so named because of the chrism.

For the Father anointed the Son, and the Son anointed the apostles, and the apostles anointed us.

Whoever has been anointed has the All. He has the resurrection, the light, the cross, the Holy Spirit. The Father gave him this in the bridal chamber — and he received it.

4 from the Coptic
ⲡⲭⲣⲉⲓⲥⲙⲁ ϥⲟ ⲛ̅ϫⲟⲉⲓⲥ ⲉⲡⲃⲁⲡⲧⲓⲥⲙⲁ BOTH ENGLISH VERSIONS SAY “SUPERIOR TO”. The Coptic says fo n-JOEIS — it IS LORD over baptism. joeis is the word that means lord, master and owner at once: the men who demand their field back in Thomas 21, the two masters no servant can serve in 47, the mastery claimed in 90, and the slave’s owner in Philip 2. This is not a claim that one rite is finer than another. It is a claim about which one has authority over the other, and two independent translators flattened it into a matter of quality.
ⲟⲩⲛ̅ⲧⲉϥ' ⲡⲧⲏⲣϥ' ⲙ̅ⲙⲁⲩ ptērf — THE ALL, and this is the same word running through Thomas in the same codex: the one who seeks and is shaken “will REIGN OVER the All” (2); knowing the All while being yourself deficient is total shortfall (67); “I AM the All” (77). Philip adds the fourth position: the anointed one HAS it. Reign over, lack, be, have — four sayings, two books, one noun.
ⲡⲭⲣⲉⲓⲥⲙⲁ … ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲙⲁ the scribe spells chrisma two ways inside this one saying, exactly as sabbaton is spelled twice over in Thomas 27. Both are Greek loanwords being written by hand rather than copied from a fixed orthography.
ϩⲙ̅ ⲡⲛⲩ[ⲙ]ⲫⲱⲛ̣ nymphōn — the bridal chamber, and the same Greek word as Thomas 75, where “many are standing at the door, but it is the solitaries who go into the bridal chamber,” and 104, where fasting is scheduled for the moment the bridegroom leaves it. The bracketed ⲙ is a lacuna restoration and the underdotted ⲛ̣ is a letter the editor read without certainty.
the rendering continues from saying 23 · saying 101 was done early