The Secret Book Of John Analysis

The Secret Book of John is a Gnostic text that was found along with a large collection of other Gnostic text near the Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Scholars date the Secret Book of John to have been written at some point prior to AD 180 since Saint Irenaeus knew of its existence. The Secret Book of John primarily contains a discussion Jesus had with his disciple, John. Its content describes the Gnostic beliefs on creation and the nature of God. The account describes the presence of a single, perfect supreme God as well as the existence of Aeons – divine beings described as “emanations” of God. A mistake made by an Aeon named Sophia leads to the birth of an imperfect divine being which she names Yaltaboath. Sophia’s offspring turns out …show more content…
This is similar to the mainstream Christian depiction of God, who is viewed as perfect and absolute in all ways. But this Gnostic God also differs from the Christian God in several aspects. First, the Supreme God is not the only god in existence. The Supreme God produces Aeons, which are divine beings that emanate from him and the first of such created is Barbelo. Barbelo, as the text describes is “the forethought of the All – her light shines like his light – the perfect power which is the image of the invincible, virginal Spirit who is perfect.” (SB John, pg. 299, paragraph 11). Barbelo is essentially a Mother Goddess, as all other Aeons come forth through interactions with the Monad and herself, including Christ, who is referred to by the text as “Christ the Autogenes”. (SB John, pg. 299, paragraph 12-20). Another major difference between the Christian and Gnostic view of God is that the Gnostic Supreme God is not the creator of humanity or the universe we know. This title falls to a lesser and imperfect divine being known as Yaltabaoth, a more direct analog to the Christian God since it is he who is the creates the universe and humanity. This malformed entity that is the Creator God of the Bible came into being when an Aeon named Sophia decided to produce an offspring without the consent of the Spirit of the Monad or a male consort. (SB John pg. 301, paragraph 25). Yaltaboath is thus born with a grotesque form, described as “a lion-face serpent…eyes were lightning fire which flashes” and is the first of the archon – imperfect beings that include Yaltaboath and the lesser beings he creates. (SB John pg. 300-301, paragraphs 26-28). He fashions a world for his archons that is also imperfect and corrupt and declares in arrogance “I am a jealous God and there is no other God beside me” (SB John, pg. 299, paragraph 29-32).