Gnostic Apocalypse Of Peter

The work is part of Gnosticism, a sect of early Christianity, and is considered part of the New Testament apocrypha. The work was likely originally written in the Koine Greek language and composed around 200 CE. The surviving manuscript from Nag Hammadi is a poor-quality translation of the Greek into Coptic, and likely dates from the 4th century.

The work's author is unknown, although it is purportedly written by the disciple Peter (pseudepigrapha) describing revelations given to him during Holy Week by the Savior Christ. The work criticizes other Christian groups, comparing them to the blind and deaf. Jesus says that false Christians (presumably the proto-orthodox movement) will hold power for a time, and that they will be haughty, oppose the truth, set up bishops and deacons to rule, mislead their followers, and so on. In contrast, certain blessed ones (presumably Gnostics) have immortal souls. Peter has a vision of the coming crucifixion, and Christ personally explains its true meaning in conversation. The work then propounds docetism: that the divine Christ was invulnerable and never suffered the pains of the mortal world, and certainly did not die during the apparent crucifixion. Rather, only Jesus-the-man suffered in a variant of the substitution hypothesis.

In the opening of the text, Jesus is sitting in the temple and talking to Peter about the importance of righteousness and knowledge. Peter envisions that the priests and the people may try to kill them. Jesus tells Peter to put his hands over his own eyes and see the truth. When Peter does so, he sees a new light and Jesus explains to him the blindness of the priests and the people. Jesus instructs Peter to listen to what the priests and the people are saying, and Peter says that they are praising Jesus. Jesus states that many people will initially accept the teachings but will turn away due to the will of the Father of their error.

Jesus continues, saying the guileless and pure will be pushed towards death, while those who have been contaminated by false teachings will be prisoners. Some will proclaim evil teachings and say evil things against each other, and they will be named as those who stand in the strength of the archons. These people will ask about dreams and will be given perdition instead of incorruption. The text emphasizes that evil cannot produce good fruit and that the soul is always a slave to its desires. On the other hand, the immortal souls resemble mortal ones but do not reveal their nature, and are in the life of immortality. What does not exist will dissolve into non-existence, and the deaf and blind will only join with their own kind.

The text describes the actions and attitudes of different groups of people, who either misunderstand or deliberately spread false information about spiritual truths. Some individuals will be arrogant and envious, spreading lies and haughtiness about the truth. Others will be involved in error and deceit, setting up false laws and harsh fates. There will also be those who pretend to have authority from God and oppress others, but they will be cast into darkness. The text discusses "little ones," referring to the innocent and the ignorant who are misled by these false teachers. A time is determined for these false leaders to rule over the little ones, but eventually, the error will be completed and the little ones will rule over their oppressors. The Savior tells Peter not to be afraid, as those who bring judgment will come and put the false teachers to shame. Peter will stand in their midst and the invisible one has opposed the false leaders, whose minds will be closed.

Peter has a vision of the crucifixion of Jesus. The vision reveals to Peter that the physical form of Jesus being crucified is not the true form of Jesus but only a substitute. The real Christ is the spiritual being who is filled with a Holy Spirit and is joyful, laughing at those who thought they could kill him. This Jesus is seen as the intellectual Pleroma, which is united with the Holy Spirit and the perfect light. The text also reveals that the teachings of this vision should be presented to those of a different race, those who are not of this world. Finally, the text encourages Peter to be courageous and not to fear, since Jesus will be with him. After this vision, Peter comes back to reality.

The author of the original Greek text is unknown, but he is speculated to have written at some point from 150 to 250 CE, and more likely at the later end of the range in the third century. The surviving manuscript from Nag Hammadi is a poor-quality translation of the Greek into Coptic, and likely dates from the 4th century. While the manuscript is in excellent condition as far as reading the text, several puzzling and illogical passages suggest either a scribal error in copying or a translation error.

The author appears to be familiar with the Gospel of Matthew and emulates it in several passages, although does not seem to directly quote it. The use of "little ones" affectionately is shared by both works. The work also repurposes some of the anti-Jewish rhetoric from Matthew, except aimed at other Christians. Both the opponents warned of by Jesus in the Apocalypse of Peter, as well as the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew, love places of honor, keep others out of the kingdom, and are spiritually "blind". The Apocalypse of Peter itself calls both the Jewish leaders who attempted to kill Jesus as well as Christians that oppose Gnosticism "blind", implicitly tying them together. Like many other Gnostic works, the work endorses a version of early Christianity that makes a firmer separation from its Jewish roots. The work accuses other Christians of being mislead by an evil god, presumably the god of the Old Testament and the Jews. It calls the mortal world of the "clay vessel" (body) the "home of demons" and "belonging to Elohim, and belonging to the cross", with Elohim the Hebrew term for God.

Christology

The Savior said to me: "He whom you see above the cross, glad and laughing, is the living Jesus. But he into whose hands and feet they are driving the nails is his physical part, which is the substitute. They are putting to shame that which is in his likeness. But look at him and me."

— Apocalypse of Peter 81, 15-23

The vision near the end of the text in which Jesus states that someone else was crucified rather than the living Jesus is considered a key part of the text by scholars, an example of a Gnostic Christology where Jesus is a docetic redeemer. Comparable language is used in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth, in which Jesus laughs at the ignorance of those who tried to kill him but failed to realize that he "did not die in reality but in appearance." While Gnosticism and docetism both had a broad range of interpretations, in one docetic view common in Gnosticism, Jesus was originally a mortal flesh-and-blood man who received the Holy Spirit and Christ from heaven, which enabled him to perform miracles and deliver wisdom in teaching. The Christ, as a being from heaven, could not be slain by the mortal world, and offered deliverance from the constraints of the mortal body. Docetism appears to have been a somewhat common view in 1st and 2nd century Christianity, but did not ultimately become the orthodox doctrine. It was rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.

Denunciation of other Christians

The text has a strong polemical aspect in inter-Christian debates. It emphasizes seeking truth and knowledge (Gnosis), and warns that many people will be misled by false teachers: Christians who believed Jesus died, and that this death was what brought salvation in some sense. To the Gnostic view, proto-Orthodox Christians completely misunderstood the divine nature of Jesus, and worshipped the "dead" mortal remnant. To the Gnostic view, the true Savior would certainly never die nor be able to be harmed at all. He was a transcendent Savior from a higher world. 74.13-15 directly writes "And they will hold fast to the name of a dead man, while thinking that they will become pure". The work echoes the condemnation while also possibly criticizing the Shepherd of Hermas or its author; it writes "For they will create an imitation remnant in the name of a dead man, who is Hermas, the first-born of unrighteousness, in order that the real light might not be believed." The work seems to blame the intransigence of these rival Christians on "the father of their error", perhaps a reference to the Demiurge, the chief archon. Proto-orthodox Christians who view Jesus's death (rather than Christ's gnosis, the divine teachings and wisdom) as what is important for salvation "blaspheme the truth and proclaim an evil teaching."

In early Christianity, Peter's authority on matters of doctrine was unquestionable, so attributing favored theological views to Peter (in the case of this work, docetism) was reasonably common as a way to buttress arguments that the writer's version of Christian doctrine was the correct one.