Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter

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.

Jesus tells Peter "through you I have begun a work for the remnant whom I called to knowledge (gnosis)"[2] and reveals secrets of the future.

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, and mislead their followers.

The text then propounds docetism: that the divine Christ, as a spiritual being, was invulnerable and never suffered the pains of the mortal world, and certainly did not die during the apparent crucifixion.

Similarly, Peter listens to the priests and the people twice: first normally, and a second time with the "ears of [his] head", hearing praise of Jesus's glory.

The real Christ is the spiritual being who is filled with a Holy Spirit and is joyful, laughing at the lack of perception of those who thought they could kill him.

[8] Birger A. Pearson proposed that the author was probably Egyptian,[9] although other scholars have suggested Palestinian or Syrian origins.

[6][10][11] The surviving manuscript from Nag Hammadi is a poor-quality translation of the Greek into Coptic, and likely dates from the fourth century.

[13][14][10] The Nag Hammadi library was discovered in 1945, but due to a variety of reasons, it was not until 1972 that a reproduction of Codex VII was published and available to the public.

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".

[20][3] 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.

[25] 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",[26][27] as well as the mostly-lost Gospel of Basilides.

[28] While Gnosticism and docetism both had a broad range of interpretations, in one docetic view seen in Gnosticism (called "separationist" by Bart Ehrman), 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.

[30] While the work is clear enough at distinguishing the mortal body of Jesus and his spiritual essence, the exact nature and breakdown of that spirit is not agreed upon entirely.

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.

In the Gnostic Apocalypse, Peter learns that what he sees with physical sight and hears with his ears is not the true reality; a deeper spiritual plane is more important.

[27][23] The Apocalypse of Peter seems to endorse a version of early Christianity that makes a firmer separation from its Jewish roots.

[20] The Savior also tells Peter that he should reserve this revelation for foreigners of a different age, presumably a reference to 2nd- and 3rd-century Gnostic Christians.

The Apocalypse of Peter is pseudepigrapha: a work written in the name of another person, both as a literary convention of the apocalyptic genre as well as to heighten the authority of its claims.

Jesus urges Peter to become perfect like him early in the text, and Gnostic theology generally held that receiving and understanding knowledge and wisdom was the key to spiritual growth.

Thus, the final line can be interpreted as that by hearing this revelation, Peter had achieved the promise of Gnosticism: true knowledge had brought salvation.