Testimony of Truth
[4] The author interprets the serpent that instructed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden[5] as Christ, who revealed knowledge of a malevolent Creator.
[9] Authorship of the original Testimony of Truth text is estimated to the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD, near Alexandria.
[32] The text describes the journey of a man who renounces the material world and turns towards the truth to gain knowledge of God and himself.
[36] The text criticizes the God of the Law as portrayed in Genesis, calling him malicious and envious of Adam for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[48] The author continues condemning those who have failed to renounce their desires, saying they are gratified by unrighteous Mammon[49] and the father of sexual intercourse.
[59] The first section consists of radical renunciation, criticism of "foolish" Catholics, rejection of sexual reproduction, a description of the archetypical Gnostic, and a conclusion that emphasizes knowing truth.
[61] The second section of the text consists of an emphasis on Christ's passing through a virginal womb, an interpretation of Genesis 3 that parallels Hypostasis of the Archons and On the Origin of the World, the nature of true faith, and an anti-heretical thrust against other Gnostics.
[66] Pearson considers it likely that the text originates from Alexandria, based on the influence of speculative wisdom within Hellenistic Judaism, especially the views of Philo.
[70] Religious historian[71] Pamela Mullins Reaves examines how the text redefines Christian identity by rejecting ritualization.
[72] She begins by noting that Early Christians reinterpreted martyrdom using sacrificial language within the Roman framework, comparing their own persecution to that of Jesus.
[75] The text's author considers the Jordan River representative of bodily desires and advocates renunciation and asceticism as the proper Christian identity.
[76] Ultimately, the text emphasizes individual progress toward knowledge instead of group rituals, but it also supports good communal relations.
