[8] The text lacks specifically Christian elements;[2][9][10] the triadic nature of God is instead a Neoplatonic belief.
[2][8] Thus, the traditional two steles made of brick and stone are increased to three to represent the threefold divine: the Father, the mother Barbelo, and the son Autogenes.
He praises the great self-originated aeon, Barbelo, for “staying in rest”, which is philosophical jargon for non-changing, stable being, as opposed to instability and the to-become.
The “foreign thing” here refers to the Invisible Parent, that is, the highest being in the gnostic mythology that the Barbelo was created from.
The following line even mentions that Barbelo has been given to them in “Triple powerfulness”, indicating the two structures given are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
You are One belonging to the One: and you derive from its shadowThe hymn focuses on the authority that the Barbelo has as well as its qualities including, vitality, goodness, blessedness, and understanding.
We will glorify you!” As the title indicates, this section serves as a thanks to the Barbelo for acquainting itself with the Immovable Race.
Stele 3 assumes the collective voice of the immovable race of the Gnostics, offspring of Seth.
The trends of the Barbelo being contained within itself, being before and after itself, and generally a superior glorified being continue in this final hymn.
The text indicates that those who remember and recite the tablets and always glorifies the Barbelo will ascend to the Pleroma, where they rightly should be.