Against Heresies: Book IV
Chapter 35: A Rebuttal of Those Who Claim That the Prophets Made Some Predictions Under the Inspiration of the Supreme Being and Others from the Creator. Conflicts Among the Valentinians About These Same Predictions
In opposition to the Valentinians and the other so-called Gnostics, who claim that some parts of Scripture were spoken at one time from the Pleroma through the seed from that place, and at another time from an intermediate abode through the audacious mother Prunica, and that many parts are due to the Creator of the world, who also sent the prophets, we argue that it is completely irrational to confine the Father of the universe in such a way that He doesn't have His own proper means to perfectly proclaim the things in the Pleroma. Who was He afraid of, that He would not reveal His will in His own way, independently, freely, and without involvement with that spirit which was created in a state of degeneracy and ignorance? Did He fear that too many would be saved when more should have listened to the pure truth? Or, on the other hand, was He incapable of preparing those who should announce the Saviour’s advent?
If, when the Savior came to this earth, He sent His apostles into the world to accurately proclaim His arrival and teach the Father’s will, without adopting the doctrines of the Gentiles or the Jews, then all the more, while He existed in the Pleroma, would He have appointed His own heralds to announce His future coming into this world, without involving those prophecies originating from the Demiurge.
But if, while in the Pleroma, He used the prophets under the law to declare His own matters through them, then much more, upon His arrival here, would He have utilized these same teachers and preached the Gospel to us through them.
Therefore, let them no longer claim that Peter, Paul, and the other apostles proclaimed the truth but that it was the scribes, Pharisees, and others through whom the law was given. And if, at His coming, He sent forth His apostles in the spirit of truth, and not in error, He did the same with the prophets; for the Word of God was always the same. And if the Spirit from the Pleroma was, according to their system, the Spirit of light, truth, perfection, and knowledge, while that from the Demiurge was the spirit of ignorance, degeneracy, and error, and the offspring of obscurity, how can it be that in one being there exists both perfection and defect, knowledge and ignorance, error and truth, light and darkness? But if it was impossible for such differences to occur with the prophets, for they preached the word of the Lord from one God and proclaimed the arrival of His Son, then even more so would the Lord Himself never have spoken words from above at one time and from degeneracy below at another, becoming a teacher of both knowledge and ignorance.
Nor would He have glorified as Father sometimes the Creator of the world and at other times one above this one, as He declares: “No one puts a piece of a new garment on an old one, nor do they put new wine into old wineskins.” Therefore, let these men either have nothing to do with the prophets, as they are ancient, and stop claiming that these men, sent beforehand by the Demiurge, spoke things under a new influence from the Pleroma; or let them be convinced by our Lord, when He declares that new wine cannot be put into old wineskins.
3.
But from what source could the offspring of their mother gain his knowledge of the mysteries within the Pleroma, and power to speak about them? Suppose that the mother, while beyond the Pleroma, did bring forth this offspring; but what is beyond the Pleroma they describe as being beyond the realm of knowledge, that is, ignorance. How, then, could that seed, which was conceived in ignorance, have the ability to declare knowledge? Or how did the mother herself, a shapeless and undefined being, one cast out like an abortion, obtain knowledge of the mysteries within the Pleroma, she who was formed outside it and given a form there, and prohibited by Horos from entering within, and who remains outside the Pleroma until the culmination of all things, that is, beyond the realm of knowledge? Then, again, when they say that the Lord’s suffering is a symbol of the extension of the Christ above, which he accomplished through Horos, and thus gave a form to their mother, they are refuted in the other details of the Lord’s suffering, for they have no evidence of a symbol to show in regard to them.
For when did the Christ above have vinegar and gall given to him to drink? Or when was his clothing divided? Or when was he pierced, and blood and water came forth? Or when did he sweat great drops of blood? And the same may be asked concerning the other details that happened to the Lord, which the prophets have spoken of. From where, then, did the mother or her offspring foresee the things that had not yet happened, but would occur later?
They claim that certain things were still spoken from the Pleroma, but are disproved by what the Scriptures say about the coming of Christ. However, they don't agree on what these things spoken from the Pleroma are and give different answers. If you question their leaders individually about any passage, you will find one attributing it to the Propator, or Bythus; another to Arche, or the Only-begotten; another to the Father of all, or the Word; and yet another will say it was spoken of an Æon formed from the contributions of the Æons in the Pleroma. Some will refer the passage to Christ, and another to the Saviour. Another, more knowledgeable than these, after a long silence, declares it was spoken of Horos; another says it signifies the Sophia within the Pleroma; another claims it announces the mother outside the Pleroma; while another mentions the God who made the world, the Demiurge.
These are the different interpretations they have of a single passage, holding conflicting opinions about the same Scriptures. When the same passage is read, they all begin to frown and shake their heads, claiming they could give a remarkably profound discourse, but that not everyone can grasp the greatness of the thought implied. Therefore, among the wise, they consider silence as the chief thing because the Silence above must be represented by their own silence. Thus they all part ways, each with their own opinions, keeping their clever ideas secret within themselves. When they come to an agreement among themselves on what the Scriptures predict, then they will be proven wrong by us. Even while holding incorrect views, they convict themselves by not agreeing on the same words.
We, however, follow the one and only true God as our teacher and hold His words as the rule of truth, speaking consistently about the same things. We know only one God, the Creator of the universe, who sent the prophets, led the people out of Egypt, and in these last times revealed His own Son, to put unbelievers to shame and seek out the fruit of righteousness.