The Lost Scriptures.

The Apocryphon of James

… the twelve disciples were all sitting together and recalling what the Savior had said to each one of them, whether in secret or openly, and putting it in books – But I was writing that which was in my book – lo, the Savior appeared, after departing from us while we gazed after him. And five hundred and fifty days since he had risen from the dead, we said to him, “Have you departed and removed yourself from us?” But Jesus said, “No, but I shall go to the place from whence I came. If you wish to come with me, come!” They all answered and said, “If you bid us, we come.” He said, “Verily I say unto you, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven at my bidding, but (only) because you yourselves are full. Leave James and Peter to me, that I may fill them.” And having called these two, he drew them aside and bade the rest occupy themselves with that which they were about.

The Savior said, “You have received mercy …

Do you not, then, desire to be filled? And your heart is drunken; do you not, then, desire to be sober? Therefore, be ashamed! Henceforth, waking or sleeping, remember that you have seen the Son of Man, and spoken with him in person, and listened to him in person. Woe to those who have seen the Son of Man; blessed will they be who have not seen the man, and they who have not consorted with him, and they who have not spoken with him, and they who have not listened to anything from him; yours is life! Know, then, that he healed you when you were ill, that you might reign. Woe to those who have found relief from their illness, for they will relapse into illness. Blessed are they who have not been ill, and have known relief before falling ill; yours is the kingdom of God. Therefore, I say to you, ‘Become full, and leave no space within you empty, for he who is coming can mock you.”

Then Peter replied, “Lo, three times you have told us, ‘Become full’; but we are full.” The Savior answered and said, “For this cause I have said to you, ‘Become full,’ that you may not be in want. They who are in want, however, will not be saved. For it is good to be full, and bad to be in want. Hence, just as it is good that you be in want and, conversely, bad that you be full, so he who is full is in want, and he who is in want does not become full as he who is in want becomes full, and he who has been filled, in turn attains due perfection. Therefore, you must be in want while it is possible to fill you, and be full while it is possible for you to be in want, so that you may be able to fill yourselves the more. Hence, become full of the Spirit, but be in want of reason, for reason <belongs to> the soul; in turn, it is (of the nature of) soul.” But I answered and said to him, “Lord, we can obey you if you wish, for we have forsaken our fathers and our mothers and our villages, and followed you. Grant us, therefore, not to be tempted by the devil, the evil one.” The Lord answered and said, “What is your merit if you do the will of the Father and it is not given to you from him as a gift while you are tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan, and persecuted, and you do his (i.e., the Father’s) will, I say that he will love you, and make you equal with me, and reckon you to have become beloved through his providence by your own choice. So will you not cease loving the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? Or do you not know that you have yet to be abused and to be accused unjustly; and have yet to be shut up in prison, and condemned unlawfully, and crucified <without> reason, and buried as I myself, by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the Spirit is an encircling wall? If you consider how long the world existed <before> you, and how long it will exist after you, you will find that your life is one single day, and your sufferings one single hour. For the good will not enter into the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take thought for life! Remember my cross and my death, and you will live!”

The Apocryphon of James is a document that gives the accounting of the teachings of Jesus in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and two of his disciples, James and Peter. The word Apocryphon is a Greek word that means “Secret Book” – and this book was allegedly revealed to Jesus’ brother, James the Just. The book was discovered in Egypt in 1945. This book is less narrative, and more sayings, prophecies, parables, and rules for the community which are attributed to Jesus. It was mostly written for the edification of an unidentified group of Christians. As such, the Apocryphon of James is a collection of sayings and teachings that is contemporary with other Christian writings of the same style.

Unlike in some other Gnostic texts, in this text, Jesus strongly emphasizes the need for his true disciples to believe that he was actually crucified. “Remember my cross and my death and you will live… None will be saved unless they believe in my cross.” Such sayings appear to be intended to counter other Gnostic schools which denied that Jesus even had a physical body and was thus never actually crucified, but only appear to have been. The disciples must also be willing to endure martyrdom themselves: “In truth I say to you, none of those who are afraid of death will be saved.”

None of us knows what we will see once our eyes close in death. And for some, that fear will never go away. But the more we realize that Jesus has us in his plans for eternal life, then perhaps some of our fear of death will wane the older we get.

Pastor Dave