'Lord, Lord,' he says, 'and yet you do not do what I say?' For the people who love with their lips, but keep their heart far from the Lord, are other than they seem, persuaded by another, and to this other they have willingly sold themselves.
But as many as fulfill the commandments of the Savior bear witness by every deed, doing what He wills, consistently naming the Lord, and by their works testifying to Him whom they are persuaded to belong to — they who have crucified the flesh together with its desires and passions.
1:3454
εἰζῶμενπνεύματι, πνεύματικαὶστοιχῶμεν, λέγει
他說:「我們若靠聖靈得生,就當靠聖靈行事。」
'If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit,' he says.
But to the wretched among men, death by martyrdom for the Lord through blood seems the most violent of deaths, since they do not know that such a gate of death is the beginning of the life that truly is.
And they are unwilling to comprehend either the honors after death awaiting those who have lived piously, or the punishments awaiting those who have conducted themselves unjustly and licentiously — I do not mean only from our own Scriptures (for nearly all the commandments proclaim this), but they are unwilling even to obey the words of their own [pagan writers].
'...and then they come to their end — if the soul were not immortal, death would be a windfall.' And Plato too, in the Phaedo: 'For if death were a release from everything, it would be a windfall' — and so on.
It is not right, then, as in Aeschylus's Telephus, to imagine that a single path leads to Hades; rather, many are the roads leading thither — the manifold, wandering sins.
It is these faithless men, it seems, whom Aristophanes ridicules in comedy: 'Come,' he says, 'you men of dim and shadowy life, like unto the race of leaves, feeble, figures of wax, tribes shadow-like, strengthless, wingless, creatures of a day.'
1:3463
καὶὁἘπίχαρμοςαὕταφύσιςἀνθρώπων, ἀσκοὶπεφυσημένοι
埃庇卡摩斯也說:「這便是人的本性——鼓脹的皮囊。」
And Epicharmus: 'This is the nature of men — inflated wineskins.'
1:3464
τὸπνεῦμαπρόθυμον, ἡδὲσὰρξἀσθενής·
「心靈固然願意,肉體卻軟弱。」
'The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'
'For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory that is about to be revealed in us, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him, as fellow heirs of Christ.'
And how is it possible for the weak flesh to withstand the powers and the spirits of the [ruling] authorities? But let him know this — that, taking courage in the Almighty and the Lord, we set ourselves against the rulers of darkness and against death.
1:3484
ἔτισοῦλαλοῦντος, φησίν, ἐρεῖ·
他說:「你尚且說話,祂就必說:」
'While you are yet speaking,' he says, 'He will say:'
'Do not be astonished, therefore,' Peter says, 'at the fiery trial that comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; but insofar as you share the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice with exceeding gladness.'
'But as for what you seek to wring from my resolve — you shall not wring it out, not though you burn me, nor though you set cruel saws from the crown of my head down to the very tips of my feet, no, not even if you should lay upon me every kind of bond' — thus, fearlessly playing the man, a woman speaks in tragedy.
nor is she visible to the eyes of all mortals, save to him within whom heart-gnawing sweat has come from within, and who has arrived at the very summit of manly courage.
Who then is a slave, being unconcerned about death? ... For God did not give us again a spirit of slavery unto fear, but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
'For the body's sake are our many toils; for its sake we have devised the roofed house, and the digging of white silver, and the sowing of the earth, and all the other things which we know by name.'
'We know this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we should no longer be enslaved to sin.'
Does not the apostle plainly go on to add this too, showing the shame that the faith suffers among the many? 'For I think God has exhibited us the apostles last, as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men;'
Such too are the words of Plato in the Republic: that even should the just man be racked, even should his eyes be gouged out, he will nonetheless be happy.
The Gnostic, then, will never have his end resting upon fortune; rather, happiness and blessedness will lie within himself, as will his being a royal friend of God;
and even should someone surround him with dishonor, exile, confiscation of goods, and finally death itself, he will never be torn away from that freedom and most sovereign love toward God, which 'bears all things and endures all things;'
1:3523
καλῶςπάντατὴνθείανδιοικεῖνπρόνοιανπέπεισταιἡἀγάπη
因為愛深信,神聖的護理正美善地治理著萬有。
for love is persuaded that divine providence administers all things well.
1:3524
παρακαλῶοὖνὑμᾶς, μιμηταίμουγίνεσθε, φησίν
他說:「所以我求你們效法我。」
'I entreat you, then,' he says, 'be imitators of me.'
Now the first step of salvation is instruction accompanied by fear, through which we abstain from wrongdoing; the second is hope, through which we aspire to the best things; but love brings us to perfection, as is fitting, already instructing us in the manner of one who knows.
'For why is my liberty judged by another's conscience? If I partake by grace, why am I spoken evil of for that for which I give thanks? Whether, then, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.'
1:3539
ἐνσαρκὶγὰρπεριπατοῦντεςοὐκατὰσάρκαστρατευόμεθα·
「因為我們雖然在肉身中行事,卻不憑著肉體爭戰;」
'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh;'
'for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down reasonings and every high thing that is raised up against...'
Armed with these weapons, the Gnostic says: 'O Lord, grant me the trial, and receive from it the proof; let this terror come — I hold dangers in contempt, because of my love for you;'
'Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; and above all these things, love, which is the bond of perfection.'
For not only did the Aesopians, the Macedonians, and the Laconians endure steadfastly while being tortured, as Eratosthenes says in his work On Good and Evil Things, but Zeno of Elea too, when compelled to disclose one of his secrets, held out against the tortures, confessing nothing — and indeed, at the very end, biting off his own tongue, he spat it at the tyrant, whom some call Nearchus, others Demylus.
Likewise Theodotus the Pythagorean did the same, and so did Praylus, the associate of Lacydes, as Timotheus of Pergamum relates in his work On the Courage of the Philosophers, and Achaicus in his Ethics.
Neither, then, the hope of happiness nor love toward God chafes at whatever befalls it, but remains free; even should it fall among the most savage beasts, even should it fall into the all-devouring fire, even should it be put to death by tyrannical tortures, it hangs suspended from the divine friendship and, unenslaved, roams the heights above, having surrendered the body to those who are able to lay hold of the body alone.
The whole Church, then, is full of those who throughout their whole life practiced for that life-giving death unto Christ — men, and likewise chaste women too.
For it is possible for one who lives according to our way of life to philosophize even without formal learning, whether he be barbarian or Greek, slave or old man, child, or woman;
Woman, then, does not appear to possess a nature different from man's with respect to humanity, nor does man appear to possess one different from woman's;
1:3560
ἀλλ'ἢτὴναὐ... τήν, ὥστεκαὶτὴνἀρετήν
而是相同的本性,因此美德也是相同的。
but the same nature, so that virtue too is the same.
But if the virtue of man is, of course, self-control and justice and whatever else is reckoned to follow upon these, is it then fitting for man alone to be virtuous, while woman is licentious and unjust? But it is unseemly even to say such a thing.
Self-control, therefore, and justice, and every other virtue, must be cultivated equally by woman and equally by man, whether free or slave, since it happens that virtue, being one and the same, belongs to one and the same nature.
but insofar as they differ, according to the particularity of the body, in that respect they are directed toward childbearing and household management.
'Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are: fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorceries, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and things like these — of which I forewarn you, just as I also told you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.'
But I myself have heard that Sauromatian women wage war no less than men, and other women, the Sacae, who shoot arrows backward while feigning flight, on equal terms with the men.
I know also that the women near Iberia engage in manly labor and toil, and even when they come to the point of childbirth they relax nothing of their tasks, but often, in the very midst of the struggle of their labors, the woman, having given birth to the infant, picks it up and carries it home.
Women, then, must pursue philosophy just as men do, even though the males happen to be superior, carrying off the first place in all things — unless, that is, the men should be enervated by softness.
'wives, to your own husbands, as to the Lord, because the husband is head of the wife, as Christ also is head of the church, he himself being the savior of the body;'
'Servants, obey in everything those who are your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord;'
'and whatever you do, work at it from the soul, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance;'
'Masters, grant to your servants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.'
'having put on hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;'
For nothing prevents us from often citing the same Scripture, to the confounding of Marcion, in case he might somehow be persuaded to change his mind, upon learning that the man of faith ought to be grateful to the Creator God who called us and evangelized us in the body.
From these things it is clear to us what the unity that comes from faith is, and who has been shown to be the perfect man — so that, even against the will of some, and though they resist in most respects, even if punishments are held over them by the husband or by the master, both the household servant and the wife will nonetheless practice true philosophy.
Yes indeed, the free man too — even if death is threatened against him by a tyrant, even if he is dragged into the courts and drawn into the utmost dangers, and stands to risk the loss of all his possessions — will not abstain from the reverence of God in any way whatsoever;
nor will the wife who lives with a wicked husband ever grow faint, nor the son if he has a bad father, nor the household servant if he has a wicked master — none of them will grow weary, but will nobly hold fast to virtue;
Faithfully, then, both the old man and the young and the household servant, obeying the commandments, will live, and, if need be, will die — which would be to be brought to life through death.
We know, indeed, that children, household servants, and wives have often become excellent, even against the will of their fathers, masters, and husbands.
Those who are about to live piously toward God, then, must be no less eager whenever certain people seem to be trying to hinder them; rather, I think it far more fitting that they hasten and strive all the more, so that, not being overcome, they may not fall away from the best and most necessary resolves.
For as to the things done for the sake of others, we would on each occasion do them by trying to have regard to those for whose sake they seem to be done, considering as the measure that which is pleasing to them;
but as for the things that belong rather to ourselves than to certain others, these we would do with equal earnestness, whether or not it happens to please some people.
If, then, some of the indifferent things have obtained such honor that they seem choiceworthy even against the will of some, virtue must be considered far more worth contending for, with our eyes fixed on nothing else but on the very fact that it can be done nobly, whether or not it seems otherwise to some.
But he who says that the time for philosophizing has not yet come, or that it has already passed, is like the one who says, concerning happiness, either that its time is not yet present, or that its time no longer exists.
So then, both the younger and the older must practice philosophy: the one, so that as he grows old he may grow young again in good things, through gratitude for what has come to pass; the other, so that he may be at once young and old, through fearlessness of what is to come.
'For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with his angels.'
But when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious beforehand about how you will make your defense or what you will say;
1:3642
τὸγὰρἅγιονπνεῦμαδιδάξειὑμᾶςἐναὐτῇτῇὥρᾳτίδεῖεἰπεῖν
因為聖靈必在那時候指教你們當說的話。
for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you must say.
In expounding this passage, Heracleon, the most esteemed member of the school of Valentinus, says word for word that confession is of two kinds: one in faith and conduct, the other in speech.
1:3644
ἀλλ'οὐδ'εὑρεθήσεταιοὗτοςὁλόγοςκαθολικῶςεἰρημένος·
然而,這句話並不能被視為是普遍而言的;
But this saying will not be found to have been spoken in a universal sense;
Only those confess in him who live in the conduct and practice that befits him — those in whom he himself also confesses, being enfolded by them and held fast by them.
1:3653
διόπερἀρνήσασθαιαὐτὸν ... οὐδέποτεδύνανται·
所以這樣的人永遠不能否認祂;
Wherefore such persons can never deny him;
1:3654
ἀρνοῦνταιδὲαὐτὸνοἱμὴὄντεςἐναὐτῷ
而那些不在祂裡面的人,才會否認祂。
but those who are not in him deny him.
1:3655
οὐγὰρεἶπενὃςἀρνήσηταιἐνἐμοί, ἀλλ'ἐμέ·
因為祂並沒有說『凡在我裡面否認的』,而是說『我』;
For he did not say, 'whoever shall deny in me,' but 'me';
Now in other respects he appears to agree with us as regards this passage; but he failed to notice this: that even if some did not confess Christ before men by deed and manner of life, yet by confessing him with the voice in the courts and by not denying him though tortured even unto death, they clearly appear to have believed from disposition of heart.
And a disposition thus confessed, especially one that is not turned aside even by death, effects at one stroke the cutting off of all the passions engendered through bodily desire;
But if the Spirit of the Father bears witness in us, how then are they still hypocrites, of whom it is said that they bear witness by the voice alone? And it will be granted to some, should it be expedient, to make their defense, so that through both the testimony and the confession all may profit — those of the Church being strengthened, while those of the nations, marveling and being drawn to faith, inquire earnestly into salvation, and the rest are held fast by amazement.
So that confession is required of us in every case, for it lies within our power; but making a defense is not required in every case, for this does not lie within our power.
1:3665
ὁδὲὑπομείναςεἰςτέλος, οὗτοςσωθήσεται·
惟有忍耐到底的,必然得救;
But he who endures to the end, this one shall be saved;
for who among those of sound mind would not choose to reign with God rather than to be enslaved? Some, according to the Apostle, profess to know God, but by their works deny him, being abominable and disobedient and unfit for any good work; but others, even if they confess this alone, have accomplished at the last one good work.
So then, those true Gnostics who walk in the apostolic footsteps ought both to be sinless and, out of love for the Lord, to love their neighbor also, so that, should occasion call for it, they may drink the cup on behalf of the Church, enduring afflictions without stumbling.
But as many as bear witness by deed throughout their life, and also by word in the tribunal — whether looking for hope or apprehending fear — these are better than those who confess salvation with the mouth alone.