Savior: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

"Throughout his text, Jesus speaks of the twelve disciples and "their God." It is clear that Jesus does not belong to the god of this world—one of his goals, in fact, is to reveal the inferiority and moral turpitude of this god, before returning to the divine realm, the perfect world of the Spirit, after leaving his mortal body. For this text, then, Jesus is not a normal human being. The first indication of this is that he "appeared" on earth. This already suggests that he came from another realm. And since he spends much of the gospel revealing the "secret mysteries" about the immortal world of true divinity, the natural assumption is that this other realm is where he originated."

The View of God in the Gospel

At the outset of the gospel it is clear that the God of Jesus is not the creator god of the Jews. In one of the opening scenes, Jesus finds the disciples gathered together "in pious observance." Literally, the Coptic says that the disciples were "engaged in practices with respect to God." They were sharing an eucharistic meal, in which they were thanking God for their food. One would expect Jesus to respect this religious act. But instead he begins to laugh. The disciples don't see what is funny: "Why are you laughing at our prayer of thanksgiving? We have done what is right." Jesus replies that they don't know what they are really doing: By giving thanks for their food, they are praising their god—that is, not the God of Jesus. Now the disciples are befuddled: "Master, you are … the son of our god." No, it turns out, he is not. Jesus responds that no one of their "generation" will know who he really is.

The disciples do not take kindly to this rebuke and "start getting angry and raging and blaspheming against him in their hearts." Jesus proceeds to upbraid them and speaks again about "your god who is within you." At play here are several key themes, which repeat throughout the narrative: The disciples of Jesus do not know who he really is; they worship a God who is not Jesus' father; they don't understand the truth about God. Judas, the only one who truly understands, declares that Jesus has come from "the immortal realm of Barbelo," that is, from the realm of the true immortal divine beings, not from the lower realm of the creator god of the Jews.

This understanding of the creator god as an inferior deity is most clearly stated in the myth that Jesus expounds privately to Judas later in the text. According to proto-orthodox writers such as Irenaeus (I call him "proto-orthodox" because he embraced views that at a later date would come to be called orthodox), there is only one God and he is the one who made all that exists, in heaven and earth. Not for this text, though. The complexities of the myth that Jesus reveals to Judas may seem befuddling, but its gist is clear. Even before the creator god came into being, there were enormous numbers of other divine beings: seventy-two aeons, each with a "luminary" and each with five firmaments of the heavens (for a total of 360 firmaments), along with countless angels worshipping each one. Moreover, this world belongs to the realm of "perdition" or, as the word could also be translated, "corruption." It is not the good creation of the one true God. Only after all the other divine entities come into existence does the God of the Old testament—named El—come into being, followed by his helpers, the blood-stained rebel Yaldabaoth and the fool Saklas. These latter two created the world, and then humans.

When the disciples worship "their God," it is the rebel and fool they worship, the makers of this bloody, senseless material existence. They do not worship the true God, the one who is above all else, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, entirely spirit, and completely removed from this transient world of pain and suffering created by a rebel and a fool. It is no wonder that Iranaeus found this text so offensive. It claimed to represent the views of Jesus, yet its views are a complete mockery of Iraneaus's most cherished beliefs.

The View of Christ

Throughout his text, Jesus speaks of the twelve disciples and "their God." It is clear that Jesus does not belong to the god of this world—one of his goals, in fact, is to reveal the inferiority and moral turpitude of this god, before returning to the divine realm, the perfect world of the Spirit, after leaving his mortal body.

For this text, then, Jesus is not a normal human being. The first indication of this is that he "appeared" on earth. This already suggests that he came from another realm. And since he spends much of the gospel revealing the "secret mysteries" about the immortal world of true divinity, the natural assumption is that this other realm is where he originated.

His unique character is hinted at in the next comment about him: "Often he did not appear to his disciples as himself, but he was found among them as a child." Scholars who are familiar with a range of early Christian literature will have no trouble understanding this allusion. A number of Christian writings outside the New Testament portray Jesus as a "docetic" being—that is, as one who looked human only because it was an appearance (docetic comes from the Greek word dokeo, which means to "seem" or to "appear"). As a divine being, Jesus could take on whatever shape he wanted. In some early Christian writings, Jesus could appear as an old man or a child—simultaneously, to different people! (This can be found, for example, in a noncanonical book called the Acts of John.) So too here: Jesus did not have a real fleshy body, but could assume appearances at will."

The Gospel of Judas, pages 104-7
National Geographic, April 6, 2006
ISBN-10: 1426200420
ISBN-13: 978-1426200427

The Savior said: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.

John 8:56-59

"The most emphatic claim of Jesus to deity is the statement in His discussion with the Jews, "Before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:58, A.S.V.) The Jews brought the name of Abraham, their physical and spiritual father, into the conversation (vss. 52-53). Jesus seized upon it to lead on to His final claim in the verse already quoted, startling the Jews by saying: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad" (vs. 56). When the Jews responded with a question as to how a man as young as Jesus could have seen Abraham, "Jesus claims eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God." [Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, V, 158-59.] Jesus did not claim mere pre-existence to Abraham, which would have been expressed by the imperfect tense of the verb used concerning Abraham, but eternal existence, the self-existence that belongs to God alone."

Witmer, Did Jesus Claim to be God, Bibliotheca Sacra, January 1961, p.152-153)

"I am; older than Abraham's origin is my existence. As Abraham had not pre-existed, but came into existence (by birth), ... so far as He exited before time, as to His divine nature, without having previously come into being."

John, H. A. W. Meyer, John 8:58, p. 293

"The words ego eimi in John 8:58 do not function as a title of Christ, but are a statement of his eternality (and, implicitly, his deity)."

Bowman, JWs, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel of John, p.124)

"Jesus' use of ego eimi constituted a claim to be eternal—to exist without ever having experienced a beginning—in contrast to Abraham."

Rhodes, Reasoning from the Scriptures with the JWs; p.118)

"The vast majority of translators see, as do many commentators, that there is a clear differentiation being made here between the derivative existence of Abraham and the eternal existence of the Lord Christ."

White, The Forgotten Trinity, ch. 6, p.97, "I am He")

"it invincibly proves his eternal pre-existence unto his incarnation"

Owen, Christologia, p. 116, concerning John 8:58)

"But perhaps the greatest assertion to eternal preexistence is to be found in Jesus' "I am" saying of John 8:58."

Reymond, New Systematic Theology, p.231, "I am")

"Jesus also outrages his opponents by saying, "Before Abraham was, I am" (8:58). It is not easy to see this as anything less than the language of deity, for Jesus is affirming that he has timeless existence."

Morris, New Testament Theology, p.235-238 The "I Am" Sayings

To the Jews, who claimed Abraham as Father, Jesus asserted, "Before Abraham Came to be, I am" (John 8:58, literal translation). By this Jesus taught there was a sense in which the idea of birth and beginning did not apply to Him; in Him was eternal existence (cf. Exodus 3:14).

Vos, Can I Really Believe?, p.100

"In this context, Jesus does not merely claim to be older than Abraham. Gabriel or any of the angels, or even the devil, could have claimed as much. Are we really to believe that Gabriel or the devil could say, "Before Abraham came into existence, I am"? The truth is that this statement was a claim to be eternal, to exist without beginning, in contrast to Abraham, who had a beginning."

Bowman, Why You Should Believe in the Trinity, p 100 "I Am"

The Great Adi Shakti Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi “In the Puranas, in the ancient scriptures of India, Christ is described so very clearly. Actually in the Bible what they saw of Him when He was on this Earth was written down. But not in what created Him, how He came on this Earth, what is the Spirit of Christ, what is the seed of Christ, and how He came, and what was His purpose, and where does He stand within us, and all those things are not described in the Bible. As I told you the people at that time were not at all aware of His greatness or His special Incarnation. But if you read some of these ancient books you will find that He was called as Mahavishnu in the Devi Purana; in the Goddess Purana. It is [in] the ancient scriptures of the Goddess.”

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
The New Age Has Started, Houston, USA — October 6, 1981

"In the Puranas, in the ancient scriptures of India, Christ is described so very clearly. Actually in the Bible what they saw of Him when He was on this Earth was written down, but not in what created Him; how He came on this Earth; what is the Spirit of Christ; what is the seed of Christ; and how He came; and what was His purpose; and where does He stand within us. And all those things are not described in the Bible.

As I told you the people at that time were not at all aware of His greatness or His special Incarnation. But if you read some of these ancient books you will find that He was called as Mahavishnu in the Devi Purana, in the Goddess Purana. It is the ancient scriptures of the Goddess. Mahavishnu was created immaculately...

This special happening took place long time back. This is at the stage of Vaikuntha as you call it. At that stage nothing existed as far as this world was concerned. At different stages it came. We see the world in such a way that it was created in seven days. Actually these are seven stages when the whole Universe was created and we are at the seventh stage we can say. Now at the first Vaikuntha stage where it was all decided how to work it out, the creation of this great personality of the Son of God, the Greatest of All, the Adhara, the Support of the Universe, the Mahavishnu."

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
The New Age Has Started, Houston, USA — October 6, 1981

"But in the West we still are very much attached to the nonsense of Christianity. It has nothing to do with Christ, believe Me, and this fanaticism which is lingering still in your mind must be given up, otherwise you do not do any justice to Christ. That by no chance means you take to another religion like Hinduism or any other nonsensical Jainism, or anything. The essence, the Tattwa, of Christianity is Christ. And it is so thickly clouded by all these nonsensical things that you really have to drop this word "Christianity" from your vocabulary completely, and from your mind. Otherwise you can never go to the essence. It is a fact; take it from Me.

And even now the attention of all the people is on what Christ said, or Mother Mary has said it, and which has come through these horrible people to us. So to learn about other Deities and other great Incarnations, we neutralize. We must try to neutralize too much attention by learning about other Deities, say, Shri Ganesha. If you talk about Shri Ganesha, He is the essence of Christ, and Christ is the manifestation of Shri Ganesha's Powers. So, if you go to the essence of most things, you see, that is better. Then, of course, Christ is there but we must see in Him, as He is, which very few people has seen before. But now in Sahaja Yoga you should see Him as He was. He was the Holiest of the Holy. You accept that position."

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Christmas Eve Talk, Pune, India — December 24, 1982

NOTE: If this page was accessed during a web search you may wish to browse the sites listed below where this topic or related issues are discussed in detail to promote global peace, religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity:

www.adishakti.org/
www.al-qiyamah.org/
www.adi-shakti.org/  — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)
www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Christianity)
www.ruach-elohim.org/  — Divine Feminine (Judaism)
www.ruh-allah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Islam)
www.tao-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Taoism)
www.prajnaaparamita.org/  — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)
www.aykaa-mayee.org/  — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)
www.great-spirit-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)