Apocryphon of James - Secret Book of James

Apocryphon of James

[James writes] to […]: Peace to you from Peace, love from Love, grace from Grace, faith from Faith, and life from holy Life.

You asked me to send you a secret book that the Lord revealed to Peter and me. Since I could neither refuse you nor speak with you openly, I wrote it in Hebrew letters and sent it to you alone. Because you serve the salvation of the holy ones, take care not to disclose this book to many. The Savior did not desire to reveal it even to all twelve disciples. Blessed are those who will be saved through faith in this message.

Ten months ago I sent you another secret book revealed to me by the Savior. Regard that one as revealed to me, James; but this one […].

All twelve disciples were sitting together, recalling what the Savior had spoken to each of them, privately or openly, and arranging these things in books. I was writing what belonged in my own book. Then the Savior appeared after he had departed from us, while we were waiting for him. Five hundred and fifty days after he rose from the dead, we said to him, “You went away and left us.”

Jesus answered, “No. I am returning to the place from which I came. If you desire to come with me, come.” They all replied, “We will come whenever you command us.”

He said, “Truly I tell you, no one will enter the kingdom of heaven merely because I commanded it, but because you yourselves are filled. Leave James and Peter with me, so that I may fill them.” He called us two, took us aside, and told the others to continue what they were doing.

The Savior said, “You have received mercy. […] They have not understood. Do you not desire to be filled? Your hearts are drunk. Do you not desire to become sober? Be ashamed, then. From now on, whether awake or asleep, remember that you have seen the Son of Humanity, spoken with him face to face, and heard him with your own ears.

“Woe to those who have seen the Son of Humanity. Blessed are those who have not seen that man, have not associated with him, have not spoken with him, and have not heard anything from him. Life belongs to you. Know that he healed you when you were sick, so that you might reign.

“Woe to those who recovered from sickness, for they will fall ill again. Blessed are those who were not sick and found rest before sickness came. The kingdom of God belongs to you. Therefore be filled, and leave no empty place within you, lest the one who comes mock you.”

Peter answered, “Three times you have told us to be filled, yet we are full.” The Savior replied, “For this reason I told you to be filled: so that you might not remain deficient. Those who remain deficient will not be saved. Fullness is good, and deficiency is evil. Yet just as deficiency may be good for you and fullness may be evil for you, so the one who is full may also be deficient.

“The deficient person is not filled in the same manner as one who is being filled from deficiency, while the one who is full receives what is necessary. Therefore you must be deficient while it is possible for you to be filled, and filled while it is possible for you to become deficient, so that you may fill yourselves still more. Be filled with the Spirit, but be deficient in reasoning, for reasoning belongs to the soul; indeed, it is soul.”

I said to him, “Lord, if you desire it, we are able to obey you, for we have abandoned our fathers, our mothers, and our villages, and followed you. Help us, then, not to be tempted by the devil, the evil one.”

The Lord answered, “What benefit is there if you do the Father’s will only when he grants you freedom from temptation? But if Satan oppresses and persecutes you, and still you do the Father’s will, I tell you that the Father will love you, make you equal with me, and regard you as beloved because, through his foreknowledge, you chose this yourselves.

“Will you not cease loving the flesh and fearing sufferings? Do you not know that you have not yet been abused, falsely accused, cast into prison, unlawfully condemned, crucified by reason, or buried in sand as I was by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you whom the Spirit surrounds like a wall? Consider how long the world existed before you and how long it will remain after you. You will find that your life is a single day and your sufferings a single hour.

“Goodness does not enter the world. Therefore despise death and attend to life. Remember my cross and my death, and you will live.”

I answered, “Lord, do not teach us about the cross and death, for they are far from you.” The Lord replied, “Truly I tell you, no one will be saved unless they believe in my cross, for the kingdom of God belongs to those who have believed in my cross. Become seekers of death, like the dead who seek life, for what they seek is revealed to them. What then should trouble them? When you turn toward death, it will teach you concerning election.

“Truly I tell you, no one who fears death will be saved, for the kingdom of God belongs to those who are put to death. Become better than I; become like a child of the Holy Spirit.”

Then I asked him, “Lord, how shall we prophesy to those who ask us for prophecy? Many inquire of us and look to us for a word.” The Lord answered, “Do you not know that the head of prophecy was cut off with John?”

I said, “Lord, can the head of prophecy be removed?” He replied, “When you understand what ‘head’ means, and that prophecy comes from the head, then understand the saying, ‘Its head was removed.’ At first I spoke to you in parables, and you did not understand. Now I speak openly, and still you do not perceive. Yet to me you yourselves were a parable among parables, and something plainly visible.

“Be eager to be saved without being driven. Prepare yourselves willingly and, if possible, arrive before me, for the Father will love you. Hate hypocrisy and evil intention, for intention produces hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is far from truth.

“Do not allow the kingdom of heaven to wither. It is like a young date palm whose fruit fell around it. It put forth leaves, but after they sprouted they dried up its fruitfulness. So also it happened with the fruit that came from this one root. When it was gathered, many received fruit from it. It would be good if you could now produce new shoots; then you would find it.

“Since I have already been glorified in this way, why do you hold me back when I am eager to depart? After the labor, you caused me to remain with you another eighteen days because of the parables. For some it was enough to hear the teaching and understand the shepherds, the seed, the building, the lamps of the young women, the wage of the workers, and the silver coins and the woman.

“Be eager for the message. The first part of the message is faith, the second is love, and the third is works; from these comes life. The message is like a grain of wheat. When one sowed it, one trusted it; when it sprouted, one loved it, because many grains appeared in place of one. After one labored, one was saved, having prepared it for food and kept some to sow again. In the same way you may receive the kingdom of heaven. Unless you receive it through knowledge, you will not be able to find it.

“Therefore I tell you: be sober and do not be deceived. Many times I told you all together, and to you alone, James, I said, ‘Be saved.’ I commanded you to follow me and taught you how to stand before the rulers.

“See: I descended, spoke, suffered violence, and received my crown when I saved you. I descended to dwell with you so that you might dwell with me. When I found your houses without roofs, I made my dwelling in the houses able to receive me when I came down.

“Trust me in this, my brothers. Understand what the great light is. The Father does not need me, for a father does not need a son; rather, the son needs the father. I am going to him, for the Father of the Son does not need you.

“Hear the message, understand knowledge, and love life. No one will persecute or oppress you except yourselves. You miserable ones, you wretched ones, hypocrites of truth, falsifiers of knowledge, sinners against the Spirit! Do you still endure listening when you should have spoken from the beginning? Do you still endure sleeping when you should have awakened from the beginning, so that the kingdom of heaven might receive you?

“Truly I tell you, it is easier for a holy person to fall into defilement, and for one enlightened to fall into darkness, than for you to reign—or not to reign. I have remembered your tears, grief, and pain; they are far from us. But now, you who stand outside the Father’s inheritance, weep where weeping is needed, mourn, and proclaim what is good, because the Son ascends as he ought.

“Truly I tell you, if I had been sent only to those who would listen to me, and had spoken only to them, I would never have ascended from the earth. Therefore be ashamed concerning these things.

“See, I am leaving you and going away. I no longer desire to remain with you, just as you yourselves do not desire it. Follow me eagerly now. This is why I tell you that I descended for your sake. You are beloved, and through you many will receive life. Call upon the Father. Pray often to God, and he will give generously to you.

“Blessed is the one who has seen you with him, when he was proclaimed among the angels and glorified among the holy ones. Life belongs to you. Rejoice and be glad as children of God. Keep his will so that you may be saved. Receive my correction and save yourselves. I plead for you with the Father, and he will forgive you much.”

When we heard these things, we rejoiced, for we had been distressed by what had been said before. But when he saw us rejoicing, he said, “Woe to you who need an advocate. Woe to you who need grace. Blessed are those who have spoken for themselves and acquired grace for themselves.

“Become like foreigners. How are foreigners regarded in your city? Why are you troubled when you cast yourselves out and separate yourselves from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling and leave it for those who desire to inhabit it? You outcasts and fugitives, woe to you, for you will be seized.

“Do you suppose the Father is one who is persuaded by prayers, grants grace to one person on behalf of another, or endures the one who petitions? He knows desire and what the flesh requires. The flesh does not desire the soul, for without the soul the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved apart from evil, and the spirit also is saved, then the body becomes sinless. The spirit raises the soul, but the body kills it; that is, the soul kills itself.

“Truly I tell you, he will not forgive the sin of the soul or the guilt of the flesh, for none who have worn the flesh will be saved. Do you think many have found the kingdom of heaven? Blessed is the one who has seen oneself in the fourth place in heaven.”

When we heard these things, we became distressed. Seeing our distress, he said, “I tell you these things so that you may know yourselves. The kingdom of heaven is like an ear of grain that sprouted in a field. When it ripened, it scattered its fruit and again filled the field with ears for another year. So be eager to reap for yourselves an ear of the grain of life, that you may be filled with the kingdom.

“As long as I am with you, attend to me and trust me. When I depart, remember me. Remember me because, while I was with you, you did not know me. Blessed are those who have known me. Woe to those who heard and did not believe. Blessed are those who have not seen, but […].

“Again I appeal to you, for I am revealed to you as one building a house precious to you. When you take shelter beneath it, it will also be able to support your neighbor’s house when that house is in danger of falling. Truly I tell you, woe to those for whose sake I was sent down to this place. Blessed are those who ascend to the Father. Again I warn you who are: become like those who are not, so that you may be with those who are not.

“Do not let the kingdom of heaven become a wilderness within you. Do not exalt yourselves because of the light that illumines you. Deal with yourselves as I dealt with you. I placed myself under the curse for your sake, so that you might be saved.”

Peter answered, “Lord, sometimes you urge us toward the kingdom of heaven, and at other times you drive us away. Sometimes you persuade us and draw us to faith, promising us life, and at other times you cast us out of the kingdom of heaven.”

The Lord answered us, “Many times I gave you faith. Moreover, I revealed myself to you, James, and you did not know me. Now again I often see you rejoicing. When you delight in the promise of life, you nevertheless become sad and distressed when instructed about the kingdom.

“Yet through faith and knowledge you have received life. Despise rejection when you hear it, but when you hear the promise rejoice all the more. Truly I tell you, whoever receives life and believes in the kingdom will never leave it, even if the Father desires to cast that one out.

“This is all I will tell you now. I am going up to the place from which I came. When I desired to go, you drove me away; instead of accompanying me, you pursued me from you. Attend to the glory awaiting me. When you have opened your hearts, listen to the hymns awaiting me in heaven, for today I must sit at the Father’s right hand.

“I have spoken my final word to you, and I am leaving, for a chariot of the Spirit has taken me up. From now on I will strip myself so that I may clothe myself. Attend: blessed are those who proclaimed the Son before his descent, so that when I came I might ascend. Three times blessed are those who were proclaimed by the Son before they came to be, so that you may have a share with them.”

After saying these things, he departed. Peter and I knelt, gave thanks, and raised our hearts toward heaven. With our ears we heard the clamor of wars, the blast of a trumpet, and a great disturbance.

When we passed beyond that place, we sent our minds still higher and heard hymns, praises of angels, and angelic rejoicing. Heavenly powers sang praises, and we also rejoiced.

Again we desired to send our spirits upward toward the Majesty. But after we ascended, we were not permitted to see or hear anything. The other disciples called us and asked, “What did you hear from the Teacher? What did he tell you? Where did he go?”

We answered, “He ascended. He gave us his right hand and promised life to us all. He revealed to us children who will come after us, and commanded us to love them, for through them we would be saved.”

When they heard this, they believed the revelation, yet they were angry concerning those who were to be born. Not wishing to cause them to stumble, I sent each one to a different place. I myself went up to Jerusalem, praying that I might receive a share with the beloved ones who will be revealed.

I pray that the beginning may come from you, for in this way I can be saved: they will be enlightened through me and through my faith—and through another faith better than mine, because I desire mine to be the lesser.

Therefore strive to become like them, and pray that you may receive a share with them. Apart from what I have written, the Savior disclosed no revelation to us concerning them. Yet we proclaim a share with those for whom the proclamation was made, those whom the Lord has received as children.