The Gospel of Philip
It is interesting to read Gnostic Gospels, since it shows how people were influenced by early Christianity.
The Gospel of Philip is one of the Gnostic Gospels, a text of New Testament apocrypha, dated to around the 3rd century but lost in modern times until an Egyptian man rediscovered it by accident, buried in a cave near Nag Hammadi, in 1945.
The text is not related to the canonical gospels and is not accepted as canonical by the Christian church. Although it may seem similar to the Gospel of Thomas, scholars are divided as to whether it is a single discourse or a collection of Valentinian sayings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_PhilipSome interesting parts of the Gospel of Philip are as follows:
"Jesus" is a hidden name, "Christ" is a revealed name. For this reason "Jesus" is not particular to any language; rather he is always called by the name "Jesus". While as for "Christ", in Syriac it is "Messiah", in Greek it is "Christ". Certainly all the others have it according to their own language. "The Nazarene" is he who reveals what is hidden. Christ has everything in himself, whether man, or angel, or mystery, and the Father....
The apostles who were before us had these names for him: "Jesus, the Nazorean, Messiah", that is, "Jesus, the Nazorean, the Christ". The last name is "Christ", the first is "Jesus", that in the middle is "the Nazarene". "Messiah" has two meanings, both "the Christ" and "the measured". "Jesus" in Hebrew is "the redemption". "Nazara" is "the Truth". "The Nazarene" then, is "the Truth". "Christ" [...] has been measured. "The Nazarene" and "Jesus" are they who have been measured...
The eucharist is Jesus. For he is called in Syriac "Pharisatha," which is "the one who is spread out," for Jesus came to crucify the world.
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.htmlIt did not have no relevance to His mission how he called himself, although it looks likely that Christ Jesus never called Himself God. But someone in the second century wrote the Gospel of Philip arguing such a minor matter on the name of Christ Jesus.
And it shows his ability to manipulate the fact: Jesus came to crucify the world. But results of Gnostic authors exercising their ability to manipulate interpretation of Christ Jesus' mission, His intention, His words, etc. always result in nonsense which, however, appeals to intellectual ability of readers.
Gnostic authors presented their intellectual ability applied to the story of Christ Jesus. Meaning of the teaching of God presented by Christ Jesus was not their concern. But by presenting their versions of gospels, they might get followers or take some high positions in Christian organizations to be respected by people. At least, it seems that the intention of Gnostic authors was not to help the poor and save the world.
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Mar 1:27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
Mar 1:28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.