The Gospel of John (Part 2)

In the Gnostic Bible we find not only the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and the Gospel of Truth but we also see the Gospel of John. With a Gnostic lens, we will look at this story of Jesus with fresh eyes and see what Elaine Pagels describes when she writes,

"Gnostic theologians do not necessarily deny that the events proclaimed of Jesus have occurred in history. What they deny is that the actuality of these events mattered theologically. Heracleon claims, for example, that those who insist that Jesus, a man who lived “in the flesh,” is “Christ” fail to distinguish between the literal and symbolic truth. Thosewho write accounts of revelation as alleged biographies of “Jesus of Nazareth” — or even of Jesus as messiah — focus on mere historical “externals” and miss the inner truth they signify.”   (The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon's Commentary on John, 13, Pagels)

The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon's Commentary on John (Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series)