Gospel of Truth 4

1As for the names of the Living, they are written in the Book of the Living.

2They receive instruction about themselves; they receive it from the Sonship, so that the one who hears may answer, may turn back, and may look toward the one who called his name. He does his will, he follows after him, and he says that they are his who have been named by him. Each one knows from where he has been called; he does his will, he desires to please him, and he receives rest. Each one’s name becomes his own.

3Since, then, the completion of the All is in him, it is necessary for the All to go up, and for each one to receive what is his. He wrote them beforehand—having prepared them in his thought and in his will—to give to those who went forth from him.

4Those whom he knew by name beforehand were called at the end, so that the one who has knowledge is the one whose name the Father has spoken; for the one whose name has not been uttered is ignorant. And how will such a one hear, if his name has not been called? For the ignorant one until the end is a product of Error, and he will dissolve together with it. Otherwise, why do these pitiable ones have no name? Why do they have no voice?

5Thus, if someone has knowledge, he is from above. If he is called, he hears; he answers; he turns to the one who calls him; he goes up to him; and he knows the manner in which he is called. Possessing knowledge, he does the will of the one who called him, he desires to be pleasing to him, and he receives rest. His name becomes his own. Such a knower knows from where he came and where he is going. He knows like one who, having been drunk, turned away from his drunkenness, and having returned to himself, has set again in order the things that are his.

6He has brought many back from Error. He went before them to the places from which they had moved away. They had received Error because of the depth of the one who surrounds every place—though nothing surrounds him. A great wonder: that they were in the Father and did not know him, and that they were able to come forth by themselves, though they were not able to grasp and to know the one in whom they were. He revealed his will as knowledge, in harmony with all that went out from him.

7This is the knowledge of the Living Book which he revealed to the generations at the end—letters from him showing that they are not vowels nor consonants, so that someone would read them and suppose they are empty, but they are letters of the Truth: they speak, and they know themselves. Each letter is a complete thought, like a book that is complete, since they are letters written by the Unity, the Father having written them so that the generations, by means of his letters from him, might know the Father.