The Revelation of Paul is the second of five tractates in Nag Hammadi Codex V (pp. 17–24; Nag Hammadi Writings), a manuscript conventionally dated to the 4th or early 5th century CE. Originally composed in Greek in the late 2nd century CE, the Revelation of Paul survives only in Coptic translation and is not to be confused with the later Revelation of Paul, traditionally called Visio Pauli ( Paul, Apocalypse of [Visio Pauli] ). The beginning of the work is lost in a lacuna of uncertain length; the title, The Revelation (apokalypsis) of Paul, appears at the end of the text (Apoc. Paul 24:9) and may have preceded the text as well.
This short apocalypse (Apocalypse/Apocalypticism) expands upon Paul’s self-described ascension to “the third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2–4). On his way “up” to Jerusalem to meet the apostles (Gal 1:18; 2:12), Paul (Paul [Apostle]) encounters a small child, identified as the Holy Spirit, who exhorts him to “awaken your mind [nous]” (Apoc. Paul 19:10). Paul is snatched up to the third heaven, as 2 Corinthians suggests, but then continues onward to the fourth through tenth heavens. Along the way he learns about the judgment and punishment of wayward souls: angels with whips drive souls to judgment; witnesses testify to a soul’s sins; and a guilty soul might be returned to life in the body (Apoc. Paul 19:20–22:12). In the seventh heaven Paul encounters “an old man,” who questions him but allows him to pass after he has given the required “sign” (sēmeion). The old man is revealed to be the creator of this cosmos (Apoc. Paul 22:23–23:28). The work does not reveal who or what presides as the ultimate god, even if the Holy Spirit/child must represent it. In the eighth heaven the twelve apostles welcome Paul, who proceeds to the ninth and tenth, where he greets his “fellow spirits” (Apoc. Paul 24:6–8). It is not clear whether the twelve apostles ascend with Paul, and the narrative fluctuates between third-person narration by an (anonymous?) author and first-person narration by Paul.
Much of the work resembles other Jewish and Christian apocalypses, especially heavenly journeys, but interpreters have noted distinct, potentially sectarian themes: these include the allegorical interpretation (Allegory) of Paul’s travels to Jerusalem to meet the apostles, the superiority of Paul to the twelve apostles, reincarnation in a body as punishment, the identification of the saved as “spirits,” and the depiction of the creator god (Gnosis/Gnosticism) as a lower being who attempts to thwart Paul’s ascent to his fellow spirits. To some scholars these features indicate either the work’s generally “gnostic” character or its origin among specifically Valentinian Christians (Kaler 2008; Twigg, 2022). Irenaeus of Lyon speculated that Valentinians would have thought that Paul had ascended higher than the third heaven (Iren. Haer. 2.30.7), and in the 4th century CE Epiphanius of Salamis claimed that “the so-called gnostics” used a book called Ascension of Paul (Epiph. Pan. 38.25). On the other hand, the cosmology of ten heavens differs from that in other Valentinian sources (Thomassen, 1995, 247), and admiration for Paul, denigration of the body, and subordination of the biblical god appear in a variety of Christian works. Valentinians are not otherwise known to have composed pseudonymous apocalypses, unlike the Sethian gnostics (Burns 2017; Sethians).
Historiography
Early scholarship concerned itself with editing and translating the text (Böhlig & Labib, 1963; Murdock & MacRae, 1979) and with contextualizing its themes and imagery in the New Testament and Jewish apocalyptic literature (Murdock, 1968; MacRae, 1976) and philosophical and hermetic texts (Klauck, 1985). More recent editions and translations may be found in J.-M. Rosenstiehl and M. Kaler (2005) and M. Scopello and M. Meyer (2007). J.R. Harrison (2004) compared the Revelation of Paul with the Visio Paul and contrasted both with the Paul of 2 Corinthians. Several studies have considered the possible Valentinian origin of the work, with M. Kaler (2008) and M. Twigg (2022) arguing in favor and E. Thomassen (1995) and D.M. Burns (2017) expressing skepticism.
Bibliography
- Böhlig, A., & P. Labib, Koptisch-gnostische Apokalypsen aus Codex V von Nag Hammadi im Koptischen Museum zu Alt-Kairo, Halle, 1963.
- Burns, D.M., “Is the Apocalypse of Paul a Valentinian Apocalypse? Pseudepigraphy and Group Definition in NHC V,2,” in: J. Schröter & K. Schwarz, eds., Die Nag-Hammadi-Schriften in der Literatur- und Theologiegeschichte des frühen Christentums, Tübingen, 2017, 97–112.
- Harrison, J.R., “In Quest of the Third Heaven: Paul & his Apocalyptic Imitators,” VigChr 58, 2004, 24–55.
- Kaler, M., Flora Tells a Story: The “Apocalypse of Paul” and its Contexts, Waterloo, 2008.
- Klauck, H.-J., “Die Himmelfahrt des Paulus (2 Kor 12,2–4) in der koptischen Paulusapokalypse aus Nag Hammadi (NHC V/2),” SNTU 10, 1985, 151–190.
- MacRae, G.W., “The Judgement Scene in the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul,” in: G. Nickelsburg, ed., Studies on the Testament of Abraham, Missoula, 1976, 285–288.
- Murdock, W.R., “The Apocalypse of Paul from Nag Hammadi Codex V: A Translation and Interpretation,” diss., Claremont, 1968.
- Murdock, W.R., & G.W. MacRae, “The Apocalypse of Paul,” in: D.M. Parrott, ed., Nag Hammadi Codices V,2–5 and VI, with Papyris Berolinensis 8502, 1 and 4, Leiden, 1979, 47–63.
- Rosenstiehl, J.-M., & M. Kaler. L’Apocalypse de Paul (NH V,2), Québec, 2005.
- Scopello, M., & M. Meyer, “The Revelation of Paul,” in: M. Meyer, ed., The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition, New York, 2007, 313–319.
- Thomassen, E. “Notes pour la delimitation d’un corpus Valentinian à Nag Hammadi,” in: L. Painchaud & A. Pasquier, eds., Les textes de Nag Hammadi et le problème de leur classification: Acts du colloque tenu à Québec du 15 au 19 septembre 1993, Laval, 1995, 243–259.
- Twigg, M., The Valentinian Temple: Visions, Revelations, and the Nag Hammadi “Apocalypse of Paul”, New York, 2022.