The Gospel of Mary

In The Da Vinci Code

The Text in the box is from http://www.allaboutgod.com/gospel-of-mary-faq.htm

The Gospel of Mary has been promoted in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. This is a Gnostic
Gospel of the second century. A key point of Brown’s proposed theory is found in the Gospel of
Mary. This has to do with Jesus’ favoritism toward her. The text seems to reflect a conflict where
Peter was challenging the role of Mary as a recipient of a special revelation from Jesus. Mary
was distraught about Peter’s challenge. The implication here is that Jesus knew Mary well
enough to consider her worthy to be the recipient of special revelation.

The term "Gnostic" derives from "gnosis," which means "knowledge" in Greek. The Gnostics
believed that they were privy to a secret knowledge about the divine, hence the name. The
Gnostic gospels, then, concern themselves with the way to achieve divine knowledge, which is
through completely human means. The early church declared these writings uninspired, and thus,
did not canonize them into the Holy Bible. Because they were written so far after Jesus’ life, and
because they disagree with the accepted inspired Scriptures, these writings should not be
considered biblical.

The main passage that Brown uses as support actually comes from one of these Gnostic writings
(Gospel of Philip 63:32-64:10). This text describes Mary Magdalene as a “companion” of Jesus.
History tells us that this text from the Gospel of Philip, as well as other Gnostic texts, was
composed in the second half of the third century. This is a full two hundred years after the life of
Jesus. (The four Christian gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- were written and being
circulated within the first 90 years of the time of Christ.) The passage that Brown uses as his
premise has many missing elements.

Note that although the Gospel of Mary is not considered to be inspired, Brown interprets the text
with his own twists. In fact, there was no mention of Jesus being married to Mary or of them
having an intimate relationship. This text simply says that Jesus appeared to her alone. This is not
against the Holy Bible’s story of Jesus revealing Himself to Mary after His resurrection. Where
Brown escapes fact is when he begins filling in words randomly, all the while having the reader
believe them to be true, verifiable fact.

The Gospel of Mary, because only one copy was recovered, will likely never be a complete and
historically verifiable document. The canonized Scriptures are based on multiple copies passed
down through the generations and discovered in various locations. If we offer up the Gospel of
Mary to be anything other than literary fiction, historians would require there to be factual
evidence to support such a claim, not only the opinion of Dan Brown, a fiction novel writer.
Why is the Gospel of Mary not in the Bible?
The text in the box was from http://reluctant-messenger.com/gospel-magdalene.htm

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene has Taoist and Buddhist concepts

presented in first century Christian Semantics.

According to this text, Jesus was quoted as saying that "All

natures, all formed things, all creatures exist in and with one
another and will again be resolved into their own roots, because
the nature of matter is dissolved into the roots of its nature
alone."

This is very similar to the Taoist concept of Oneness as expressed

in Chapter 34 of Tao Teh Ching, Speaking of the Tao it says "All
things derive their life from it [Tao] All things return to it, and it
contains them."

Another portion of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene describes a soul's journey after death and the
challenges it overcomes. These passages are much like The Tibetan Book of the Dead which
reveals the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities a soul encounters during its journey after it has
separated from the body at death.

This is very similar to this portion of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, " When the soul had
overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, (which) took seven
forms. The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the
excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of
flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven {powers} of wrath."

These teachings are not consistent with the church practice and tradition, one reason why the
Gospel of Mary was not included in the New Testament. One might argue that the Gospel of
Mary was excluded because of the discrimination and oppression toward women. I begged to
differ. If that were the case, then the account of women being the last to leave Jesus and the first
to see the risen Christ should also have been removed. But the account of these faithful women is
in the Bible. The Gospel of Mary was not in the Bible solely because of its content.
For more information on how books were selected to be in the Bible, please check out Chapter 2-
How We Got the Bible-from Josh McDowell’s New Evidence that Demand a Verdict

Gospel of Mary of Magdala

The text below is from the Papyrus Berolinensis.

Note: Square brackets in the translation indicate that a gap exists in the manuscript where
writing once existed; the text within the brackets has been restored by scholars.

Pages 1-6 are missing.

"… Will m[a]tter then be utterly [destr]oyed or not?"

The Savior replied, "Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with
each other. They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is
dissolved into what belongs to its nature. Anyone with two ears able to hear should listen!"
Then Peter said to him, "You have been explaining every topic to us; tell us one other thing.
What is the sin of the world?"
The Savior replied, "There is no such thing as sin; rather you yourselves are what produces
sin when you act in accordance with the nature of adultery, which is called 'sin.' For this reason,
the Good came among you, pursuing (the good) which belongs to every nature. It will set it
within its root."
Then he continued. He said, "This is why you get si[c]k and die: because [you love] what
de[c]ei[ve]s [you]. [Anyone who] thinks should consider (these matters)!
"[Ma]tter gav[e bi]rth to a passion which has no Image because it derives from what is
contrary to nature. A disturbing confusion then occurred in the whole body. That is why I told
you, 'Become content at heart, while also remaining discontent and disobedient; indeed become
contented and agreeable (only) in the presence of that other Image of nature.' Anyone with two
ears capable of hearing should listen!"
When the Blessed One had said these things, he greeted them all. "Peace be with you!" he
said. "Acquire my peace within yourselves!
"Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over
there!' For the child of true Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who search for it will
find it.
"Go then, preac[h] the good news about the Realm. [Do] not lay down any rule beyond what I
determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it."
After he had said these things, he departed from them.
But they were distressed and wept greatly. "How are we going to go out to the rest of the
world to announce the good news about the Realm of the child of true Humanity?" they said. "If
they did not spare him, how will they spare us?"
Then Mary stood up. She greeted them all, addressing her brothers and sisters, "Do not weep
and be distressed nor let your hearts be irresolute. For his grace will be with you all and will
shelter you. Rather we should praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us true
Human beings."
When Mary had said these things, she turned their heart [to]ward the Good, and they began
to deba[t]e about the wor[d]s of [the Savior].
Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than all other women.
Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember, the things which you know that we don't
because we haven't heard them."
Mary responded, "I will teach you about what is hidden from you." And she began to speak
these words to them.
She said, "I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, 'Lord, I saw you today in a vision.'
He answered me, 'How wonderful you are for not wavering at seeing me! For where the mind is,
there is the treasure.'
I said to him, 'So now, Lord, does a person who sees a vision see it <with> the soul <or> with
the spirit?'
The Savior answered, 'A person does not see with the soul or with the spirit. 'Rather the mind,
which exists between these two, sees the vision an[d] that is w[hat … ]'

(Pages 11-14 are missing.)

" '… it.'

"And Desire said, 'I did not see you go down, yet now I see you go up. So why do you lie
since you belong to me?'
"The soul answered, 'I saw you. You did not see me nor did you know me. You (mis)took the
garment (I wore) for my (true) self. And you did not recognize me.'
"After it had said these things, it left rejoicing greatly.
"Again, it came to the third Power, which is called 'Ignorance.' [It] examined the soul closely,
saying, 'Where are you going? You are bound by wickedness. Indeed you are bound! Do not
judge!'
"And the soul said, 'Why do you judge me, since I have not passed judgement? I have been
bound, but I have not bound (anything). They did not recognize me, but I have recognized that
the universe is to be dissolved, both the things of earth and those of heaven.'
"When the soul had brought the third Power to naught, it went upward and saw the fourth
Power. It had seven forms. The first form is darkness; the second is desire; the third is ignorance;
the fourth is zeal for death; the fifth is the realm of the flesh; the sixth is the foolish wisdom of
the flesh; the seventh is the wisdom of the wrathful person. These are the seven Powers of Wrath.
"They interrogated the soul, 'Where are you coming from, human-killer, and where are you
going, space-conqueror?'
"The soul replied, saying, 'What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been
destroyed, and my desire has been brought to an end, and ignorance has died. In a [wor]ld, I was
set loose from a world [an]d in a type, from a type which is above, and (from) the chain of
forgetfulness which exists in time. From this hour on, for the time of the due season of the aeon,
I will receive rest i[n] silence.' "
After Mary had said these things, she was silent, since it was up to this point that the Savior
had spoken to her.
Andrew responded, addressing the brothers and sisters, "Say what you will about the things
she has said, but I do not believe that the S[a]vior said these things, f[or] indeed these teachings
are strange ideas."
Peter responded, bringing up similar concerns. He questioned them about the Savior: "Did he,
then, speak with a woman in private without our knowing about it? Are we to turn around and
listen to her? Did he choose her over us?"
Then [M]ary wept and said to Peter, "My brother Peter, what are you imagining? Do you
think that I have thought up these things by myself in my heart or that I am telling lies about the
Savior?"
Levi answered, speaking to Peter, "Peter, you have always been a wrathful person. Now I see you
contending against the woman like the Adversaries. For if the Savior made her worthy, who are
you then for your part to reject her? Assuredly the Savior's knowledge of her is completely
reliable. That is why he loved her more than us.
"Rather we should be ashamed. We should clothe ourselves with the perfect Human, acquire it
for ourselves as he commanded us, and announce the good news, not laying down any other rule
or law that differs from what the Savior said."
After [he had said these] things, they started going out [to] teach and to preach.

[The Gospel according to Mary]