The Testament of Adam was composed in Syriac from around 100 AD to about the 5th Century AD. In the Testament, Adam retells to his son Seth God's revelations to Adam. The first part (Chapters 1-2) of the Testament narrates the events that occur at each hour of the day, like angels praising God, and the second part (Chapters 3-4) narrates the story of God incarnating as the son of a Virgin and undergoing the Passion for Adam's sake and describes the hierarchy of the angels. You can read translations of the Testament here:
S.E. Robinson's translation of Chapters 1-4 in Charlesworth's The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha:
https://yahuwahaluhiym.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/the-testament-of-adam.pdf
Budge's 1927 Translation of Chapters 1-3: The Hours of the Day, The Hours of the Night, and the Prophecy of Christ: The Book of the Cave of Treasures - Testamentum Adami
Kmosko's 1907 translation of a version of Chapter 3 (the Prophecy about Christ) that describes God putting Adam at God's right hand:
Testament of Adam
Scholars have different opinions on whether it is a Gnostic text. Reasons that it could be Gnostic include:
So it's not clear to me whether the Testament of Adam is a Gnostic text. The Gnostics created writings that they ascribed to Adam's son Seth. For instance, the Gnostic Gospel of the Egyptians presents itself as written by Seth. But a non-Gnostic text could also conceivably present itself as written by Seth. It seems strange that demons praise God daily, but in the Gospels, demons also bow to Jesus. The Testament's story of Cain killing Abel out of passion for Lud, in contrast to the Bible's story of Cain acting out of jealousy over God's rejection of Cain's meat sacrifice, would go along with the Encratites' celibacy and vegetarianism. But the story about Cain's Passion for his sister also shows up in Jewish writings from 300-500 AD and afterwards. Still, the story about Cain's Passion could have a Gnostic origin and have entered Jewish medieval tradition from Gnosticism. Finally, the designation of archons as an order of angels reminded me of Gnosticism, but "archons" also show up in the non-Gnostic Books of Enoch, so this doesn't seem like significant evidence.
On the other hand, the Testament seems to have classical Christian theology about God Himself and classical Christian cosmology and a positive view of the Creation instead of anti-materialism. So it looks like there is not enough to call it Gnostic. It seems that by default it would be categorized as having standard Christian theology. What do you think?
S.E. Robinson's translation of Chapters 1-4 in Charlesworth's The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha:
https://yahuwahaluhiym.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/the-testament-of-adam.pdf
Budge's 1927 Translation of Chapters 1-3: The Hours of the Day, The Hours of the Night, and the Prophecy of Christ: The Book of the Cave of Treasures - Testamentum Adami
Kmosko's 1907 translation of a version of Chapter 3 (the Prophecy about Christ) that describes God putting Adam at God's right hand:
Testament of Adam
Scholars have different opinions on whether it is a Gnostic text. Reasons that it could be Gnostic include:
- First, the text presents itself as Seth's record of his father Adam's revelation from God. Adam tells Seth, "Furthermore, thou must know, O my son, Seth, behold a Flood shall come..." etc. And the text concludes: "And Seth wrote down this Commandment, and sealed it with his seal..."
And Adam's son Seth was a key figure in Sethian Gnosticism.
(A) According to A Dictionary of Christian Biography, edited by William Smith and Henry Wace:
And the Jewish Encyclopedia notes: "Seven Books of Seth are said by Epiphanius ("Adversus Hæreses," xxxix. 5) to have been among the scriptures of the Gnostic sect of Sethians." But Epiphanius' descriptions aren't specific enough to prove that the Testament was one of those apocryphal books in Seth's name or that the Gnostics wrote this one too.
(B) The Scriptural Research Institute claims without a source that, "The Testament of Adam was used by the Sethians and later Sethian Gnostics." (Testament of Job) The Scriptural Research Institute also says, "The Testament of Adam is an early Christian work, which likely drew from older Jewish and Sethian sources." (Testament of Adam|NOOK Book) But this information by the S.R.I. tends to contradict itself: On one hand they write that the Testament was a Christian work drawing from Sethian sources (ie. not itself authored by Sethians directly) and on the other hand they claim that the Sethians used this Testament. It seems jumbled to say that non-Sethians created it from Sethians and then the Sethians took it from the non-Sethians. It would be much simpler to suppose just one or the other, but as it happens, the S.R.I. isn't quoting anything to prove either.
The Online Pseudepigrapha says that while the motif of Seth's special knowledge from Adam was important to Sethian Gnosticism, it was also part of Jewish tradition:
In Antiquities 1.70, Josephus wrote that Seth's children inscribed their knowledge on pillars because Adam had predicted the world's ruination in fire, violence, and water. So the Testament's identification with Seth is only a very weak sign that the authorship was from Gnostics who venerated Seth. - Second, it sounds strange that the Testament describes demons praising God:
It seems to conflict with classical Christian angelology, in which the demons are in conflict with God, until perhaps God's victory during the Apocalypse. But it might match a Manichean or Dualist system whereby God and the demons are not necessarily in total conflict.
In addition, another early text that i thought might have the idea of the demons regularly praising God is the Ascension of Isaiah, which describes layers of heavens with angels praising God. I am inclined to think that the Ascension of Isaiah was originally composed as a Gnostic text, because for instance Chapter 9:16 of the Ascension of Isaiah says about Jesus:
One reason that the devils' praise of God might not be a sign of Gnosticism is that the underlying reasoning, that all Creation praises God, seems in line with classical Christianity. The Online Pseudepigrapha notes:
Another reason that the devils' praise might not reflect Gnosticism is that in Luke 8, "a certain man, which had devils for a long time," met Jesus and, "When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high?" Falling down before Jesus implied worship of Him. In An Illustrated Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew (Volume 25), Lyman Abbott comments: "He ran to Jesus and worshipped him, ie., as the devils worship, not by paying him a true reverence, but by a compulsory acknowledgement of his power."
This kind of story shows up in Mark 3 as well, which says about Jesus:
Elna Grinbergs, in her thesis "A study of the concept and experience of temptation in the synoptic Gospels", commented on this passage: - Third, it says that Cain killed Abel out of passion or jealousy for their sister "Lud", AKA "Lebuda", which could indicate an Encratite theology. In Robinson's translation, Adam tells Seth that Cain "killed your brother Abel out of passion for your sister Lebuda". In Budge's translation, Cain "slew his brother through jealousy, because of his sister Lûd." This differs from the Biblical account in which Cain killed Abel out of jealously due to God's pleasure with Abel's meat sacrifice instead of Cain's vegetarian sacrifice. The Encratites demanded total celibacy and abstinence from all sexual relations and also taught vegetarianism, and this change in the story of Cain and Abel would reflect the Encratites' celibate and vegetarian ideology.
The Catholic Encyclopedia identifies the Encratites as Gnostics, noting:
In his Panarion, Section 40:5, Epiphanius relates that people who are like the Archontics, a late 2nd century Gnostic sect, ascribe this kind of motive to Cain's killing of Abel. Epiphanius writes:
One reason why the story might not be Encratitic is that the rabbinical Genesis Rabbah 22:7 quotes a rabbi who recites this story. Gen. Rab. 22:7 (c. 300-500 AD) notes:
Louis Ginzberg goes over rabbinical stories about sources of the brothers' conflict in The Legends of the Jews: From the Creation to Exodus: Notes for Volumes 1 and 2, Footnote 17, pp. 138-139. (https://books.google.com/books?id=WA8-G-OqtuUC)
Wikipedia notes:
This story in Wikipedia reconciles competing causes of the brothers' quarrel, making it both a result of passion over their sister and the jealousy resulting from God's favor for Abel's sacrifice. - Fourth, Chapter 4 of the Testament of Adam gives a hierarchy of nine orders of angels, and lists the "archons" as the third order:
The archon angels received major emphasis in Gnosticism.
One reason why the Testament's use of archons does not necessarily indicate Gnosticism is that the archons have a higher role in Gnosticism. D.E. Aune describes the Gnostic conception of Archons in the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible's entry on "Archon":
In contrast, the Testament of Adam ascribes control of the lights, moon, and "stars", which included the planets (eg. the "morning star" Venus) to "authorities", an order higher than the archons.
A second reason why the use of archons might not prove a Gnostic origin is that "archons" also appear in Jewish, orthodox Christian writings and in the Bible. For instance, the LXX of Daniel 10:20-21, translates the Hebrew term "sars", meaning "prince," as "archon." In those verses, an angel tells Daniel that he will fight with the "archons"/"princes" of Greece and Persia, and calls the angel Michael Daniel's "archon"/"prince." The Jewish Books of Enoch also designate some angels as "archons."
So it's not clear to me whether the Testament of Adam is a Gnostic text. The Gnostics created writings that they ascribed to Adam's son Seth. For instance, the Gnostic Gospel of the Egyptians presents itself as written by Seth. But a non-Gnostic text could also conceivably present itself as written by Seth. It seems strange that demons praise God daily, but in the Gospels, demons also bow to Jesus. The Testament's story of Cain killing Abel out of passion for Lud, in contrast to the Bible's story of Cain acting out of jealousy over God's rejection of Cain's meat sacrifice, would go along with the Encratites' celibacy and vegetarianism. But the story about Cain's Passion for his sister also shows up in Jewish writings from 300-500 AD and afterwards. Still, the story about Cain's Passion could have a Gnostic origin and have entered Jewish medieval tradition from Gnosticism. Finally, the designation of archons as an order of angels reminded me of Gnosticism, but "archons" also show up in the non-Gnostic Books of Enoch, so this doesn't seem like significant evidence.
On the other hand, the Testament seems to have classical Christian theology about God Himself and classical Christian cosmology and a positive view of the Creation instead of anti-materialism. So it looks like there is not enough to call it Gnostic. It seems that by default it would be categorized as having standard Christian theology. What do you think?
