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:Epiphanius (Haer. 89 B) notices 'revelations (apocalypses) of Adam' along with 'many' apocryphal writings in Seth's name among the books held sacred by his "Gnostici," an Ophitic sect.
(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:This motif of special knowledge revealed to Adam and Seth was an integral part of Jewish tradition, visible in Josephus (Ant. 1.70) and in the wider Adam literature. The motif ... was a fundamental tenet for what has been termed Sethian Gnosticism.
The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha - Second, it sounds strange that the Testament describes demons praising God:
And at the first hour of the night the devils render thanks and praise to God Most High, and there is in them no evil and no harm for anyone until they have finished their service of homage.
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:And when He hath plundered the angel of death, He will ascend on the third day, [and he will remain in that world five hundred and forty-five days].
CHARLES' FOOTNOTE: This clause [about the 545 days] is wanting in Slavonic and Latin manuscripts. [But it's in Ethiopic]. It is of course no creation of Ethiopic scribes. The Ethiopic translator found it already in his Greek text. The idea is a Gnostic one. It was held by the Valentinians and the Ophites (See Irenaeus adv. Haer i.3)The Horarium can be viewed as a systematic exposition of the biblical motif in which the creation praises its creator (Ps 145:21; 148:1-8; 150:6, etc.). In addition to the description of the cosmos and its creatures in Genesis 1, Psalm 148:1-8 in particular seems to have been an inspiration for this work. It is interesting to note how the demons have a place in the creation and have their own appointed hour for the praise of God (1:1; 2:10).
This kind of story shows up in Mark 3 as well, which says about Jesus:And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.Only the demons worship Jesus and cry out that he is the Son of God. - 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:The name was given to an early Christian sect, or rather to a tendency common to several sects, chiefly Gnostic, whose asceticism was based on heretical views regarding the origin of matter. ...the first mention of a Christian sect of this name occurs in Irenæus (I, xxviii). He connects their origin with Saturninus and Marcion. Rejecting marriage, they implicitly accuse the Creator, Who made both male and female. Refraining from all ’émpsucha (animal food and intoxicants), they are ungrateful to Him Who created all things.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: EncratitesPeople of their sort tell yet another myth, that the devil came to Eve, lay with her as a man with a women, and sired Cain and Abel by her. That was why the one attacked the other—from their jealousy of each other and not, as the truth is, because Abel had somehow pleased God. Instead they concoct another story and say, “Because they were both in love with their own sister, Cain attacked Abel and killed him for this reason.”
SOURCE: https://gnosis.study/library/Критик...lamis - The Panarion, Book I (Sects 1-46).pdfJudah b. Rabbi said: 'Their quarrel was about the first Eve.'
Said R. Aibu: 'The first Eve had returned to dust. Then about what was their quarrel?'
Said R. Huna: 'An additional twin was born with Abel, and each claimed her. The one claimed: 'I will have her, because I am the firstborn, while the other maintained: 'I must have her, because she was born with me.'
Wikipedia notes:Ancient exegetes, such as the Midrash and the [6th Century Christian book] Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, tell that the motive involved a desire for the most beautiful woman. According to Midrashic tradition, Cain and Abel each had twin sisters; each was to marry the other's. The Midrash states that Abel's promised wife, Aclima, was more beautiful than Awan. Since Cain would not consent to this arrangement, Adam suggested seeking God's blessing by means of a sacrifice. Whoever God blessed would marry Aclima. When God openly rejected Cain's sacrifice, Cain slew his brother in a fit of jealousy and anger.[54][55]
FOOTNOTES:
[54] Byron 2011, p. 11: Anglea Y. Kim, "Cain and Abel in the Light of Envy: A Study of the History of the Interpretation of Envy in Genesis 4:1–16," JSP (2001), pp. 65–84
SOURCE: Cain and Abel - Wikipedia - 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 heavenly powers: what they are like and how each of their orders is occupied in the service and the plan of this world. ... The lowest order is the angels. ... The second order is the archangels.
The third order, which is the archons. This is its service: moving the air so that a cloud
rises from the ends of the earth, according to the words of David the prophet, and rain falls upon the earth. And this (order) makes all the variations in the atmosphere, sometimes rain and sometimes snow and sometimes hail and sometimes dust and sometimes blood. And it varies them. These also belong to this (order): thunder and the fire of lightning.
...
The fourth order, which is authorities. This is its service: the administration of the
lights, of the sun and the moon and the stars.
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":Seven archontes are usually presided over by a chief archon, who is also the demiurge who created the world, and resides in the Ogdoad, the eighth region above the seven planetary spheres. Since the attainment of salvation is linked with attaining to the sphere of the unknown God, passage through the concentric ranks of hostile archons is necessary. ...in the Coptic Gnostic treatise The Hypostasis of the Archons... the archontes are said to guard the gates of the seven planetary spheres, impeding the upward movement of souls... A Gnostic sect named the Archontici took its name from the archons of the seven planetary spheres...
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?