Editing Gnostic Text/The Secret Book of John (section)

==The Salvation of Humankind==

I, John, asked the Savior, “Lord, will every soul be saved and make it back to the pure light?”

He said in response, “Weighty matters have arisen in your thoughts. It is difficult to speak of them with anyone but those who belong to the unshakeable race, those to whom the spirit of Life has come, and in whom she dwells with power. Such people will be saved and become perfect and worthy of greatness. They will be healed of every wound and of all the anxieties that come with wickedness; they will be anxious for nothing but the incorruptible, and will meditate on it without anger, envy, resentment, passion, or greed. Their only constraint is the incidental body of flesh that they provisionally wear, and they await the time when those bodies will be removed from them. Such souls are worthy of the call to eternal, incorruptible life. They bear all things and endure all things so that they might finish the race and be awarded eternal life.”

I asked him, “Lord, what about those to whom the spirit of Life has come, but who have not performed these deeds? Will they, too, be saved?”

He answered, “If the spirit of Life descends to them, then they shall surely be saved and transformed. Power descends to everyone, for without it, no one could even stand upright. After they are born, the counterfeit spirit of Life is placed in them. But if the true spirit of Life comes with its power, the soul grows strong and is kept from wickedness. The others, however, are misled by the counterfeit spirit and go astray.”

Then I asked, “Lord, where do souls go when they are removed from flesh?”

He laughed and said to me, “The soul that is more powerful than the counterfeit spirit is strong indeed. It escapes from evil, and with the aid of the incorruptible One it is saved and led to the repose of the eternal realm.”

But I wondered, “Lord, what will happen to the souls of those who have not known where their true home is?”

He replied, “As for them, because they have gone so far astray, the counterfeit spirit has grown strong in them. It weighs down their souls and plunges them into slumber. Meanwhile, it tempts them into committing wicked acts. After their souls have come forth from their bodies, they are delivered into the hands of the rulers who exist because of the first ruler. The rulers shackle such souls with chains and throw them into another fleshly prison. The rulers push them through endless repetitions of this cycle until the soul wakes up from the sleep of forgetfulness and obtains gnosis. It thereby becomes perfect and attains salvation.”

Next, I asked him, “Lord, how can the soul become younger and younger and return to the womb of its mother, the first human?”

His face became happy, and he said to me, “You are truly blessed, for you have grasped quite a lot! The soul will be guided by another in whom the spirit of Life dwells, and by that guidance it will attain salvation so that it will not be cast back into the flesh ever again.”

I put another question to him: “Lord, what will happen to the souls of those who obtain gnosis but turn away?”

He answered, “They will be ushered to the place where the angels of pain go, where no repentance makes a difference. They will be held there until the day arrives when the eternal punishment and torture of those who have blasphemed against the Spirit will begin.”