The1 true knowledge therefore is understanding Christ-ward,2 which Paul calls the wisdom of God in a Mystery,3 the hidden wisdom, which the carnal man receiveth not, the preaching of the Cross, which if a man taste of, he will not approach to the perverse disputings and strife of words of the swollen and puffed up,4 who intrude into those things which they have not seen.5 For free from figure6 is the truth,7 and nigh thee is the word in thy mouth and in thy heart,8 as the same Apostle saith,9 … to the obedient. For it makes us like Christ, if we know the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His Sufferings. For this is the essence10 of the Apostolic doctrine and of the most holy Faith which was delivered to us, which the unlettered receive, and men of small learning taught,11 who give not heed to endless genealogies, but rather give diligence for the amendment of their life, lest they, deprived of the Divine Spirit, miss of the kingdom of Heaven. For the first thing is to deny thyself and to follow Christ, and they who do these things are carried on to perfection, having fulfilled the whole will of the Master, made sons of God though spiritual regeneration and heirs of the kingdom of Heaven,12 which seeking first they shall not be let go.
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k This and the 3 following were published by Pfaff from Mss. in the Library at Turin now missing. ↩
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1 Cor. 2:7. ↩
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Ib. 14. ↩
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Fragments . ↩
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1 Tim. 6:5, 4; Col. 2:18. ↩
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Rom. 10:8. ↩
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ἀ σχη μ άτιστος ↩
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Phil. 3:10. ↩
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l ε ὐ μ .… The rest of the word has perished in the Ms. The original Editor, Pfaff, proposed ε ὐ μ αθ ὲ ς , easy of apprehension , Mr. Harvey proposes ἐ μμ εν ὲ ς , abiding . ↩
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m ἐ πιλογ ὴ . As the verb is used of picked men , I have ventured to translate the noun thus, as though the very choice part . ↩
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1 Tim. 1:4. ↩
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S. Matth. 5:33. ↩