Christians were mentioned in the Gnostic Gospel of Philip. Ultimately, all Christians will be spiritually transformed, in time or eternity. Whoever is transformed “no longer is a Christian, but a Christ.” Drawing upon the Gospel of Philip, Gnostic scholar Elaine Pagels noted:
Philip thus discriminates between nominal Christians – those who claim to be Christians simply because they were baptized – and those who, after baptism, are spiritually transformed. He sees himself among the latter but does not congratulate himself for belonging to a spiritual elite; instead, he concludes by anticipating that ultimately all believers will be transformed, if not in this world then in eternity. Whoever undergoes such transformation, he says “no longer is a Christian, but a Christ.”1
Sources:
Pagels, Elaine. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. Random House, 2003. 132-133.↩
Philip thus discriminates between nominal Christians – those who claim to be Christians simply because they were baptized – and those who, after baptism, are spiritually transformed. He sees himself among the latter but does not congratulate himself for belonging to a spiritual elite; instead, he concludes by anticipating that ultimately all believers will be transformed, if not in this world then in eternity. Whoever undergoes such transformation, he says “no longer is a Christian, but a Christ.”1
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