Exegesis on the Soul

Praying from the Soul

Gnostic trans. Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer • c. 2nd-3rd century CE

So it is right to pray to the father and to call on him with our soul—not externally with our lips but with the spirit, which is inside and comes from the depths, sighing, repenting for the life we led, confessing sins, recognizing the deception we were in as shallow; perceiving the empty zeal; weeping over how we lived in darkness and in the wave; mourning for what we were so that he might pity us; hating ourselves for what we still are.

The savior said,

Blessings on those who mourn, for they will be pitied. Blessings on the hungry, for they will be filled.

And he said,

If one does not hate one's own soul, one cannot follow me.

The beginning of salvation is repentance. So it says,

Before Jesus came John, preaching the baptism of repentance.

And repentance occurs in distress and sorrow. The father is good and loves humankind, and hears the soul that calls him and sends her the light of salvation. Through the spirit to the prophet he says,

Say to the children of my people, "If your sins extend from earth to heaven, if they become red like scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, and if you return to me with all your soul and say to me, 'My father,' I will care for you as for a holy people."

Again elsewhere,

So the lord, the holy one of Israel, says, "If you return and sigh, then you will be saved and will know where you were when you trusted what is shallow."

And again,

Jerusalem wept profusely, saying, "Pity me." He will have pity at the sound of your lamentation. And when he saw, he cared for you. And the lord will give you the bread of affliction and water of oppression. From now on those who deceive will not go near you. Your eye will spot those who would deceive you.