The Father Calling Those Who Have Knowledge

**The Father Calling Those Who Have Knowledge**

*“For whoever remains ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it.”*

The *Gospel of Truth* presents a compelling vision of the Father’s intimate relationship with those whom He calls by name. It speaks to a divine mystery—the calling of those who have *gnosis*, a deep knowledge of their origin and destiny. This passage invites us to reflect on the nature of divine calling and the response expected from those who hear it.

> “Those whose names he knew first were called last, so that the one who has knowledge is one whose name the father has pronounced. For one whose name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if a name has not been uttered? For whoever remains ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it. If this is not so, why have these wretches no name, why have they no voice?”

> — *Gospel of Truth*

Here, the knowledge of the Father is not merely information—it is a calling, a recognition, and a return. The one who has been *named* by the Father hears that call, responds, and is transformed. This recalls Jesus’ words:

> *“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”* — *John 10:27*

To hear one’s name from the Father is to awaken from forgetfulness. Ignorance, in this context, is not simply a lack of education but an estrangement from one's true origin. This condition of forgetfulness leads to perishing—not because of divine wrath, but because the individual remains in a state of separation. The *Gospel of Truth* continues:

> *“Hence, whoever has knowledge is from above. If called, that person hears, replies, and turns toward him who called. That person ascends to him and knows how he is called. Having knowledge, that person does the will of him who called. That person desires to please him, finds rest, and receives a certain name.”*

This journey—from hearing, to responding, to ascending—is rooted in recognition. It mirrors Paul’s description of the believer’s calling:

> *“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… and those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.”* — *Romans 8:29–30*

Those who are “going to have knowledge” already belong to the Father. They return like one awakening from a stupor:

> *“They know it as someone who, having become intoxicated, has turned from his drunkenness and, having come to himself, has restored what is his own.”*

This image resonates with the parable of the Prodigal Son:

> *“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!’”* — *Luke 15:17*

Jesus, in this mystical text, is portrayed as the one who goes before, calling others back to their proper place:

> *“He has turned many from error. He went before them to their own places, from which they departed when they erred because of the depth of him who surrounds every place, whereas there is nothing that surrounds him.”*

The Father, though surrounding all things, is surrounded by none. His transcendence is not isolation, but origin. All things have their being in Him, yet without knowledge of Him, they are lost. The wonder is that people were *in* the Father and did not know Him—a reflection of Paul's declaration:

> *“In Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”* — *Acts 17:28*

But why did they not know Him? Because His will had not yet gone forth. When the Father *wills* to be known, knowledge is revealed, and ignorance is overcome:

> *“It was a great wonder that they were in the father without knowing him and that they were able to leave on their own, since they were not able to contain him and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come forth from him.”*

The Father’s will is not arbitrary. It is revealed in a specific form—through *knowledge* made visible, legible, and incarnate:

> *“For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emanations agree, namely, the knowledge of the living book that he revealed to the eternal beings at last as his letters, displaying to them that these are not merely vowels or consonants, so that one may read them and think of something void of meaning. On the contrary, they are letters that convey the truth. They are pronounced only when they are known. Each letter is a perfect truth like a perfect book, for they are letters written by the hand of the unity, since the father wrote them for the eternal beings, so that they by means of his letters might come to know the father.”*

This “living book” is not lifeless text. It is a divine script inscribed with truth. Like Jesus, the Word made flesh, it is not made of dead letters but is spirit and life:

> *“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”* — *John 6:63*

Each letter of this divine alphabet is a perfect revelation. They are not abstract symbols but the living truth—the very form of divine knowledge made manifest. And only when one has knowledge—when one has been *named*—can these letters be spoken.

Thus, to be called by the Father is to enter a relationship of knowledge, response, and restoration. It is not simply to learn, but to *return*. Those who are named by the Father come to know Him because they were always His. Though they wandered in forgetfulness, He calls them by name, and they awaken. In that awakening, they become what they always were—children of the Father, readers of the living book, and bearers of the eternal name.

**The Father Calling Those Who Have Knowledge**

*An Exposition of Divine Calling and Recognition in the Gospel of Truth and the Scriptures*

In the divine mystery revealed through the *Gospel of Truth*, we are offered a profound reflection on the calling of the Father—his reaching out to those who are inscribed in his knowledge and destined to respond to his voice. This is not a general calling, but a personal summons to those whose names were known before the foundation of the world.

> *“Those whose names he knew first were called last, so that the one who has knowledge is one whose name the father has pronounced.”*

This evokes the principle spoken by Jesus when he declared,

> *“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”* —Matthew 19:30

The calling of the Father is not rooted in temporal order or human wisdom. It is based in foreknowledge—those known before time, yet revealed in the fullness of time. The one who receives knowledge is the one whose name has been *spoken*. The act of naming is an act of recognition and belonging. Without a spoken name, one remains in ignorance.

> *“For one whose name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if a name has not been uttered?”*

This recalls Paul's question:

> *“How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”* —Romans 10:14

To be ignorant is to dwell in forgetfulness. The *Gospel of Truth* calls such a one a *creature of forgetfulness*, destined to perish with ignorance. But those who are called hear, and in hearing, they turn.

> *“If called, that person hears, replies, and turns toward him who called.”*

This pattern mirrors Jesus’ words:

> *“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”* —John 10:27

The one who hears and responds ascends to the Father and learns the name by which they are called. This is not a mechanical process, but a personal revelation. The calling is not merely external; it is internal and awakening.

> *“That person ascends to him and knows how he is called. Having knowledge, that person does the will of him who called.”*

Just as Jesus said:

> *“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”* —Matthew 7:21

Knowledge is not passive. It leads to alignment with the Father's will. The one who receives this knowledge desires to please him, finds rest, and receives a certain name—a divine identity that affirms their origin and destiny.

> *“Those who thus are going to have knowledge know whence they came and whither they are going.”*

This echoes the words of Jesus:

> *“I know where I came from and where I am going.”* —John 8:14

The image that follows is striking: knowledge is like waking from a stupor.

> *“They know it as someone who, having become intoxicated, has turned from his drunkenness and, having come to himself, has restored what is his own.”*

This recalls the parable of the prodigal son:

> *“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘I will arise and go to my father.’”* —Luke 15:17

The journey of knowledge is not the acquisition of information but the recovery of origin. It is returning to what is ours, what was lost in forgetfulness. The Son, the one who knows the Father, goes before the others and brings them back.

> *“He has turned many from error. He went before them to their own places, from which they departed when they erred.”*

This is in harmony with the Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, as Jesus described:

> *“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”* —Luke 19:10

Their departure was not due to powerlessness, but due to their inability to comprehend the one in whom they already dwelled.

> *“It was a great wonder that they were in the Father without knowing him... since they were not able to contain him and know him in whom they were.”*

Like Paul said to the Athenians:

> *“In Him we live and move and have our being.”* —Acts 17:28

Though all live in the Father’s presence, not all know Him. Knowledge comes not by speculation, but by revelation—when the Father’s will proceeds from Him.

> *“For indeed his will had not come forth from him. For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emanations agree.”*

The Father’s will is not silent—it becomes intelligible through letters. These letters are not ordinary characters but living truths.

> *“The knowledge of the living book that he revealed to the eternal beings at last as his letters... they are letters written by the hand of the unity.”*

This calls to mind that the Word is not abstract:

> *“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”* —John 1:14

The “living book” is not simply Scripture—it is the Son himself, the Logos, who embodies the truth of the Father. Each “letter” is a complete truth, just as Christ said:

> *“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”* —John 14:6

And again:

> *“Your word is truth.”* —John 17:17

The knowledge of the Father, then, is not the accumulation of doctrine but the awakening of identity. The one who hears the call is no longer a creature of forgetfulness but a child of knowledge, restored to their name, written in the living book, to return and do the will of the one who called them.