The Teacher of Immortality and the Teacher of Righteousness: One and the Same

**The Teacher of Righteousness and the Teacher of Immortality: One and the Same**

Throughout the writings of both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library, we encounter the figure of a divine teacher—one who brings truth, unveils hidden knowledge, and leads the faithful toward righteousness and immortality. This figure appears under different titles: *The Teacher of Righteousness* in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and *The Teacher of Immortality* in the Valentinian text *The Interpretation of Knowledge*. Yet a close comparison reveals that these two are one and the same person: **Jesus Christ**, the true Prophet, whose mission is to teach the Church how to die to the present world and live in expectation of incorruptibility.

In *The Interpretation of Knowledge*, the Teacher of Immortality is described as a figure who both creates and destroys—who appears divine, not for the sake of arrogance, but because he shares in divine knowledge and power by commission from the Deity. He comes to teach the Church not to cling to life in the corruptible world but to embrace the death that leads to true life:

> "The teacher should hide himself as if he were a god who would embrace his works and destroy them. For he also spoke with the Church and he made himself her teacher of immortality, and destroyed the arrogant teacher by teaching her to die. And this teacher made a living school, for that teacher has another school: while it teaches us about the dead writings, he, on the other hand, was causing us to remove ourselves from the surfeit of the world; we were being taught about our death through them." (*The Interpretation of Knowledge*, Nag Hammadi Library)

Here, Jesus is portrayed as the teacher who teaches the Church “to die”—not by glorifying martyrdom or violence, but by guiding her out of bondage to the present corruptible age and into the hope of resurrection. He destroys the arrogant teacher not by sword or fire, but through the quiet work of teaching and truth. His school is *living* because it transforms hearts, while the rival school is dead, filled with doctrines that come from “dead writings”—that is, **church creeds, papal bulls, and the declarations of men** who exalt themselves over the Word of God.

This aligns with what is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the *Habakkuk Pesher* (1QpHab), the Teacher of Righteousness is described as a faithful interpreter of prophecy and a vessel of divine understanding:

> "\[For the wicked encompasses] the righteous (i, 4c).

> \[The wicked is the Wicked Priest, and the righteous] is the Teacher of Righteousness...

> \[So] justice goes forth \[perverted] (i, 4d)."

Here, we see a conflict not unlike the one described in the New Testament between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day, and later between the apostles and the apostate institutions of Christianity. The Teacher of Righteousness is surrounded by wickedness—he is persecuted by a rival figure called the *Wicked Priest*. This “priest” is not merely another Jew in disagreement; he is described as one who profanes the covenant and leads others astray:

> "\[Behold the nations and see, marvel and be astonished; for I accomplish a deed in your days, but you will not believe it when] II told (i, 5).

> \[Interpreted, this concerns] those who were unfaithful together with the Liar, in that they \[did] not \[listen to the word received by] the Teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of God. And it concerns the unfaithful of the New \[Covenant] in that they have not believed in the Covenant of God \[and have profaned] His holy Name."

This has direct application to the Christian age. The “unfaithful of the New Covenant” refer to those who claim to belong to Christ but reject the words of the Teacher of Righteousness—Jesus—by adhering instead to the decrees of human leaders. It is the same betrayal described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians, where he warns of a great apostasy and the rise of the *man of sin*:

> “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4)

This *man of sin* is none other than the *arrogant teacher* and the *Wicked Priest* spoken of in earlier writings. He is not a future individual but a continuing office—the **Bishop of Rome**, the **Papacy**, the **line of popes**, and the **Antichrist** foretold by Paul and revealed by history. The popes have exalted themselves above all that is called God, sitting in temples adorned with gold, issuing bulls and encyclicals that override the plain teachings of Scripture. They have persecuted those who keep the testimony of Jesus, much like the Wicked Priest persecuted the Teacher of Righteousness.

The so-called church creeds—Nicene, Chalcedonian, and others—and papal bulls are the *dead writings* of the arrogant teacher’s school. These are contrasted with the living voice of the true Teacher, who instructed the Church in dying to the world. The living school of Christ calls believers to forsake dogma, ritual, and pride, and to embrace humility, righteousness, and incorruptibility.

Jesus Christ is both the *Teacher of Righteousness* and the *Teacher of Immortality*. He was rejected by those who claimed authority and was opposed by religious institutions that sought control. He taught his disciples not to seek power in this age, but to die to it—to put off the surfeit of the world and live by the power of the coming age. His school remains alive wherever his words are taught and obeyed.

In the end, the teacher who teaches us to die is the only one who can teach us to live. And the arrogant teacher who teaches from dead writings is the one who leads many to destruction. The contrast remains clear. One leads to life; the other to judgment. And the final generation, like the first, must choose between the two.