Matter, Passion, the Psychic Aeon, and the Restoration of Nature to Its Root
Introduction
The Gospel of Mary presents a distinctive understanding of sin, human nature, matter, suffering, and salvation. In the passage under consideration, Jesus challenges the assumption that sin exists as an independent power that possesses the world by its own authority. Instead, he directs his disciples towards a deeper understanding of how human beings participate in the formation of sin through their actions, desires, and relationship with the material order.
The central statement is found in section 26:
“The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.”
This statement raises a fundamental question: if the Savior declares that there is no sin, why do human beings experience corruption, suffering, sickness, and death? His answer is connected to the nature of matter, the passions that arise from it, and the possibility of restoration to the original root of existence.
The passage does not simply deny that harmful actions occur. Rather, it questions whether sin should be understood as an independent substance or power. The Savior distinguishes between nature itself and the activities through which human beings produce what is called sin. His teaching consequently shifts attention away from the mere application of external laws and towards the inner causes of human conduct.
When this passage is compared with The Concept of Our Great Power, a text from the Nag Hammadi collection, a related picture emerges. The latter describes a psychic aeon associated with bodies and the production of destructive passions, including anger, envy, hatred, slander, and falsehood. Read together, these texts offer a framework for examining sin as a condition arising through the interaction of material existence, psychic activity, and human behaviour.
The result is a conception of salvation centred upon healing, understanding, and the restoration of nature to its root.
1. All Nature Exists in Relationship
The Savior begins his teaching with a statement about the interconnectedness of existence:
“All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 22)
This statement establishes the foundation for everything that follows. Nature, formations, and creatures do not exist as completely isolated realities. They exist in relationship with one another, participating in an ordered process of existence and eventual dissolution.
The expression “all formations” can be understood as encompassing the forms and arrangements that constitute the world. These formations are not necessarily permanent in their present condition. Their existence is temporary, and their ultimate resolution involves a return to their respective roots.
The reference to roots is particularly important. The Savior does not describe the end of existence simply as annihilation into absolute nothingness. Instead, the passage describes a resolution into the origins or underlying principles from which particular forms arise.
This provides a framework for understanding the relationship between material existence and corruption. Things have a nature, and their eventual dissolution is related to that nature. Their existence does not require that every condition experienced during their formation should be regarded as an eternal or independent principle.
Within this interpretation, sin is not necessarily a fundamental constituent of existence. It can instead be understood as a condition associated with the way particular forms of life operate.
This distinction becomes clearer in the following verse.
2. The Nature of Matter and Its Own Roots
The Savior continues:
“For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 23)
Here, the Savior specifically addresses matter. Matter has its own nature and returns to the roots belonging to that nature.
This statement should not automatically be interpreted as meaning that matter is evil in itself. The text does not explicitly say that matter is identical with sin. Rather, it distinguishes matter according to its nature and its eventual resolution.
The distinction is important because the passage subsequently connects matter with passion and disturbance. Matter participates in a process through which particular conditions arise, but the existence of matter and the designation of certain human actions as sinful are not necessarily identical propositions.
The passage therefore invites a distinction between the material order and the moral or psychic conditions associated with embodied existence.
A body can experience desire, pleasure, pain, sickness, and death. These experiences belong to the conditions of embodied life. Yet the question of sin concerns how human beings act within those conditions and how their actions become destructive.
The Savior's teaching can consequently be read as a rejection of the assumption that every negative human condition must be explained through an independent substance called sin.
Instead, the explanation begins with nature, its formations, and the processes through which those formations arise and return to their roots.
3. Peter's Question: What Is the Sin of the World?
Peter then asks the question that brings the discussion directly to the nature of sin:
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 24)
Following this statement, Peter responds:
“Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?”
(Gospel of Mary, section 25)
Peter's question is significant because it asks about the sin of the world, rather than merely asking which individual actions are prohibited.
The wording suggests a question about the condition of existence itself. Is sin an independent reality governing the world? Is it an inherent quality of nature? Or does it arise through the actions of living beings?
The Savior's response challenges the assumptions behind the question.
“The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 26)
The words “There is no sin” are deliberately provocative. Taken in isolation, they might appear to deny the reality of wrongdoing altogether. Yet the remainder of the sentence immediately qualifies that reading: human beings make sin when they perform actions associated with what is called sin.
The statement therefore distinguishes between sin as an independent entity and sin as something produced through human conduct.
The Savior does not say that human actions have no consequences. Instead, he locates the making of sin in what people do.
The reference to adultery functions as an example of conduct designated as sinful. The precise meaning of the comparison has been interpreted in different ways, and the passage does not provide an exhaustive definition. Nevertheless, its immediate argument is clear: the designation of an action as sin is connected to the action itself, rather than proof that sin exists as an independent substance.
This distinction opens the possibility of understanding sin as a manifestation of disordered desire, action, or consciousness.
4. Sin as Something Human Beings Make
The expression “you make sin” deserves particular attention.
It suggests that sin is not simply an external object imposed upon a person. Human beings participate in its production through their actions. The responsibility for conduct cannot therefore be transferred entirely to an external power, a lawgiver, or the material world.
This interpretation does not mean that all harmful behaviour is freely chosen under ideal circumstances. Human conduct can be influenced by habits, desires, social circumstances, ignorance, and bodily conditions. Nevertheless, the Savior's statement directs attention to the relationship between human activity and the formation of what is called sin.
A useful distinction can be made between three related concepts:
Nature: the underlying constitution and conditions of existence.
Passion: a powerful impulse or disturbance arising within embodied and psychic life.
Sinful action: conduct through which such impulses become expressed in ways designated as sinful.
These concepts are related, but they are not interchangeable.
A passion is not necessarily identical with an action, and an action is not necessarily proof that sin exists as an independent substance. The passage instead encourages examination of the processes through which human beings become involved in destructive behaviour.
This is where The Concept of Our Great Power becomes a valuable comparative text.
5. The Psychic Aeon and the Defilement of Souls
The Concept of Our Great Power describes a psychic aeon in language that connects psychic existence, bodies, and the emergence of destructive activity:
“Next the psychic aeon. It is a small one, which is mixed with bodies, by begetting in the souls (and) defiling (them). For the first defilement of the creation found strength. And it begot every work: many works of wrath, anger, envy, malice, hatred, slander, contempt and war, lying and evil counsels, sorrows and pleasures, basenesses and defilements, falsehoods and diseases, evil judgments that they decree according to their desires.”
This passage offers a more elaborate account of the development of destructive passions than the Gospel of Mary provides in its brief discussion of sin.
The psychic aeon is described as “mixed with bodies.” The text associates this mixture with the generation of conditions in souls that are described as defilement. From this first defilement, a multitude of activities emerges.
The list is extensive: wrath, anger, envy, malice, hatred, slander, contempt, war, lying, evil counsel, falsehood, disease, and unjust judgments.
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some describe emotions, others interpersonal actions, others forms of deception, and still others conditions of suffering. Yet the passage brings them together as manifestations of a disturbed condition.
The phrase “evil judgments that they decree according to their desires” is particularly relevant to the Gospel of Mary. It suggests a connection between desire and judgment: people do not merely experience impulses but may also form decisions and judgments in accordance with them.
This provides a possible bridge between passion and action. An impulse becomes consequential when it shapes how someone thinks, judges, and behaves.
The psychic aeon passage thus offers a model in which destructive activity proliferates through the interaction of embodied existence and psychic life.
However, the two texts should not be treated as if they necessarily use identical terminology or express precisely the same system. The Gospel of Mary directly questions the status of sin, whereas The Concept of Our Great Power describes the generation of defiling conditions and destructive works. Their comparison is illuminating without requiring that every detail be harmonised.
6. Psalm 7:14 and the Formation of Evil
The comparison with Psalm 7:14 adds another dimension to this discussion:
“Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.” — Psalm 7:14, King James Version
The verse uses the imagery of conception and birth to describe the development of wrongdoing. Iniquity is conceived, mischief is brought forth, and falsehood emerges as the result.
This imagery resembles the generative language used in The Concept of Our Great Power, where the first defilement “begot every work.”
In both passages, wrongdoing is presented through a process of formation. It does not appear merely as an isolated label attached to an action after the event. Something develops and produces consequences.
The comparison does not establish that the Psalmist and the author of The Concept of Our Great Power held identical theological beliefs. It does, however, provide a useful conceptual parallel: destructive behaviour can be described as something conceived and brought forth.
Applied to the Gospel of Mary, this reinforces the possibility that sin is made through the processes of desire, judgment, and action.
A person may experience anger without immediately committing an act of violence. Envy may arise without becoming slander. Desire may exist without becoming betrayal. The important question is how the conditions of inner life develop into conduct.
The language of conception and birth encourages attention to that development.
7. The Good Comes to Restore Nature to Its Root
Following his statement about sin, the Savior explains the purpose of the Good:
“That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 27)
This is one of the most important statements in the passage because it explains salvation in terms of restoration.
The Good comes to the essence of every nature, with the purpose of restoring it to its root. Salvation is therefore presented as more than the imposition of an external command. It involves a movement towards the underlying origin of nature.
The language of restoration connects directly with the earlier declaration that all formations and creatures will be resolved into their own roots.
The Savior's teaching thus forms a sequence:
All nature and its formations exist in relationship.
Matter has its own nature and returns to its roots.
Human beings make sin through particular actions.
Destructive passions and works arise within embodied and psychic existence.
The Good comes to restore nature to its root.
Within this framework, salvation can be interpreted as the healing and restoration of a condition that has become disturbed.
The phrase “the essence of every nature” is especially significant. The Good is not described merely as addressing an external legal classification. Its work reaches the nature of things themselves.
For a Gnostic interpretation, this can suggest that salvation involves the recovery of a proper relationship with the source of existence. Yet the text's exact metaphysical meaning should not be reduced to a single formula. Its emphasis on roots and restoration allows several related interpretations.
The central point remains that the Good addresses the condition from which disorder arises.
8. Sickness and Death as Consequences of Being Deprived of Healing
The Savior continues:
“Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 28)
This statement links sickness and death with the absence of the one who can heal.
It follows the declaration that the Good came to restore nature to its root. Healing and restoration are therefore closely connected.
The passage does not explicitly state that every physical illness is caused by an individual's wrongdoing. Nor does it establish that every person who becomes sick has committed a particular sin. Such a conclusion would go beyond the wording of the text.
Instead, sickness and death are presented within a larger account of humanity's condition and its need for healing.
The statement can be understood on two related levels.
First, sickness and death belong to the experience of embodied existence. The earlier verses have already discussed matter, nature, and the eventual resolution of formations into their roots.
Second, the language of healing may point towards a deeper restoration of the human condition. The absence of the healer signifies deprivation: human beings lack what is necessary to overcome their disturbed state.
This interpretation also clarifies why the Savior's response to sin is not simply another prohibition. If the problem concerns a condition requiring healing, then salvation must address the condition itself.
The Good restores; the healer heals.
The passage consequently places the emphasis on recovery rather than merely condemnation.
9. Matter Gives Birth to Passion
The Savior then offers a further explanation:
“He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 29)
He continues:
“Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 30)
This is a difficult and important statement. Matter is described as giving birth to an extraordinary passion, which proceeds from something “contrary to nature.” The result is a disturbance affecting the whole body.
The language echoes the generative imagery found in The Concept of Our Great Power. In both passages, a process of formation leads to a condition of disturbance.
However, the Gospel of Mary does not explicitly identify matter itself with sin. Rather, matter is described as giving birth to passion, while the earlier statement locates the making of sin in human actions.
This distinction allows for a layered interpretation.
Matter provides the conditions of embodied existence. Passion arises within those conditions. Human beings act within the resulting field of impulses, desires, and judgments. Certain actions are then identified as sinful.
The passage's reference to something “contrary to nature” suggests that the passion in question is not simply an ordinary feature of existence operating in a harmonious manner. It represents a distortion or disorder.
The subsequent “disturbance in its whole body” suggests that this disorder is not confined to a single isolated act. It has consequences for the wider condition of embodied life.
The language should not be turned into an unsupported claim that matter is intrinsically evil. The text describes a problematic process involving matter and passion, but its larger movement is towards restoration rather than the simple rejection of existence.
10. Courage in the Presence of the Different Forms of Nature
The Savior responds to this difficult teaching with encouragement:
“That is why I said to you, Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged be encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 31)
The reference to the “different forms of nature” returns the reader to the opening declaration that all nature, formations, and creatures exist in relationship.
The Savior does not instruct the disciples to surrender to despair because matter and passion are associated with disturbance. Instead, he tells them to be courageous.
This is important because knowledge of the human condition can itself be unsettling. Recognising the relationship between embodied existence, passion, and destructive behaviour might lead someone to believe that disorder is unavoidable.
The Savior's response points in the opposite direction.
The possibility of restoration means that the present condition need not be regarded as the final truth about existence. If the Good can restore nature to its root, then the experience of disturbance does not eliminate the possibility of healing.
The encouragement is therefore consistent with the entire argument: the human condition requires understanding, but understanding should lead to restoration rather than despair.
The Savior again declares:
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 32)
This repeated formula emphasises that the teaching demands discernment. The disciples must do more than hear the words; they must understand the relationship between nature, passion, sin, and restoration.
11. Peace, the Inner Son of Man, and the Kingdom
After completing his teaching, the Savior says:
“When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all,saying, Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 33)
The greeting of peace follows the explanation of nature's disturbance and the need for healing. Peace is therefore a fitting conclusion to the discussion.
The Savior's next warning is equally important:
“Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 34)
This statement directs attention away from the search for an exclusively external location of salvation.
The disciples are warned against being misled by claims that the decisive reality is located only “here” or “there.” Instead, the Son of Man is described as being within them.
This can be understood as an invitation to recognise the presence of the saving reality within human existence, rather than depending entirely on external authorities or geographical claims.
The passage does not explain every aspect of the Son of Man's identity, but its immediate emphasis is clear: the disciples must seek and recognise what is within.
The Savior continues:
“Follow after Him!”
(Gospel of Mary, section 35)
And:
“Those who seek Him will find Him.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 36)
These statements connect inner recognition with active seeking. The disciples are not merely told that the Son of Man is within them; they are instructed to follow and seek.
In the context of the earlier teaching, this seeking can be understood as part of the movement towards restoration. The Good comes to restore nature to its root, and the disciples are encouraged to pursue the saving reality rather than be diverted by misleading claims.
The passage concludes with a commission:
“Go then and preach the gospel of the Kingdom.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 37)
The teaching about sin is therefore not an isolated philosophical speculation. It belongs to the proclamation of the Kingdom.
The disciples are to communicate the message of the Good, the possibility of healing, and the call to seek the saving reality.
12. Rejecting Additional Rules and the Burden of the Lawgiver
The final statement provides a fitting conclusion:
“Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 38)
This instruction is particularly significant when read alongside the declaration that human beings make sin through their actions.
The Savior warns the disciples against introducing additional rules and becoming like a lawgiver. The concern is that the disciples might become constrained by a system of regulations that extends beyond the teaching they have received.
The passage does not necessarily mean that all moral distinctions are meaningless or that harmful behaviour should be ignored. Its earlier statements clearly distinguish actions associated with sin and describe the destructive consequences of passion and disturbance.
Instead, the warning challenges the assumption that salvation can be achieved merely by multiplying external rules.
If the fundamental problem concerns the condition of nature, the generation of passion, and the actions that human beings produce, then external regulation alone cannot fully address that problem.
A person may know a rule without understanding the passion that leads to destructive conduct. A person may follow an external requirement while remaining governed by envy, hatred, malice, or deceit.
The Gospel of Mary therefore places particular importance on understanding, inner recognition, healing, and restoration.
The warning against becoming a lawgiver also prevents the disciples from replacing the Savior's teaching with a new system of burdensome regulations. Their task is to preach the Kingdom, not to create additional constraints that obscure the message.
Conclusion
The nature of sin in the Gospel of Mary can be understood through the relationship between matter, passion, human action, and restoration.
The Savior begins by declaring:
“All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 22)
He then makes the central statement:
“There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 26)
These statements establish the framework for interpreting the passage. Nature has its own constitution and process of resolution, while sin is associated with actions that human beings perform. The text challenges the idea that sin must exist as an independent substance, without denying that destructive conduct and its consequences are real.
The Concept of Our Great Power provides a complementary account of how defiling conditions and destructive works arise within psychic and embodied existence. Its catalogue of wrath, anger, envy, malice, hatred, slander, war, lying, and falsehood illustrates the proliferation of destructive activity. Psalm 7:14 offers a further parallel through its image of iniquity being conceived and falsehood being brought forth.
Against this background, the Savior declares that the Good has come:
“to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.”
(Gospel of Mary, section 27)
This is the decisive answer to the problem of sin. The goal is restoration, not simply the multiplication of prohibitions. The healer addresses the disturbed condition; the Good restores nature to its root.
The passage concludes by directing the disciples towards the Son of Man within them, encouraging them to seek, and commissioning them to preach the Kingdom without imposing additional rules.
The central message is therefore that sin should not automatically be treated as an eternal, independent power. The Gospel of Mary instead invites readers to examine how destructive conditions arise through passion and action, why human beings require healing, and how restoration becomes possible through the Good.
Sin is described as something human beings make; salvation is described as the restoration of nature to its root.
