Saying 50: We Came From the Light
If they ask where you are from, say: we came from the light, the place where the light came into being by itself. If they ask who you are, say: we are its children, chosen of the living Father. If they ask for the sign of the Father in you, say: motion and rest.
Commentary
A catechism in question-and-answer form, and the passage that most resembles the ascent-of-the-soul passwords found in later gnostic literature. “Motion and rest” pairs two states that ought to exclude each other.
Parallels
This saying has no close parallel in the canonical gospels. Roughly half of the Gospel of Thomas is material of this kind, found nowhere else in the early Christian record.
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