Grace for Grace

St. Irenaeus of Lyon specifically called out a work called the Gospel of Truth in his treatise Against Heresies, written around AD 180, as a false teaching—an extra gospel produced by the Valentinian sect. But that was about all we knew of this book; the text itself had been lost to history until it was discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945.

Now, Irenaeus could be right that the version of this text during his time, or the version that we have today, could have been corrupted with Interpolations and such, but it is still a peek into early Christianity—an interesting perspective on what was not included in the canon.

And as I go through this Gospel of Truth, I love it. There are a lot of teachings contained in here that sound like the Restored Gospel. And if we were sitting around my house flipping through my marked and tattered copy of the Nag Hammadi writings, I might show you all the cross-references and interesting parts that I like. But I just wanted to highlight one thing, because I haven’t seen anyone else mention this—not to say that no one has—but I find it very interesting that there is a Tree of Life narrative in this early Christian text.

Why would that be? I can’t say. Lehi’s dream was given to him after he had left Jerusalem, so my only assumption would be that the dream was given to him in that sort of light because it was imagery rooted in the culture he came from, and that would explain why this other Christian text contains the same imagery. Or maybe God was just giving a dream or vision or analogy to two separate people at two separate times.

We know that Joseph Smith’s father, Joseph Smith Sr., had a dream similar to the Tree of Life. According to Lucy Mack Smith’s later account, he had the dream around 1811, years before the publication of the Book of Mormon. His dream included a narrow path, a beautiful tree with white fruit, his family eating the fruit with great joy, and a spacious building filled with people mocking them.

This story has interestingly been used as evidence of Joseph Smith’s prophetic call, showing that Joseph Smith’s family was receiving revelations or prophecies in anticipation of the great prophet who was going to come from them, and it has also been used to argue against the Book of Mormon because it showed that Joseph Smith was pulling family lore into a fabricated narrative of the Book of Mormon.

But then why does this narrative also exist in this newly discovered ancient Christian text? I mean, if the Gospel of Truth had been readily available during Joseph Smith’s time, his detractors would’ve called plagiarism over the similarities. So what do we make of this, seeing that the text was discovered 101 years after Joseph Smith’s death?

How I would summarize the elements of the Tree of Life vision given in the Book of Mormon is a salvation narrative where people are led along a path that has beside it a rod of iron, kind of like a handrail to the path. This rod of iron represents the word of God that He teaches to His children. The path and rod run together through some perils, including mists of darkness, which tempt them, but because they’re on the path and holding to the rod, they aren’t blinded. And then this path leads to a beautiful tree with beautiful white fruit. When they eat the fruit, it brings them joy and happiness.

Later, as more of the symbolism of the story is explained to Nephi, we learn that Jesus condescends to come to earth, He teaches, and He is taken and crucified. The Tree of Life represents the love of God in the context of giving His Son for us so that we can be forgiven and be reconciled to Him.

The narrative in the Gospel of Truth is essentially the same. There is a fog that represents error and distractions meant to beguile. But through the mercy of the Father, He reveals Jesus Christ to enlighten those in the darkness by showing them the way, and the way is the truth He taught—or in other words, this path represents the word of God. Now, this use of the word “the way” is also a reference from the New Testament, where Christ is called the Way and His teaching and Church are called the Way, so this supports the idea that a way or a path represents Christ and His teachings.

It continues, Error, the personification of evil and wrongness, was angry, and they persecuted Jesus and nailed Him to a tree, which is a common symbolism for the Cross, and He became the fruit of the knowledge of the Father—the fruit of the tree. So Christ was the fruit of the tree, and His sacrifice represented the will and love of God, and when we eat the fruit, we are born again.

Now, in both cases we have very similar imagery. Obviously, some of it comes from Christianity in terms of “the Way,” and the idea that the Cross is called a tree, in that the Bible says Christ was nailed to a tree. But the imagery all put together—of going through the fog safely because you’re on the path, and its connection to the tree where you eat the fruit and are born again—is essentially the same thing.

The Book of Mormon Tree of Life is more detailed, and part of that is you get this director’s cut where Nephi is guided through the symbolism of the original dream. But the Book of Mormon also has the great and spacious building and the fountain of filthy water. So it has a little bit more richness. It’s definitely a lot longer than the text in the Gospel of Truth, which is just a few paragraphs.

Although it is interesting that when talking about the fog in the Gospel of Truth, it mentions a “deceptive figure.” It doesn’t say what it is exactly, but there was some sort of distraction, which to me kind of plays a great and spacious building role.

There it is, the Tree of Life in an ancient Christian text. How did it get there? Why is it there? What does this mean? I don’t know. For me, it gives me insight and a different perspective on the imagery, symbolism, and meaning of the vision of the Tree of Life.

For example, the great and spacious building was floating in the air. It had no foundation. The Gospel of Truth teaches, “Whatever does not exist will never exist,” in the context of teaching about the eternal nature of the human soul. But in principle, the idea is that falsehood comes out of nothing and so will amount to nothing, whereas eternal things and eternal truth have eternal existence. They have a foundation. They have roots. And in the Gospel of Truth Tree of Life narrative, it says, “Error had no root.”

So with that sort of imagery and context, it changes the way I see the great and spacious building. It is not just floating above the earth and prideful, but is without a foundation, and then the lack of that foundation directly leads to its fall. Because if it doesn’t exist, it will never exist. If an error comes out of nothing, it has no root. Truth is eternal and grounded.

I’ve known this idea before, obviously—the idea that the great and spacious building is not only on a sandy foundation; it has no foundation. But it adds meaning and depth.

On the iron rod in the Book of Mormon, the fact that the iron rod, to members of the Church, is thought of more than the path is in part a coincidence of the fact that “rod” rhymes with “God.” And so the song goes, “The iron rod is the word of God.” But if you read the Tree of Life story in the Book of Mormon, the path is just as much part of the imagery. And the Gospel of Truth focuses on the path and ties it to “the Way,” which is Jesus Christ, and which is what the movement He started was called: the Way. And it ties this iron rod and this path into the Christian Way, the path, and the things that Jesus taught.

Obviously, we know—and it rhymes, so it must be true—the iron rod is the word of God. But this adds depth and ties it more into the New Testament original Church.

I love how the Gospel of Truth says Jesus was nailed to the tree and became the fruit of the tree. The Book of Mormon teaches that same principle, but in a more drawn-out historical context, whereas the Gospel of Truth employs very strong and concise symbolism to teach the same thing quickly and powerfully. It helps you understand the Book of Mormon better as you read the description of Christ coming to earth and teaching and being crucified: that was Him being nailed to the tree and becoming the fruit of the tree.

And so, to me, it’s an interesting vindication of this Book of Mormon imagery as being of a more ancient origin and not just something that Joseph Smith or his dad made up. But doctrinally, it gives insights, and that’s fun and interesting. As a religious text, it also stands on its own to help me understand and appreciate the Tree of Life narrative better.