Chapter 1

James writes: Peace be with you from Peace, love from Love, grace from Grace, faith from Faith, life from Holy Life!

Since you asked me to send you a secret book revealed to me and Peter by the Lord, I could not refuse you or turn you away. I have written it in the Hebrew alphabet and sent it to you, and to you alone. But since you are a minister of the salvation of the saints, make every effort and take care not to share this text with many people — this that the Savior did not wish to tell to all of us, his twelve disciples. Blessed will they be who are saved through the faith of this discourse.

I also sent you, ten months ago, another secret book which the Savior had revealed to me. Regard that one as revealed to me, James, under those circumstances. But as for this one: the twelve disciples were all sitting together, recalling what the Savior had said to each of them, whether in secret or openly, and setting it down in books. I was writing what was in my own book when, suddenly, the Savior appeared — after he had departed from us while we stood gazing after him. It was five hundred and fifty days since he had risen from the dead. We said to him, "Have you departed and removed yourself from us?" But Jesus said, "No — I shall go to the place from which I came. If you wish to come with me, come!"

They all answered and said, "If you bid us, we will come."

He said, "Truly I say to you, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven at my bidding, but only because you yourselves are full. Leave James and Peter to me, that I may fill them." And having called these two, he drew them aside and told the rest to occupy themselves with what they had been doing.

The Savior said, "You have received mercy — do you not, then, desire to be filled? Your heart is drunk — do you not, then, desire to be sober? Be ashamed, then! From now on, waking or sleeping, remember that you have seen the Son of Man, and spoken with him face to face, and listened to him in person. Woe to those who have seen the Son of Man. Blessed will they be who have not seen him, and who have not kept company with him, and who have not spoken with him, and who have not heard anything from him — for yours is life! Know this: he healed you when you were ill so that you might reign. Woe to those who have found relief from their illness, for they will relapse into illness. Blessed are they who have not been ill and have known relief before ever falling ill — for yours is the kingdom of God. Therefore I say to you, become full, and leave no space within you empty, for the one who is coming can mock you."

Then Peter replied, "Three times now you have told us, 'Become full' — but we are full."

Chapter 2

The Savior answered and said, "This is why I have told you, 'Become full,' so that you will not be in want. Those who are in want cannot be saved. It is good to be full, and bad to be in want. And yet, just as it is good to be in want and bad to be full, so the one who is full is also in want, and the one who is in want does not simply become full the way someone in want becomes full — rather, the one who has been filled then attains true perfection. Therefore, be in want while there is still the possibility of being filled, and be full while there is still the possibility of being in want, so that you may be able to fill yourselves all the more. Become full of the Spirit, but be in want of reason — for reason belongs to the soul, and in turn, it is the soul."

I answered and said to him, "Lord, we can obey you if you wish, for we have forsaken our fathers and our mothers and our villages and followed you. Grant us, therefore, not to be tempted by the devil, the evil one."

The Lord answered and said, "What credit is it to you if you do the will of the Father, yet it is not given to you by him as a gift while you are being tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan and persecuted, and yet you do his will, I say that he will love you and make you equal with me, and will count you as having become beloved through his providence by your own free choice. So will you not stop loving the flesh and fearing suffering? Do you not know that you have yet to be abused and falsely accused, yet to be thrown into prison and condemned without justice, yet to be crucified for no reason and buried — just as I myself was — by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the Spirit is a surrounding wall? If you consider how long the world existed before you, and how long it will exist after you, you will find that your life is a single day and your sufferings a single hour. For the good will not enter into the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take thought for life! Remember my cross and my death, and you will live!"

I answered and said to him, "Lord, do not speak to us of the cross and death, for they are far from you."

The Lord answered and said, "Truly I say to you, none will be saved unless they believe in my cross. But those who have believed in my cross — the kingdom of God is theirs. Therefore, become seekers of death, as the dead who seek for life; for what they seek is revealed to them. And what is there to trouble them? As for you, when you examine death, it will teach you about election. Truly I say to you, none of those who fear death will be saved, for the kingdom belongs to those who put themselves to death. Become better than I; make yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit!"

Then I asked him, "Lord, how shall we be able to prophesy to those who ask us to prophesy to them? For there are many who ask us and look to us to hear an oracle from us."

The Lord answered and said, "Do you not know that the head of prophecy was cut off with John?"

Chapter 3

But I said, "Lord, is it really possible to remove the head of prophecy?"

The Lord said to me, "When you come to know what 'head' means, and that prophecy issues from the head, then you will understand what 'Its head was removed' means. At first I spoke to you in parables, and you did not understand; now I speak to you openly, and you do not perceive. Yet it was you who served me as a parable among parables, and as that which is open among the things that are open.

"Hasten to be saved without being urged! Instead, be eager on your own, and if possible, arrive even before me; for in this way the Father will love you.

"Come to hate hypocrisy and evil thought; for it is thought that gives birth to hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is far from truth.

"Do not allow the kingdom of heaven to wither; for it is like a palm shoot whose fruit has dropped down around it. They put forth leaves, and after they had sprouted, they caused their womb to dry up. So it is also with the fruit that had grown from this single root: when it had been picked, fruit was borne by many. It would certainly be good if it were possible for you to produce the new plants now — you would find it so.

"Since I have already been glorified in this way, why do you hold me back in my eagerness to go? For after the labor, you have compelled me to stay with you another eighteen days for the sake of the parables. It was enough for some to listen to the teaching and understand 'The Shepherds' and 'The Seed' and 'The Building' and 'The Lamps of the Virgins' and 'The Wage of the Workmen' and 'The Didrachmae' and 'The Woman.'

"Be earnest about the word. As for the word, its first part is faith; the second, love; the third, works — for from these comes life. The word is like a grain of wheat: when someone sowed it, he had faith in it; and when it sprouted, he loved it, because he had seen many grains in place of one; and when he had worked, he was saved, because he had prepared it for food, and then left the rest to sow again. In the same way you yourselves can receive the kingdom of heaven; but unless you receive it through knowledge, you will not be able to find it."

Chapter 4

Therefore I say to you: be sober, and do not be deceived. Many times I have spoken to all of you together, and also to you alone, James, I have said: "Be saved!" I have commanded you to follow me, and I have taught you what to say before the archons.

See that I descended, and spoke, and endured suffering, and carried off my crown after saving you. For I came down to dwell with you, so that you in turn might dwell with me. Finding your houses without roofs, I made my dwelling in the houses that were able to receive me at the time of my descent.

Therefore, trust in me, my brothers and sisters. Understand what the great light is. The Father has no need of me — for a father does not need a son, but a son needs his father — even though I go to him. For the Father of the Son has no need of you.

Listen to the word, understand knowledge, love life, and no one will persecute you, and no one will oppress you, other than yourselves.

O you wretched ones! O you unfortunate ones! O you pretenders to the truth! O you falsifiers of knowledge! O you sinners against the Spirit! Can you still bear to listen, when from the very beginning it fell to you to speak? Can you still bear to sleep, when from the very beginning it fell to you to be awake, so that the kingdom of heaven might receive you? Truly I say to you: if I had been sent to those who actually listen to me, and had spoken with them, I would never have come down to earth at all. So then, be ashamed on account of these things.

Chapter 5

See, I shall depart from you and go away, and I do not wish to remain with you any longer — just as you yourselves have not wished it. Now, therefore, follow me quickly. This is why I say to you: for your sakes I came down. You are the beloved; you are those who will be the cause of life in many. Invoke the Father, implore God often, and he will give to you. Blessed is he who has seen you with Him when He was proclaimed among the angels and glorified among the saints; yours is life. Rejoice and be glad, as sons of God. Keep his will, that you may be saved; accept reproof from me and save yourselves. I intercede on your behalf with the Father, and he will forgive you much.

When we heard these words, we became glad, for we had been grieved at the words mentioned before. But when he saw us rejoicing, he said, "Woe to you who lack an advocate! Woe to you who stand in need of grace! Blessed will they be who have spoken out and obtained grace for themselves.

Liken yourselves to foreigners — what sort of people are they in the eyes of your city? Why are you disturbed when you cast yourselves away of your own accord and separate yourselves from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place voluntarily, making it ready for those who want to dwell in it? O you outcasts and fugitives, woe to you, for you will be caught! Or do you perhaps think that the Father is a lover of mankind, or that he is won over without prayers, or that he grants remission to one person on another's behalf, or that he bears with one who asks? For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh needs — and it is not the flesh that desires the soul. For without the soul, the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved from evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it — that is, the body kills itself. Truly I say to you, he will not forgive the soul its sin by any means, nor the flesh its guilt; for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. Do you think that many have found the kingdom of heaven? Blessed is he who has seen himself as a fourth one in heaven!"