What is the Nag Hammadi library?
A collection of thirteen fourth-century Coptic papyrus codices containing fifty-two mostly Gnostic texts, found buried in a jar near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945.
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The Nag Hammadi Library — Free PDF Study Guide
A clear, honest guide to the Nag Hammadi library — the jar of thirteen leather-bound codices dug up beneath a cliff in Upper Egypt in December 1945, containing fifty-two mostly Gnostic texts in Coptic. This guide explains what was found, what the major texts teach, how Gnosticism differs from the faith of the New Testament, and why none of these writings belongs in the Bible.
An original Bible Sundays study companion. None of the Nag Hammadi texts is Scripture and none appears in any Bible. They are studied here as historical documents — read them against the King James Version.
What you get
December 1945: the jar, the cliff at Jabal al-Tarif, and how the codices survived
What the thirteen codices contain — the major texts, book by book
Gnosticism in plain terms: the unknown Father, the demiurge, and salvation by knowledge
Why the Gospel of Thomas, Philip, and Truth are late and non-apostolic
How to answer the claim that these books were 'banned from the Bible'
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The discovery
In December 1945, near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, farmers digging for fertiliser at the foot of the Jabal al-Tarif cliff struck a sealed earthenware jar about a metre tall. Inside were thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices. Some pages were burned as kindling before their value was recognised; the rest passed through the antiquities market and were eventually gathered, largely, in the Coptic Museum in Cairo. The codices date to roughly the middle of the fourth century, and the texts they contain are Coptic translations of Greek originals composed between about AD 100 and 300. They were probably buried by monks from a nearby Pachomian monastery after Athanasius' festal letter of 367 set out the twenty-seven-book New Testament and called for other writings to be put away.
What is in the library
Fifty-two tractates, of which about forty were previously unknown. The best known are the Gospel of Thomas (114 sayings), the Gospel of Philip (a collection of sacramental reflections, famous for the damaged line about Mary Magdalene), the Gospel of Truth (a meditation attributed by many to the Valentinian teacher Valentinus or his school), the Apocryphon or Secret Book of John (the fullest surviving Gnostic creation myth), the Hypostasis of the Archons, On the Origin of the World, the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Apocalypse of Adam, the Thunder Perfect Mind, and the Exegesis on the Soul. The collection is not uniform: it also includes a fragmentary Coptic translation of part of Plato's Republic and some Hermetic material, which suggests a reader interested in speculative religion generally rather than a single sect's canon.
What Gnosticism actually taught
Stated plainly, the Gnostic systems represented at Nag Hammadi hold that the true God is an unknown Father utterly removed from the material world; that the world was made not by him but by a lesser, ignorant or malevolent craftsman called the demiurge — frequently identified with the God of Genesis; that divine sparks are trapped in human bodies; and that salvation comes through gnosis, secret knowledge of one's true origin, brought by a revealer who often only appears to be flesh. Every one of those propositions is denied by the Bible. Genesis calls creation very good. John says the Word was made flesh. 1 John makes confession of Christ come in the flesh the test of a true spirit. Ephesians says salvation is by grace through faith, not by acquiring a secret. This is not a difference of emphasis; it is a different religion using Christian names.
Were these books 'banned from the Bible'?
No, and the claim collapses on dates. The four Gospels were being quoted as a fixed set by Irenaeus around AD 180 and are named in the Muratorian Fragment in the same period, while most Nag Hammadi texts were still being written. The books were never in the canon to be removed from it. What did happen is that the church, faced with writings that denied the goodness of creation and the reality of the incarnation, judged them and declined them — in public argument, in writing, for anyone to read. Irenaeus' Against Heresies survives and shows exactly how the case was made. The Nag Hammadi library is a magnificent historical find that transformed our knowledge of second- and third-century religion. It is not a lost Bible, and reading it beside the King James Version makes the distance obvious.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Nag Hammadi texts in the Bible?
No. None of them is in any canon of Scripture — Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, or Ethiopian. They were composed between roughly AD 100 and 300, after the four Gospels were already circulating as a fixed set.
What is the most famous Nag Hammadi text?
The Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. The Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Truth, and the Secret Book (Apocryphon) of John are the next best known.
Were the Gnostic gospels banned or suppressed?
They were argued against publicly and rejected, chiefly because they denied that the world is God's good creation and that Christ truly came in the flesh. They were never removed from the canon, because they were never in it.
Who buried the Nag Hammadi codices?
Most likely monks from the nearby Pachomian monastery, plausibly after Athanasius' festal letter of AD 367 listed the twenty-seven New Testament books and directed that other writings be set aside.
Does the Gospel of Thomas say Jesus was married?
No. That claim comes from a damaged line in the Gospel of Philip describing Mary Magdalene as a companion, in a text full of symbolic language about spiritual union. It is not a historical statement, and the Gospel of Philip is a third-century Valentinian work.
Should Christians read the Nag Hammadi texts?
They can be read profitably as history, with discernment, once you know what they teach. Read them after you know the Bible well, not instead of it — and test everything by Scripture, as 1 John 4:1 directs.
Can I print or share this study guide?
Yes. This guide is an original Bible Sundays work, free to print, copy, and share for personal, ministry, or classroom use. No email or sign-up required.
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