The sentence he never said
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ⲁⲩⲱ ⲉⲛⲉⲙ̅ⲡϥ̅ϫⲟⲟⲥ ⲉⲛⲉϥⲙⲁⲑⲏⲧⲏⲥ ϫⲉⲛ̅ⲧⲁⲓ̈ⲉⲓ̅ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲛ̅ⲁϣ ⲛ̅ⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ ϣⲁⲛϯⲉⲓ̅ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲉⲡⲙⲩⲥⲧⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ ⲉⲧⲙ̅ⲙⲁⲩ. ϣⲁⲛϯⲡⲣⲟⲉⲗⲑⲉ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲛ̅ϩⲏⲧϥ̅· ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲉϣⲁϥϫⲟⲟⲥ ⲛⲁⲩ ⲉϥϯⲥⲃⲱ ⲛⲁⲩ ϫⲉⲛ̅ⲧⲁⲓ̈ⲉⲓ̅ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲙ̅ⲡⲙⲩⲥⲧⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ ⲉⲧⲙ̅ⲙⲁⲩ ⲉⲧⲃⲉⲡⲁⲓ̈ ϭⲉ ⲛⲉⲩⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲡⲙⲩⲥⲧⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ ⲉⲧⲙ̅ⲙⲁⲩ ϫⲉⲛ̅ⲧⲟϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡϫⲱⲕ ⲛ̅ⲛ̅ϫⲱⲕ ⲧⲏⲣⲟⲩ· ⲁⲩⲱ ϫⲉⲛ̅ⲧⲟϥ ⲡⲉ ⲧⲕⲉⲫⲁⲗⲏ ⲙ̅ⲡⲧⲏⲣϥ̅· ⲁⲩⲱ ϫⲉⲛ̅ⲧⲟϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲗⲏⲣⲱⲙⲁ ⲧⲏⲣϥ̅· ⲉⲡⲓⲇⲏ ⲉϣⲁⲣⲉⲓ̅ⲥ̅ ϫⲟⲟⲥ ⲉⲛⲉϥⲙⲁⲑⲏⲧⲏⲥ ϫⲉⲡⲙⲩⲥⲧⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ ⲉⲧⲙ̅ⲙⲁⲩ ⲛ̅ⲧⲟϥ ⲡⲉⲧⲕⲱⲧⲉ ⲉⲛⲓⲡⲧⲏⲣϥ̅·
And he had not said to his disciples: I have come forth out of such-and-such regions, until I entered into that mystery, and until I went forth out of it. Rather, in teaching them he would say: I have come forth from that mystery. For this cause, then, they thought of that mystery that it is the completion of all completions, and that it is the head of the All, and that it is the entire Fulness, since Jesus would say to his disciples: That mystery is what surrounds this universe.
The narrator isolates the exact gap in the disciples’ knowledge: Jesus never said "I came out of such-and-such regions, through them, into the mystery, and out again." He only ever said "I have come from that mystery." One compressed sentence, and a whole false cosmology grew in its shade.
This is the most careful passage of the opening: the narrator writes out, word for word, the sentence Jesus never said. The unsaid sentence has an itinerary in it — out of regions, <em>through</em>, in, and out again, with the Greek verb <em>proelthe</em> (proerchomai, "go forth") marking the exit. The said sentence has only a point of origin: "I have come forth from that mystery." The difference between a journey and a doorway is the whole difference between the disciples’ theology and the true map. It is a shrewd piece of narrative epistemology: error enters not through false statements but through compressed ones, and revelation, when it comes, will simply be the decompression.
The disciples’ three titles for the mystery now stand together for the last time — completion of completions, head of the All, and <em>plērōma</em>, the Fulness entire. That third word is the boldest borrowing in the passage: in Valentinian theology the Plērōma is the technical name for the complete world of divine fulness, the aeon-realm itself. The disciples, in other words, have reinvented a rival school’s supreme term and pinned it one level too low — because "that mystery surrounds this All", and from inside, a container looks like a totality. Twice now the chapter has used <em>kōte</em>, surround, as the verb that breeds the mistake. The reader is being trained to hear it with suspicion; in the next chapter something will surround Jesus himself, and this time it will be light.
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