Gnostic writings of Jesus portray him as a heavenly redeemer made less of flesh than of spirit. The emphasis of Jesus' importance is not on his physical humanness but rather, on his ability to show people the way to the kingdom. Jesus put on flesh in order to give people gnosis and reveal to them where they come from and where they will eventually return. When it is time for Jesus to return to his …showed first 75 words of 3051 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3051 total…Early Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Franzmann, Majella. Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1996. Groothuis, Douglas. "Gnosticism And The Gnostic Jesus". Christian Research Journal. 1994. Online. URL: http://iclnet93.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0040a.txt (20 April 2000) Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Random House, 1979. The Gnostic Society Library. "Introduction to the Nag Hammadi Library." 18 August 1997. Online. URL: http://home.sol.no/~noetic/nagham/nhlintro.html (10 April 2000).