The Pistis Sophia – What is it?

from the old testament

• The Old Testament emphasizes that God’s Word is complete, trustworthy, and sufficient for teaching, correction, and guidance (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:5; Psalm 12:6–7).
• Deuteronomy warns against adding to or distorting God’s commands: “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you” (4:2). This passage (and others like it) highlight that human inventions, secret knowledge, or mystical tales cannot replace God’s revelation. This principle helps us understand that extra-biblical writings like the Pistis Sophia, which claim hidden teachings of Christ long after the events occurred, cannot be considered authoritative or inspired. The standard for truth and salvation is God’s Word, preserved and handed down faithfully to guide His people.

from the new testament

• The Pistis Sophia teaches that Jesus Christ spent eleven years (or maybe eleven months) with the disciples after His resurrection and then ascended through lightning and blinding light through various levels of consciousness. Below the thirteenth level, He met a distressed woman (Pistis Sophia) who was enamored with His light, and she achieved salvation. In this story, Jesus then returned to the disciples before ascending to heaven. The Bible does not support this narrative but clearly teaches that post-resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples for forty days before ascending to heaven (Acts 1:3, 1:9). Scripture does mention of Jesus spending eleven years or months with them, nor of Him ascending through levels of consciousness, encountering mystical figures like Pistis Sophia, or teaching secret knowledge beyond what He revealed in Scripture (John 20:30–31; Luke 24:44–49).
• The New Testament emphasizes that salvation and spiritual understanding come through faith in Christ, obedience to God’s Word, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 14:6; 2 Timothy 3:16–17), not through esoteric or mystical experiences recorded in later, non-canonical texts.
• The Bible consistently warns against extra-biblical writings that claim secret teachings or alternative accounts of Christ’s life and ministry (Colossians 2:8; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1). The Pistis Sophia, written centuries later, falls into this category and cannot be considered authoritative or inspired Scripture.

implications for today

The Pistis Sophia is named after a woman Gnostics say met Jesus when He supposedly ascended through different planes of consciousness between His death and resurrection. Like many Gnostic beliefs, the Pistis Sophia is heretical.

In Greek, Pistis Sophia means “Faith Wisdom,” but those words are not found in the document it titles. The document, along with Gnostic texts and “gospels,” was determined by early church fathers to contain false teaching and unorthodox theology that contradicts biblical canon and the four true Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The Gnostics borrowed Christian phrases, language, and teaching to create their own set of beliefs that became popular during the first few centuries after Jesus' death and resurrection. Chief among them was that anything physical was evil and anything spiritual is good. Their beliefs differed from those of the Apostles' writings, so Gnostic leaders created their own sacred writings. These included the Pistis Sophia, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Mary, among others. The Pistis Sophia is usually presented as an allegory of the journey a soul may take to achieve a growing amount of esoteric truth and a higher cosmic plane. It is soundly unbiblical.