The Gospel of Philip is a collection of sayings, supposedly of Jesus. The Gospel of Philip focuses a great deal on the “sacrament of marriage” as a “sacred mystery.” The Gospel of Philip does not claim to have been written by Jesus’ disciple Philip. It is titled “the gospel according to Philip” due to Philip being the only disciple of Jesus who is named in it (73:8).
The most complete manuscript of the Gospel of Philip was discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in Egypt in 1945. It is written in the Coptic language and is dated to approximately the 4th century AD The Gospel of Philip is a Gnostic gospel, presenting a Gnostic viewpoint of Jesus and His teachings. While there are a few verses in the Gospel of Philip that resemble the four biblical Gospels, a reading of the Gospel of Philip will reveal many irreconcilable differences and a completely different message regarding who Jesus was and what He came to do.
The most interest in the Gospel of Philip is what it has to say about Jesus’ relationship with Mary Magdalene.