Early Christian Writings Commentary
Title: Gospel of Thomas Commentary: Saying 111
Subheading: This page explores modern interpretations of the Gospel according to Thomas, an ancient text preserved in a Coptic translation at Nag Hammadi and Greek fragments at Oxyrhynchus. With no particular slant, this commentary gathers together quotations from various scholars in order to elucidate the meaning of the sayings, many of which are rightly described as “obscure.”
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From: Early Christian Writings
Related Link:
By:
Horst Balz. (T87)
Bentley Layton. (T68)
Harold W Attridge. (T34)
Jean Doresse. (T81)
Robert Funk. (T71)
Our Ref:
ECST: 014.10.000.T34
ECST: 014.10.000.T68
ECST: 014.10.000.T71
ECST: 014.10.000.T81
ECST: 014.10.000.T87
Nag Hammadi Coptic Text
BLATZ[1]4CM Translator ID: T87
(111) Jesus said: The heavens will be rolled up and likewise the earth in your presence, and the living one, (come forth) from the Living One, will not see death or <fear>, because Jesus says: He who finds himself, of him the world is not worthy.
LAYTON[2]4CM Translator ID: T68
(111) Jesus said, “The heavens and the earth will roll up in your (plur.) presence. And the living from the living will not see death.” – Doesn’t Jesus mean that the world is not worthy of a person who has found the self?
DORESSE[3]4CM Translator ID: T81
115 [111]. Jesus says: “The heavens and the earth will open (?) before you, and he who lives by Him who is living will not see death”, because (?) Jesus says this: “He who keeps to himself alone, the world is not worthy of him.”
Funk’s Parallels[4]4CM Translator ID: T71
• GThom 11:1
• Ps 102:25-27 KJV
• Isa 34:4 KJV
• Luke 16:16-17 KJV
• Luke 21:32-33 KJV
• Matt 5:18 KJV
• Matt 24:34-35 KJV
• Mark 13:30-31 KJV
• DialSav 56 (Dialogus Saluatoris)
• Heb 1:10-12 KJV
• Rev 6:12-14 KJV
Scholarly Quotes
Bentley Layton writes of the last sentence here: “probably a comment added to the text by an ancient reader and later erroneously incorporated in the text.”
Jean Doresse writes that the last part “introduces an explanation or conclusion of one of the editors of the Gospel of Thomas; cf. 65. He draws a comparison between the person who lives by ‘Him who is living’ (the Risen Jesus) and the person who has achieved solitude and unity.”
Funk and Hoover write: “In vv. 1-2, Jesus speaks as the redeemer sent from God to reveal the secrets of the universe. Such an understanding of Jesus’ identity belongs to the early Jesus movement, not to Jesus himself.”
Gerd Theissen describes one theological motive of Thomas: “Dualistic anthropology: the world and with it the human body are devalued and become a synonym for death. The Father’s kingdom of light, knowledge and eternal life are to be attained only by radical ‘fasting from the world’ (27): ‘Whoever finds himself is superior to the world’ (111).”
References
