New Sayings of Jesus

"Comparable in importance to the Dead Sea Scrolls and of even greater significance to students of the New Testament." That is how visiting Swiss Theologian Oscar Cullmann (TIME, March 23) described the subject of his lecture at Manhattan's Union Theological Seminary last week. Lutheran Cullmann was giving the public a first detailed and fascinating report on the so-called Gospel of St. Thomas, one of 44 Coptic manuscripts in leatherbound papyrus books found in 1946 in a tomb in upper Egypt some 60 miles from the city of Luxor.

Common denominator of this treasure-trove is Gnosticism, a potent heresy of Christianity's early days, which interpreted Jesus' life and teaching as an esoteric message of salvation directed to an elite equipped with secret knowledge. As such, most of the manuscripts are interesting mainly to scholars. But the Gospel of St. Thomas has a special concern and fascination for all Christians, for it is a 3rd or 4th century collection of 114 "sayings of Jesus" that dates back to a Greek manuscript from the first half of the 2nd century--within 50 years of the Gospels themselves. Such compilations of quotes, set down without any connecting narrative, were used, modern scholars believe, by the authors of canonical Scripture.

Beatitudes & Parables. Some of the sayings are word-for-word versions of material in the four canonical Gospels, some are variations of the Gospel versions, some are quotations from Jesus known only through the writings of the early church fathers, and some are completely unknown. The word-for-word repetitions include the sayings about the mote and the beam, the blind leading the blind, that which is hidden and must be revealed, the prophet not without honor save in his own country, "to him that has shall be given," leaving one's father and mother to follow Jesus, and some of the Beatitudes, e.g., the poor having the kingdom of heaven. Many parables are also included: the sower, the thief in the night, the tares, the mustard seed, the marriage feast, the wicked tenants, the pearl, the hidden treasure.

Dr. Cullmann cited two examples of Christ's sayings found both in the Gospel of St. Thomas and the church fathers: 1) "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom"; 2) "Split a piece of wood --I am there; lift the stone and you will find me there."

Among the sayings hitherto unknown:

P: "Jesus said: If those who lead you say to you: Behold, the kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of heaven will precede you; if they say to you that it is in the sea, then the fish will precede you. But the kingdom is within you and it is outside of you."

P: "Mary said to Jesus: Who are your disciples like? He said: They are like small children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say: Leave our field to us. They are completely naked in their presence, and so they will leave it to them and give them their field."

P: "Jesus said: The kingdom of the Father is like a man who wanted to kill an important person; he drew his sword in his house, he pierced it through the wall to see if his hand would be steady; then he killed the important person."

Unknown & Genuine. Will the newly found "Gospel" (scheduled to be published soon by Professor Henri-Charles Puech of the College de France, and colleagues) affect the New Testament? No, answers Theologian Cullmann: The collection "was rightly not included in the New Testament." His reason: It includes "obviously Gnostic material," and apparently was compiled by a Gnostic who arbitrarily put the collection under the authority of the Apostle Thomas.-* Says Cullmann: "Our four canonical Gospels are the only ones on which we can rely. Again and again we must marvel at the fact that from the large number of primitive Christian writings only those were accepted as canonical which really came from the oldest time and which were free from heretical tendencies.

"On the other hand, it is possible for previously unknown and yet genuine sayings of Jesus to be found in other documents which are not in the canon, sayings which, even when they bring no fundamentally new revelation, are capable of enriching and furthering our understanding of the canonical gospel."

* Doubting Thomas, the disciple who is best known for his verification of Jesus' resurrection by touching the wounds in his hands (John 20: 25-28) was a favorite of Gnostic writers, who attributed to him extensive missionary journeys in Persia and India. The Mar Thoma Church in southern India claims him as its founder.

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