ON LOVE; PART CDXLII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(68) Jesus says: “Blessed are you when(ever) they hate you (and) persecute you. But they (themselves) will find no place there where they have persecuted you.“
(69) Jesus says: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart. They are the ones who have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are those who suffer from hunger so that the belly of the one who wishes (it) will be satisfied.“
(70) Jesus says: “If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you. If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.“
(71) Jesus says: “I will [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it [again].“
(72) A [person said] to him: “Tell my brothers that they have to divide my father’s possessions with me.” He said to him: “Man, who has made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples (and) said to them: “I am not a divider, am I?“
(73) Jesus says: “The harvest is plentiful, but there are few workers. But beg the Lord that he may send workers into the harvest.“
(74) He said: “Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the <well>.“
(75) Jesus says: “Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall.“
In discussing the seventieth saying from the Gospel of Thomas we could see what appears as the translators tendency to translate the Coptic words into what they believe that these words mean. We see this as we compare the wording of the Interlinear against the various translations and find that none of the ideas presented by the translators captured the essence of these words: “When you(pl)-should-beget-that-one in-yourselves, the-one which-have-you(pl)-him, he-will-save-yourselves; > if not-have-you(pl)-that-one in-you(pl), the-one which not-have-you(pl)-him in-you(pl), he-will-kill-\-you(pl)” (Interlinear Version). Here in these words we see the Master’s speaking of the Christ Within, the Soul, as the subject of the words “the-one which-have-you(pl)-him” and then the idea that if one can bring forth him that that man will find his salvation. Here we see the idea of beget in the greater reality to bringing forth which idea we take from the various renderings of a similar use of this word in Thomas 14:2.
In these words IS the reality of the goal of the man in the world and especially the goal of the aspirant and the disciple who KNOWS these things. The aspirant and the disciple have come to see the reality of this Inner man who cares not for the attractions and the attachments to the world and who IS striving to bring forth this Inner man, the Soul, as his expression of Life in the world. This is not understood by many and here we can see a part of the reason for the various renderings that we posted in the last essay; here we can see that tendency to ‘make sense’ of these words which ARE NOT a part of the doctrinal view of Christianity. This same occurs in the translations of the accepted New Testament and especially in the newer versions, some of which are molded to the doctrinal beliefs of those who sponsor and translate the texts. This IS a part of our own reasoning for using the King James Version in our studies; while the words are not ALL true renderings of from our perspective and although we need the help of the older dictionaries to understand some of the word usage, this is in our opinion the cleanest version and the most free from doctrine. None however are perfect and it is for this reason that we should read and interpret the ideas of the writers for for ourselves and not rely upon the doctrinal presentation of the church.
The end part of this saying can be seen as the converse of the first part. Speaking about this same Inner man, this same Soul and Christ Within, the Master tells us that to not have this working in one’s Life, to not bring forth this expression into one’s Life in the world, IS to kill that Life and here we should understand the idea death as being dead in sin, dead in the world of men. The phrasing of this in the Interlinear IS again key: “the-one which not-have-you(pl)-him in-you(pl), he-will-kill-\-you(pl)“; here we should see that the subject of who is carried forward as the “the-one which-have-you(pl)-him” and the idea is that if you do not bring forth this Inner man then you WILL NOT have him in your Life and if we can read this as that it IS the NOT having that will kill the man then we can likely understand this ALL. The reality expressed in this seventieth saying is the essential Truth of the entirety of the New Testament message, a Truth that is buried in the parables and in the sayings and which IS at the same time left open to us in many sayings that are recorded for us plainly and among these is that one that we closed with in the last essay and which we expand to include the context here:
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Our next saying, the seventy first, seems a bit obscure and there are like ideas in the accepted gospels although the wording is much different than we have here. We should note here that many of these sayings from the Coptic are reconstructed in part from the available documents and for this particular saying there is a note in the Interlinear regarding their reconstruction which says ‘reconstruction not widely accepted’ and based on this we will list ALL that we have:
- Jesus said: “I will des[troy this] house, and none shall be able to build it [again]” (Blatz).
- Jesus said, “I shall throw down [this] building, and no one will be able to build it […]” (Layton).
- Jesus says: “I will […] and no one will be able […]” (Doresse).
- Jesus said, “I shall [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it […]” (Lambdin).
- Jesus says: “I will [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it [again]” (Patterson and Robinson).
- Jesus said, “I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it […].” (Patterson and Meyer).
- Said-JS66 this: “I-will-[destroy this-house,] and no-one can-build-him, [not another-time]” (Interlinear Version).
We can see here by the bracketed words that there is much missing and we should note that the brackets in the Interlinear are from the rendered Coptic text that these words are either missing or are unreadable. So that we can all understand the problems of translating these ancient text, the link below is to a picture of the actual page where this saying is found; note the missing part on the lower right which is where this seventy first saying appears: http://gospel-thomas.net/scan0014.jpg .
The available commentary on this saying includes:
- R. McL. Wilson writes: “If this is independent, it must confirm the synoptic version (‘I will destroy’) against John (imperative). If, however, it is dependent we may ask if it is intended as deliberate opposition to John ii. 21: ‘He spake of the temple of His body.’ It is at any rate notable that no reference is made to the resurrection; on the contrary, the possibility of restoration is emphatically denied. This must indicate either a rejection of the doctrine of the resurrection or perhaps a period after the final destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, when no hope remained of its rebuilding.” (Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, p. 115).
- Gerd Ludemann writes: “The saying is reminiscent of John 2.19, where a similar saying is spoken by Jesus, and Mark 14.58, according to which a saying of Jesus to this effect has been wrongly put on the lips of Jesus. However, in the New Testament parallels there is always a reference to a rebuilding, whereas there is none in Thomas. Hence Logion 71 might be about the destruction of the world or matter in a metaphorical sense. There is no eschatological perspective at work here. Thomas presupposes the New Testament texts and on that basis formulates an ascetic-dualistic saying of Jesus about the temple.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 626).
- Funk and Hoover write: “The Fellows conceded that Jesus could have predicted the destruction of the temple and its replacement by another ‘not made with hands.’ And they agreed that some such saying must have circulated as an independent remark during the oral period, since it appears in three independent sources. Yet they were hesitant to identify its original form. The saying in Thomas, unfortunately, is fragmentary.” (The Five Gospels, p. 513).
- Stephen Patterson writes: “it structural similarity [to other sayings about the Temple] permits the assumption that it is indeed a version of the so-called ‘temple word’. . . . Whether the lack of any reference to the temple in 71 is a secondary feature, or a primitive touch is difficult to decide. I would suspect, however, that Thomas’ ending: ‘and no one will be able to rebuild it’ is secondary over against references to rebuilding the Temple in the various other versions. The fact that the Temple was never rebuilt would eventually prove awkward for such predictions. One way to ease off the problem would be to allegorize it, as does John, in terms of the resurrection (2:21); another way would be to ease off the prediction itself (so Thomas)” (The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus, pp. 109-110).
- J. D. Crossan writes: “I agree with the first two points of that analysis [by Patterson] but not with its third one. Despite its ambiguities, ‘house’ is best seen as referring originally to the Temple at Jerusalem, even if the Gospel of Thomas may now understand it in some other way. Next, the structural balance of destroying/rebuilding is common to all three sources in the complex and must be taken very seriously. But I reverse the sequence presumed by Patterson’s analysis. I take Gospel of Thomas 71 as the most original version we have, and it simply states emphatically: I will destroy this house so utterly that rebuilding will be impossible. The rebuilding does not, initially, reflect any spiritual substitution but is merely an emphatic way of stating utterly, completely, totally, and forever. It is not this version that has eased off the rebuilding, taken negatively, but the other versions that have developed the rebuilding, taken positively. It is most significant, therefore, that the Gospel of Thomas, which has no interest in the passion of Jesus, still retains this saying. But that cuts both ways. It may mean that it is very good historical Jesus tradition but also that the connection with the passion was not at all on the same level.” (The Historical Jesus, p. 356).
Our commentaries above all seek to compare this with the the like sayings mentioned from the accepted gospels which we read as:
- “Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:18-21).
- “And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands” (Mark 14:58).
- “At the last came two false witnesses, And said, This fellow said , I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days” (Matthew 26:61).
The first saying here IS the words of the Master according to the Apostle John; Jesus is giving those who ask for a sign a parabolic statement about the sign that He will give them and which is interpreted by the apostle to mean His body. The two entries from the synoptic gospels are from witnesses testifying before the chief priests and elders and we read in the text of both that this is false testimony. The problem with this as is noted in the commentary above is the idea that in Thomas the Master is saying “I-will” and we KNOW that the words from John’s Gospel are reflecting a destruction by others. While the testimony does claim that Jesus Himself says this, this is false testimony and there is no confirming statement by the Master in the gospels except if we can consider this one from Thomas but then the end part of “no one can build” is lost against the resurrection cited by John . There are other sayings which are pointed to above where the Master is specifically talking about the temple at Jerusalem but we have the same problem with it idea of “I-will” here in these sayings:
- “And Jesus went out , and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:1-2).
- “And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said , 6 As for these things which ye behold , the days will come , in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).
There is a similar saying in Mark’s Gospel and our understanding here should be that these sayings CAN NOT apply to our understanding of these words from Thomas’ gospel and for two reasons; the one we cite above regarding the idea of “I-will” as this appears in Thomas and the other in the fact that it IS NOT the Master who destroys the Temple but it is the Romans who destroyed the temple as they sacked Jerusalem in response to the Jewish revolt after the Jews had taken the city. This IS an act of war and not an Act of God nor of the Master and while these ideas do seem to be predictions of this event, there is no sense of I to be found in this.
Based upon these ideas, the commentaries and the fact that the original text is not readable, it is not in our best interest to just guess as to what this should truly mean. The missing words are used to imply destroy, and another missing part is assumed to be house or building. The only certain text is as offered here by Doresse who tells us that this says: “I will […] and no one will be able […]” and this IS NOT nearly enough to be able to say just what the Master means. Hence, we will leave this saying as undefined as we CAN NOT see any resolution to these words.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
As the Lord’s Prayer is given to us by the Christ for our use 2000 years ago, the Great Invocation, according to esoteric sources, was give from Him as well and whether we believe that this IS True or not we should look at this prayer as containing the same selfless invocative style as does the Lord’s Prayer and then any that are modeled after their style. We again encourage ALL to read and reread this Great Invocation and our comments as in these words can be found keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
