{"id":8233,"date":"2013-10-29T18:50:35","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T22:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=8233"},"modified":"2013-10-29T18:51:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T22:51:39","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-840","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/29\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-840\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 840"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART\u00a0XDXXIX<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

The Gospel of Thomas<\/span><\/h2>\n

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas<\/em>\u00a0wrote\u00a0them down.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

(58) Jesus says:\u00a0“Blessed is the person who has struggled. He has found life<\/em>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

(59) Jesus says:\u00a0“Look for the Living One while you are alive,\u00a0so that you will not die (and) then seek to see him.\u00a0And you will not be able to see (him).<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(60)\u00a0<He saw>\u00a0a Samaritan who was trying to steal a lamb while he was on his way to Judea.\u00a0He said to his disciples: “That (person) is stalking the lamb.”\u00a0They said to him: “So that he may kill it (and) eat it.”\u00a0He said to them: “As long as it is alive he will not eat it, but (only) when he has killed it (and) it has become a corpse.”\u00a0They said to him: “Otherwise he cannot do it.”\u00a0He said to them: “You, too, look for a place for your repose so that you may not become a corpse (and) get eaten.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(61)\u00a0Jesus said: “Two will rest on a bed. The one will die, the other will live.”\u00a0Salome said: “(So) who are you, man?\u00a0You have gotten a place on my couch as a <stranger> and you have eaten from my table.”\u00a0Jesus said to her: “I am he who comes from the one who is (always) the same.\u00a0I was given some of that which is my Father\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0I am your disciple!\u00a0Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God), he will become full of light.\u00a0But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full of darkness.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(62) Jesus says:\u00a0“I tell my mysteries to those who [are worthy] of [my] mysteries.\u00a0Whatever you right hand does, your left hand should not know what it is doing.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the last essay we began our discussion of the sixty first saying from the Gospel of Thomas which we broke down into three parts. In the first we found little differences among the translators and we related this to the words of the Master from the Apostle Luke’s Gospel where He speaks of such things. In our view this dying and living or, as this is phrased in Luke, being taken and being left, are in relation to the reality that the man who strives<\/em> to keep His words<\/em> as the aspirant and the man who does keep His words<\/em> as the disciple will be among those who live or who are taken; the others will remain in their state of spiritual death, left to their own devices in the world. Many see these sayings from Luke’s Gospel in an eschatological way and as related to the sacking of Rome in 70 AD and this IS of course hind sight as these ideas are not clear in the Master’s words. Some commentary sees that taking<\/em> of the one as being taken<\/em> by the Roman army while we see the taken<\/em> as those accepted in a spiritual way, as those who live. Of course we can be wrong here and those left<\/em> are the ones that are accepted but this really does not matter; the underlying point is of spiritual import and not outer ideas and although the words used by Matthew and the location of the saying in his text do lean more toward this common understanding, the whole of the argument seems moot as the idea of taken<\/em> and left<\/em> are not conducive to our understanding of a state of war where there is killing and maiming, and burning and plunder. We must remember here the parabolic value of the Master’s words and here they are mysterious regardless of how one may view this subject matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is the point here; the Master’s words are intentionally mysterious and in our reading we can sense that even His apostles do not fully understand some of what they write about when they are citing His words. These Truths come by revelation<\/em><\/strong> and revelation<\/em><\/strong> comes by one’s solemn focus<\/em> upon the things of God; the greater the focus<\/em> the greater the revelation<\/em><\/strong> and we should note here that there can be some limitations in the ability of a man in the world to process these revelations<\/strong><\/em> into thoughts, attitudes and actions and much of this is based in the very nature of the equipment that he possesses in this world. As Godly as a man can be in this world, he will only be able to express what his mind and his brain are capable of processing and this should be seen in the same light as the greater ability of some over others to process complex mathematical equations or to understand the reality of the atom or the psychology of man. This however IS NOT a hindrance to one’s progression in any Lifetime as discipleship is not found in this worldly understanding of revelation<\/strong><\/em> and realization;<\/strong><\/em> one’s progression IS tied only to one’s DOING, one’s keeping His word<\/em> in thought, attitude and action. On the other side of this we find the man who believes that he KNOWS, who believes that he has revelation<\/strong><\/em> and realization<\/strong><\/em> but who does not. This is the man who sees things through his or his groups myopic view of spiritual Life, who sees the doctrines of men as the commandments of God and the man who IS NOT a DOER of His word which DOING begins and ends with the reality of that Love that we are shown by the Master.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here then our view of these words is that they are in relation to the spiritual Life or the continued spiritual death of the man in the world and here the idea of the couch is for the convenience of the conversation with Salome and the idea of the two is but the example that the Master uses to make this point that the one who is so focused<\/em> in the Truth has Life while the one who is focused<\/em> upon the self and the self in the world remains in this death which we call living in the world. We can see this point clearly in the writing of the Apostle Paul who tells us “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace<\/em>” and again that “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord<\/em>” (Romans 8:6, 6:23). Assuming here that Salome sees the depth of the Master’s words, that she understands the spiritual import and perhaps that these words about the couch or the bed ARE but the end of a longer dissertation, we then find her question which we paraphrase as ‘who are you that you come here and say such things<\/strong><\/em>‘. This IS the gist of the question and the various renderings take what is unclear in the Interlinear and turn it into their individual sense of what these words mean. Again, this does not really matter as the important part here is the Master’s answer which we discussed in some detail in the last post were again we paraphrased the Master’s words saying:\u00a0\u00a0‘I am the manifestation of the Father and what IS His IS mine<\/strong><\/em>‘. Here we should note that the various renderings of this take the idea using\u00a0equal, integrated, undivided,<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0“the one who is (always) the same<\/em>” or the idea given as “from what is whole<\/em>” and show that these ALL pertain to the Father and reflect the nature of where Jesus is saying that He came from along with the ending idea that He possesses the same qualities as the Father. While the different renderings can result in different views of what the Master is saying here, we can accommodate them ALL in our paraphrase which IS a Truth. We read this in the Apostle John’s Gospel as: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world<\/em>” along with “All things that the Father hath are mine<\/em>” (John 16:28, 15) and in these words we have the same idea that is spoken to Salome here in Thomas Gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next part of this saying IS apparently confusing to the translators as they do not see this in the same way at all:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u00a0“<Salome said:> I am your disciple. <Jesus said to her:> Therefore I say: If he is equal, he is full of light, but if he is divided, he will be full of darknes<\/em>s” (Blatz).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • “I am your female disciple.” <. . .> “Therefore I say that such a person, once integrated, will become full of light; but such a person, once divided will become full of darkness<\/em>” (Layton).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • \u00a0“I am thy disciple!” Because of that, I say this: When <a person> finds himself solitary, he will be full of light; but when he finds himself divided, he will be full of darkness<\/em>” (Doresse).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • “I am your disciple.” <…> “Therefore I say, if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light, \u00a0but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness” (Lambdin).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • “I am your disciple!\u00a0Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God), he will become full of light.\u00a0But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full of darkness<\/em>” (Patterson and Robinson).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • “I am your disciple.”\u00a0“For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness.<\/em>” (Patterson and Meyer)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • “I (am) y our(sg)-disciple. > Because-of-this, I -speak ( ) this:\u00a0when he-should-come-to-be ()destroyed, he-will-be-full\u00a0(of?)light; when, hwvr, he-should-come-to-be ()-divided, h e-will-be-full o f-darkness<\/em>” (Interlinear Version).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Two things of note in these different renderings; first is the uncertainty of who is speaking. In the first two above the translators are attributing the words to Salome although there is a note attached to one source of Blatz translation that removes the parenthetical words as these are not in the Coptic text; however, we don’t know if he has also changed his understanding of who is the speaker of the words that follow. The second point of uncertainty is in the word that is rendered as destroyed<\/em> in the Interlinear; here the translators are reverting to the same or similar ideas that they used in the previous part and while the Coptic word does appear similar, it IS NOT the same. Here we see that Blatz uses equ<\/em>al<\/em> for both and Layton uses integrated<\/em> for both; Doresse seems to be leaning toward the idea from the synoptic gospel by rendering as single<\/em> as he renders this solitary<\/em> and Lambdin follows the lead of the interlinear using destroyed<\/em> which is a word that make little sense in this context. Patterson and Meyer continue with the idea of whole<\/em> while Patterson and Robinson continues in the idea of being like God.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Overall this is a rather confusing saying as we see it above and here we will lean toward the understanding offered by the Interlinear although we do have some issues with the rendering of destroyed.<\/em> At the outset we note that there is no introduction of another speaker as the text leaves the last part where the Master speaks and we should assume here that the Master continues to speak; in saying this however we need to have some resolution for the idea that the Master would be the disciple of Salome. Here however if we take this word in its simpler understanding of the word disciple which is one who is the learner, the student, then perhaps here in the context of this whole saying we can see that the Master is perhaps learning from Salome some ideas regarding the ways of the world and perhaps here from a woman’s perspective as generally Jesus is surrounded only by men. This may seem a stretch but there are not many ways to make sense of this idea of Jesus being the disciple and this IS likely why others have rendered this in the way that they do. We should note here that while this is a curious situation, it does not really matter why He would call Himself Salome’s disciple or if this may even be the other way as some render; what matters is the words that follow; in these next words however we do not see a choice of who says this as these are for us clearly the Master’s words. The like idea as presented in the synoptics goes thus:<\/span><\/p>\n