ON LOVE; PART CCCLXI
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.
(11) Jesus says: “This heaven will pass away, and the (heaven) above it will pass away. And the dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?“
(12) The disciples said to Jesus: “We know that you will depart from us. Who (then) will rule [lit., ‘be great’] over us?” Jesus said to them: “No matter where you came from, you should go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being“
(13) Jesus said to his disciples: “Compare me, and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him: “You are like a just messenger.” Matthew said to him: “You are like an (especially) wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him: “Teacher, my mouth will not bear at all to say whom you are like.” Jesus said: “I am not your teacher. For you have drunk, you have become intoxicated at the bubbling spring that I have measured out.” And he took him, (and) withdrew, (and) he said three words to him. But when Thomas came back to his companions, they asked him: “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them: “If I tell you one of the words he said to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones (and) burn you up.”
In the last essay we finished our discussion on the eleventh saying which at first glance was obscure and confusing as there seemed to be several subjects tied together without any commonality. However, we did find a better way to understand this based in the Master’s words from the accepted gospels and our own understanding of the Truth of the Kingdom and the Way of the disciple. In our final analysis we see here first a statement of fact in which the idea of heaven or sky and the heaven or sky above it are but to say ‘ALL things’ and we took this understanding to the similar idea in the synoptic gospels where we read the Master’s words: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33, Matthew 24:35). Here, using the same idea of ‘ALL things’, we have a sensible approach to a saying that has taken on eschatologic properties specific to heaven and Earth and here we can see the greater reality is in the strength of His word, that it will endure beyond ‘ALL things’;we should see here the reality that Truth endures and is ever unchanged. So then from our perspective we have a statement of fact in the opening of the eleventh saying; ‘ALL things’ as we KNOW them will pass away. Moving on to the next phrase we find a continuation of the thought into the spiritual realms; “the dead are not alive” tells us that those who are dead in sin, focused on the self and the self in the world if you will, are NOT alive spiritually in this world which will pass away as a part of ‘ALL things’ but, in this passing the living, those spiritually alive, those who are disciples and accounted worthy will not die. Here we should understand that the body will die but in the realization of the Truth of one’s spiritual reality there is that KNOWING of eternal Life. We can look at this individually as well as corporately, individually the man focused in the world will die and he will remain in that dead state of realization, believing himself to be the carnal being and this does not change much in the afterlife as we are what we had come to be and we should understand in this that these ideas work by degree, by degree of carnal focus, and that it is only when a man is fully focused in God that he IS fully Redeemed and free.
It is not our intent to go into these ideas of the afterlife and we should understand that all that we say in this is purely conjecture that is based in our own understanding of Life and which presents a logical look at the march of Life through form and to its True goal which the Apostle Paul tells us IS that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). In our saying above is then just a basic Truth, that the man who is dead in sin IS NOT alive spiritually, that the expression of his Life IS NOT the Love and the Power of the Soul and, that the man whose expression IS such will NOT die. We should look at the spiritual import of ALL this as in realization of these Truths by the consciousness in form. Again then the Master goes on to give us a statement of fact saying that “In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive” and while most see this as pertaining to eating the flesh of dead, we see this in conjunction with the previous part and of being dead in sin. Here we have the man in the world, focused in the world, consuming the pleasures of Life in the world in self-satisfaction and in this state of being and of mind, these pleasures and these things of the world become alive to the man who serves them as mammon and treasures them as his own. Then, speaking to us as aspirants and perhaps to disciples as well, He asks the question which is not just this short saying but goes on into the next question as well. When he finds and accepts the Light of the Soul, what will the aspirant do, when he faces the reality of duality, when the one man who was consuming the pleasures of Life comes to see the Truth through his dissatisfaction or his disillusionment, when he senses the duality of being two, the Life in the world and the Life of the Soul Within, what will that aspirant do. Here, outlined in this eleventh saying is a part of the Way of the disciple, the beginning of it as he understands the facts as presented and then on which he must ponder the questions and act.
Our next saying is again one that is perplexing and one for which the commentaries offer no help in understanding; the first part of this twelfth saying seems pretty straightforward on the surface and most all the renderings agree here. It is the last part that is particularly confounding as there must be more to this that we are missing. The saying makes no sense as it is understood and is contrary to much of of what we see in the Master’s words if it is without some meaning that we do not see. Or, it may be just a show of respect for James but this is unlikely. Nonetheless we will pursue and deeper meaning as we have done with the rest. Let us begin again with some of the available commentaries:
- Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: “The answer which Jesus gives is again related to the conversation in the Gospel of John, where Jesus tells the disciples that he is going away to prepare a ‘place’ for them (John 14:2-3). In Thomas, however, the ‘place’ is apparently earthly rather than heavenly; it is a place in which they are to go to James the Just, ‘for whose sake the heaven and the earth came into existence.’ This exaltation of James is characteristic of Jewish-Christian and Naassene tradition . . . it may be derived from the Gospel of the Hebrews. Doresse suggests (page 140) that James may here be regarded as a supernatural power, but there is nothing in Thomas which could favor such an interpretation.” (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 131).
- Gerd Ludemann writes: “The logion recalls the disciples’ conversations about status which we know from Mark 9.33-34. To be precise, the saying regulates the succession to Jesus (cf. the Paraclete in John 14.16, 26; 15.26; 16.7 and Peter as the follower of Jesus in John 21.15-17). James is not only given the predicate ‘righteous’ (cf. Acts 7.52), but is also assigned a role in creation. All these sayings came into being in Jewish-Christian circles where James later became ‘the pope of Ebionite fantasy’ (H. J. Schoeps).” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 596).
- F. F. Bruce writes: “This saying originated in a Jewish-Christian setting where James the Just, Jesus’ brother, was regarded as the natural leader of Jesus’s disciples after Jesus’s departure. James was actually leader of the Jerusalem church for fifteen to twenty years, until his death in A.D. 62; his memory was revered and enhanced by legendary embellishments. Here a high estimate is placed on his person: in Jewish thought the world was created for the sake of the Torah, [Assumption of Moses 1.2; Genesis Rabbah 1.25.] although in one rabbinical utterance ‘every single person is obliged to say: “The world was created for my sake.”‘ [TB Sanhedrin 37b]” (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, pp. 117-118).
- Robert Price writes: “So to be called the Pillars indicated quite an exalted status. We can see the same sort of godlike veneration reflected in Thomas, saying 12 . . . ‘Wherever you come from’ refers to the obligation of missionary apostles to check in with a report to James in Jerusalem, another measure of his importance.” (Deconstructing Jesus, p. 53).
Now there is nothing in these commentaries that bears any relation to our own thoughts here and in our view even the reading of this saying is flawed by the sense offered in them. The question IS NOT as it is depicted above but, according to the interlinear version and at least one other translation this it IS NOT about a leader per se but about “who will be great over us?” (Blatz Translation). While there may seem little difference here, we should remember the the very question of who should be greatest is spoken of by the Master in the accepted gospels and on one occasion in regard to James and his brother John. We note this here as there is no True certainty regarding this James and which James is which James, the son of Zebedee or the son of Alphaeus, nor how the latter comes to be known as the Lord’s brother or if there is yet another; most ALL of what we believe to be True is based in tradition and not fact. Now it IS written in the gospels that the Apostle James, the son of Zebedee and the Apostle John’s brother, is the one that we are told is among the three who are closest to the Master and who shares in several of the mysteries as we read in the gospels; these two along with the Apostle Peter are the only ones invited into the chamber at the raising of Jairus’ daughter, invited to join the Master on the mountain and witness the Transfiguration, and to accompany Jesus to the deeper part of the Garden at Gethsemane. These ideas on the relationship of this James, the son of Zebedee, is of interest only because his name IS James and that he is favored with the three in certain ways; it is this James along with his brother John who are asking the Master for special favor and in one gospel this request comes from their mother. The point here is that in this instance, with or without their mother’s involvement, as well as in other instances where their is question of who IS greatest, the Master has the same or similar answer:
- In relation to the scene with James and John and after the outward disapproval of the others regarding the brothers’s request, the Master says: “but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mathew 20:26-28).
- From the Apostle Mark’s Gospel, immediately after the Master’s revelation of His impending crucifixion, we read: “But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all” (Mark 9:32-35).
- In Luke’s Gospel, after the supper was finished and they were very aware that one would ‘betray’ the Master, we read this: “And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief , as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:23-27).
Here are three separate occasions in which the Master tells His disciples the same thing and in two of these he gives them His personal example as well. We should note here that they likely do not get it although we do not KNOW of their understanding after the final saying from Luke. It is likely then that the question from Thomas above is one of these three occasions or is this a fourth and we would surmise from our gospels above that it would likely be one of the last two as Thomas does in a way reference that the Master will not longer be with them. However, we should KNOW as well that they already KNOW from at least the first occurrence that the greatest among them is the greater server and that as disciples and apostles they are ALL striving toward the greater service as this IS the way of the Apostle.
So then we have two things here from the first part of this saying; first that we DO NOT KNOW who this James IS that the Master is referring to, that He is James the son of Zebedee or James the son of Alphaeus who is thought to be the Lord’s brother but we do KNOW that the former is in the close circle of Jesus apostles. Second we KNOW from the accepted gospels that this question of greatness is asked and answered by the Master on at least three different occasions which would lead one to believe that they should understand this concept and here we KNOW that up to the last time that they DO NOT. Next, we come to our look at the interlinear version where this name that is rendered as James the Just is written as Jacob the righteous and we should note that the word rendered as Jacob has only this one appearance in the Gospel of Thomas while the word rendered as righteous has two; here and in the next saying above. Now while the translations are split on the rendering of righteous or just, we see these as very different concepts insofar as righteous is akin to doing God’s will, keeping His words, while just is the outward action of it and in our view only a part of it. Our point here however is not this word rendered as righteous or just but rather the name as rendered Jacob or James. Granted that both these names have the same meaning and that James, or Lakobos in Greek and rendered as James, is the same as Lakob which is the Greek name that is translated as Jacob in the New Testament, we can only guess that there is a different reality in the name Jacob as this is offered in the interlinear.
There is a rich history in the name Jacob; not so much in the name of the Patriarch but in what becomes of that name. It is Jacob of whom we read in the Old Testament that he is not so much the righteous man in the world but it IS he that ‘wrestles’ with God or with His angel whom he deemed at first to be a man. And it is in this encounter that Jacob takes on the name of Israel and through his twelve sons he becomes the father of the nation that lives in his name. There is little clarity in all of this that happens nearly 2000 years before the times of Christ of which we are speaking and we must remember the stark superstition of these times which likely plays a large part in the nature and the acceptance of these writings from the Book of Genesis. But Jacob does become Israel and Israel IS the name of the United Kingdom after the Exodus. Now we can look at these words from Thomas as they appear or we can try to see some deeper meaning in the ideas above which we offer as an alternate understanding.
Perhaps we can better develop this in looking the the specific wording from Thomas’ Gospel. Aside from the question which should not have been asked unless it IS in conjunction with one of these occurrences above or perhaps before them, we have the wording of the answer. From a carnal perspective this answer itself makes little sense as this is rendered as we see above: “No matter where you came from, you should go to James the Just“; is alternately rendered as:
- “Wherever you have come, you will go to James the Just” (Blatz)
- “No matter where you come it is to James the Just that you shall go” (Layton)”
- “Wherever you go, you will turn to James the Just” (Doresse)
- “Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous” (Lambdin)
- “No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just” (Patterson and Meyer)
Taking this just as it is presented we would see the Master saying that no matter where you may be or where you are coming from, that you should go to James or Jacob, the Just or the righteous. Here in our modern times this could be practical but in that day with very limited modes of transportation, how does one make this so? We should note here that this whole statement is not an answer to the question asked but just a response that makes no literal sense; Jesus does not say that James is your leader as this is seen by many nor does He say that James is the greatest which we KNOW would not be a Truth based upon the other texts that we have. Here then without even broaching the most obscure part of this saying, we have much confusion and KNOWING the Master’s way of teaching by parable, we should try to see some relationship between the meaning of name Jacob (or James as its Greek rendering), righteousness and some deeper Truth.
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.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
For us today this saying shows us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. We may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father.“
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/
