Monthly Archives: October 2013

ON LOVE; PART XDXXIX

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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The Gospel of Thomas

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.

(58) Jesus says: “Blessed is the person who has struggled. He has found life.”

(59) Jesus says: “Look for the Living One while you are alive, so that you will not die (and) then seek to see him. And you will not be able to see (him).“

(60) <He saw> a Samaritan who was trying to steal a lamb while he was on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples: “That (person) is stalking the lamb.” They said to him: “So that he may kill it (and) eat it.” He 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.” They said to him: “Otherwise he cannot do it.” He said to them: “You, too, look for a place for your repose so that you may not become a corpse (and) get eaten.“

(61) Jesus said: “Two will rest on a bed. The one will die, the other will live.” Salome said: “(So) who are you, man? You have gotten a place on my couch as a <stranger> and you have eaten from my table.” Jesus said to her: “I am he who comes from the one who is (always) the same. I was given some of that which is my Father’s.  I am your disciple! Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God), he will become full of light. But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full of darkness.“

(62) Jesus says: “I tell my mysteries to those who [are worthy] of [my] mysteries. Whatever you right hand does, your left hand should not know what it is doing.“

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 to keep His words as the aspirant and the man who does keep His words 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 of the one as being taken by the Roman army while we see the taken as those accepted in a spiritual way, as those who live. Of course we can be wrong here and those left 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 and left 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.

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 and revelation comes by one’s solemn focus upon the things of God; the greater the focus the greater the revelation and we should note here that there can be some limitations in the ability of a man in the world to process these revelations 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 and realization; one’s progression IS tied only to one’s DOING, one’s keeping His word 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 and realization 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.

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 in the Truth has Life while the one who is focused 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” and again that “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (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‘. 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:  ‘I am the manifestation of the Father and what IS His IS mine‘. Here we should note that the various renderings of this take the idea using equal, integrated, undivided,  “the one who is (always) the same” or the idea given as “from what is whole” 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” along with “All things that the Father hath are mine” (John 16:28, 15) and in these words we have the same idea that is spoken to Salome here in Thomas Gospel.

The next part of this saying IS apparently confusing to the translators as they do not see this in the same way at all:

•  “<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 darkness” (Blatz).
• “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” (Layton).
•  “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” (Doresse).
• “I am your disciple.” <…> “Therefore I say, if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light,  but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness” (Lambdin).
• “I am your disciple! Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God), he will become full of light. But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full of darkness” (Patterson and Robinson).
• “I am your disciple.” “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.” (Patterson and Meyer)
• “I (am) y our(sg)-disciple. > Because-of-this, I -speak ( ) this: when he-should-come-to-be ()destroyed, he-will-be-full (of?)light; when, hwvr, he-should-come-to-be ()-divided, h e-will-be-full o f-darkness” (Interlinear Version).

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 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 equal for both and Layton uses integrated for both; Doresse seems to be leaning toward the idea from the synoptic gospel by rendering as single as he renders this solitary and Lambdin follows the lead of the interlinear using destroyed which is a word that make little sense in this context. Patterson and Meyer continue with the idea of whole while Patterson and Robinson continues in the idea of being like God.

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. 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:

• “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matthew 6:22-23).
• “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light” (Luke 11:34-36).

In these sayings from the synoptics we have the idea of single which from our perspective is no clearer than destroyed. Again we do not see this a a proper rendering based on the context of the idea and since the Interlinear tells us that IS the only usage of this Coptic word, we can find no help in understanding this from other uses. In ALL cases, the idea of former word should be the polar opposite of the latter word as the idea light is the polar opposite to darkness. The idea of single is not an easy one to discern as well though here we do have some help. Vincent tell us that this use of single means: Single (απλους); The picture underlying this adjective is that of a piece of cloth or other material, neatly folded once, and without a variety of complicated folds. Hence the idea of simplicity or singleness (compare simplicity from the Latin simplex; semel, once; plicare, to fold )So, in a moral sense, artless, plain, pure. Here sound, as opposed to evil or diseased. Possibly with reference to the double-mindedness and indecision condemned in Matthew 6:24 ⁴. While we can see Vincent’s ideas simplicity and singleness as the word states as well as the idea of sound, none of these are the opposite of evil at least from the common understanding. However, when we see evil as the ways of the world as opposed to the ways of God, perhaps we can see the Master’s use here and this especially in Matthew as the topic does go next to that choice between God and mammon. In Luke’s version however we CAN NOT rely upon the subsequent verses to help; there the preceding text is in regard to the Jews seeking a sign and the succeeding is in regard to the invitation to dine and the washing of hands.

John Gill offers this in regard to single: if therefore thine eye be single: that is, if thy mind be liberal, generous, and bountiful: for Christ is still upon the same subject of liberality, and against covetousness; and here speaks entirely in the language of the Jews, who could easily understand him; in whose writings we read of three sorts of eyes; a good eye, a middling one, and an evil one ⁸.  There is no apparent relevance for this particular view; there is naught that points this way in the gospels and the reference to the Jewish tradition does not include the idea of single. We are left then with the ideas of single and of destroyed; neither of which work in this context from our view unless we can understand how there would be an opposite to evil and to divided. There is here perhaps some meaning in the way that the crossing of these ideas plays out, how we can see the single of Matthew and Luke  as the opposite of Thomas’ divided.

If we can take this idea and see that the idea of single is the opposite of divided and if we can see evil and divided in the same light we have some greater understanding here. We have in the past seen this idea of single as being focused upon the Soul and the things of God and this because this IS the way to have one’s body become full of Light; in this we have then single-mindedness as one’s single focus upon the things of God and in this IS the Path to the Kingdom and to discipleship. In this idea we have the view of the man focused upon the things of the world or even the man beset by the duality of the aspirant; as divided, not necessarily in duality but divided from the things of God which is the True objective. For us this is the sense of the sayings from the synoptics and most likely from Thomas as well although we are still befuddled by the use of the word destroyed. Here we can only see this as if Jesus is saying that for the man with whom the things of  the world ARE destroyed in his view of Life; that his Life is then full of Light.

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.

We present here again what we call the Lord’s Prayer and do so as it relates to our ideas above on the Millennium Development Goals. One could say that it is the responsibility of God to take care of these billions of people but this one would be short sighted and unawares of the Truth of the Master’s words and the Word of God. In the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) we should see that He did not do this to these people, it is the natural way of the Plan of God that puts men where they can best progress and in this time of much escalated population growth we find the situations that we find. From the Master’s words on Love and in sayings like that from John which clearly tells us that: “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18); we should be able to see our own role here and, for those of us who can believe that we are aspirants to discipleship, we should be able to see it ever clearer in this prayer as we pray that His Kingdom would come, the Kingdom that is within us ALL, and that His Will be done which IS our Will if we are among those who DO keep His words and strive toward the realization of the Kingdom of God for He does tell us clearly that “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And, we should note that the ideas of us and we in the rest of this prayer are in reference to ALL men, ALL of the nearly 7.2 billion that are here in this Earth today….and so IS the idea of OUR.

Our Father, which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done,

in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

[For thine is the kingdom,

the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.]

Amen.†

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
• ¹⁴ The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
• † From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke; this version is from the Book of Common Prayer of 1662