Quotations of Jewish Scripture - Gnostic Gospels

People who have read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are familiar with how conscious the writers were -- and how conscious the people within their narratives were -- of the background of Jewish Scripture that shaped Jewish culture and informed Jewish thought. When we review the alternative gospels, do those show the same worldview? Is the thought within them steeped in Jewish view of a holy culture formed by a holy God, a holy Law, and a holy Scripture?

Here we review the quotations of Jewish Scripture in each of four gospels that are sometimes classified as Gnostic: the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Philip, the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Truth.

The Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Truth are mentioned here simply because I've included them each time we discuss the Gnostic gospels. However, they contain no quotations of Jewish Scripture, and we can proceed to the remaining Gnostic gospels.

The Gospel of Philip contains one quotation that traces to the Jewish Scriptures:

"My God, my God, why, O Lord, have you forsaken me?". It was on the cross that he said these words, for he had departed from that place. 

 The Coptic Gospel of Thomas also contains one quotation that traces to the Jewish Scriptures:

Jesus said, "I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind."

From the four Gnostic gospels, those are the sum total of quotations that trace to the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures. There are some points of interest that both items share:

• Both quotations occur in Jesus' sayings
  
• Neither quotation is identified by the author as a quotation from Jewish Scripture
• There are no instances where the author independently applies a perspective or expectation from Jewish Scripture

From this, it is not clear if either author was aware that their material included quotes from a source earlier than Jesus. It is not clear from this alone whether either author was familiar with Jewish Scripture -- though some upcoming analysis will shed further light on this, when we discuss how the different authors handled other aspects of Jewish thought and history. And there is no sign here that either author attaches any particular importance to Jewish Scripture.

I'd caution any readers not to draw premature conclusions from the simple scarcity of quotations, by itself. As we move forward with other areas, we will see a more complete picture that allows us to draw better-rounded conclusions.


One other feature of interest to me is that the second quote ("what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard", etc from the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is not attributed directly to Jesus anywhere in the New Testament. Leaving all possibilities open at this point, we could imagine that either Jesus had quoted that Scripture also and the New Testament gospels didn't record it though Paul brings up the quotation (1 Corinthians 2:9, quoting Isaiah 64:4), or that the author of the Gospel of Thomas may have heard the quotation of Paul or Isaiah and attributed it to Jesus.

A clean heart - Isaiah's call

Recently in church the weekly reading from the prophets was from Isaiah chapter 6, the vision in which Isaiah saw the Lord. He experienced fear or shame over being "a man of unclean lips" in the presence of the Holy Lord. There's such a close connection between clean lips and a clean heart. Isaiah's comments provided an occasion for me to consider exactly how we may have that kind of uncleanness.

Unclean lips might speak:

• Lies
• Misleading partial truths
• Slander
• Tempting
• Blaming
• Gossip
• Criticism
• Complaining
• Arguing
• Cruelty
• Mockery
• Insults
• Verbal traps
• Discord

Better things  to come out of my mouth might be:

• Praise
• Gratitude
• Recognition
• Acknowledgment
• Comfort
• Encouragement
• Peace
• Blessing
• Understanding 
• Hope
• Truth
• Love

Geographical References - The Big Picture

This chart gives a summary view of the recent series on named geographical places in both the gospels recognized by the Christian church and in another set of documents that are sometimes discussed as alternative or non-canonical gospels.

The eight non-canonical documents reviewed had a total of 60 geographical references. Creating a summary group of the non-canonical documents can obscure some significant differences within the group: the majority of all geographical references there traced to one document, the Proto-Evangelium of James with 41 references.

As I studied the results on a document-by-document basis, I became interested in the "zoom" factor used on the maps: whether the reference was "zoomed out" to a general region (country, region, etc), whether it was a specific place (city, town, body of water, etc), or whether it was "zoomed in" to something within a city (a named building or garden, etc). The "zoomed out" general reference on the map (such as Israel or Judea) accounted for a decisive majority of the geographical references in the non-canonical gospels, and nearly half in the canonical gospels. Specific references (such as Jerusalem or Bethany) were the most common type of reference in the canonical gospels. The "zoomed in", nearly street-level references to places with proper names were relatively rare, and only occurred in the four canonical gospels among the documents currently being evaluated. These "street view" references were slightly more common in the Gospel of John than in the other canonical gospels, and slightly less common in the Gospel of Luke. It is likely that the more familiar the authors were with the geography, the more specific they were when referring to places.

The Concept of Trinity as a Venn Diagram, and Divine Simplicity

I hope any reader does not find it too irreverent to use a Venn diagram in discussing the nature of God. Yesterday many Christians celebrated Trinity Sunday, and in recognition of that I'd like to take the wording and structure of the Trinitarian portion of the Athanasian Creed (named in honor of Athanasius) and interpret it as a Venn diagram.

I have taken the liberty of adding the phrase "self-existing" to the portion describing the Father, making explicit the self-existence of the Father in contrast to the portions describing the origins of the Son and Spirit. Otherwise, the material is directly from the Athanasian Creed.

I'd like to add a note about a philosophical teaching called divine simplicity. Briefly stated in simple form, that view holds that God cannot be composed or complex because the fact of complexity implies a prior cause in order to get that complex effect. Consider the implied question "Who made God like that?", and the implication that if there is a straight answer to that question as asked, then God would not be God. Without going into the full argument here, I'd like to say that the Venn diagram -- or better said, the earlier creed on which it's based -- can clarify one thing about that: if only the Father is self-existing, and the Father is the ultimate origin of Son and Spirit*, then God made Himself like that. Of all the follow-up questions that come from the idea of God as Trinity, the one I find most useful in increasing our understanding of God is "Why?" If we start with the view that God's will has a purpose within God's own wisdom and nature, and if we consider that the Son and Spirit came about by the Father's will, then "Why?" is a legitimate question. And the answer, the best I can discern so far from Christian Scripture, is to reach out to us: to be God with us and God in us.

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* For those who hold the view that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, the Father alone is the necessary prerequisite for the Spirit. For those who hold the view that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, still the Father is the ultimate origin of the Spirit, as the Father is the sole origin of the Son.

The presence of God in this world

Today I am taking a brief break in the current series here for Pentecost. In its earlier Jewish meaning, on Pentecost there was an awareness of the tribes of Israel as a chosen nation with a mission and a calling -- and the Jewish traditions were mindful that their calling would one day involve all nations together before God. On the first Pentecost of the age of the Messiah, it's the day when the Holy Spirit made sure that the wonders of God were proclaimed in all the languages of the people who were gathered together to worship God in Jerusalem that day. As St Paul pointed out about some early Christian disagreements: Don't we all have the same spirit? Weren't we all baptized into one baptism, and share loyalty to one Lord?

As Christians, our divisions weaken both us and the world in which we live. If the message of Christ is the light of the world, then our divisions make room for darkness. If we face the future with hope by faith in Christ, then our divisions make room for doubt and fear. If we love each other through Christ, then our divisions make room for indifference, coldness, even hatred.

The presence of God makes a difference in our lives. The Holy Spirit builds us up in love, which increases the joy of the one who is blessed by it and works for reconciliation, spreading forgiveness in its wake. Where love steps forward -- wherever it meets good will, peace follows. St Paul was right that love is patient and love is kind. I easily forget what else he said: love is bold, love takes risks (love hopes all things). The homily this morning mentioned that in baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. And of course we prayed "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." As we love, how can we not forgive? And so we receive forgiveness. Our own lives change, along with the lives of those we have forgiven from the heart.

This morning (as I'm away from home) I worshiped in a historic church built long ago. The church was a work of beauty and art. It is a visible reminder of what faith, hope, and love may still accomplish in this world. It's a peaceful sanctuary, a place where the depth of beauty can restore faith, hope, and love by communicating the presence of God. Where places of nature and natural beauty may be inaccessible to those who live in the city, here is a place of peace and beauty that is accessible. The presence of God makes a difference in this world. Love makes it known.

Geographical References - The Gospel of John

This map covers the geographic places with proper names that are referenced in the Gospel of John.


The Gospel of John has an eye for detail in its references to geography. It makes references to individual locations within a city or town: a conversation doesn't merely happen in Samaria, or even in Sychar in Samaria (the first reference in our series to a specific place within Samaria), but even more particularly the conversation occurs at Jacob's well. Another conversation took place not merely near the temple, but in Solomon's Colonnade. A miracle of healing doesn't happen at some undisclosed place in Jerusalem, but at a certain pool named Bethesda that is by a particular gate, the Sheep Gate. This gospel sometimes offers bilingual or cross-cultural references to the places named: the author mentions that the Stone Pavement is known in Aramaic as Gabbatha, that the Sea of Galilee is also known as the Sea of Tiberias. There are some smaller places not known from earlier gospels, such as Cana in Galilee, or the Kidron Valley between the site of the last supper and the garden.

For scope, the Gospel of John mentions 28 distinct places, with Galilee and Jerusalem leading the list by how often they receive mention. Third place in John's gospel goes to Samaria (including Samaritans), which receives nearly as much mention as Jerusalem.

Geographical References - The Gospel of Luke

This map covers the geographic places with proper names that are referenced in the Gospel of Luke.


Notes
With over 130 named mentions of geographical places, the Gospel of Luke mentions place names more times than the Gospel of Matthew. However, nearly 25% of those mentions are Jerusalem, and so Luke mentions 31 distinct places, slightly down from Matthew's 36. In Luke, Jerusalem has overtaken Galilee as the most-mentioned place name.

Within Jerusalem and its vicinity, gone are some of the pinpoint references from Matthew and Mark to named locations at a granular level such as Gethsemane, Golgotha, or the Praetorium. Luke retains the specific mention of the Mount of Olives and adds a new one: Siloam, the site of the tower that fell. Gone, too, are Matthew's references to the ancient tribal territories of the Twelve Tribes. In Luke, more reference is given to providing non-Jewish context: there are mentions of the nearby regions of Traconitis, Iturea, and Abilene. Samaria and the Samaritans receive four mentions here. Luke mentions Jesus' comments on the widow of Zarephath in context of God's inclusion of those who are not Jews. Unique among the gospel writers, Luke refers to the "Sea of Galilee" as the "Lake of Gennesaret", though -- like many places -- that body of water has been known by a number of different names. Luke also adds Nain and Emmaus to the list of places where we have a record of some of Jesus' actions occurring there.