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Scholarly Quotes

F. F. Bruce writes: “This appears to be said by one of the disciples to Jesus. The well is the well of truth: many approach it without getting into it. Celsus, the anti-Christian writer of the second century, quotes the saying (in Greek) from the Heavenly Dialogue of the Ophite Gnostics. [As quoted by Origen, Against Celsus viii. 16. For the general idea compare Saying 23 (p. 124). The form is simiar to that of a Greek mystery-saying quoted by Plato: 'The wand-bearers are many, but the initiates are few' (Phaedo 69c).]” (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, p. 141)

Gerd Ludemann writes: “This remarkable aphorism, which Thomas probably attributes to Jesus (or is Jesus the Lord who is addressed?), has an equivalent in the anti-Christian philosopher Celsus (c. 180 CE), who read it in a writing with the title ‘Heavenly Dialogue’. It was in circulation among the Gnostic group of the Ophites (serpent worshippers). There it runs, ‘Why are there many around the well and no one in the well?’ Evidently the aphorism is meant to encourage the Gnostic to stop being a bystander and enter, in order also to be able to drink the water of knowledge.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 627)