Gospel of Thomas Saying 80
BLATZ
(80) Jesus said: He who has known the world has found the body; and he who has found the body, the world is not worthy of him.
LAYTON
(80) Jesus said, “Whoever has become acquainted with the world has found the body, and the world is not worthy of the one who has found the body.”
DORESSE
84 [80]. Jesus says: “He who has known the world has fallen into the body, and he who has fallen into the body, the world is not worthy of him.”
Scholarly Quotes |
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Bentley Layton writes: “This saying is nearly identical with no. 56, which likens the world to a ‘corpse’ (Greek ptoma) rather than the body (Greek to soma).” (The Gnostic Scriptures, p. 394) Helmut Koester writes: “Understanding the world - a thing that is really dead - leads inevitably to a proper understanding of the body and corporeal existence. Becoming superior to the world involves deprecation of the flesh in favor of the spirit.” (Ancient Christian Gospels, p. 126) Funk and Hoover write: “Jesus did not depreciate the world, so far as we can tell from the body of lore identified as coming from him. But in Thomas’ version of Christianity, this seems to be a standard theme. Note, for example, the saying recorded in Thomas 110: ‘The one who has found the world, and has become wealthy, should renounce the world’ (further, compare Thom 27:1 and 111:3). These sayings represent a branch of the Christian movement that grew increasingly ascetic as time passed. Asceticism does not comport with the Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and a drunk (Luke 7:34).” (The Five Gospels, p. 517) |
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