Sayings Of Jesus Research Articles

Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 655 Reconsidered

Among the sensational Oxyrhynchus finds from the turn of the twentieth century were several mutilated papyri which contained non-canonical sayings of Jesus. Because of the fragmentary nature of much of this new material, scholarly reconstructions often were necessary to fill the lacunae and give sense to the larger fragments. In many cases, there was no known parallel material by which such restorations could be guided.

Book Review: The Secret Sayings of Jesus

Book Review: The Secret Sayings of Jesus

REVIEWS

REVIEWS R. M. GRANT with DAVID NOEL FREEDMAN, The Secret Sayings of Jesus, 1960. Pp. 192. ( Collins (Fontana Books), London. Price: 2s, 6d.) R. MCL. WILSON R. MCL. WILSON Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume 6, Issue 1, SPRING 1961, Pages 112–114, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/6.1.112 Published: 01 March 1961

The Gospel According to Thomas; Coptic Text Established and Translated by A. Guillaumont, H.-Ch. Puech, G. Quispel, W. Till and Yassah Abd Masih. 62 pp. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1959. $2.00

The Secret Sayings of Jesus, by Robert M. Grant in Collaboration with David Noel Freedman, With an English Translation of the Gospel of Thomas by William R. Schoedel. 206 pp. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday & Co., 1960. $3.50.

Light on Sayings of Jesus Interpreting the ‘Gospel of Thomas’

Light on Sayings of Jesus Interpreting the ‘Gospel of Thomas’

The Secret Sayings of Jesus

The Secret Sayings of Jesus

Book Review: I. Biblical Studies: Unknown Sayings of Jesus

Book Review: I. Biblical Studies: Unknown Sayings of Jesus

New sayings of Jesus in the recently discovered coptic Gospel of Thomas

Judging from repetitious appearances of her marital arms in the painted line-endings, the Psalter-Hours John Rylands Library Latin MS 117 probably belonged to Jeanne of Flanders (c.1272–1333), daughter of Count Robert III of Flanders and in 1288 second wife to Enguerrand IV of Coucy. Yet the line-endings also contain some 1,800 diminutive painted escutcheons, many of which refer to other members of the local nobility active during the 1280s. This study, based on an exhaustive survey of the total heraldic and codicological evidence, suggests that the majority of the extant Psalter predated the Hours and that the two parts were combined after the 1288 marriage. The ‘completed’ manuscript bears witness to major events that unfolded in and around the Coucy barony over the course of the decade. It suggests a complex relationship between Jeanne of Flanders and a lesser member of the local nobility, a certain Marien of Moÿ, who may have served as her attendant.

Book Review: Unknown Sayings of Jesus

Book Review: Unknown Sayings of Jesus

The Saying of Jesus About the Bridge1

The Saying of Jesus About the Bridge1

St John VII. 37–8

As is well known the punctuation of the saying of Jesus contained in these two verses presents some difficulty. The alternatives are as follows:(1) A full stop is placed after πιντω. This punctuation is adopted by A.V. and R.V. and is presupposed by Origen, Cyril ofJerusalem, Basil, and Athanasius. The recently published Pap. Bodmer II of the early third century, which exhibits a text of the ‘Neutral’ type and which presumably originated in Egypt, also supports this punctuation.

Das Hebräerevangelium Im Gnostischen Evangelium Nach Maria

This chapter is in German with a brief English introduction which talks about the Hebrew Gospel In the Gnostic Gospel of Mary. Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34 both transmit a Saying of Jesus in the following way: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The same version is transmitted by the Manichaean Kephalaia 223: As the Saviour said: Where your heart is, there will be your treasure also. Jesus was a poet, he quite often used the stylistic device of parallelismus membrorum. Therefore it is possible that the two traditions have preserved each one half of the original two-lines. Both the Jewish version and the Hellenistic version of the Saying could be of Jewish Christian origin.Keywords: Gnostic Gospel of Mary; Hebrew Gospel; Saying of Jesus

The Cryptology of Parables in St. Mark's Gospel

According to St. Mark's fundamental doctrine, the Messiahship of Jesus is a fact, yet a fact which may not be openly proclaimed to the world until the Son of Man has risen again from the dead. It is evidently for this reason that the demons are enjoined to silence, since they with their powers of supernatural insight are able to perceive the truth which is veiled from mortal eyes. And it is for the same reason, as we learn from iv Io ff., that Jesus addresses the multitude in parables. For in the evangelist's interpretation (and contrary to normal expectations) the parables of Jesus are not meant to make plain the essential content of the message of salvation, but to obscure it; they are a means of guarding the mystery or secret of the kingdom of God. Such is the most natural meaning of the text as it stands in iv Io ff., and the various attempts which have been made to obtain a different interpretation arise from a failure to appreciate the evangelist's doctrinal point of view. One may conjecture that behind the present text there is a saying of Jesus which had a different import and which was worked over by the evangelist for theological reasons; but of the meaning of the passage as it now exists there can be no reasonable doubt, and it is with the significance of the gospel as it is, not as he thinks it ought to be, that the exegete is primarily concerned. Apart from the eschatological discourse in xiii 3-37, the section in which St. Mark expounds his theory of the function of the parables (iv 1-34) is the longest section in the gospel that is entirely concerned with the Lord's teaching. The three parables it contains the sower (vv. 3-8), the seed growing secretly (vv. 26-29) and the mustard seed (vv. 30-32) are not intended to give an exhaustive account of the teaching, but are presented as particular illustrations of its general character; vv. 2 and 33 imply that the evangelist has selected them from a larger collection. All three deal with the phenomenon of growth in nature and suggest that the great spiritual

St. Mark 13

The difficulty of this chapter is notorious. ‘No one will deny’, writes Dr V. Taylor, ‘that Mark 13 presents one of the unsolved problems of New Testament exegesis.’ Professor A. M. Hunter goes further and says: ‘Mark 13 is the biggest problem in the Gospel.’ In Part I of this study we shall attempt to expound the chapter as it stands, as far as possible reserving the discussion of the main critical questions for Part II. This procedure is, of course, not altogether satisfactory; for it means that our exposition will be provisional and may need subsequent correction from the insights gained from the critical approach. Nevertheless it has certain advantages. For one thing, it may serve to remind us that a saying of Jesus, the authenticity of which has been questioned by critical research, has not thereby ceased to be part of Scripture but may still be the vehicle of the exalted Christ's conversation with His Church.

The Preacher and the Critic

Dr R. E. McIntyre in his recent Warrack lectures tells of a minister, who made the boast, ‘I am an evangelist, thank God, and not a theologian’. The writer of this article can make a similar claim without the thanksgiving, ‘I am a preacher, and not a Biblical critic’. The learned men of Biblical Criticism have, however, set for us preachers a problem in Christian ethics. The findings of Biblical Criticism being what they are, can we go on preaching in the way that we have been doing? Most of us in our preaching imply, if we do not explicitly state, that the words attributed to our Lord in the New Testament are translations of words that Jesus actually uttered during His life on earth. Indeed, we try to bring out every possible meaning of these words in the light both of the circumstances in which they are said to have been uttered and in the light of the whole religious heritage of the Jews which Jesus shared. There is a similar problem in preaching from any part of Scripture, but, in this article, I shall confine myself for the most part to sayings attributed to our Lord Himself. One reason for doing so is the very practical one that I have found a rich mine of examples in Dr T. W. Manson's recently reprinted work, The Sayings of Jesus; another reason is that whatever we discover to be right method in the case of the sayings attributed to our Lord is likely, with necessary changes, to be right method in the case of the rest of the Scripture records.

The Millennial Hope in the Early Church

The first post-Apostolic3Chiliast known to us isPapias of Hierapolis. From the oral tradition of presbyters who saw the disciple John he adduces a saying of Jesus referring to the miraculous fruitfulness of corn and wine during the millennium. There is an exact parallel to this tradition—perhaps its source— in Syr. Baruch 29.5: ‘The earth also will yield its fruit 10,000 fold, and on one vine there will be 1000 branches, and each branch will produce 1000 clusters, and each cluster will produce 1000 grapes, and each grape will produce a cor of wine.’ In this context we cannot discuss the priority and interdependence of the two traditions. We can only maintain that there existed in the Early Church a saying of Jesus which the presbyters and authorities cited by Papias referred at once to the millennium. We may also notice how closely the Christian and Judaistic traditions approximated and even merged into each other at this point. This is true even in the case of theEpistle of Barnabas, which is normally so anti-Jewish. Speaking of the Sabbath which was instituted at creation, Barn. 15.3–9 argues that the Genesis narrative points prophetically to the final consummation. God created the world in six days, and He will bring it to its consummation in 6000 years, for one day is with the Lord as a 1000 years (Ps. 90.4; Barn. 15.4)4‘And God rested the seventh day’ means for Barnabas that when His Son comes He will destroy the age (kaipóy) of the lawless one (i.e. the Antichrist, cf. Isa. 11.4; 2 Thess. 2.8), judge the ungodly, and refashion the sun and the moon and the stars.

The Sayings of Jesus. By T. W. Manson, D.D., D.Litt. S.C.M. Press 21s.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

Book Review: The Sayings of Jesus

Book Review: The Sayings of Jesus

The Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus

Research Article| June 01 1946 The Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus Leon E. Wright Leon E. Wright Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Biblical Literature (1946) 65 (2): 175–183. https://doi.org/10.2307/3262613 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Leon E. Wright; The Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus. Journal of Biblical Literature 1 June 1946; 65 (2): 175–183. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3262613 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveSBL PressJournal of Biblical Literature Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Like Children

There is a saying of Jesus, found in Mark x. 15 and Luke xviii. 17, which seems to have exercised considerable influence on the imaginations of early Christians. “Whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a child shall not enter into it.” Another form of the same saying apparently interprets it in relation to conversion and regeneration. “Unless you turn and become like children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew xviii. 3). A further development of the same thought is to be found in John iii. 3: “Verily, verily, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And in John iii. 5, after Nicodemus' misunderstanding, the saying is finally clarified: “Unless a man is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Justin thinks of the two sayings as closely related, for in Apol. i. 61. 4 he conflates them: ἂν μὴ ἀναγεννηθῆτε, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.