Early Christian Writings Gospel of Thomas Saying 52 Previous - Gospel of Thomas Home - Next

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1 Pet 1:10-12, GHeb 2.

BLATZ LAYTON DORESSE

(52) His disciples said to
him: Twenty-four prophets
spoke in Israel, and they all
spoke of you. He said to
them: You have abandoned
the living one before your
eyes, and spoken about the
dead.
(52) His disciples said to
him, "Twenty-four prophets
spoke in Israel, and they all
spoke by you." He said to
them, "You (plur.) have
abandoned the one who is
living in your presence, and
you have spoken of those
who are dead."
57 [52]. His disciples said
to him: "Twenty-four
prophets spoke in Israel,
and they all spoke through
you!" He said to them: "You
have passed over Him who
is living in front of your
eyes, and have spoken of
the dead!"

Visitor Comments Scholarly Quotes

The spiritual reality towards
which the Gospel of Thomas
points us is far more
important than any mere
matter of historical fact.
- Simon Magus
You have before you the
living prophet, offering
words of wisdom to you,
proof in my own being of
who and what I am, yet you
choose to acknowledge the
words of dead prophets and
abandon the reality of the
Living Word standing before
you. Why should you need
the words of dead prophets
when you have me before
you?
- active mystic
Do not concern yourself with
museum-keeping activities
Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "Gartner has well identified the
twenty-four as the authors of the canonical books of the Old Testament, contrasted
with seventy secret books in the apocalypse of Ezra (2 Esdras [4 Ezra] 14:44-48).
Perhaps, as I have elsewhere suggested, they consist of twenty-three prophets and
John the Baptist. In any case, the Old Testament revelation is completely outmoded.
What counts is the new revelation of the Gnostic Jesus." (Gnosticism & Early
Christianity, p. 186)
F. F. Bruce writes: "The number of prophets corresponds to the number of books in
the Hebrew Bible. [Another, but less probable, view is that the twenty-four prophets
are the twenty-three listed in the old Jewish Lives of the Prophets, edited by C. C.
Torrey (Philadelphia, 1943), with the addition of John the Baptist (Grant and
Freedman, The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 153).] Throughout the New Testament it is
emphasized that Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures: 'To him all the
prophets bear witness' (Acts 10:43). [Some translators and commentators treat 'in
you' as though it meant 'concerning you'; it includes this, but goes beyond it. Christ,
as the Logos, is the one in whom they prophesied - which is the reverse way of
putting the New Testament statement that 'the Spirit of Christ within them
prophesied' (1 Peter 1.11). Cf. A. A. T. Ehrhardt, 'The Disciples of Emmaeus', New
Testament Studies 10 (1963-64), p. 192; he compares the apocryphal Epistle of the
Apostles 19 ('all the words which were spoken by the prophets were fulfilled in me,
for I myself was in them').] But this saying reflects a disparaging attitude to the Old
Testament comment to several of the Gnostic schools. Augustine knew the saying,
and dismissed it as an invention. [Against an Adversary of the Law and the Prophets
[the past]. Concentrate your 2.14.]" (Jesus and Christian Origens Outside the New Testament, p. 134)
efforts on what is right R. McL. Wilson writes: "The saying is quoted by Augustine who, as Grant and
before you Freedman say, has no hesitation about declaring it fictitious, but Jeremias shows very
- Thief37 clearly how it could find a place within the context of the historic ministry. Here we
52 have a case of a saying recorded only in an apocryphal document, as Augustine says,
which may yet have some claim to consideration as possibly authentic. Even if not
authentic, it would appear to reflect a period of controversy with the Jews about the
Messiahship of Jesus, such a situation as is envisaged, for example, in Ignatius' letter
Alias: to the Philadelphians (chap. 8), and this may justify its inclusion at this point."
(Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, p. 127)
Funk and Hoover write: "in the question, the number twenty-four is significant: in
later Jewish tradition, this was the number of sacred or scriptural books. The saying
therefore masks a polemic against the Hebrew scriptures. One might expect to find
such a polemic in the works of Marcion or his followers in the mid-second century
C.E., but not among the sayings of Jesus. The saying appears to reflect a time when
Christianity was no longer a Judean sect, but had become largely gentile." (The Five
Gospels, p. 503)
Post the Note
Marvin Meyer writes: "Augustine, Against the Adversary of the Law and the
Prophets 2.4.14, provides a close parallel to this saying: 'You have rejected the living
Discuss it now at AMC one who is before you, and you speak idly of the dead.' Also noteworthy is Acts of
forums! Thomas 170: 'Since you do not believe in the living, how do you wish to believe in
the dead? But do not fear. Jesus the Christ, through his great goodness, treats you
humanely.' Compare also John 5:37-40; 8:52-53." (The Gospel of Thomas: The
Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 90)
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