Early Christian Writings
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Nag Hammadi Coptic Text
BLATZ
(58) Jesus said: Blessed is
the man who has suffered;
he has found life.
Visitor Comments
He who labors in the search
for wisdom and truth, has
found life. No symbolism
required.
- whacky
The note to Saying 58 says
that finding rest there is
equivalent to finding life. Is
life rest?
- george
It is bloody hard, painful
work becoming truly human!
- Rodney
To suffer is to say a painful
goodbye to bad things. Then
we can say a joyful welcome
to life.
- Peter T.
Dealing with the two
lowermost nafs [of seven]
will certainly produce
suffering in the victor of that
battle. You cannot control the
Commanding Self, and its
handmaiden the Accusing
Self, without there being
suffering for that is how you
were created. In fact if you
have not suffered you cannot
bear the stigmata of ever
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Funk's Parallels
1 Pet 3:14a, Jas 1:12.
LAYTON DORESSE
(58) Jesus said, "Blessed is 63 [58]. Jesus says:
the person who has labored "Blessed is the man who
and found life." has laboured; he has found
Life!"
Scholarly Quotes
Marvin Meyer writes: "If this is a saying about those who work hard, as is likely,
mention may be made of Proverbs 8:34-36, with its commendation of a person who
continually observes the ways of Wisdom, or Sirach 51:26-27, with its injunction that
one labor under the yoke of Wisdom, or the Cynic author 'Crates,' Epistles 15 and 16,
with the observation that a Cynic is one who works hard at philosophy." (The Gospel
of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 92)
Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "Here we find an equivalent, in the
form of a blessing, to the invitation repeated in Saying 90 from Matthew 11:28-30; in
that saying Matthew's reference to 'labor' is omitted, perhaps in order to be placed
here. 'Finding rest' in Saying 90 is equivalent to 'finding life' here. See also Saying
10, on 'working together.'" (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 165)
Funk and Hoover write: "In form, this aphorism mimics the beatitudes found in
Matthew (5:3-12) and Luke (6:20-22). But in content it recalls the 'labors' of
Hercules. In early Christian times, Cynics and Stoics, two dominant schools of
philosophy during the Greco-Roman period, 300 B.C.E. - 300 C.E., looked to
Hercules as a kind of heroic founder. This sort of borrowing from popular culture
was common in the early Christian movement as the followers of Jesus added to the
legacy of their teacher. Also, the promise of life echoes the prologue to Thomas and
related motifs elsewhere in this gospel (101:3; 114:1; further, 18:3; 19:4; 85:2;
111:2)." (The Five Gospels, p. 506)
being engaged in such a
battle.....
- Thief37
When one loses one's
identity, suffering is natural.
On the spiritual path, one
consciously or unconsciously
detaches from personality,
i.e. identity as a singular
person/ego/body/mind
complex. The suffering is the
result of the detachment
from who we think we are .
That detachment can be
experienced as a deep
painful void of emptiness.
When life loses it's former
meaning, suffering ensues.
When the spirit becomes
more dominant in one's
experience than the body,
detachment from life begins.
Finally, when the truth of
Spirit awakens to perception,
and we come to know who
we really are, then the
Kingdom of God is open to
us from within our own
Being. This is the end of
Suffering.
- Vidya
He who suffers (in his fight
to overcome his corrupt
flesh) and succeeds has
found truth. He shall not
taste death.
- Random
58

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