158

Tlill GOSPEL A.cco~ll:-;G ..,.,,__

coMMBNTARY 159 IRÉNÉ
•v lllo¾\s

hu4 J
The mention of the cross is ProbabI

-. .
nu,,. <eJect
. o, abandon the Wot}d _Y a rellli . • d a,., d belongs to the realm of death. ln his letter to
something mo,t people heJd dea,_ In, the '-"
«<Ust Wil.Jif ",,y
h fcWouJd be identified With the Wodd ,., eÜ,
cros, s.,..
,,1 ..... 0
ni
SS,•
s . • ,.
s a cadaver anpaul writes in sirnilar terrns: "May I never boast
1 e G:ùauans,
th
h. except the cross o f our Lord Jesus Ch rist,
of an:~;;orld has been crucified to me, and I to the world"
. by
....
h You
"If
. ila, to what J"'"' told h;, dhcipb
t e,e o,e, sun ·
K. (pl.) do no, abstain lion, the "'''<Id, You :il '""'•
e·statel!\e

,a b
. d om. " A cco,d'>ng to Jesu,, , disciple Will notfind
t ble >ng
,-;;:;,,,.,. 6c<4) · To Paul, the Wo,ld itselfha, been crncified
ugh Christ's death on the cross, so metaphorically speak-
.....3--

',J) i.
/~

{
a e to cany s ~'°". e me w en e _dtiok, "'•y•e
" hi lik " h h
coow,,.,.
in;, the apostle finds the world to be a cadaver to him. But
<::::,) ~ d . . -~~.'1,.

mouth to becon,e 1,k, h,., (Saymg ms). Th;,
met by Thomas afre, he becan,e intoxica,ea by di"""'"-
the bubb!ing spting that Je,u, me,,U<ed out (S>yiog tJ). lb,
disciples ofJesus are, therefore, called to emulate Thomas, for
Ll'l
Paul hirnself has become a cadaver to the world as well, since
the world had no more hold on him; Paul has "died" toit
(cf. also Romans 6). Saying 56 must, therefore, be read in con-
junction with Saying 55, in which the disciples are to take

{ lt
only then will they be worthy ofJesus. their cross like Jesus and to be sacrificed to the world. The last
part of the saying, " the world is not worthy ofhim," echoes

1)
Hebrews 11:38, which invokes the heroes offaith "ofwhom

~cj~
Saying 56 150
the world was not worthy."

Jesus said: He who has known the world has found a

t
cadaver; he who has found a cadaver, the world is not Saying 57
worthy of him.
Jesus said: The Kingdom of the Father is like a man
Q
Sayings 55 and 56 are linked by the catchword "worthy"
and the themes of rejecting and dying to the world. Saying 56
who had (good] seed. His enemy came in the night,
sowed weed among the good seed. The man did not let ~-} 1 -?- tl
is alrnost identical with Saying Bo, which reads, 'Jesus said: He them pluck out the weed. He said to them, 'Lest (while)
.
o--...)
,..(...._ ' ..(
1 iF'§'
who has known the world has found the body, but he who you go to pluck out the weed, you pluck out the grain .
has found the body, the world is not worthy ofhim." Thereis with it.' For on the day of the harvest, the weeds will be
an inversion of the idea of "worthiness" in Sayings 55-56 . ln manifest, plucked out, (and) burned.
the first saying, the disciple must become worthy ofJesus by
t h e world and its relationships. In saymg
· 56 '. the.
This parable is similar to Matthew 13:24-30 but lacks the -i <!
~1
ts
reJ.ectmg
· allegorical explanation given by Jesus in Matthew 13 :36-43.
World becomes "unworthy" of the one who has known it; lt Does this necessarily mean that the parable needs to be inter-

149 . R . VAI.Afn-ASrs, The Gospel efThomas (New Test3111enc Reaclings; 150 . See M. GROSSO, ¼,ngelo secondo Tommaso (Roma: Carocci edi-
N ew York: Routledge, 1997), 132-33.
tore, 2011), 192.

1111 ~ . j
192
193
TIIE GOSPEL Acco~ING l'
coMMBN'fARY
o l'lio¼\s
Father" instead of "word of God" d
hr f the word "body" (sôma) instead of
p ase ...m truth," absent uum
4:.,._
Luke an adds th
2oa e Prep ..
.,iant is .111 _the use o is no reason to interpret th.1s saying
•
_ •
11 rf"here
ent in
h connect1on W1th Saying " th'l:SG lt \VilJ. becollJ.eStt10
0 a na1
•e<''°''' (tot11a). !than Sayinll 56. To knoW t h e world 1s· to
• • •
100 v"
t e noun " go d" to re fcer to the Father , eofJos. l'ho111 · neverPP.ir, ,,, iJl adiffere~t _waYphysical body and belongs to the realrn of
. component evident in thesus · It conlains"'t\
clear eschatological
know that 1t 1s•"hoa a:tins such knowledge, the world becomes
. be days w hen... " Th e conteict ofJe,u,• "Yin
wilJ e Use Of". ···¾' dl one
dl>th'' for of hiin- i , - sentiment echoes Hebrews n: 38, wbere
This
is absent from the Gos.Thom.; hence, s,Ying . g_ in Luke •J
vv
unwhor yes of faith are those of "whom the world was not
. . by t he unp
Jess mterpretatmn
h . lied reader.'~ 79 ÎhelnVJtesa1;_
b . ""'-
1 ero The ine,nuig ofSayini;; 56 arul 80 can be cornpared
therthY"
the esc ato og1ca. 1 portion
. o f t h'IS saying is aùnedeatitude;. h·•
: p,J's stateineot in Galaûans 6:14: "May I never boas< of
women who do not conceive. . 210 T e eschatologk,J 0
h at t ose
h ,,ytlins «cept the cross of ow: Lord Jesus Christ, by which
described ere nu'ght be W hen women "beco,,,. male" I<!
OllJ.ent the world has been crucifted to me, and 1 to the world." The
Saying u4), as expressed 1n Saymg 22, Whe,e '"teringo, world was crucified to Paul through Christ's own death. This
Kingdom is realized when "you make the male a,d eh, is another way of saying that Paul considered the world to be
female a single one; that the male not be male, and the fenu)e a(dead) body, just as he was himself considered dead to the
not be female."
world. Analogous language is found in Romans 6, where the
believers are said to have been baptized into Christ's death.
Saying 80 T~e bod'. should, therefore, be interpreted as a negative entity,
211
as m Saymg 87.
Jesus said: He who has known the world has found the
body, but he who has found the body, the world is not
worthy of him. Saying 81
Jesus said: He who has become rich, let him reign, and
Saying 80 is almost the same as Saying 56: "Jesus said: He he who has power, let him renounce (it).
who has known the world has found a cadaver; he who bas
. This saying brings up the ideas already hinted at in Say-
found a cadaver, the world is not worthy ofhim." The only
mgs 56 and 80. Similarly, Saying no, "Jesus said: He who has
found the world (and) became rich, let him renounce the
208. B. GARTNER, The Theology of the Gospel According to Thomas (Lon· world," can also be read in conjunction with and as a back-
don: Collins, 1961), 252. drop for Saying 81. The one who has found the cadaver, body,
an
209 · R. ÜRo, "Is Thomas encratite gospel?" in 11io~as
roads, Essays on the Gospel ojThomas (ed. R . URO; Studies
:~:e1;: 211. U.-W. PuscH, The Gospel oJThomas. Original Text with Commen-
st tary (trans. G. ScHENlΠROBINSON; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesells-
Te ament and Its World· Edinburgh T&T Clark, 199B), 149· cA·
210 , ' ma .
· S.J. PATTERSON, The Gospel ojThomas andjesus (Sono ' chaft, 2008), 188.
Polebridge Press, 1993), r55.