Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 00:23:43 From: Stephen C. Carlson To: "William E. Arnal" , Mike Grondin Cc: crosstalk@info.harpercollins.com Subject: Re: Original GThomas/"I'm your disciple" At 06:37 4/1/98 -0500, William E. Arnal wrote: >1. Unbelievably, I'd never noticed that #14 is a response >to #6a! How humbling. I'm gonna need to look at the >connection between these two sayings all over again. Thomas 6:1 Thomas 14 His disciples asked him 1 Jesus and said to him, said to them, Do you want us to fast? If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, How shall we pray? 2 and if you pray, you will be condemned, Shall we give alms? 3 and if you give alms, you will harm your spirits. What diet shall we observe? 4 When you go into any country and walk from place to place, when people receive you, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them. 5 For what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it is what comes out of your mouth that will defile you. Thom 14:5 recalls Mark 7:15 "there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile" and Matt 15:11 "it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Although Thom 14:5 is closer in wording to Matt than to Mark, the link with diet occurs only in Mark (v19, *Thus he declared all foods clean*) as an intrusive gloss. Since I believe this link between what defiles and dietary restrictions is original to Mark (e.g., it appears unknown to the participants of the Jerusalem Council including Paul), the presence of this link in Thom 6:1 and 14:5 is yet another indicator of Thomas's secondary nature. Stephen Carlson -- Stephen C. Carlson : Poetry speaks of aspirations, scarlson@mindspring.com : and songs chant the words. http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/ : -- Shujing 2.35