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The Three “Matthean” Aphorisms in the Dialogue of the Savior 53
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2011
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The Dialogue of the Savior (NHC 3, 5) is a literary dialogue between “the Savior” and a group of disciples, among whom three are named and have speeches attributed to them (Matthew, Judas, and Mary). Originally written—or better, compiled—in Greek, perhaps early in the second century CE, the writing is preserved only in a Coptic translation made before the end of the fourth century. Only recently has a critical edition been published; hence scholarship on this important document is in its infancy.
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References
1 Emmel, Stephen, ed. and trans., Nag Hammadi Codex 111, 5: The Dialogue of the Savior (NHS 26; Leiden: Brill, 1984)Google Scholar; Emmel's translation is reprinted in Robinson, James M., ed., Nhle (3d rev. ed.; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988) 246–55.Google Scholar The text, translation, and paragraph numbers cited below are those of Emmel; parenthetical references are to codex page and line numbers. Translations of biblical texts are from the RSV.
2 Helmut Koester and ElainePagels, “Introduction,” in Emmel, , Dialogue, 2–9Google Scholar.
3 Ibid., 15-16. See also Koester, Helmut, Ancient Christian Gospels: Their History and Development (London: SCM; Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990) 174: “There is no evidence [in passages indebted to the dialogue source] for the use of either the canonical gospels or the Pauline epistles or of any other known writing, with the possible exception of the Gospel of Thomas” similarly “the dialogue sections are elaborations of sayings of Jesus which show no sign of the use of any known gospel” (p. 175)Google Scholar.
4 Note, however, that Blatz, Beate (“Der Dialog des Erlösers,” in Schneemelcher, Wilhelm, ed., NTApoc 1. 251 n. 12)Google Scholar cites only John 13:16 (“A servant is not greater than his master”) n i reference to the third saying in Dial. Sav. 53.
5 Koester, , Ancient Christian Gospels, 182 nn. 2, 3Google Scholar.
6 In addition to presenting its sayings in the order, Matthean, Dial. Sav. 53Google Scholar has the noun κακíα, found in the New Testament Gospels only at Matt 6:34. Further, the adjective άρκετóς is rare (so already Deissmann, Adolf, Bible Studies [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1901] 257)Google Scholar; it is found in the New Testament only in Matt 6:34; 10:25; and 1 Pet 4:3: άρκετòς γàρ ὁπαρεληλυὡς χρóνς (“Let the time that is past suffice”). (For the intrusion of 1 Peter's γáρ [“for”] into the manuscript tradition and patristic citation of Matt 10:25a, see Zaphiris, Gérassime, Le texte de I'Évangile selon saint Mathieu d'apres les citations de Clément d'Alexandrie [Gembloux: Duculot, 1970] 487.)Google Scholar In the New Testament only Matthew has the neuter άρκετóν (with omitted copula); see Nigel Turner, Syntax (=vol. 3 of Moulton, James Hope, Howard, Wilbert Francis, and Turner, Nigel, A Grammar of New Testament Greek [4 vols.; Edinburgh: T & T. Clark, 1906-1976]) 309Google Scholar.
7 Whether Q read “food” or “wages” is uncertain; see, e.g., Kloppenborg, John S., Q Parallels: Synopsis, Critical Notes, and Concordance (Sonoma, CA: Polebridge, 1988) 68–69,Google Scholar where neither reading is assigned to Q. Joseph A. Fitzmyer is more confident: Matthew's “food” is “a Matthean modification” of Q (The Gospel According to Luke [AB 28/28A; 2 vols.; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981-1985] 2. 848).Google Scholar Cf. 1 Tim 5:18b: “‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages’” (the latter saying is probably quoted as authoritative; see 5:18a: “forthe scripture [ἡ γραΦή] says,…”); and Did. 13.2: “Likewise a true teacher is himself worthy, like the workman, of his food.” For both Matthew and the Didache the translation “food” is probably over-literal: “τροΦή in the case of a labourer or slave is virtually μισΦóς” (McNeile, Alan Hugh, The Gospel According to St. Matthew [London: Macmillan, 1915] 136); see also LPGL, s.v. τροΦή 6 (1416a): “support, sustenance.”Google Scholar
8 Tuckett, Christopher M., Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition: Synoptic Tradition in the Nag Hammadi Library (Studies of the New Testament and Its World; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986) 130. Likewise,Google ScholarPerkins, Pheme, The Gnostic Dialogue: The Early Church and the Crisis of Gnosticism (Theological Inquiries; New York/Ramsey/Toronto: Paulist, 1980) 111; andGoogle ScholarSevrin, Jean-Marie, “Paroles et paraboles de Jésus dans des écrits gnostiques coptes,” in Delobel, Joël, ed., Logia. Les Paroles de Jesus: Memorial Joseph Cottens (BETL 59; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1982) 522–23:Google Scholar “an obvious reference to three gospel passages.”
9 See, e.g., Smith, Dwight Moody, “John and the Synoptics: Some Dimensions of the Problem,” NTS 26 (1979-1980) 425–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar(on the Gospel of John), and Crossan, John Dominic, Four Other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of Canon (Minneapolis: Winston/Seabury, 1985) 132–35Google Scholar(on the Gospel of Peter).
10 See, e.g., Hedrick, Charles W., “Thomas and the Synoptics: Aiming at a Consensus,” SecCen 7 (1989-1990) 39–42.Google Scholar
11 See Crum, W. E., A Coptic Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon, 1939)Google Scholar s.v. 
(651a). The verb's basic meaning is “to suffice, be enough” (=ἱ κανοûσθαι, άρκεîν, etc.).
12 Norcan an appeal to known Coptic versions of the New Testament provide the solution to the particular problems in Dial. Sav. 53. By way of comparison, the three sayings appear as follows in (a) the Sahidic and (b) the Middle Egyptian versions:
Matt 6:34c (a) 
.
(b) 
.
(a) 
.
(b) 
.
(a) 
.
(b) 
.
Sahidic quotations from Horner, George W., ed., The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Southern Dialect, otherwise called Sahidic and Thebaic (7 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1911-1924) 1. 52, 86, 90Google Scholar; Middle Egyptian from Schenke, Hans-Martin, ed., Das Matthäus-Evangelium im mittelägyptischen Dialekt des Koptischen (Codex Scheide) (TU 127; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1981) 66,Google Scholar 74, 75. The Sahidic translation in the Pierpont Morgan MS (Hyvernat, Henri, ed., Bybliothecae Pierpont Morgan codices coptici [56 vols.; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1922])Google Scholar was inaccessible to me.
13 Cf. Koester, and Pagels, , “Introduction,” 4:Google Scholar “Here and elsewhere…such statements by Mary seem to serve as summaries and as transitions to new topics.”
14 Cf. Blatz, , “Der Dialog,” 251:Google Scholar “So bezüglich auf…”
15 References in Crum, , Coptic Dictionary, s.v. 
(645a)Google Scholar.
16 See also Dial. Sav. 16 (128.8; context fragmentary); 35 (134.18): “Someone who will not know the root of wickedness is no stranger to it”; 37 (136.5): “And they concluded that it is useless to regard wickedness.”
17 The following introductions and asides are found: 1 (120.2): “The Savior said to his disciples”; 9 (126.6): “His [disciples said]”; 37 (136.1): “[Then his disciples] were amazed at all the things he had said to them”; 38 (136.6): “Then he said to his disciples”; 39 (136.10): “Then all his disciples offered him praise and said”; 40 (137.2): “Then…[…] disciples”; 53 (139.11); 54 (139.13): “The disciples said to him”; 71 (141.20): “His [disciples] said to him”; 81 (142.24): “His [disciples], numbering twelve, asked him.”
18 Emmel, , Dialogue, 78–79 and nnGoogle Scholar.
19 See Crum, , Coptic Dictionary, s.v. (179b):Google Scholar άξíως in Wis 7:15; Rom 16:2; 1 Thess 2:12; άξια in Job 33:27; Luke 23:41; also τà δíκαια (“just penalties” [RSV]) in Wis 14:30; δíκη (“justice”) in Acts 28:4; and τíμημα (“valuation”) in Lev 27:27.
20 Bultmann, Rudolf, The History of the Synoptic Tradition (rev. ed.; New York: Harper & Row, 1963) 73, 81, 74-75Google Scholar.
21 Carlston, Charles E., “Proverbs, Maxims, and the Historical Jesus,” JBL 99 (1980) 99Google Scholar.
22 For a review of recent work in the Jesus trdition see Purdue, Leo G., “The Wisdom Sayings of Jesus,” Foundations and Facets Forum 2/3 (1986) 3–35Google Scholar.
23 See, e.g., Williams, James G., Those who Ponder Proverbs: Aphoristic Thinking and Biblical Literature (Bible and Literature Series 2; Sheffield: Almond, 1981) 80Google Scholar.
24 Needless to say, there are numerous biblical, rabbinic, and Greco-Roman “parallels” to each of the sayings. In addition to the standard marginal references in Nestle-Aland (26th ed.) and UBSGNT (3d ed.), for Matt 6:34c see, e.g., Wettstein, Johann Jakob, Novum Testamentum Graecum (2 vols.; 1751-52; reprinted Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1981) 1. 337Google Scholar; Bultmann, , History, 106–7; andGoogle ScholarCarlston, , “Proverbs,” 100 n. 102Google Scholar; for Matt 10:10e see Wettstein, , Novum Testamentum, 1. 369Google Scholar; Carlston, , “Proverbs,” 100Google Scholar n. 105; for Matt 10:25a see Wettstein, , Novum Testamentum, 1. 373Google Scholar.
25 Beardslee, William A., “Uses of the Proverb in the Synoptic Gospels,” Int 24 (1970) 70–71Google Scholar.
26 It may even be that Mary, as “a woman who understood completely” (139.12-13), is being credited with the ability to supply the missing element and so make the necessary hermeneutical connection between the sayings and their new context.
27 Contrast Matt 10:24a // Luke 6:40a: “A disciple is not above his teacher” (cf. John 13:16).
28 Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara, “Toward a Theory of Proverb Meaning,” Proverbium 22 (1973) 821–27Google Scholar.
29 Beardslee, William A., “Proverbs in the Gospel of Thomas,” in Daube, David E., ed., Studies in the New Testament and Early Christian Literature: Essays in Honor of Allen P. Wikgren (NovTSup 33; Leiden: Brill, 1972) 101Google Scholar(emphasis added).
30 The subsequent contexts and functions of the proverb quoted in Matt 10:10e // Luke 10:7b are outlined in Harvey, A. E., “‘The workman is worthy of his hire’: Fortunes of a Proverb in the Early Church,” NovT 24 (1982) 209–21Google Scholar.
31 Greek text in Holl, Karl, ed., Epiphanius (3 vols.; GCS 25/31/37; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1915-1933Google Scholar; 2d ed. by Jürgen Dummer; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1980-85) 3. 490. For the first part of a projected ET of the whole, see Williams, Frank, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book I (Sects. 1-46) (NHS 35; Leiden: Brill, 1987)Google Scholar; for a partial ET of the treatise, including paragraphs near the passage under discussion, see Amidon, Philip R., trans., The Panarion of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis: Selected Passages (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990)Google Scholar.
32 The discussion continues in 80.5.5 with an extension of this argument to priests and bishops; proof texts cited include 1 Cor 7:7c (“Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?”), 1 Cor 7:7b (“Who plants a vineyard without sharing any of its fruit?”), and 2 Tim 2:6 (“It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops”).
33 Similarly in quoting 1 Cor 9:7b (see previous note) Epiphanius has μεταλαμβáνει (“shares”) for έσθíει (“eats”), under the influence of 2 Tim 2:6.
34 The speech reads: δóς μοι έργασíαν ἴνα έργáζωμαι ‹αì άπολανσω› τοû ίδíονἄτου. Verbal contact with the LXX narrative concerning Jacob and Laban is achieved by the use of the noun έργασíα, found in Genesis only at 29:27. (The Latinism da operam [see BAG, s.v. δíδωμι 7 (193b; cf. Luke 12:58)] is probably not reflected here.) With the specific mention of “the righteous” in connection with Jacob's work, cf. Jub. 28.6.
35 With this form of the saying about work and its reward, cf. Rom 4:4: “Now to him who works (τῶ ργαζομένψ), his wages (ό μισθòς αὑτοû) are not reckoned as a gift but as his due (όΦεíλημα).”
36 In Haer. 80.4- 6 έργáζεσθαι occurs eight times (including quotations), the noun έργασíα nine times (including quotations).
37 Such manuscript and patristic evidence as there is for the assimilation of the text of Matthew (“food”) to Luke (“wages”) is presented in Zaphiris, , Le texte de I'Évangile selon saint Matthieu, 474–75Google Scholar.
38 See BAG s.v. καí 3 (393a); Smyth, Herbert Weir, Greek Grammar (rev. Messing, Gordon M.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956) §2869a (p. 650); and BDF §442(9) (p. 229). The same might be claimed for καí in 1 Tim 5:18bcGoogle Scholar.
39 The following sample comprises the last ten instances in the Haer. of two quotations, or alleged quotations, linked directly by καí, i.e., with no intervening word(s). The passage under discussion is item (9). References are to book, chapter, and section, and following the convention in citing Epiphanius, to GCS vol., page, and line numbers (in parentheses).
(1) 77.19.3 (37.433.13-16): Ps 146 (147):6a LXX (verbatim; cf. Isa 40:11-12; Ps 24 [25]: 8-9) + Ps 77 (78):70b LXX (alt.) + Acts l:10b-lla (alt.);
(2) 71.27.4 (37.440.5-7): Job 12:11 LXX (verbatim, reading νοûς with codd. BSA; Rahlfs: οủς) + unidentified quotation (cf. Prov 20:12);
(3) 77.27.8 (37.440.25-27): 1 Cor 14:15c (phrases reversed) + 1 Cor 14:4 (alt.);
(4) 77.37.5 (37.449.27-28): Gal 5:2b (verbatim) + 5:4bc (verbatim);
(5) 77.37.6 (37.450.1-3): Luke 22:30a (alt.) + Mark 14:25=Matt 26:29 (abbr.);
(6) 78.4.2 (37.454.23-25): Exod 18:19 (alt. and abbr.) + 19:8b (alt.);
(7) 78.13.1 (37.463.27-28): John 2:2a (abbr.) + 2:1b (abbr.);
(8) 79.5.4 (37.480.7-8): Rom 1:25 (alt. slightly) + 1:22 (one word);
(9) 80.5.4 (37.490.18-19): Luke 10:7c + unidentified quotation;
(10) 80.11.6 (37.496.3-5): 1 Tim 3:15d (verbatim) + Matt 16:18 (alt. and abbr.; cf. Isa 5:28; 50:7).
40 This possibility is considered in Massaux, Edouard, Influence de I'Évangile de saint Matthieu sur la littérature chrétienne avant saint Irénée (1950; reprinted, Neirynck, F., ed.; BETL 75; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1986) 407.Google ScholarRopes, James Hardy (Die Sprüche Jesu die in den kanonischen Evangelien nicht überliefert sind [TU 14/2; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1896] 93),Google Scholar while granting that “it can scarcely be doubted” that the second saying is cited as dominical, judges it to be a late, deliberate limitation of the dominical word.
41 This is tentatively suggested in Ropes, , Die Sprüche Jesu, 93.Google Scholar Despite its intrinsic improbability, a glance at the context of Luke 10:7c shows this to be a tantalizing suggestion. The commands, “Remain in the same house eating and drinking what they provide” (10:7ab; cf. 10:8) and “Do not go from house to house” (10:7d) both exhort the visitor to be content, i.e., not to move on to more alluring accomodation or seek heartier victuals (cf. Fitzmyer's paraphrase: “accept the hospitality of the townspeople, such as it is” [Luke, 2. 848, emphasis added]). It seems, therefore, that Luke's context would have been better served by the second of Epiphanius's sayings than by the Q saying he in fact shares with Matthew.
42 Cf. Herm. Vis. 3.9.3, where άρκετóν is paired with τροΦή: “For some are contracting illness…by their not having sufficient food (τò άρκετòν τἧς τροΦῆς)….”
43 Kelber, Werner H., The Oral and the Written Gospel: The Hermeneutics of Speaking and Writing in the Synoptic Tradition, Mark, Paul, and Q (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983) 184Google Scholar.
44 Crossan, John Dominic, In Fragments: The Aphorisms of Jesus (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983)Google Scholar.
45 Ibid., 153.
46 Crossan (ibid., 154) identifies numerous examples in the Gospel of Thomas.
47 Crossan (ibid., 157-64) offers the following examples of verbal clusters that “also evidence a thematic unification”: Mark 11:22-25 (four aphorisms); Q 6:43-45 (five aphorisms); Mark 9:33-50 (eight aphorisms).
48 To mention just one possibility: the adjective άρκετóς is closely related to the notion of αὑτάρκεια (“sufficiency, contentment, self-sufficiency”). This “favorite virtue of the Cynics and Stoics” (BAG s.v. [122a], with refs.) took its place early among Christian desiderata; see, e.g., 1 Tim 6:6; Herm. Man. 6.2.3; Clement, Alex. Paed. 1.12Google Scholar(illustrated by Matt 6:34); 2.12; 3.12.
49 ET in Williams, Francis E., “The Apocryphon of James,” NHLE, 33Google Scholar.
50 Tuckett, , Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition, 151Google Scholar.