chapter three
(Gos. Thom.).TheseThomasineideasarenotveryfarfromtheidea
expressed in the passage quoted by Eusebius (“I choose myself the good
ones”).
It is hardly a coincidence that Luke’s exhortation to watchfulness (Luke
:–/Matt :–), which is the possible synoptic background for
Eusebius’ quotation (see above), finds its parallel in theGospel of Thomas
in logion that also deals with the problem of being “divided” (cf.
Eusebius’ “divisions of souls”) and states that Jesus was given some of
the things of his father (cf. Eusebius’ “the ones who my Father in Heaven
has given to me”). These considerations are then followed by logion ,
which talks about those who are worthy of being told Jesus’ mysteries.
The analysis in Chapter . indicates thatthe Gospel of Thomasand
many Jewish-Christian fragments are rooted in similar harmonizing
gospel traditions. This supports the view that Eusebius’ fragment and
Gos. Thom. – have some kind of tradition-historical connection.
Furthermore, one of the Jewish-Christian fragments that Jerome quotes
(Comm. Isa. .–) shows that the fundamental Wisdom myth was
known in theGospel of the Hebrews:
But according to the Gospel that was written in Hebrew language and read
by the Nazoreans: ‘The whole fountain of the Holy Spirit came upon him.’... Further in the Gospel.. .: ‘It happened then when the Lord ascended
from the water, that the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit descended and
rested upon him and said to him: My son, I expected you among all the
prophets that you should come and that I should rest upon you. For you
are my rest, you are my first-born son, who shall reign in eternity.^101
(trans. Klijn , ).
In addition, Clement of Alexandria quotes a saying from theGospel of the
Hebrewsthat has a parallel inGos.Thom. . In the light of these fragments,
the “good ones” in Eusebius’ passage do not refer to “morally superior”
Christians^102 but to those “seekers of Wisdom” who prove to be chosen
by the father.
However, although in theGospel of the Hebrewsthe “good ones” prob-
ably referred to those who possessed Wisdom, it is clear that Eusebius
is able to quote it “approvingly” for his own purposes. The title of the
section where Eusebius presents the passage (“Concerning the divisions
of the houses and the families which exist until the present day because
(^101) BecauseofthecloseconnectiontoWisdomtheology,thefragmentisoftenascribed
to theGospel of the Hebrewsalso in the GH. See, for instance, Klijn , ; Frey b,
, esp. n. . The passage is also attributed to theGospel of the Hebrewsin this volume.
(^102) Suggested by Klijn , .