jewish-christian gospels and syriac gospel traditions ...Wise As Serpents
Gos. Thom. / P.Oxy. / Codex Novi Testamenti , ad. Matth.
:/Ps.-Clem. Rec. ..–;Hom. ..–According to a marginal note in manuscript , a “Jewish Gospel”
(“To Ioudaikon”) reads for Matthew :: “more than serpents” (5περ
Q1εις).^87 Thus the whole verse must have read in the “Jewish Gospel”:
See, I am sending you like sheep into the midst of wolves; so bewiser than
serpentsand innocent as doves.
As indicated above, although it is not possible to trace all the “Jewish”
readings to one and the same Jewish-Christian gospel, it is meaningful
to discuss the tradition history of individual readings (cf. Chapter .).
In this case, the “Jewish” reading is paralleled at the end ofGos. Thom.
/ P.Oxy. . However, the reconstructed Greek version of the Thoma-
sine saying in P.Oxy. is different from the “Jewish” reading. In prac-
tice, the latter part of the Greek version ofThomas’sayingisthesameas
verse :b in the canonical Matthew. Nevertheless, there is an indirect
connection to theGospel of the Ebionitesas will become clear below.
Gos. Thom. (Coptic)
The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis)
and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed
to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as
innocent as doves.
The beginning ofThomas’ logion is paralleled in the Q woe against
Jewish authorities (lawyers/scribes and Pharisees in Luke :/Matt
:). Although there is no direct parallel for the first part ofThomas’
saying in the Jewish-Christian gospel fragments, it is relevant for the
present theme because there are Jewish-Christian parallels inPseudo-
Clementine RecognitionsandHomilies.
Ps.-Clem. Rec. ..– (Latin)
Both the scribes and the Pharisees are drawn away into another schism.
They were baptized by John, and holding on to the word of truth received
from Moses’ tradition as being the key to the kingdom of heaven, they hid
it from the ears of the people.^88(^87) The Three Gospel Hypothesis ascribes all “To Ioudaikon” variants to the “Gospel of
the Nazarenes.” See Klijn , , –.
(^88) Translation is from Jones , . Jones provides a useful translation of Syriac and
LatinRec. in parallel columns.