Recovering Jewish-Christian Sects and Gospels (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae)

 chapter five

tradition is the easiest solution. Notably, there are no parallels for the
above harmonized readings thatThomasand theGospel of the Ebionites
share in the Old Latin, Old Syriac or other Diatessaronic witnesses.^82 This
shows that, at least in this case, the common denominator ofThomas
and theGospel of the Ebionitesdoes not depend on Diatessaronic tra-
ditions. Instead, it probably is pre-Diatessaronic because it agrees with
Clement.
This assumption is confirmed by the fact that the connections between
Clement,Thomasand the Jewish-Christian gospel(s) are not restricted
to this passage. It is well known that logion  (“When you make the two
one.. .”) is paralleled inClem. .,.^83 On the other hand,Clem..a
(“If you were... in my bosom.. .”) finds a parallel in a “Jewish gospel,”
i.e., in the marginal reading of the minuscule  (“To Ioudaikon;”
Codex Novi Testamenti , ad. Matth. :).^84 BecauseClem. .,/
Gos. Thom.  is a non-canonical saying, it does not reveal anything
about possible harmonization. However,Clem. .a—although a non-
canonical saying itself—is in the middle of a collection of sayings which
otherwise harmonize with canonical Matthew and Luke.^85 This confirms
that the author ofClementhad access to pre-Diatessaronic harmonizing
traditions that also ended up in theGospel of Thomasand in the Jewish-
Christian gospel fragments.^86

(^82) See Baarda , .
(^83) See for instance, Koester , .
(^84) The Three Gospel Hypothesis ascribes this fragment to the “Gospel of the Naza-
renes.”
(^85) See Koester , –. Koester argues that the saying inClement..a cannot
be from the “Gospel of the Nazarenes” because there are no traces of Matthean language.
It is true that the Matthean “will of my father in heaven” is missing inClem..aand
that this shows thatClem. .a cannot be directly dependant on the “Jewish Gospel”
(“To Ioudaikon;” Cod. NT , ad. Matth. :). Nevertheless, it does not prove that the
saying quoted inClem. . must have been in a “free tradition.” Moreover,Clem..
uses the verbπ%λλωwhich fits well with the (κ)%λλωrepeated several times in
verses Matt :–.
(^86) It should be noted thatThomasand theGospel of the Ebionitesdid not get their
common readings directly fromClementor from a collection that would have included
only the “Sayings of Lord” (cf.Clem. .) because they have one additional expression
in common and they also both presuppose a larger narrative framework when they refer
to Jesus’ relatives that are “standing outside.”