Archaeology and the Bible by George A. Barton
CHAPTER XXV
REPUTED SAYINGS OF JESUS FOUND IN EGYPT
Early Collections of the Words of Jesus. Translation of Sayings Found in 1897. Comments. Translation of a
Leaf Found in 1904. Comments. Opinions as to these Sayings.
The Gospel of Luke begins with the words: “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative
concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,”—words which imply that there were in the
early Church many attempts at Gospel writing. Some of these attempts apparently took the form of
collecting the sayings of Jesus. At Oxyrhynchus in Egypt two different leaves of papyrus have been found
on which such sayings are written. The first of these was found by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897; ( Fig. 301). It
begins in the middle of a sentence, but it is a sentence the beginning of which can be supplied from Matt.
7:5. When complete the sentence runs thus: [604]
[Jesus saith, Cast out first the beam from thine own eye], and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out
the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
On this saying compare Matt. 7:5; Luke 6:42.
The second one runs:
Jesus saith, Except ye fast to the world, ye shall in no wise find the kingdom of God; and except ye
keep the sabbath, ye shall not see the Father.
This saying does not occur in the Gospels, and has given rise to wide discussion among scholars.
The third is as follows:
[Pg 429]Jesus saith, I stood in the midst of the world, and in the flesh was I seen of them, and I found
all men drunken, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul grieveth over the sons of men,
because they are blind in their heart [and see not], poor, and know not their poverty.
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Archaeology and the Bible by George A. Barton
This saying also is not found in the Gospels. It is difficult to tell whether it was thought to have been spoken
by Jesus before or after the resurrection.
The fourth saying is difficult of translation and interpretation, since the text is not at all clear. As emended
by Harnack and Swete, it would run:
Jesus saith, Wherever there are two they are not without God, and if one is alone anywhere, I say I
am with him. Raise the stone, there thou shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there I am.
This saying has given rise to much discussion and to a large literature, but reference can here be made only
to Henry van Dyke's poem Felix. With the last part of the saying Matt. 18:20 should be compared.
The fifth saying is as follows:
Jesus saith, A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, neither doth a physician work cures upon
them that know him.
The first part of this is akin to Luke 4:24; Mark 6:4; Matt. 13:57, and John 4:44. The last part of it is not in
the Gospels.
The sixth one reads:
Jesus saith, A city built on the top of a high hill and firmly established can neither fall nor be hid.
In this saying the thought of Matt. 5:14 is combined with that of Matt. 7:24, 25, but there is no necessary
literary dependence upon Matthew.
The seventh and last saying on this leaf is:
[Jesus saith,] Thou hearest with one ear, but the other thou hast closed.
[Pg 430]This, too, is not found in our Gospels.
In 1904 another leaf of sayings of Jesus was found at the same place. It begins with a general introduction,
thus: [605]
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Archaeology and the Bible by George A. Barton
These are the [wonderful?] [606] words which Jesus the living Lord spake [to the disciples] and to
Thomas, and he said to them: Every one that hearkens to these words shall never taste of death.
These words formed the general introduction to a collection of sayings of Jesus, similar to that from which
the sayings already quoted were taken. The leaf also contained a few of the sayings which stood in the
collection. They are as follows:
Jesus saith, Let not him who seeks ...... cease until he finds, and when he finds he shall be astonished;
astonished he shall reach the kingdom, and having reached the kingdom he shall rest.
The Gospels contain parallels to parts of this saying. (See Matt. 6:33; 7:7; 13:44; Luke 5:9.)
The second of these sayings is longer:
Jesus saith, [Ye ask (?) who are those] that draw us [to the kingdom, if] the kingdom is in heaven? ......
the fowls of the air, and all the beasts that are under the earth or upon the earth, and the fishes of the
sea, [these are they which draw] you, and the kingdom of heaven is within you; and whosoever shall
know himself shall find it. [Strive therefore (?)] to know yourselves, and ye shall be aware that ye are
the sons of the [Almighty (?)] Father; [and (?)] ye shall know that ye are in [the city of God (?)] and ye
are [the city (?)].
The first part of this saying attributes to Christ a saying evidently based on the thought of Job 12:7, 8. Other
parts of the saying recall Luke 17:21 and Luke 20:36, though the phrases which remind us of these passages
form but a small part of the saying and appear here in quite a different connection.
The third saying runs:
[Pg 431]Jesus saith, A man shall not hesitate ...... to ask ...... concerning his place [in the kingdom. Ye
shall know] that many that are first shall be last and the last first and [they shall have eternal life (?)].
A part of this saying follows Mark 10:31 and Matt. 19:30; cf. also Luke 13:30. The last clause is
conjectural, but, if correct, is similar to John 3:16, 36; 5:24.
The fourth:
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Archaeology and the Bible by George A. Barton
Jesus saith, Everything that is not before thy face and that which is hidden from thee shall be revealed
to thee. For there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest, nor buried which shall not be
raised.
The last part of this saying is parallel to Matt. 10:26; Luke 12:2; see also Mark 4:22.
The fifth:
His disciples question him and say, How shall we fast and how shall we [pray (?)] ...... and what
[commandment] shall we keep? ...... Jesus saith, ...... do not ...... of truth ...... blessed is he ........
The papyrus is so broken that we cannot hope to recover this saying in its entirety, but it is clear that it
differed from the others in having an introductory clause which gave the occasion when it was uttered.
Judgments have differed as to whether all these sayings are really sayings of Jesus. That there were sayings
of his known in ancient times that are not recorded in our Gospels is shown by Acts 20:35. Some, at least, of
these sayings are so like those of Jesus that it is not difficult to believe them his. But whether they are his or
not, these papyri make clear to us what Luke meant when he said “many have taken in hand to draw up a
narrative.”
George Barton, Archaeology And The Bible, 1/1/1996. pages 480-482
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