Early Christian Writings Gospel of Thomas Saying 101 Previous - Gospel of Thomas Home - Next

You can view this web page along with Grondin's Coptic/English Interlinear in frames.
Nag Hammadi Coptic Text Funk's Parallels
GThom 55, GThom 105,
Luke 14:25-33, Luke
9:23-27, Matt 10:34-39,
Matt 16:24-28, Mark
8:34-9:1.

BLATZ LAYTON DORESSE

(101) <Jesus said:> He who
does not hate his father and
his mother like me cannot
be a [disciple] to me. And
he who does [not] love [his
father] and his mother like
me cannot be a [disciple] to
me. For my mother [ . . . ],
but [my] true [mother] gave
me life.
(101) <Jesus said>, "Those
who do not hate their
[father] and their mother as
I do cannot be [disciples] of
me. And those who [do not]
love their [father and] their
mother as I do cannot be
[disciples of] me. For my
mother [. . .] But my true
[mother] gave me life."
105 [101]. "He who has not,
like me, detested his father
and his mother cannot be
my disciple; and he who has
loved h[is father a]nd his
mother as much as he loves
me cannot be my disciple.
My mother, indeed, has [. .
.] because in truth she gave
me life."

Visitor Comments Scholarly Quotes

This makes perfect sense,
since to deny the hate and/or
love is to deny oneself.
- SLR
I like the reference to the
true mother giving birth to
Jesus because he
acknowledges that God is
not only masculine but can
also be feminine and give
life.
- Five_crowss
As a disciple one hates the
self-destructive attitudes
learnt from one's parents, but
also recognises one's innate
love for one's parents. For
the innate adult selves of
one's parents have supported
the growth of one's self.
- Rodney
As a process this works its
Marvin Meyer writes: "'my true [mother]': perhaps the holy spirit, who may be
described as the mother of Jesus in such texts as the Secret Book of James, the
Gospel of the Hebrews, and the Gospel of Philip. Thus the conundrum presented in
the saying (hate parents and love parents) is resolved by positing two orders of
family and two mothers of Jesus." (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of
Jesus, p. 105)
Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "The substance of this saying has
already been provided in Saying 56 [55]. Here, however, Jesus explicitly states that
he himself hates his (earthly) father and mother (see Saying 96). The repeated phrase,
'cannot be my disciple,' comes, like most of the saying, from Luke 14:26. What he
said about his mother (who gave him life?) cannot be recovered from the broken text.
Perhaps he said, as in the Gospel of the Hebrews, that his mother was the Holy Spirit.
The statement about loving father and mother may refer to loving the Father and the
Holy Spirit. Verbally it is quite close to Matthew 10:37: 'He who loves father or
mother more than me cannot be my disciple.' The sense is quite different, however.
On 'father and mother' see Saying 102 [105]." (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 189-
190)
Funk and Hoover write: "Verse 1 of this saying, by itself, could have been voted
pink, as a similar saying was in Luke 14:26. But here the first saying is joined by its
opposite (v. 2), which makes it a paradox. One cannot both hate and love parents at
the same time. The rest of the saying in Thomas is fragmentary, but enough remains
to suggest that Thomas was making a distinction between two different kinds of
course & there will come a mothers and fathers. The Fellows had to conclude that Thomas has revised an
time when the "patient" will authentic tradition and developed it in some new but unknown direction." (The Five
reject everything that Gospels, p. 527)
previously appeared to him J. D. Crossan writes: "In all cases where Thomas has two or more versions of a
to be good. He will even synoptic aphorism, one is usually more gnostic than the other. So also here. Gos.
curse God and curse his Thom. 101 'is a doublet of Saying 55. That part of its text which is parallel to the
teacher. Until he/she has Lukan account of hating is almost identical with Saying 55. Its additional material
passed through that phase seems clearly to be a more developed gnostic interpretation of the saying: hat this
they cannot be said to have world, love the spiritual' (Sieber: 121). For my present purpose, it is less important to
overcome their Commanding discuss this gnosticizing tradition of the triple-stich aphoristic compound than to note
Self [nafs-i-ammarra] or that, now the cross sayinghas completely disappeared inside the family one, save for
lower nature. How can you the common Coptic term behind 'in My way' (55) and 'as I do' (101). But Gos. Thom.
be said to know yourself if 101 still retained the triple-stich format of the aphoristic compound. He even retained
you have not witnessed the the double-stich parallelism of Aphorism 113 [Mt 10:37 // Lk 14:26], but the second
ugly in you as well as the stich is now in antithetical (hate/love) parallelism rather than in the original
shining? synonymous parallelism (hate/hate). Gos. Thom. 101 is a gnosticized redaction of
- Thief37 Gos. Thom. 55." (In Fragments, p. 136)
Similar hate your parents
strictures are recorded. They
are not necessarily meant to
be taken literally but may
well have been used by a
teacher as shock treatment
almost certainly to only one
member of a group of pupils.
It is a blunt instrument, a
tool of last resort and
recognised by modern
western psycholgists
studying brainwashing in the
Korean police action. The
victim is open when struck
such an emotional blow and
better able to
absorb/remember the words,
the situation, the people, the
occasion, etc, as a result. I
have seen it used under
similar authentic
circumstances. But without
having a fuller account of the
situation of the Thomasian
usage we cannot be sure that
this technique was being
used here. However we
should be aware of this
instrumental tool.
- Thief37
What happened to 'Honor
your father and mother?'
Unless your earthly father
and mother are to be
disowned in preference for
your Father in Heaven and
Mother of conscious
thought?
- bromikl
Like Jack Kilmon suggests
for saying 55 the word 'hate'
is likely better translated to
'set aside'. Thus this saying
most likely speaks of setting
aside the will of one's bodily
mother and father who
naturally wish to protect a
child from the world's
dangers. Jesus, however,
urges us to drop these
defenses and to trust in the
Lord, our spiritual mother
and father, even unto death.
- reader
Our greatest loyalty (love)
should not be to our
biological parents who gave
us their genetic materials
(which makes us predisposed
to their attitudes) to
experience this life, but
rather to the mother father
priciple that gave birth to the
spirit within.
- Roland
101

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