In Matthew, this quotation from Psalm 118 is used to answer a question from the Pharisees about the authority Jesus had to perform miracles. Here it has no context, and comes off sounding like foolishness. Here, the act of rejecting the cornerstone is the criterion for the divinity of the stone, which wasn't Jesus' point.
This would be like saying that any religious view that anyone rejects must therefore be the true religion. And in the same vein, any meat the FDA condemns must therefore be the most healthy meat of all, or any political candidate that gets no votes whatsoever must be the one most qualified to hold the office, or any TV show that gets no viewers at all (not even the star's mother) must therefore be placed into prime time.
The act of rejecting Christ did fulfill prophecy, but the act itself didn't make Christ divine. Christ is divine whether he is rejected or accepted by anyone. He is beyond us altogether.
67 Jesus said, "Whoever believes that the All itself is lacking is himself completely lacking."
An alternative translation might be: "Whoever knows everything but is lacking is himself completely lacking." But the translation above seems to be a better fit both with the Coptic text and with gnostic thought. This saying reflects two sayings from Paul. The first is 1 Corinthians 13:2, "If I ... can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge ... but have not love, I am nothing." And notice also 1 Corinthians 15:28, "The Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all."
There is sometimes a question about passages like 1 Timothy 6:15-16, where in context God the Father "alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light" -- does that mean that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are lacking something? The Lutheran pastor Martin Chemnitz explained clearly:
"When the Deity is placed in opposition to idols, or to creatures, then the mention of one person (of the Trinity) does not exclude the others from being of the same substance with the Godhead" (Loci, Vol. I, page 75).
68 Jesus said, "Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted. Wherever you have been persecuted they will find no place." [Matthew 5:11; Luke 6:22]
Although this saying reflects Matthew 5:11, it is quoted by several other sources as a gnostic saying with a very different meaning: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake, for they will have a place where they will not be persecuted" (this quote is from Clement of Alexandria, Misc. 4,6,41,2). As to whether a physical or eternal place of rest is meant is unclear since there is no context here.
69 Jesus said, "Blessed are they who have been persecuted in their hearts. It is they who have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of the one who desires will be filled." [Matthew 5:8 and 5:6; Luke 6:21]
Here, knowledge of God comes from trial and testing, not from the word of God. There is no comfort here, only the desire to "wish hard enough," which is the axiom running through modern soap operas.
70 Jesus said, "If you bring what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not bring what is within you, what you do not have will destroy you."
Again, salvation is based here on the inside -- not on what Jesus did for us apart from our own good works or desires. This is one of the clearest violations of Scripture in the Gospel of Thomas. We are saved by Christ -- not by "what is within."
71 Jesus said, "I shall destroy this house,¹ and no one will be able to rebuild it." [Matthew 26:61 and 27:40; Mark 14:58; Acts 6:14; John 2:19].
¹ Or: a house.
This is a curious perversion of Jesus famous prophecy about his own resurrection. It appears to fit in with a Sadducean understanding of the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection (see Luke 20:27 and other places in Scripture).
72 Someone said to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's inheritance with me." He said to him, "Man, who has appointed me as an arbiter?" He turned to his disciples and asked them, "I am not an arbiter, am I?" [Luke 12:13-15]
This is just a snippet from Luke 12. The parable of the rich fool is condensed above in saying 63. The last sentence here is an addition outside the gospel account. Also, in Luke the man asks Jesus to make his "brother" divide the inheritance. Here the number of brothers has grown to several.
73 Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field." [Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2]
This is as it is in the gospels, but without any context.
74 He said, "O Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the well."
The "he" must be one of the disciples or another follower of Jesus. Ironically, it is a remarkable description of eastern religions, where the initiate is urged to discover that he has never existed, or to gaze into the center of his being and see that there is nothing there. This correctly describes the content of any religion that doesn't have or rejects Christ. There is nothing in the well.
When Abraham Lincoln's popularity was dropping down out of sight as the Civil War dragged on and intellectuals all over the United States and Confederate States alike made fun of the way he looked, the way he talked and the way he ran or failed to run the country, he was overwhelmed by the numebr of people who were coming to him looking for jobs in the government. His comment to a friend that "There's too many pigs for the teats" to a friend was not so much a quip as it was a deperate plea. But there was at least something, if not quite enough to go around. That's not what a religion that rejects Christ's payment for sin is like at all. There, the feeding trough is just plain empty. There's nothing there at all.
75 Jesus said, "Many are standing at the door, but just one ¹ will enter the bridal chamber." [cp. Matthew 22:14]
¹ Or: but only those who are alone will enter...
This is a reference to a Middle Eastern wedding. There are lots of people watching, but only the groom will go in to the bridal chamber.
It is possible that sayings 73, 74 and 75 are meant to be a little dialogue, but the message is awkward and the meaning is obscure -- which of course is a watermark of gnostic teaching. Eternal life, however, is not obscure or unreachable. It is clearly taught in the Bible by eyewitnesses who saw it happen. That's why John wrote:
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:2-4).
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