Some scholars have suggested that the first chapters (1-4) of Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church shows that already by the mid-fifties he could write to opponents who shared an outlook that is similar to that which we find advocated by the Gospel of Thomas. Not all scholars would agree with this assessment, however. Raymond Brown could be cited as one dissenter¹ and John Meier "wonders whether even the adversaries of Paul at Corinth . . . went as far as the redactor of the Gospel of Thomas."²

In Meier's statement we notice a slight concession towards this position. The Corinthian community behind chapters 1-4 has views which seem similar to the outlook of the Gospel of Thomas in many respects. It is necessary to first stress an important point mentioned by Stevan Davies; "It is incorrect to argue that there is in Corinth a group of opponents with a single identity against whom Paul wrote his first letter. Paul's letter shows that the Corinthians were divided into a substantial number of factions. Three or perhaps four are named in 1:12 and Paul refers to various groups in 11:18. For this reason I shall not feel free to roam through Paul's letter seeking a hint here and a tidbit there from which to compile a dossier on Paul's opponents. I shall focus primarily upon one unit of the letter, chapters 1---4, wherein the central concern is with the relationship of wisdom to Paul's gospel."³

Special Terminology

Helmut Koester shows that some of vocabulary of the first chapters of Corinthians has only few parallels with other authentic Pauline epistles. I rely heavily on his discussion of the issue here.⁴

This terminology leads us to a distinctive group of sayings found in the synoptic Gospels:

Matthew 11:25-26 = Luke 10:21
Matt 11:27 =Luke 10:22
Matt 13:16-17 = Luke 10:23-24

The first and third block is alluded to in the context of Paul's discourse in chapters 1-4 of 1 Corinthians. Here is the text of both passages:

Matt 11:25: Jesus said, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."

This verse is translated verbatim in Luke in English by the NIV.

Matt 13:16-7 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

Luke's version is similar to Matthew's here but has "kings" as opposed to righteous ones. The most prominent of these sayings is the first one. Koester who has "wise and clever" instead of wise and unlearned" wrote that "[T]he hendiadys "the wise and the clever" appears nowhere else in the New Testament. But both terms occur in parallelism in 1 Cor 1:19 in a quote introduced by "it is written." What Paul quotes here is the LXX text of Isa 29:14, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart." However, also the term "unlearned" of the saying Matt 11:25 par = Q/Luke 10:21, rarely used by Paul, appears in the context of Paul's discussion of wisdom in Corinth (1 Cor 3:1)."⁵

There are several other references to sayings which speak of the contrast between "hidden and revealed."

Paul speaks of the "hidden wisdom which God has predetermined before the ages" in 2:7. This is paralleled closely by Matthew 13:25: "I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." The saying is introduced by speaking of the fulfillment of what the prophet spoke but is most likely a reference to Ps 77:2 (LXX) that is only remotely related to this Matthean saying. This passage is paralleled more closely in other sayings:

Mark 4:22: There is nothing hidden, except to be revealed;
nor anything ever secret that will not come to light.

Also the Gospel of Thomas #5 and #6 have similar versions of the saying.

Koester writes that "the same contrast between hidden and revealed is employed in 1 Cor 4:5: ". . . the Lord who will illumine the hidden things of darkness and reveal the councils of the hearts." This is best explained as a commentary on the saying Mark 4:22 and the parallel sayings in the Gospel of Thomas."⁶

We can also point to one of Paul's strange quotations from scripture that occurs in 1 Cor 2:9

. . . what eye has not seen
and ear has not heard,
nor has it risen in the the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him.

Paul introduces this passage with "as it is written" but in the Gospel of Thomas (#17) is its quoted as a saying of Jesus:

I shall give you what no eye has seen
and what no ear has heard,
and what no hand has touched,
and what has never occurred to the human mind.

An altered form of this saying found its way into Q as well (mentioned above = Matt 13:16-17 = Lk 10:23-24). We should also note that 1 Cor 1:22 also conjures up images of Q/Luke 11:29-32.

Similarities to The Gospel of Thomas

There are numerous similarities to the Gospel of Thomas in 1 Cor 1-4. A few parallels were already mentioned above and I will offer several more below. It seems clear that a present kingdom is implied by Paul's critique of the Corinthian opponents.

1 Cor 1: 12-15 One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius; lest any one should say that you were baptized into my name . . .

As Stevan Davies wrote, "It is unlikely that Paul baptized his handful of Christians in the name of Paul, and equally unlikely that Cephas did so in his own name. If Apollos engaged in such a practice, Paul could hardly have found himself in such accord with Apollos that he would urge him to return to Corinth (16:12). The divisions are probably not along lines of divergent baptisms but along the lines of divergent *interpretations* of the same baptismal initiation. "⁷

Often enough, Paul speaks of the "old passing away" and that people are "new creations in Christ". Stevan Davies writes masterfully on this topic: "In effect Paul says here that baptized Christians have already come into the Kingdom. For the most part, however, Paul applies an eschatological reservation to his theory of baptism. It seems that an ancient form of the baptismal rite frequently indicated present passage from the old order to the new order, present acquisition of new birth (cf. John 3:3-- 4), new creation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17), renewal of the image of God (cf. Col. 2:11), present acquisition of new birth (cf. John 3:3--4), new creation that such things are inherent in baptism; he simply claims that their full reality lies in the future. Some of Paul's Corinthian opponents did find baptism productive of such conditions in the present. They claimed already to have come into their fortune and their Kingdom, and Paul says, with sarcasm, that he has been left out (cf. 1 Cor. 4:8).

Paul's Corinthian opponents here are not hypothetical quasi-Valentinian proto-gnostics. They are persons who presume that baptism means that "the world, life and death, the present and the future" (3:22) all fully belong to them in the present, while Paul would have them wait until the Lord comes. Paul's opponents in the first four chapters of his first letter to Corinth may have been people who practiced a baptismal liturgy with attendant instruction focusing on the full acquisition of Christian Kingdom and treasure in the present. This instruction was probably given by means of *sophia logou.* Although Paul takes issue with this, it seems obvious that some persons in Corinth believed that Christ did send them to baptize and they did so relying on wise speech (1:17)."⁸

We are given a further clue as to what this community is like. In Corinthians 4: Paul speaks of them as ones who are already satisfied, who have already become rich, and who have become kings.

This is most likely part of an ironic and sarcastic reference to sayings used by Paul's Corinthian opponents that are also found in the Gospel of Thomas. These three distinct metaphors for "present fulfillment" are all important in the Gospel of Thomas. I turn to Stevan Davies for citations of the relevant parallels [text appears in dark blue due to its length]:

The word *kekoresmenoi* literally means satiated, as with food or drink. The condition of persons prior to their finding Jesus is "emptiness" in Thomas Logion 28, and this "emptiness" is contrasted with "thirsting." Implicitly, the condition of emptiness will be rectified by those who thirst, and those who thirst will be filled. Thomas Logion 13 utilizes this metaphor as well: Jesus tells Thomas that "I am not your master because you drank; you are drunk from the bubbling spring which I measured." "He who drinks from my mouth will be as I am...," Jesus says in Logion 108. In Thomas there is evidently this sequence: emptiness, thirsting, drinking, being full of drink. One cannot take drunkenness in Logion 13 literally, of course; Logion 28 gives drunkenness as the opposite, and not the completion, of thirsting. In First Corinthians Paul twice speaks of drinking in this way, once from Christ (10:3) and once from the Holy Spirit (12:13), and in both instances the drinking takes place in the context of baptism. Those who utilized the Gospel of Thomas could have claimed that they were *kekoresmenoi,* filled and satiated.

Another metaphor for fulfillment in the Gospel of Thomas is "becoming rich." Logia 109 and 110 form an interesting couplet in reference to this motif.

"109+The Kingdom is like a man who had a treasure [hidden] in his field, and he did not know it. And [after] he died, he left it to his son. His son did not know, he received the field, he sold [it] and he who bought it, he went, while he was plowing, [he found] the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to [whom] he wished.

110+He who has found the world and becomes rich, let him deny the world..q0

As Logion 95 is a direct command by Jesus not to lend money at interest, it is wrong to take the concluding line of 109 literally; it may derive from symbolism in a Rabbinic parable (see p. 10 above). Both 109 and 110 favor finding treasure and riches. Thomas' dual use of the term "world" in 110 can lead to confusion, but clearly finding the world and becoming rich are advocated. Logion 110 is distantly paralleled by 81:

"He who has become rich, let him become king, and he who has power, let him renounce it."

Since, in Logion 2, we read

"The one who seeks must not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he shall be troubled, and if he is troubled, he will marvel, and he will rule over [all things]."

Reigning, or becoming king are not possibilities rejected by Thomas but are metaphors for fulfillment. Power, however, should be renounced. It is tempting to think of power here in terms of Paul's claim that his gospel is based on power, but our data are too scanty to enable us to draw any conclusion. Thomas certainly urges the seeking and the finding of treasure. Logion 76 says, in a vein similar to 109,

"The Kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had goods; he found a pearl. This was a prudent merchant. He gave up (i.e., sold) the goods, he bought the one pearl for himself. You also must seek for the treasure which does not perish, which abides where no moth comes near to eat, nor worm destroys."

Here Thomas identifies finding the pearl with seeking treasure. Consequently, those who followed the Christian teachings of the Gospel of Thomas could have claimed that they were rich or in possession of treasure.

Finally, adherents of the Gospel of Thomas tradition could claim to be already in possession of the Kingdom or already reigning, and this is evident throughout. Logion 2, quoted above, gives the culmination of the process begun by "seeking" as ruling. Logion 22, giving as it does a summary of baptismal reunification in a variety of modes, concludes with "then you shall enter [the Kingdom]." ⁹

Furthermore, we could note that the Gospel of Thomas does not focus on Jesus' death. In the Gospel of Thomas the fulcrum of Christian faith lies in Jesus' words. In Corinthians 1-4 we see Paul writing that he must prioritize the message of "Christ crucified". In 1:18 he calls it "foolishness to those who are perishing." In 22 he states that "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."

The various instances in which known wisdom sayings are paralleled in this chapter cannot be accidental or deemed a coincidence. Given what we can infer from Paul's polemic, one is inclined to think that, as Koester pus it, "wisdom sayings of Jesus must have been the vehicle on the basis of which the Corinthians claimed to have received this salvation."¹⁰

Another puzzling element of the Corinthians correspondance deals with the recourse to authority in Cor 1:12 (Cephas vs Apollos vs Paul vs Christ!). Overall, there are several elements which come together here:

1) The Corinthians knew a number of hidden wisdom sayings which were recognized as life-giving knowledge.

2) Paul rejects the suggestion that his calling had anything to do with baptism. Paul also seems to prioritize the Cross over baptism in 1:17. It seems apparent the Corinthians had a different interpretation of what their baptism meant.

3) Appeals to apostolic authority have always played a role in the transmission of Jesus' sayings. Somehow the Corinthian church seems to have factions which identified themselves in relation to a certain apostles (see1Cor 1:12).

As Koester writes, "If all three observations are combined, one must conclude that Paul faced a Corinthian faction in which believers claimed that baptism was their initiation into the mystery of wisdom. They understood particular apostles as their mystagogues from whom they received sayings which revealed life giving wisdom. The dual role of baptizing mystagogue and guarantor of a tradition of wisdom sayings is quite natural . . . [and] . . . Paul's arguments against this understanding of salvation become much clearer if they are understood against this background."¹¹

The well attested reading of 1 Cor 2:1 (shunned by previous editions of Nestles's NT but now adopted correctly by Aland in the 26th edition) actually has Paul saying, "as I proclaimed to you God's mystery" as opposed to this reading now commonly found printed in Bible translations: "as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God" supports this interpretation of Paul's Corinthians opponents. Furthermore, in 1 Cor 2:7 Paul also refers to Christ's crucifixion as "the hidden mystery predetermined by God before the ages." Nowhere else does Paul speak about the Cross of Christ in such ways. This backdrop makes Paul's arguments much more clear and understandable.

Conclusion

Paul seems to have faced a Corinthian faction(s) with a similar outlook to that which is found in The Gospel of Thomas. This fact alone renders many of the arguments for a late dating of Thomas to be obsolete. These wisdom traditions in Corinth at least make it plausible that much of the Gospel of Thomas could have an early date. Normally the content is viewed as being late but here we see a similar outlook being espoused by a faction in the 50's.We should not be surprised to see such diversity in early Christian origins. 1 Corinthians alone provides evidence of alarming diversity. Burton Mack has a listing of the catchwords of Paul's opponents in 1 Corinthians:

""We are rich" ; "We are free"; "We are kings" (1 Cor 4:8); "We are wise" ; "we are strong" (1 Cor 4:10); "All things are lawful" (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23); "It is well for a man not to touch a woman" (1 Cor 7:1); "Food will not bring us close to God" (1 Cor 8:8); "Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food" (1 Cor 6:13); "We all possess knowledge" (1 Cor 8:); "No idol really exists" ; "There is no God but one" (! Cor 8:4); "There is no resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor 15:12); "We have all we want" (1 Cor 4:8); "We have spiritual gifts and power" (1 Corinthians 12-14).""¹²

We see that the diversity found in Christianity today was found in different form early on. If Jesus is who Christians think he is then it is only natural that interpretations of him are going to be legion. Some loved him, some hated him, others crucified him. Specifically in regards to his followers, some appear focused mainly on his death (Pauline churches), some focused solely on his words (possibly Q, Thomas, and the Corinthian faction). While it appears that the canonical gospels seem to have combined both of these streams. Passion narrative with sayings material. Atonement theology with ethical teaching and parables.

1. Raymond Brown, Introduction to the New Testament, see pp. 526-528
2. John Meier, A Marginal Jew, V. 1, p. 157, note 85
3. Stephen Davies, The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Wisdom
4. Helmut Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels, pp. 55-62
5. Koester, ibid., p. 57
6. Koester, ibid., p. 58
7. Davies, ibid.
8. Davies, ibid. emphasis mine
9, Davies, ibid.
10. Koester, ibid. p. 60
11. Koester, ibid., p. 62
12. Burton Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament, p. 130

FEATURED WRITINGS