Teaching Team
More Lost Teachings of the Master
A few months ago Toby put a blog up asking for your favorite non-canonical sayings of the Master. It was called “Lost Teachings of the Master.”
A non-canonical saying of the Master is a teaching or saying of Yeshua that does not appear in the NT text but has been preserved and transmitted in other collections. We know that during the Apostolic period the majority of the Master’s teachings were passed on orally among His disciples, just as the teachings of the Sages were passed down orally by their disciples. Our written Gospels may represent collections of what was originally oral material. In that sense, the Gospels are to the teaching of Yeshua what the Mishnah is to the teaching of the Sages—a written version of an oral tradition.
So where do we find these non-canonical sayings that didn’t make it into the Gospels? There are several sources. Manuscript fragments and quotations in the Church Fathers are two common sources. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas is considered by some to contain some authentic sayings, but these have been colored by Gnostic redactions.
Last Shabbat at Beth Immanuel we were studying through the Epistle of First Clement when we came upon a short collection of sayings of the Master which betrayed a non-canonical, oral source. According to Church Legend, Clement was a disciple of Peter. Read about Clement and our Clement study here.
This is the passage from Clement that contains the words of the Master:
Be especially mindful of the words of the Lord [Yeshua] which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.” By this precept and by these rules let us stablish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. (1 Clement 13:1–3)
This string of sayings bears resemblance to several Gospel passages, but it is not found anywhere in the text of the Gospels in this order. Even more impressive, several of the sayings, though similar to other words of the Master, are not in the Gospel at all. Let’s take a look:
“Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy”
This formulation does not appear in the Gospel, though it is similar to two well-known sayings:
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
“Forgive, that it may be forgiven to you.”
This saying is like a short version of Matthew 6:14 which says, "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
"As ye do, so shall it be done unto you."
Though this sounds similar to the golden rule of Matthew 7:12, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you…”, it is not the same. This is a measure for measure statement.
"As ye judge, so shall ye be judged"
This is identical to Matthew 7:2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged.”
"As ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you"
This saying has no parallel in the Gospels.
"With what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you."
This saying is identical with Matthew 7:2: “by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
As you can see, there is quite a bit of new material here. I am also impressed that these sayings are all parallel to each other, representing a unit for easy memorization and oral transmission. Notice also that the last three lines contain two halves of Matthew 7:2 with an otherwise unknown saying between them. This strongly suggests that Matthew 7 was not Clement’s source for the sayings he reports here, otherwise he would not have separated those two lines.
I personally find great joy in discovering what may well be more authentic teachings of our Master, passed on by His disciples. So what about you? What are your thoughts? Found any nice non-canonical sayings lately?
D. Thomas Lancaster
Elul 14, 5767
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Visitor Feedback:
Beautiful! I find it interesting that the second half of each of these sayings may be interpreted to be from God or from other people. It seems likely to me that both are meant, considering his other teachings.
Aaron Eby | August 28, 2007 9:12 AM
"If you do not observe the Sabbath day as a Sabbath day, you will not see the Father." Thomas 27:2
Well, maybe not exactly, but it's interesting that even in the Gnostic gospels the Torah-observance of the Master is undisputed.
Yeshua said, "If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move." Thomas 48:1
I especially like the this one. It replaces the "have faith" of the canonical Gospels with "two making peace," which is nothing more than faith in action. It also shows how powerful reconciliation and shalom can be.
"If your brother or sister has wronged you verbally and made amends, welcome him or her seven times a day." His disciple Simon said to him, "Seven times a day?" The Lord answered him, "That's right; in fact, up to seventy times seven times. The prophets were capable of sinful talk, even after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit." Gospel of the Nazoreans 5:1-2 (quoted by Jerome)
Again, another slightly different telling of a similar saying from the canonical Gospels. The last sentence is interesting, showing that even spirit-filled people can stray, so we should continue to forgive when they stumble.
Seth | August 28, 2007 9:47 AM
I always thought that there must be more than what we have and I am so glad to read about this.Things have been hidden so long from us and now things are coming to light and the time is right. Thank YOU Jeri Carter
Jeri Carter | September 1, 2007 8:42 PM
I find it disturbing. You seem to have no objection to using what the Catholic Church has told us are "Church Fathers." The quote you are using looks fine. I seems certianly right in the same line as what Y'shua would ahve said. So, it is not that specific one that I object to recognizing as a Word of God also. But one of the major errors of Protestanism, that has led them so far astry was that while separating themselves from Roman (and like type) Catholic churches they then accepted as scripture the teachings of men who were merely early (and very learned) theologians. It was some of those very same men who created the doctrines of Sunday Sabbath, and the rejection of Jews etc. YEt to this day they hold fast to the gospel more so than many Protestants do even now. It does bother me to let those men we do not have Y'shua calling fathers have so much voice. I've read the Book of Thomas (and all the others, except the newest one supposedly of Judas.) I'm not against looking into these things. But I'd rather have only two or three real, for sure, books of Scripture than questionable stuff. It's just too important, I think, to mess with calling anything quotes of Y'shua without knowing for sure, with direct lines, if He truely did say it. Once I had to go for a couple years with no Scripture at all available. It was one of the closest times I've ever had with the Lord.
Angela Davis | September 8, 2007 4:30 PM
One of the basic tenets of Scripture interpretation is to use Scripture to interpret Scripture. In that regard, any newly discovered words of the Master must be evaluated against what we know from the Bible to be true. Logically then, we end up coming right back to our Bibles, and we are incapable of adding to or subtracting from Scripture. By that very pheomenon the Word remains a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths, and, as is true of Yeshua--our Living Word--it is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
It's our great love for Yeshua that motivates us to investigate some other "something" out there that will give us more of Yeshua than we have in our Bibles. That "something" is the Holy Spirit living in us, who daily reveals more and more of God's heart. I'm not saying that we shouldn't examine other sources as they become known/available; I find it fascinating too. What I am saying is that if we do find this sort of thing fascinating, then we need to really get serious with prayer and the interceding of the Spirit. There is so much more revelation that God seeks to give His children, amd through prayer we can really experience Yeshua intimately. We are promised that we will have the very mind of Messiah.
I suppose I am a bit wary of some of these writings, simply because I question the source. I always go back to my Bible, which tells me that I will know a tree by its fruit. The only fruit associated with these writings that I know of is not particularly good. Ultimately, I guess I'm voting two-thumbs-down on the extra-Biblical material.
Shalom!
Darlene Perry | September 17, 2007 7:48 AM