2010/06/01 by Steven Ross Johnson · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology #Art #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Classics #Extant taxon #Gospel #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Literature #Philosophy #Theology
paper · doi:10.1353/earl.0.0326
openalex publication_date 2010/06/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Hippolytus's Refutatio and the Gospel of Thomas Steven R. Johnson (bio) Introduction to the Issues The discoverers of P.Oxy. 654, Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, first connected it with the Gospel of Thomas (hereafter GThom) in their 1904 publication of the papyrus fragment. They did so by way of Hippolytus's reference to GThom in his Refutatio omnium haeresium (Ref. 5.7.20), using Hippolytus's testimonium as evidence for the identification of the sayings collection as GThom: That the profoundly mystical but, as it seems to us, obviously genuine Saying of our Lord recorded in Luke xvii. 21 "The kingdom of God is within you" should have given rise to much speculation was to be expected, and from Hippolytus Refut. v. 7 it is known that this Saying occupied an important place in the doctrines of the Naassenes, one of the most pronounced Gnostic sects of the second or early third century. That there is a connexion between the Sayings and the Naassenes through the Gospel of Thomas is quite possible and this point will be discussed later.1 The Gospel of Thomas is known to have existed in more than one form, namely as an account of Jesus' childhood which is extant in several late recensions of varying length, and as an earlier Gospel condemned by Hippolytus in the following passage (Refut. v. 7). . . . Here we have two remarkable points of contact with 654, the mention of Thomas coupled with the ἐντὸς ἀνθρώπου βασιλεία.2 It is significant that Grenfell and Hunt recognized the connection between P.Oxy. 654 and GThom by means of "the reign within a person," because the phrase is [End Page 305] not actually found in Hippolytus's quotation of the gospel, but in the summary statement that introduces the quotation.3 In treating the testimonium of Hippolytus concerning the Gospel of Thomas, it is the intent of this study to tie up some loose ends in research from the past fifty years. I hope to clarify three points in particular. First, though it has become the trend in recent scholarship to note the similarity between Hippolytus's quotation and GThom4 alone, in fact both the quotation of Thomas in Ref. 5.7.20 and Hippolytus's introduction to the quotation manifest knowledge of, and reflection on, four of the first five logia found in the extant copies of the Gospel of Thomas. Second, both the quotation and its introduction derive from a source, but Hippolytus himself probably did not have an actual copy of the Gospel of Thomas at hand. Third, if Hippolytus's Naassene testimonium is any indication, the Gospel of Thomas was not a creation of the Naassenes as has been argued by some, but rather the text of Ref. 5.7.20 reflects a later, Naassene recension of Thomas. To put it another way, all of Ref. 5.7.20-introduction and quotation-represents a Naassene conflation of key thematic elements of GThom 2-5. This discussion is followed by an addendum that makes two corrections to standard reconstructions of P.Oxy. 654, specifically GThom 3 and 5. The Relevant Texts The Greek text of Ref. 5.7.20 that follows, apart from the initial δ᾽, comes from the most recent critical edition of Hippolytus's Refutatio, and with a couple of alterations the Greek text of P.Oxy. 654.6-31 (GThom 2-5) comes from the 1989 NHS critical edition of the Greek fragments of GThom (similar vocabulary is underlined):4 [End Page 306] (98) Οὐ μόνον <δ᾽> αὑτῶν ἐπιμαρτυρεῖν φασι τῷ λόγῳ τὰ Ἀσσυρίων (99) μυστήρια καὶ Φρυγῶν <ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ Αἰγυπτίων> περὶ τὴν τῶν γεγονό-(100)-των καὶ γινομένων καὶ ἐσομένων ἔτι μακαρίαν κρυβομένην ὁμοῦ καὶ (101) φανερουμένην φύσιν, ἥνπερ φασὶν <τὴν> ἐντὸς ἀνθρώπου βασιλείαν (102) <τῶν> οὐρανῶν ζητουμένην. περὶ ἧς διαρρήδην ἐν τῷ κατὰ Θωμᾶν ἐπι-(103)-γραφομένῳ εὐαγγελίῳ παραδιδόασι λέγοντες οὕτως· «ἐμὲ ὁ ζητῶν (104) εὑρήσει ἐν παιδίοις ἀπὸ ἐτῶν ἑπτά· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἐν τῷ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ (105) αἰῶνι κρυβόμενος φανεροῦμαι.» (2.1) λέγει Ἰη(σοῦ)ς· μὴ παυσάσθω ὁ ζη[τῶν τοῦ ζητεῖν ἕως ἂν] εὕρῃ, (2.2) καὶ ὅταν εὕρῃ [θαμβηθήσεται, (2.3) καὶ θαμ] βηθεὶς βασιλεύσῃ, (2.4) κα[ὶ βασιλεύσας ἐπαναπα]ήσεται. (3.1) λέγει Ἰ[η(σοῦ)ς· ἐὰν] οἱ ἕλκοντες ἡμᾶς [εἴπωσιν ὑμῖν· ἰδοὺ] ἡ βασιλεία ἐν οὐρα[νῷ, ὑμᾶς φθήσεται] τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρ[ανοῦ· (3.2) ἐὰν δ᾽ εἴπωσιν ὅ]τι ὑπὸ τὴν γήν ἐστ[ιν, εἰσελεύσονται] οἱ ἰχθύες τῆς θαλά[σσης προφθάσαν]τες ὑμᾶς· (3.3) καὶ ἡ βασ[ιλεία τοῦ πατρὸς] ἐντὸς ὑμῶν [ἐσ]τι [κἀκτός. (3.4) ὃς ἂν ἑαυτὸν] γνῷ, ταύτην εὑρή[σει, καὶ ὅτε ὑμεῖς] ἑαυτοὺς γνώσεσθα[ι, εἴσεσθε ὅτι υἱοί] ἐστε ὑμεῖς τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ζ[ῶντος· (3.5) εἰ δὲ μὴ] γνώσ<εσ>θε ἐαυτοὺς, ἐν [τῇ πτωχείᾳ ἐστὶ] καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἡ πτω[χεία. (4.1) λέγει Ἰη(σοῦ)ς·] οὐκ ἀποκνήσει ἄνθ[ρωπος παλαιὸς ἡμε]ρῶν ἐπερωτῆσε πα[ιδίον ἑπτὰ ἡμε]ρῶν περὶ τοῦ τόπου τῆ[ς ζωῆς, καὶ ζή]σετε· (4.2) ὅτι πολλοὶ ἔσονται π[ρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ] οἱ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι, (4.3) καὶ [εἰς ἓν καταντήσου]σιν. (5.1) λέγει Ἰη(σοῦ)ς· γ[νῶθι τὸ ὅν ἔμπροσ]θεν τῆς ὄψεώς σου, καὶ [τὸ κεκρυμμένον] ἀπό σου ἀποκαλυφ<θ>ήσετ[αί σοι· (5.2) οὐ γάρ ἐσ]τιν κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ φανε[ρὸν γενήσεται,] (5.3) καὶ θεθαμμένον ὃ ο[ὐκ ἐγερθήσεται.] They say that not only the mysteries of the Assyrians and Phrygians, but also those of the Egyptians, support their account concerning the blessed nature of the things which were, are, and will yet be, [a nature] simultaneously hidden and revealed, which they call the sought-after reign of the heavens within a person. Concerning this, they transmit a tradition in the gospel entitled According to Thomas, so saying explicitly, "The one who seeks me will find...