New Sayings of Jesus and Fragment of a Lost Gospel from Oxyrhynchus

Clement, Paedag. iii. 1: "It is then, as it appears, the greatest of all lessons to know one’s self. For if a man knows himself he will know God." For "sons," which is required by the context in l. 18, cf. e. g. Luke xx. 36: "they are . . . sons of God." At the end of l. 19 π can be read in place of τ: the word is probably an adjective, possibly πantocratoros Almighty. ηπτ in l. 21 is very obscure, and it is tempting to read ἡ π{τ}όλις the city, with ἐν [τῇ πόλει τοῦ θεοῦ in the city of God in l. 20, as Professor Blass suggests, comparing for the omission of ὄντας being Mark vi. 20: "knowing him to be a just man."

THIRD SAYING. ll. 21-7.

25

"Jesus saith, A man shall not hesitate . . . to ask . . . concerning his place (in the kingdom. Ye shall know) that many that are first shall be last and the last first and (they shall have eternal life?)."

Line 24 may well have continued "of the kingdom" followed by a word meaning "know"; but in the absence of a clear parallel we forbear to restore the earlier part of the Saying. Lines 25–6 follow Mark x. 31 (= Matt. xix. 30): "Many that are first shall be last, and the last first." Luke xiii. 30 is rather longer: "There are last which shall be first and there are first which shall be last." "sin" in l. 27 is no doubt the termination of a verb: for "shall have eternal life" cf. John iii. 16, 36, v. 24, &c.

FOURTH SAYING. ll. 27-31.

30