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

"Jesus saith, Everything that is not before thy face and that which is hidden from thee shall be revealed to thee. For there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest, nor buried which shall not be raised."

The sense of this Saying is clear, and the supplements are fairly certain. Lines 29–30 are parallel to Matt. x. 26: "For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known"; Luke xii. 2: "But there is nothing covered up that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known"; cf. Mark iv. 22: "For there is nothing hid save that it should be manifested, neither was anything made secret but that it should come to light." In general arrangement the papyrus agrees with the versions of Matthew and Luke perhaps more than with that of Mark; but the language of the first half of the sentence is much closer to St. Mark’s (whose expression "save that it should be manifested" instead of the more pointed "which shall not be manifested" suggests the hand of an editor), while that of the second half diverges from all three. "Buried" makes a more forcible contrast to "hidden" than the corresponding word in the Synoptists, which is merely a synonym for "hidden." Instead of "shall be raised" a more general expression such as "shall be made known" can be supplied; but this detracts from the picturesqueness of what is in any case a striking variation of a well-known Saying.

FIFTH SAYING. ll. 32-42.

[They] question him, [his disciples, and]
[say]: How shall we fast and how shall we . . .
. . . and how shall we . . .
35 . . . and what shall we keep . . .
. . .? Jesus saith: . . .
. . . do not . . .
. . . truth . . .
. . . hidden . . .
40 . . . blessed is he . . .
. . . is . . .
. . . . . .