Early Christian Writings Gospel of Thomas Saying 2 Previous - Gospel of Thomas Home - Next

You can view this web page along with Grondin's Coptic/English Interlinear in frames.
Nag Hammadi Coptic Text Funk's Parallels
POxy654 2, GThom 92:1,
GThom 94, Luke 11:9-
13, Matt 7:7-11, Matt
21:18-22, John 14:12-14,
John 15:16-17, John
BLATZ LAYTON DORESSE 16:20-28, Mark 11:20-25,
(2) Jesus said: He who (2) Jesus said, "Let one who 1 [2]. Jesus says: "Let him GHeb 4a, GHeb 4b,
seeks, let him not cease seeks not stop seeking until who seeks cease not to seek DialSav 9-12, DialSav
seeking until he finds; and that person finds; and upon until he finds: when he finds 20, DialSav 79-80.
when he finds he will be finding, the person will be he will be astonished; and
troubled, and when he is disturbed; and being when he is astonished he
troubled he will be amazed, disturbed, will be will wonder, and will reign
and he will reign over the astounded; and will reign over the universe!"
All. over the entirety."
Oxyrhynchus Greek Fragment

DORESSE - Oxyrhynchus ATTRIDGE - Oxyrhynchus

[Jesus says:] "Let him who see[ks] cease
not [to seek until he] finds: when he finds,
[he will wonder; and when he wond]ers, he
will reign, and [reigning, he will have
r]est!"
(2) [Jesus said], "Let him who seeks
continue [seeking until] he finds. When he
finds, [he will be amazed. And] when he
becomes [amazed], he will rule. And [once
he has ruled], he will [attain rest]."

Visitor Comments Scholarly Quotes

When you speak (pray) to
God~Ultimate Reality, never
cease to listen for the answer
coming back. You are all
capable of hearing (or
otherwise realizing) this
answer upon truly listening.
You will be amazed at what
you are told. Eventually
when you learn your true
place in the scheme of things
you will have a degree of
control over your reality by
virtue of understanding its
true nature. This will enable
you to follow your planned
path of life in a more
Marvin Meyer quotes two parallel passages in the Book of Thomas the Contender
(The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, pp. 68-69). The first:
"[Fortunate is] the wise person who has [sought truth, and] when it has been found,
has rested upon it for ever, and has not been afraid of those who wish to trouble the
wise person." (Book of Thomas 140,41 - 141,2) The second: "Watch and pray. . . .
And when you pray, you will find rest. . . . For when you leave the pains and the
passions of the body, you will receive rest from the Good One, and you will rule with
the king, you united with him and he united with you, from now on, for ever and
ever." (Book of Thomas 145,8-16)
A somewhat similar statement is found from Clement of Alexandria: "Being
baptized, we are illuminated; illuminated we become sons; being made sons, we are
made perfect; being made perfect, we are made immortal." (Instructor, 1.6.26.1)
Funk and Hoover write: "Thom 2:2-4 is a gnostic expansion: the gnostic quest leads
to being disturbed, which causes one to marvel, and that ends in reigning. The Greek
fragment of this same verse adds a fifth stage: the reign of the gnostic results in 'rest,'
which is the gnostic catchword for salvation. Gnostic insight into the 'real world,' as
opposed to the world of appearances, is what brings all this about. The term 'rest' is
peaceful and accepting employed in the book of Revelation, on the other hand, for future salvation: those
manner. You will have who die in the Lord 'may rest from their labors' (Rev 14:13)." (The Five Gospels, p.
learned that life is verily a 471)
dream and God is the Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "'Rest' is mentioned not in the
dreamer, dreaming you. Coptic text but in the Greek fragment; but 'rest' or 'repose' occurs in Sayings 51, 52,
- active-mystic 60, 61, 86, and 90. It is found in the Gospel of the Hebrews (Clement of Alexandria,
One who strives for the best Strom., 2, 45, 5; 5, 96, 3), from which this saying is taken; presumably the author of
above all else will one day Thomas changed the saying in order to lay emphasis on the idea of becoming a king.
learn that all he has strived Compare 2 Timothy 2:11-12: 'Trustworthy is the saying, "If we have died with him,
for has in the end rotted we shall also live with him; if we have endured, we shall reign with him.' The
away. When he realizes this difference, once more, is between the action of the Christian and the knowing of the
he is disgusted that he hasn't Gnostic." (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 120)
spend more time with his J. D. Crossan writes: "The restoration of the Greek text in Oxy P 654, of which only
family or had more fun. the first half of each line is extant, is relatively secure due to its citation by Clement
Then he is astounded that he of Alexandria (Fitzmyer, 1974:372-373; Hofius: 27; Marcovich: 56). In form it is a
can still do all these things. quadruple-stich saying climactically word-linked from one stich to the next:
So he does. The moral of the seeks/finds//finds/astounded//astounded/reign//reigned/rest (see Hennecke and
story is, love and be loved in Schneemelcher: 1.164)." (In Fragments, pp. 99-100)
return, lay your heart out on
the line for a gamble. When J. D. Crossan writes: "On the other hand, the version in Gos. Thom. 2 breaks both the
you can learn to do this then form and content of that Greek version:
life will be happy. seeks/finds//finds/troubled//troubled/astonished// -- / reign. The result is that the
- puzzled, but clearer Coptic version climaxes with "rule" while the Greek text climaxes with "rest" (see
Bammel, 1969). It is fairly certain that the Greek version is more original, but it is
When you seek and find the difficult to explain the Coptic deviation since 'rest' is one of Thomas's major themes
child within, you will be (Vielhauer, 1964:297). The best explanation is probably some form of misreading of
most profoundly disturbed his Greek original by the Coptic translator (see Marcovich: 57; or Menard,
by the horror of your 1975:79)." (In Fragments, p. 100)
upbringing. You will marvel
at the beauty of your innate
self and, in time you will
become lord and servant of
yourself.
- Rodney
I have noticed that quite a
few of the interpretations of
these sayings which seem to
make sense include a
reference to the Gospel of
Thomas itself. Applying this
idea to this saying, I get: Let
one who seeks the meaning
of the Gospel of Thomas not
stop seeking until one finds.
When one finds, one will be
disturbed. When one is
disturbed, one will marvel,
and will reign over all.
- Ruthie
The minds of men have been
temporarily lost from God
(the "fall"), but when we
seek to rejoin from that
which we think we separated
from (the Mind of God)Jesus
tells us to persevere, and that
by doing so we will come to
see that the world that we
thought was real isn't (an
initially disturbing, troubling
event for us), but as we
reunite with God we will be
truely amazed, and being
One once again with All That
Is we will "rule" All That Is.
- A Brother
Continue in your quest until
you find. When you find
[succeed] you will be
changed [reborn] and see
everything differently. A
technical injunction
- Thief37
There is an old saying in
science that "The more I
know, the more I learn I
don't know." The Gospel
writer is telling us that Jesus
understood eternity in this
way. Seek an answer, don't
give up; you will find one.
However, when you do, you
will be astonished to learn
that the answer you seek is
not an end in and of itself; it
only leads you to ten more
questions; seek those
answers; for each answer
there is ten more questions
and on and on and on.
Eventually, you will get it--
there is no end to questions,
to life, to God. To know this
truly inspires wonder.
- Crimson731
Rhizoid is correct. Also as
you seek to destroy the ego,
realizations of how the world
is and how many people are
blind to truth will be
"disturbed" then as you
further seek you understand
the nature of duality then
you reign.
- bravenewmind
Never stop seeking because
you will find the answers,
but the answers will trouble
you because they will show
you the illusions under
which you have conducted
your life in the past. Once
the veil lifts off your eyes
you will begin to see the
wonder of the universe and
be angry that so many things
had been hidden from us by
individuals in the past who
destroyed the keys. But the
messages still resound loudly
to anyone who wishes to
listen. And then you will
reign over the world because
the world is an illusion.
- daisy
When the seeker has at last
attained unto a better
understanding of God, he
will be troubled. What he
finds in God will not be what
he had been expecting, what
he had been taught to look
for. By seeking for God on
his own he found the truth,
and from that truth comes
power, and, at least
according to the Greek texts,
to spiritual peace.
- Kevin
Answer: Jesus meant that
you must be persistent in
your meditation, fasting, and
prayer. You then stumble into
experiences that are beyond
explanation with words.
Jesus does not speak to the
higher states of
consciousness that present
themselves with such
diligent persistent work.
Jesus speaks to the
astounded surprises, etched
with question and disbelief.
How continued persistence
study and practice brings
eventual communion with
your spiritual essence.
Continued work leads to
your discovering spiritual
essence is inside you, outside
you, and all around you. That
you are spiritually connected
with everything. The end
portion of this statement of
"Reign over everything,
universe" was a
misunderstanding that Jesus
had of achieving the Unity
consciousness with his inner
spiritual essence. Without a
teacher to point out that
unity consciousness was not
being god and that he was
still a physical being
experiencing this astounding
state. He misunderstood this
state. Everyone back then
was expecting the messiah
and this unity consciousness
under these Jewish
expectations would certainly
bewilder and confuse Jesus
as to who he really was.
- AG
When you understand the
truth about why you
experience your own
existence, you become
astonished because you
realize that death is not
absolute. At the same time
you become disturbed
because the truth also
threatens the preconceptions
of your ego. When you
transcend these
preconceptions, liberation of
the spirit occurs.
- Rhizoid
2

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