Abbreviations | Comment/Discussion | Copyright Information | General Info

First and Last

Data

(1) Thom 4:2 = POxy654 4:2
(2) 2Q: Luke 13:30 = Matt 20:16
(3) Mark 10:31 = Matt 19:30
(4) Barn 6:13a*

* not included in Crossan inventory

 

Texts

(1) Gospel of Thom 4:2 = POxy654 4:2

Nag Hammadi II.2

/4:1/ Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live. /2/ For many of the first will be last, /3/ and will become a single one." [Complete Gospels]

=POxy654

/4:1/ [Jesus says], "A [person old in] days won't hesitate to ask a [little child seven days] old about the place of [life, and] that person will [live]. /2/ For many of the [first] will be [last, and] the last first /3/ and [will become one]." [Complete Gospels]

 

(2) 2Q: Luke 13:30 = Matt 20:16

Luke 13:28-30

/28/ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves are thrown out. /29/ Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. /30/ Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

=Matt 20:1-16

/20:1/ "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. /2/ After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. /3/ When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; /4/ and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. /5/ When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. /6/ And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' /7/ They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' /8/ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' /9/ When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. /0/ Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. /11/ And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, /12/ saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' /13/ But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? /14/ Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. /15/ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' /16/ So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

 

(3) Mark 10:31 = Matt 19:30

Mark 10:28-31

/28/ Then Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." /29/ Jesus said to them, "Truly, I tell you, there is no-one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, /30/ who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age --- houses, brother and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions --- and in the age to come eternal life? /31/ But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

=Matt 19:27-30

/27/ Then Peter said in reply, "Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?" /28/ Jesus said to them, "Truly, I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit in twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. /29/ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life? /30/ But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

 

(4) Barn 6:13a

Again, I will show thee how, in respect to us, He has accomplished a second fashioning in these last days. The Lord says, "Behold, I will make the last like the first." In reference to this, then, the prophet proclaimed, "Enter ye into the land flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it." [ANF]

 

Notes

 

John Dominic Crossan

Item: 31
Attestation
: Triple
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Historicity: +
Common Sayings Tradition: Crossan originally included this saying in his CST listing, but subsequently chose to omit it from the CST inventory since it may be have derived by both Matthew and Luke from Mark rather than from Q. See Birth of Christianity, p. 587.

Crossan (Historical Jesus, 274-76) notes that this saying is part of a larger complex critical of wealth within the wider motif of a "brokerless kingdom." he also notes the "twin" saying, 40 Have and Receive [1/3].

 

International Q Project

IQP omits this saying from the critical text of Q and translates Q 13:28-29 as follows:

/29/ [And many] shall come from Sunrise and Sunset and recline /28/ with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, but [you will be] thrown out [into the] out[er darkness], where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. [/30/ The last will be first, and the first last.]

 

Jesus Seminar

Text

Item

 Source

JS Mtg

%Red

%Pink

%Gray

%Black

W Avg

Color
GThom 4:2

60

Q, K, T

89Son

27

18

18

36

0.45

Gray
GThom 4:3

60

T

89Son

0

0

0

100

0.00

Black
POxy654 4:2a

60

Q, K, T

89Son

36

18

18

27

0.55

Pink
Luke 13:30

60

Q, K, T

89Son

25

25

17

33

0.47

Gray
Matt 20:16

60

Q, K, T

89Son

42

17

17

25

0.58

Pink
Mark 10:31

60

Q, K, T

89Son

33

17

17

33

0.50

Gray
Matt 19:30

60

Q, K, T

89Son

33

17

17

33

0.50

Gray
Barn 6:13a

60

Q, K, T

89Son

9

18

27

45

0.30

Gray

The Five Gospels (p 93f & 225) notes that the form of the saying in Matt 20:16 is more likely to be close to the speech of Jesus due to its unequivocal form, whereas Mark 10:31 (followed by Matthew at 19:30) modified the radical reversal of roles implicit in the saying. The commentary observes: "By placing it here, Mark gives this aphorism a meaning that is nearly the opposite of what it meant on the lips of Jesus."

 

Gerd Luedemann

Luedemann [Jesus, 69] observes this saying is found "attached to a great variety of stories and is not suitable as the object for verdicts of authenticity."

 

John P. Meier

This saying is not discussed in the first 3 volumes of Marginal Jew.

 

Abbreviations | Comment/Discussion | Copyright Information | General Info