Ever Hear of an Agraphon? An "Unwritten" Saying of Jesus?

[00:00:01] Ever hear of an agraphon, an unwritten saying of Jesus, written by Bart Ehrman, read by Ken Teutsch. [00:00:12] To my surprise, I have never talked about the agrafa of Jesus before on the blog. It's about time I did. This is an intriguing topic, connected with the teachings of Jesus, known to almost precisely no one. I bet a case of fine french wine that your pastor, if you've ever had one in any kind of church whatsoever, wouldn't be able to tell you what it's all about. Welcome to the world of the insiders. Here's what I say about the Agrafa plural of Agraphon in the book I published with my colleague Zlatkople, the other gospels the term agrafa has traditionally been applied to a group of unrecorded sayings allegedly delivered by the historical Jesus. The term is not altogether apt since, technically speaking, these sayings have indeed been recorded, otherwise we would have no access to them, and so the term is more normally taken to mean sayings of Jesus that are not found in the canonical gospels. Even this definition is problematic, however, since it privileges books that eventually came to be included in the canon, a decision that involves theological rather than historical judgments. And so perhaps it is best to understand the agrapha as comprising sayings allegedly spoken by the historical Jesus that are recorded in documents other than the surviving gospels, canonical or non canonical. [00:01:37] In the following listing of the agrapha, several types of sayings have been excluded. Since the principal concern is with sayings that Jesus allegedly delivered during his lifetime, words attributed to the pre incarnate or post resurrection Christ are not included, for example, Ignatius Smyrna, three, one, and two, or the sayings of such resurrected dialogues as the epistle of the apostles. We have also not included sayings that appear to be quotations, loose or exact of surviving gospel sources, such as the strings of sayings found in the didachi or first Clement. We have also not included sayings from non christian sources which require extensive attention in their own right, for example, in the Talmud and the Quran. [00:02:24] The three principal sources for the agrafa, then, are a sayings of Jesus recorded in books outside the gospel genre, for example, the book of acts, manuscript variations of passages found within the gospels, and c. Patristic citations of no longer surviving gospels. [00:02:45] Most listings of the agrapha in collections of the early christian apocrypha are notably sparse. A few collections are far more extensive than what we provide here see especially W. Stroker. Our listing is meant to be full and representative, but not exhaustive. We do not give duplications of sayings that is, additional sources that give the same saying, often in different words. Normally we cite either the earliest or clearest version of the saying in the history of scholarship. Much of the interest in these materials has been to uncover authentic sayings of the historical Jesus from outside the gospels, but this is a rather myopic concern. The agrapha are important not only for determining what the historical Jesus might have said, but also for seeing how traditions about Jesus were circulated in oral and written form in the early centuries of the church. These agrapha are, in other words, directly germane to the interests and concerns of the early christian apocrypha. [00:03:47] Here now are some examples, a few of the agrapha found in manuscripts of the gospels. That is, they are textual variants added by scribes, not original, that present sayings of Jesus otherwise not found in the New Testament. These are my translations published in the same book. The one from Luke six four in manuscript D is one that has attracted a lot of interest among scholars who have tried to figure out what it means. [00:04:14] Mark 949 in manuscript D, et al. [00:04:19] For every sacrifice will be salted with salt freer logion, and Christ replied to them. The term for the years of Satan's authority has been fulfilled. But other terrible things draw near, and I was handed over to death for those who have sinned in order that they might return to the truth and sin no longer, that they might inherit the spiritual and imperishable glory of righteousness that is in heaven. [00:04:51] Luke six four in manuscript D. [00:04:55] On the same day when he saw a certain man working on the Sabbath, he said to him, o man, if you know what you are doing, you are blessed, but if you do not, you are cursed and a transgressor of the law. [00:05:08] Luke 955 b. 56 a in K. G. Q and other manuscripts and he said, you, do not know what sort of spirit you are, for the Son of man did not come to destroy human souls, but to save them. [00:05:25] Luke 22 27 28 in manuscript for I came into your midst not as one who reclines at the table, but as the one who serves, and you have grown in my service as one who serves. [00:05:40] In case you are interested in reading more on these sayings and others, see Joel Delobel, the sayings of Jesus in the textual tradition variant readings in the greek manuscripts of the Gospels JK Eliot, the apocryphal New Testament utfried Hophius, isolated sayings of the Lord in New Testament apocrypha joachim unknown sayings of Jesus William D. Extra canonical sayings of Jesus.