Early Christian Writings Gospel of Thomas Saying 85 Previous - Gospel of Thomas Home - Next

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Nag Hammadi Coptic Text Funk's Parallels
Gen 1:26-28, Gen 3:17-
19.

BLATZ LAYTON DORESSE

(85) Adam came into being
out of a great power and a
great wealth, and he was not
worthy of you; for if he had
been worthy, [he would] not
[have tasted] of death.
(85) Jesus said, "It is from a
great power and a great
wealth that Adam came into
being: and he did not
become worthy of you
(plur.). For, had he been
worthy [he would] not
[have tasted] death."
89 [85]. Adam was
produced by a great power
and a great wealth; but he
did not receive (?) [. . .]
worthy (?) of you, for he
was not worthy [to (?)] be
preserved from [being
subject (?)] to death."

Visitor Comments Scholarly Quotes

Adam was made by God.
But he was not worthy
enough to live without death.
- seeker of truth
The sense of self of a child is
grounded in one's genetic
inheritance. It is not
sufficient for independent
adult life. If it had been, no
part of one's innate child self
would have been repressed.
- Rodney
If God is perfect and God
made Adam in "His" own
image then Adam must have
been perfect also, for
imperfection cannot result
from perfection. It follows
that, if Adam was not
"worthy of being preserved
from death", i.e. Adam was a
mortal man and was not
perfect, he could not have
been created by God.
- Lux
Marvin Meyer writes: "On 'great power' compare Acts 8:9-10, which refers to Simon
the Magician, who was said to be 'the power of God that is called great.' The Nag
Hammadi tractate Concept of Our Great Power also discusses the 'great power,' the
Secret Book of John alleges that Yaldabaoth took 'great power' from his mother,
Wisdom, and magical texts likewise employ the phrase 'great power' to refer to a
supernatural force. In the tractate On the Creation of the World 148, Philo uses the
same Greek word for 'power' (dynamis) that is used in the Coptic text of Gospel of
Thomas saying 85 when he suggests that 'there was probably a surpassing power
about that first human.'" (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, pp.
100-101)
Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "Doresse (pages 192-93) treats his
equivalent of Sayings 83 and 84 together, but it would be better to treat 83, 84, and
85 as a unit. We begin with Saying 85. We know that Adam originated from a great
power and great wealth because he was a copy of the 'image' and 'likeness' of god; he
was both male and female (Genesis 1:26-27). He was not worthy of Gnostic
believers, however, for he sinned - by increasing and multiplying, by being divided
into male and female when Eve was taken from his rib. (Eve mus trutrn to Adam, as
in Saying 112 [114].) Apparently (Saying 84), men in general can see the 'likeness,'
which they still retain. Not all can see the 'images,' for to see the image is to see
Christ, which means to see the kingdom and, indeed, the inner man. This true image
neither dies nor is openly manifest. At this time the image cannot be seen openly or
perfectly; it is fully seen only after death (1 Corinthians 13:12, quoted by Doresse).
Saying 83 explains why the image cannot be fully seen now. The image contains
light (see Saying 51), but this light is overshadowed by th eimage of the light of the
Father (cf., 2 Corinthians 4:4, 6). Later, however, 'If he is manifest we shall be like
Mankind is created to live. him, for we shall see him as he is' (1 John 3:2). If this is what these sayings mean,
Mankind has chosen to make Thomas has expressed it rather obscurely, using image terminology perhaps like that
preferential distinctions with of the Naassenes (Hippolytus, Ref., 5, 8, 10)." (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 181-
the intellect. This choice 182)
leads to misery and death. Funk and Hoover write: "In developing the significance of Jesus, early Christians
(See the references to the often used the mythic figure of Adam as a point of comparison. One finds this
"tree of life" and the "tree of especially in Paul (Rom 5:12-14; 1 Cor 15:21-22, 42-50): in contrast to Adam, whose
knowledge of good and evil" sin led to death, stands Jesus, whose obedience leads to life. The fate of Adam,
in Gen 2-3.) God offers according to Thom 85:2, was death; the fate of those who find the meaning of Jesus'
through Jesus to each of us a words will be not to taste death, according to Thomas 1. The phrase 'not taste death'
way back into the Garden of is a favorite of Thomas (Thom 1; 18:3; 19:4; 111:2), although it was also known to
Eden, a way to meet and the Gospel of John (8:51-52)." (The Five Gospels, p. 518)
overcome the flaming sword
of the Cherubim which turns Stevan Davies writes: "Death occurs to Adam, not to the image of God (Gos. Thom.
every way to guard the 85; Gen 3:19). The compiler of the Gospel of Thomas understands the first chapters
entrance, a way to reach out of Genesis in their plain sense, that there are two creations of primordial humanity:
and take again of the tree of the image of God brought forth in Gen 1:1-2:4, Adam created in Gen 2:5-3:24. For
life, and eat, and live forever. the first, the image of God, there is neither law nor sin, nothing that would require
(See Saying 37 and Gen prayer or fasting or giving of alms (Gos. Thom. 14, 104). The image of God has
3:22-24.) dominion over the perfect kingdom of God, living through the light of creation (Gen
- Simon Magus 1:3-4) in a condition of rest and immortality."
(http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/jblprot.htm)
Adam was from below but
the second Adam (Worthy
One) is from above living
eternally by the resurrection.
- Yahoppu
Adam fell because of his
want of a cheap thrill,
forgetting that he was born
of the eternal. To rush after
pleasure and power in this
limited life further separates
us from the eternal. We can
do better than the fallen
when we accept life as it is,
and search for the kingdom
of heaven within, that has
never left, but which we
choose to ignore.
- Zooie
85

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