The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 4

15

20

"Jesus saith, (Ye ask? who are those) that draw us (to the kingdom, if) the kingdom is in Heaven? . . . the fowls of the air, and all beasts that are under the earth or upon the earth, and the fishes of the sea, (these are they which draw) you, and the kingdom of Heaven is within you; and whoever shall know himself shall find it. (Strive therefore?) to know yourselves, and ye shall be aware that ye are the sons of the . . . Father; (and?) ye shall know yourselves . . . and ye are . . ."

The reconstruction of this, the longest and most important of the Sayings, is extremely difficult. Beyond the supplements in line 15 which are based on the parallel in Luke 17:21 with the substitution of "the kingdom of Heaven" original: "τῶν οὐρανῶν", St. Matthew’s phrase, for St. Luke’s "of God" original: "τοῦ θεοῦ" which is too short for the lacuna, and those in lines 12–13, 16, and 18, the general accuracy of which is guaranteed by the context, it is impossible to proceed without venturing into the region of pure conjecture. There seems to be no direct parallel to or trace of this Saying among the other non-canonical Sayings ascribed to our Lord, and the materials provided by lines 10–12—"those that draw," the kingdom of Heaven and the fowls of the air—are at first sight so disparate that the recovery of the connexion between them may seem a hopeless task. But though no restoration of lines 9–14 can hope to be very convincing, and by adopting different supplements from those which we have suggested, quite another meaning can no doubt be obtained (see below), we think that a fairly good case can be made out in favour of our general interpretation. The basis of it is the close parallelism which we have supposed to exist between line 15 "...draw you, and the kingdom of Heaven" and, on the other hand, line 10 "those that draw us" followed in line 11 by "the kingdom is in Heaven," whereby we restore "[those that draw] them" at the end of line 14. If this be granted, lines 9–16 divide themselves naturally into two parallel halves at the lacuna in line 11, lines 9–10 corresponding to lines 12–15, and line 11 to lines 15–16. How is this correspondence to be explained? The simplest solution is to suppose that lines 9–11 are a question to which lines 12–16 form the answer; hence we supply "who" original: "τίνες" in line 9; cf. the 5th Saying, which is an answer to a question. A difficulty then arises that we have "draw us" original: "ἕλκοντες ἡμᾶς" in line 10 but "draw you" original: "ἕλκον]τες ὑμᾶς" in lines 14–15. This may be a mere accident due to the common confusion of "you" original: "ὑμεῖς" and "we" original: "ἡμεῖς" in papyri of this period, and perhaps "you" original: "ὑμᾶς" should be read in both cases. But "us" original: "ἡμᾶς" in line 10 can be defended in two ways, by supposing either that Jesus here lays stress rather on His human than on His divine nature, and associates Himself with the disciples, or that the question is put into the mouth of the disciples, i.e. the word before "who" was "do ye ask" original: "ἐρωτᾶτε" or the like. There remains, however, the greatest crux of all, the meaning of "drawing" original: "ἕλκοντες". In the two passages in which this word