Texts in Conversation
In the letter of James, desire conceives and gives birth to sin. In the Coptic of the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus uses the same image for fasting, so the practice that normally goes with turning away from sin is the thing that gives birth to it.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
James 1:15
New Testament
14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
Gospel of Thomas 1:14
Nag Hammadi
13 Jesus said to his disciples, “Compare me and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a righteous messenger.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him, “Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say whom you are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring I have measured out.” And he took him and withdrew and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you even one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.” 14 Jesus said to them, “If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves; if you pray, you will be condemned; if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and travel about in the countryside, if they receive you, eat what they set before you and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, what comes out of your mouth is what will defile you.” 15 Jesus said, “When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship him; that one is your Father.”
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Notes and References
“... 14.1 If you fast, you will give birth to sin in yourselves. Fasting is never quite valued positively in Thomas, though nowhere else is it so negative. In GTh 6, along with prayer and almsgiving, fasting is relativised. In GTh 104 Jesus rejects the disciples’ suggestion of fasting (and prayer), while perhaps allowing for it in some sense ‘when the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber’. [...] Thomas’s consequence of ‘giving birth to sin’ can be compared with the view that pregnant Desire ‘gives birth to sin’, with the ultimate consequence of death, in James 1.15. There is an ironic reversal of the norm: rather than accompanying repentance from sin, in Thomas fasting actually leads to sin. ...”
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