Texts in Conversation
Matthew has Jesus say a city on a hill cannot be hidden. In the Gospel of Thomas the hill becomes a high mountain, the city is fortified, and Jesus adds that it cannot fall.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 5:14
New Testament
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people! 14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.
Gospel of Thomas 1:32
Nag Hammadi
31 Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him.” 32 Jesus said, “A city built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.” 33 Jesus said, “What you will hear with your ear, proclaim from your rooftops. For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket or in a hidden place; rather he sets it on a lampstand so that all who come and go will see its light.”
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Notes and References
“... Mark and Luke omit or are unaware of the saying that Matthew and the GTh and POxy convey: [...] Both POxy and the GTh start with the imagery and continue with the application. Matt 5,14 starts with a statement (“it is impossible”) and continues with the imagery. Many scholars think that Q had this tradition. An argument in favour of Q as the source is the connection of the saying on the lamp and on the city in the GTh. The GTh is either dependent on Matthew or on Q or on independent traditions. However, Matt 5,14 and GTh 32 seem to interpret the logion differently. Matthew has a very simplistic text: the key word is [...] and the saying deals only with the aspect of being hidden. The texts in POxy and GTh are more complex: The city is located on a very high place [...], and is inhabited and fortified [...]. The text has an A-B-B-A pattern: A: built on a high hill B: fortified B: cannot fall A: cannot be hidden [...] The addition “fortified and cannot fall” can be evaluated as superfluous or as lively details like those which the GTh frequently brings into parables. Or did the GTh combine two imageries from the SM? ...”
Baasland, Ernst
Parables and Rhetoric in the Sermon on the Mount: New Approaches to a Classical Text
(pp. 106-107) Mohr Siebeck, 2015
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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