Texts in Conversation
In Mark, Jesus asks to see a denarius, a silver coin. In the Gospel of Thomas, the coin shown to him has become a gold one.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Mark 12:15
New Testament
14 When they came they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” 15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 So they brought one, and he said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.”
Gospel of Thomas 1:100
Nag Hammadi
99 The disciples said to him, “Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.” He said to them, “Those here who do the will of my Father are my brothers and my mother; they are the ones who will enter the kingdom of my Father.” 100 They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, “Caesar’s men demand taxes from us.” He said to them, “Give Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; give God the things that are God’s; and give me what is mine.” 101 Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate his [father] and mother as I do cannot be my disciple; and whoever does not love his [father] and mother as I do cannot be my disciple. For my mother gave me falsehood, but my true mother gave me life.”
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Notes and References
“... Finally, a more developed form of the story is preserved in Gos. of Thom. § 100. It has even preserved a bit of a narrative setting—something unusual in this apocryphal Gospel. It runs: “They showed Jesus a gold (coin) and said to him, ‘Caesar's agents demand of us taxes.’ He said to them, ‘Give Caesar the things of Caesar; give God the things of God, and what is mine give me.’ ” The silver denarius has become a gold coin, whereas the brief narrative setting is almost unintelligible (it would be so, if we did not have the fuller canonical form on which the Gospel of Thomas here depends). Moreover the saying of Jesus is expanded and acquires an added (gnostic?) climax, which subordinates God to Jesus. ...”
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