Texts in Conversation
Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas calls his followers solitary ones, cut off from family. Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas use a Greek verb from the same root for living apart, but as a warning against people who leave the community.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Barnabas 4:10
Epistle of Barnabas
Early Christian
9 But although I would gladly write many things, not as a teacher but as one who loves you so that you may not fail in what we possess, I was eager to write to you, being your devoted servant. Therefore, let us be cautious in these last days. For the entire duration of our faith will profit us nothing, unless now, in the time of lawlessness and impending offenses, we, as God’s children, stand firm so the Black One may not force his way in. 10 Let us flee from all vanity; let us altogether hate the works of the evil way. Do not stand apart secretly, as though you were already justified, but gather yourselves together and deliberate about the common good. 11 For Scripture says: ‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.’ Let us become spiritual, let us become a temple perfect for God. As far as we can, let us practice the fear of God, and let us strive to keep His commandments, so we may rejoice in His ordinances.
Shepherd of Hermas 103:3
Early Christian
2 they who have the spots are deacons who performed their office badly, stealing the livelihood of widows and orphans, and making a profit for themselves from the ministries they received to carry out. If they stay in the same evil desire, they are dead and have no hope of life; but if they return and carry out their ministries in purity, it is possible for them to live. 3 But those who are mildewed are those who denied and did not turn again to their Lord, but became dry and deserted, because they do not cling to God’s servants but remain alone, destroying themselves. 4 For just as a vine left alone in a hedge, if neglected, is choked out by weeds, and in time goes wild and is no longer useful to its owner, so too such people give themselves over to hopelessness and become useless to their Lord by becoming wild.
Date: 90-140 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Gospel of Thomas 1:16
Nag Hammadi
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.” 16 Jesus said, “People perhaps think I have come to cast peace upon the world, and they do not know that I have come to cast divisions upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father, and they will stand as solitary ones.” 17 Jesus said, “I will give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has not arisen in the human heart.”
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Notes and References
“... In GTh 16, Jesus has brought about division, such that the disciple is separated from his other family members. [...] This sense may also fit with the usage in the roughly contemporaneous Barnabas and Hermas, which attack those who isolate themselves from the community, using the verb μονάζειν in a negative way. The former warns against separating oneself from the community (μὴ καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς ἐνδύνοντες μονάζετε) as if one had no need for further edification (Barn. 4.10); Hermas talks of those who have separated themselves from the community and live apart (μονάζοντες), denying Jesus and destroying themselves (Herm. 103 [Sim. 9.26].3). The point here is a linguistic one, rather than an identification of the Thomas movement as those who separated from Hermas’s community. ...”
* 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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