Texts in Conversation
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus points to Adam's death as evidence that he was unworthy. Irenaeus attacks people who deny Adam's salvation, showing that this criticism of Adam belongs beside an ancient dispute over whether he could be saved.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gospel of Thomas 85
Nag Hammadi
84 Jesus said, “When you see your likeness you are happy. But when you see your images that came into being before you and that neither die nor are revealed, how much you will have to bear!” 85 Jesus said, “Adam came from great power and great wealth, but he did not become worthy of you. For had he been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] death.” 86 Jesus said, “The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and rest.”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.28
Early Christian
Springing from Saturninus and Marcion, those who are called Encratites (self-controlled) preached against marriage, thus setting aside the original creation of God, and indirectly blaming Him who made the male and female for the propagation of the human race. Some of those reckoned among them have also introduced abstinence from animal food, thus proving themselves ungrateful to God, who formed all things. They deny, too, the salvation of him who was first created. It is but lately, however, that this opinion has been invented among them. A certain man named Tatian first introduced the blasphemy. He was a hearer of Justin's, and as long as he continued with him he expressed no such views; but after his martyrdom he separated from the Church, and, excited and puffed up by the thought of being a teacher, as if he were superior to others, he composed his own peculiar type of doctrine. He invented a system of certain invisible Æons, like the followers of Valentinus; while, like Marcion and Saturninus, he declared that marriage was nothing else than corruption and fornication. But his denial of Adam's salvation was an opinion due entirely to himself.
Date: 175-190 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
“... 85.2 For if he had been worthy, he would not have tasted death. On ‘tasted death’, see comments and bibliography ad GTh 1. Probably more than Adam’s physical death is envisaged here, since mere biological death (something experienced by Jesus as well—no doubt—as some of the Thomas movement: cf. 55.2) would probably not indicate unworthiness. An allusion to Adam’s death as penalty or Unheil is probably in evidence; Adam not only experienced physical death but expulsion from paradise (cf. GTh 19), and therefore forfeited the state of primeval innocence. Hence Thomas probably participates in the second-century discussion of whether Adam was to be saved, taking the negative position of Tatian which was so strongly to be condemned by Irenaeus (AH 1.28.1; cf. Irenaeus’s own view in AH 3.23.8). This is interesting in the context of the second century, when Adam became a subject of discussion in his own right in Christian texts, rather than simply as a type of Christ (only mentioned by name 9 × in the NT; cf. the depiction in Paul in Rom. 5.12–19; 1 Cor. 15.22, 45). He is not an object of any speculation in the Apostolic Fathers. ...”
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,