Texts in Conversation
In Mark, Jesus says faith can tell a mountain to be thrown into the sea. The Gospel of Thomas promises the same power over the mountain, but makes it the reward for two who make peace in a single house rather than for faith.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Mark 11:23
New Testament
22 Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Matthew 18:19
New Testament
18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”
Gospel of Thomas 1:48
Nag Hammadi
47 Jesus said, “It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows; and it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters, for he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. No person drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. New wine is not put into old wineskins, or they might burst; and old wine is not put into a new wineskin, or it might spoil. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because it would tear.” 48 Jesus said, “If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, ‘Move from here,’ and it will move.” 49 Jesus said, “Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and to it you will return.”
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Notes and References
“... 106:1 Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of humankind, 2and when you say 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move." Logion 106:2 has independent parallels in Matthew 17:20, Mark 11:23 and 1 Corinthians 13:2. The binary saying of 106:1 has a parallel only in Thomas 48. The promise to be able to move mountains (or, in Luke 17:6, trees) on the basis of faith had wide currency in the traditions of the Jesus movement. It is not necessary here to make a judgment about whether it goes back to the historical Jesus. The point is that Thomas demonstrates its redactional concerns in making the ability to move mountains the reward for union of a binary pair. This union concern is paralleled in Thomas 48, where the promise is made on the condition that two make peace in a single house. ...”
Marshall, John W.
"The Gospel of Thomas and the Cynic Jesus" in Arnal, William E., and Michel Desjardins (eds.) Whose Historical Jesus?
(p. 51) Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1997
* 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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