Texts in Conversation
Matthew puts the warning about pearls before pigs right before the command to seek and find, an order the evangelist created. The Gospel of Thomas also follows the pearls saying with the seeker who finds.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 7:6
New Testament
5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Gospel of Thomas 1:93
Nag Hammadi
92 Jesus said, “Seek and you will find. In the past I did not tell you the things about which you asked me then. Now I am willing to tell them, but you do not seek them.” 93 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw it on the dung heap. Do not throw pearls to pigs, lest they… [trample it].” 94 Jesus said, “Whoever seeks will find, and whoever knocks, it will be opened for him.”
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Notes and References
“... This logion is a puzzle. Even its symbolic meaning is uncertain; its application and its sense in the Matthean context are a complete mystery. [...] logion is preserved elsewhere only in the Gospel of Thomas (93), where it is also followed by the saying about seeking and finding (Matt 7:7 = Gos. Thom. 94). In Gos. Thom. 93 the chiasm is dissolved, and the prohibition against giving what is holy to the dogs is followed immediately by its justification: “so that it not be thrown on the dung-heap.” The wording of the Gospel of Thomas is hardly useful for reconstructing the original wording. The wording of Matt 7:6 is the oldest available wording. [...] Since the evangelist is responsible for the insertion of Matt 7:7-11 (see above, II A, “The Sermon on the Mount: Sources”; and below on the analysis of 7:7-11), we probably have in the Gospel of Thomas an echo of the Gospel of Matthew. ...”
* 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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