Saying 5 - The Obscure Will Become Disclosed

Nag Hammadi Coptic Text

BLATZ (5) Jesus said: Recognize what is before you, and what is hidden from you will be revealed to you; for there is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest.

LAYTON (5) Jesus said, "Recognize what is before your (sing.) face and what is obscure to you (sing.) will become disclosed unto you. For there is nothing obscure that will not become shown forth."

DORESSE 5 [5]. Jesus says: "Know what is before your face, and what is hidden from you will be revealed to you. For nothing hidden will fail to be revealed!"

 

Oxyrhynchus Greek Fragment

DORESSE - Oxyrhynchus Jesus says: ["Know what is be]fore your face, and [what is hidden] from you will be revealed [to you. For there] is [nothing] hidden which [will] not be revealed, nor <anything> buried which [will not be raised up!"]

ATTRIDGE - Oxyrhynchus (5) Jesus said, "[Recognize what is in] your (sg.) sight, and [that which is hidden] from you (sg.) will become plain [to you (sg.). For there is nothing] hidden which [will] not [become] manifest, nor buried that [will not be raised]."

 

Funk's Parallels

POxy654 5
Jesus says, "[Know what is before] your face, and [what is hidden] from you will be disclosed [to you. For there is nothing] hidden that [will] not [become] manifest, and (nothing) buried that [will not be raised]."

POxy 654 6:4
"...all things are apparent before truth."

GThom 6:4
"...because all things are disclosed before heaven."

Luke 8:16-17
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

Luke 12:1-3
In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

Matt 10:26-33
Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Mark 4:21-23
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Oxyrhynchus Shroud
Jesus says, "Nothing has been buried that will not be raised."

 

 

Scholarly Quotes

Marvin Meyer quotes a parallel in a saying of Jesus from Manichaean Kephalaia LXV 163,26-29: 

"Understand what is in front of your face, and then what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you."

(The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 71)

Funk gives the citation from the Oxyrhynchus Shroud inscription:

"Jesus says, 'Nothing has been buried that will not be raised.'" (New Gospel Parallels, v. 2., p. 107) Doresse gives the translation: "Jesus says: 'There is nothing buried which shall not be raised up.'"

(The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, p. 356)

Fitzmyer gives the Greek of the inscription found on the shroud discovered in Behnesa,

"legei Ihsous: ouk estin teqamme non ho ouk egerqhsetai." Joseph A. Fitzmyer says that the inscription "is dated palaeographically to the fifth or sixth century A.D."

(Essays on the Semitic Background of the New Testament, p. 383)

Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write:

"But it seems hard to believe that this is the sense here, where - as in the rest of Thomas - there is no mention of resurrection. Perhaps one might regard the inscription as an orthodox, or semi-orthodox, revision of the saying in Thomas."

(The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 125)

Jean Doresse writes:

"In its Coptic edition, the work does contain Gnostic additions or corrections; but the work as a whole contains elements which are scarcely consonant with Gnosticism. There is, for example, the allusion to the resurrection of the body, in Saying 5 of the Greek edition - no doubt this is suppressed in the Coptic edition because it so blatantly scandalized the Gnostics who used the work."

(The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, p. 348)

Funk and Hoover write of the saying "there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed" as follows:

"The meaning assigned to the saying varies with the context in which it appears. In Mark 4:22 it refers to Mark's theory about the enigmatic character of the parables. In Luke 12:2 and Thom 6:5 it cautions against hypocrisy or speaking falsely. In Matt 10:26, which is the parallel to Luke 12:2, cited about from Q, it enjoins the disciples to preach boldly. Luke also records a version in 8:17, which he hsa taken from Mark; it ins context in Luke 8, it legitimizes the mission of the Christian movement."

(The Five Gospels, pp. 475-476)

R. McL. Wilson writes:

"Logion 5 calls for a somewhat fuller notice. Discussing a saying quoted by Clement of Alexandria from the Traditions of Matthias (QAUMASON TA MARONTA), Puech compares this logion in Thomas and remarks that it may perhaps derive from the Gospel of the Hebrews; in which case it would afford no proof of a Gnostic origin. More important is the point which emerges from a comparison with the Oxyrhynchus fragments: in POx 654, unfortunately fragmentary, the saying is slightly longer than in the Coptic. After the words just quoted, both continue 'For there is nothing hidden which will not be manifest,' but the Greek alone has a further line, completing a parallelism, 'and buried which . . .'. An inscription on a shroud, also found at Oxyrhynchus, reads 'Jesus says, There is nothing buried which will not be raised,' and on the basis of this Puech restores the text to include a reference to the resurrection. Other scholars had done the same before him, but without the support of the shround inscription. As a mere conjecture this restoration would have to be regarded as uncertain, but the shroud inscription, quite recently discovered, adds materially to its probability. Now the saying is quoted in the shorter (Coptic) form in the Manichean Kephalai, and Puech argues that the reference to the resurrection has been excised by a Gnostic editor in whose theology the doctrine of the resurrection had no place. If this be so, we should have here an instance of a gnosticizing redaction of an originally more orthodox document. Fitzmyer, following Bultmann and Jeremias, prefers to consider the longer version as a secondary expansion of the canonical saying, noting that the short version is the one found in our Gospels, but this is to raise a different question: which of the two forms represents the authentic words of Jesus. It is not entirely impossible that the short and canonical version is original, but has been expanded in POx 654, and that subsequently the reference to the resurrection has been removed by a Gnostic editor. Such an example may serve to indicate the complexity of the problems raised by the new document."

(Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, pp. 28-29)

 

Visitor Comments

Listen to what God is saying to you in a continuing dialogue which you have been failing to hear. You pray. God answers. Learn how to listen and see what is being offered to you.
- active-mystic

Know what the Gospel of Thomas is and its hidden meaning will become clear to you. The Gospel of Thomas did not remain buried forever, and its meaning will not be hidden forever. No secret remains a secret forever.
- Simon Magus

Be aware of your own and others' thoughts and you will become aware of the emotions which drive them. In doing so, the buried self is raised to consciousness.
- Rodney

When you know who you are, you will know all.
- Ardele

I believe this means that we were given intuition as a gift. Go with your instincts. Everything you need to know about anything has already been given to you in your heart and conscience. Go with your first impression, what your heart tells you--because it's right--the voice of god. Every fraud will be revealed sooner or later, but if you fall for the fraud you weren't listening to your instincts--you weren't listening to God.
- Holly

This reminds me of "Know the truth and the truth will make you free." It seems to me that the more truthful we become to ourselves, the aware we become of the truth of others, regardless of whether or not the are telling the truth. As we devote less mental energy towrd the task of lying to ourselves, that energy is redirected to our intuition.
- Margaret

If we can not understand what we know about God now, how will we be able to understand the things hidden from us.
- chad

To me Jesus is saying here that by experiencing the moment in the moment rather than entertaining fears about 'that which is hidden' one becomes aware of the hidden, that is, the ultimate reality.
- Aspirant

If we can grab hold of and live out the simple, basic truths that we know, the deeper ones will be revealed in time.
- John

To paraphrase these words in a current idiom, "It's all as plain as the nose on your face."
- Amy

There is much in front of you that you see, but there is more that you must look for, more perceptions that are within and without your immediate sight. If you are still within yourself, and can connect that which you can see, that which is hidden will be made manifest. There is nothing in the Universe(s) that you will not learn if you seek to know.
- StarChaser