Saying 33 - No One Hides A Lamp

Nag Hammadi Coptic Text

BLATZ (33) Jesus said: What you hear with your ear (and) with the other ear, proclaim it on your roof-tops. For no one lights a lamp to set it under a bushel, or to put it in a hidden place; but he sets it on the lamp-stand, that all who go in and come out may see its light.

LAYTON (33) Jesus said, "Whatever you (sing.) hear with your ear, proclaim upon your (plur.) rooftops into the other ear. Indeed, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a vessel, nor puts it in a hidden place. Rather it is put on a lampstand so that each who enters and leaves might see its light."

DORESSE 38 [33]. Jesus says: "What thou hearest with thine ear, and the other ear, proclaim from the roof-tops! For no-one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel or in a hidden place: but he puts it on the lamp-stand so that all who come in or go out should see the light."

 

Oxyrhynchus Greek Fragment

DORESSE - Oxyrhynchus Jesus says: "You hear with one of your ears [...]"

ATTRIDGE - Oxyrhynchus (33) Jesus said, "<That which> you (sg.) hear in one of your (sg.) ears, [preach...]"

 

Funk's Parallels

POxy1 33
Jesus says, " you hear in one ear of yours [proclaim...]."

Luke 12:2-3
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.

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 11:33-36
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Matt 10:26-27
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.

Matt 5:14-16
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your 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.

 

Scholarly Quotes

Marvin Meyer quotes Clement of Alexandria in Miscellanies 6.15.124.5-6 for an esoteric interpretation of a similar saying:

"'And what you hear in the ear' - that is, in a hidden manner and in a mystery, for such things are said, figuratively, to be spoken in the ear - 'proclaim,' he says, 'upon the rooftops,' receiving nobly and delivering loftily and explaining the scriptures according to the canons of truth. For neither prophecy nor the savior himself declared the divine mysteries in a simple manner, so as to be easily comprehended by ordinary people, but rather he spoke in parables."

(The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 83)

Funk and Hoover write:

"This saying is probably a corruption of the saying found in Q and incorporated into Luke 12:3//Matt 10:27. The Q saying was judged to be a Christian formulation (further, consult the notes on the verses in Luke and Matthew). The saying in Thomas makes no sense as it stands."

(The Five Gospels, p. 492)

Jack Finegan writes:

"Here the completion of the saying [compared to the Greek fragment] enables us to see that the entire text combined the materials of Mt 10:27 = Lk 12:3 in the first part, with the materials of Mt 5:15 = Lk 11:33 and Lk 8:16 in the second part, with additional variations of a minor character. Not only are two separate Synoptic sayings, one about hearing and one about lighting a lamp, brought together but the respective versions of Mt and Lk are interwoven to provide a specially good example of the phenomenon which is frequent enough not only in these texts but also in the church fathers of this period, the phenomenon which has been called that of the 'compound text.' Whether this means that the materials were quoted from memory, or that there was a deliberate attempt at harmonization of the NT text, is difficult to say."

(Hidden Records of the Life of Jesus, p. 251)

Joachim Jeremias writes:

"According to the context (4.22) Mark and Thomas relate it to the Gospel, Matthew to the disciples (cf. 5.16), Luke to the inner light (cf. 11.34-36, see below, pp. 162 f.). From the exegesis a conjecture may be hazarded as to what was the original meaning. What is the meaning of, 'neither do they place the lamp under a bushel'? If a bushel-measure were placed over the small clay lamp, it would extinguish it. In the little, windowless, one-roomed pasants' houses which have no chimney, this might well have been the customary method of putting out the lamp; since blowing it out might cause unpleasant smoke and smell, as well as the risk of fire through sparks (cf. Shab. 3.6)."

(The Parables of Jesus, p. 120)

Gerd Ludemann writes:

"The simile of the lamp often occurs in the New Testament: Matt. 4.21/Matt 5.15; Luke 8.16; 11.33. 'Hidden place' takes up 'hidden' from Logion 32. This is likely to have been conditioned by the Matthaean sequence, for there we have the same word from Thomas 32 in Matt. 5.14, whereas it does not occur in the verse (Matt. 5.15) which corresponds to Thomas 33.2."

(Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 607)

R. McL. Wilson writes:

"Grant and Freedman see here nothing but a combination of sayings from our Gospels, and note that the Naassenes used the same combination in the reverse order. It should be observed, however, that the second part occurs definitely in the Lucan form. If Thomas drew logion 32 from Matthew, why did he switch to Luke for his version of a saying contained in the next verse? Quispel has noted parallels to the Diatessaron here, and suggests that it is simpler to assume that Tatian knew either logion 33 or something like it than that he borrowed bits and pieces here and there from all three Synoptics."

(Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, p. 75)

 

Visitor Comments

Jesus said: If you truly understand my message about your true nature, you must manifest this in your life.
- active-mystic

When you receive and understand the message of God go out and tell everyone.
- anonymous

Both an injunction and a reassurance for a teacher's puplis. Interpretable from the standpoint of an esoteric school teaching the perennial knowledge in each and every age to each and every community
- Thief37

Jesus is explaining that what you hear of God with your physical (outer) ear, and what you hear from God with your inner ear (unsung melody...shabd..Holy Ghost..Logos) leads to personal enlightenment.
- Petrus

Truth cannot be hidden -- it is just too darn big. As a lamp is not lit to be put under a basket, so too can truth not be kept secret. Either the light of truth will burn through secrecy, or secrecy will corrupt and smother the light. Truth and secrecy cannot coexist. A truth that is truly secret cannot be important, whereas an important truth cannot be truly secret.
- Mike