Early Christian Writings
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Nag Hammadi Coptic Text
BLATZ
(23) Jesus said: I shall
choose you, one out of a
thousand and two out of ten
thousand, and they shall
stand as a single one.
Visitor Comments
Jesus does not refer to the
exclusion of the great
majority from "salvation" or
eternal life. This exclusion is
not true. He makes the
observation that while many
will hear his message, only a
very few will understand and
realize (know absolutely)
that they are (already) a part
of the One: There is only
One of Us.
- active-mystic
"I shall choose you",
suggests more than a lack of
realization... There are those
that are chosen, and those
that aren't...
- commentor
"The gate is large but the
path is like a razor's edge?"
- Pavlos
A higher scrap rate. And
those that do make the grade
become as one. Many
university students fail to
graduate. But all alumni may
be considered as one
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Funk's Parallels
GThom 49, GThom 75,
GThom 106, Matt 23:15,
Pistis Sophia 134,
Ecclesiastes 7:28.
LAYTON DORESSE
(23) Jesus said, "I shall 28 [23]. Jesus says: "I will
choose you (plur.) - one out choose you, one from a
of a thousand and two out thousand and two from ten
of ten thousand. And they thousand, and those <whom
will stand at rest by being I have chosen> will be lifted
one and the same." up, being one!"
Scholarly Quotes
Funk quotes Pistis Sophia 134: "'There shall be found one among a thousand and two
among ten thousand . . .' (Gartner: 229)" (New Gospel Parallels, v. 2, p. 123)
Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "The Gnostic community is very
small. It consists of those chosen by Jesus, 'one out of a thousand and two out of ten
thousand' (23/24) - a saying quoted by the Gnostic followers of Basilides [Adv. haer.
I. 24. 6] and in Pistis Sophia. To be sure, this element of exclusiveness is not absent
from early Christianity ('many are called, but few are chosen'), but in Christianity it is
balanced by the call to mission and discipleship, omitted in Thomas. The Gospel of
Thomas thus offers no hope, eschatological or other, to mankind as a whole, or to any
considerable numbers of men." (Gnosticism & Early Christianity, p. 189)
Funk and Hoover write: "The use of the phrase 'one from a thousand' may indicate
that the gnotsics thought of themselves as an elite, relatively rare species among
humankind. The phrase 'single one' (v. 2) points to undifferentiated existence prior to
creation." (The Five Gospels, p. 487)
- Thief37
"How should one chase a
thousand, and two put ten
thousand to flight, except
their Rock had sold them,
and YHVH had shut them
up?" (Deuteronomy 32:30)
In Hebrew Numerology, the
alphabet "alef" equals both
one and one thousand.
Indeed, in Hebrew the same
spelling is used for the name
of the letter alef, and elef,
meaning "one thousand."
The verse can be interpreted
as "One, the first number,
follows after one thousand in
a complete and perfect
cycle."
- Ezekiel Li
"Seek and you shall find,"
but those who truly seek are
very few...
-Z
23

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