“But I shall not be unwilling to put down along with my
interpretations, whatsoever instructions I received with care at any time from
the elders, and store up with care in my memory, assuring you at the same time
of their truth. For I did not, like the multitude, take
pleasure in those who spoke much, but in those who taught the truth; nor in
those who related strange commandments, but in those who rehearsed the
commandments given by the Lord to faith, and proceeding from truth itself. If, then, any one who had attended on the elders
came, I asked minutely after their sayings, - what Andrew or Peter said, or
what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew,
or by any other of the Lord’s disciples…” [i]
These collected sayings he recorded in a five volume work –
what New Testament scholars call a logia. But apart from the few fragments
quoted by Eusebius and Irenæus we have no idea what sayings of Jesus may have
been recorded in these works.
It has been suggested (but not universally accepted) that this now-lost five volume work might have been the hypothetical Q document that provided a common source of material for the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
It has been suggested (but not universally accepted) that this now-lost five volume work might have been the hypothetical Q document that provided a common source of material for the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Though we have little of Papias’ work, what does remain is
interesting. It’s from Papias that we
get the tradition that Mark was Peter’s secretary and that he “wrote down
accurately whatever he remembered. It
was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of
Christ.” [ii] Papias identifies Matthew as the author of
the Gospel according to Matthew – “Matthew put together the oracles [of the
Lord] in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as best he could.”[iii] The earliest copies of Matthew’s gospel that
we have are in Greek, but some scholars believe that they were translated from
Hebrew or Aramaic (but, again, this is not universally accepted…)
We have, in the New Testament, two different accounts of
Judas’s death (in Matthew and in Acts).
Various attempts have been made to harmonize the difference between
these two stories into one narrative – some with more plausibility than others… But Papias further confounds the
issue by relating a third tradition of Judas’ death – one that is difficult to
reconcile with either of the canonical accounts.
“Judas walked about in this world as a sad example of impiety; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.” [iv]
“Judas walked about in this world as a sad example of impiety; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.” [iv]
When I finish the time machine I’m building in my garage, I
think I’ll go back and find a copy of Papias’ five volumes.
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