Saying 29: Spirit Dwelling in Poverty
If flesh came into being because of spirit that is a marvel; if spirit because of the body, a marvel of marvels. But I marvel at how such great wealth has come to live in such poverty.
Commentary
A miniature philosophical argument that ends by refusing both options. The wealth in poverty is the spirit in the body — Thomas’s abiding astonishment, stated without the contempt for matter that fully developed gnosticism would bring.
Parallels
This saying has no close parallel in the canonical gospels. Roughly half of the Gospel of Thomas is material of this kind, found nowhere else in the early Christian record.
Sayings on the same themes
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