Saying 39: The Keys of Knowledge
The Pharisees and scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and hidden them; they did not go in themselves and did not let others in. Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Commentary
Luke has “the key of knowledge” in the singular. Thomas pluralises and adds the snake-and-dove counsel, producing a strategy as much as a complaint: outmanoeuvre the gatekeepers.
Parallels
Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:52; Matthew 10:16
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