Saying 89: Washing the Outside of the Cup
Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that whoever made the inside also made the outside?
Commentary
Matthew and Luke use the cup to attack hypocrisy. Thomas uses it for the collapse of inside and outside into one thing, exactly as in saying 22 — the same image, a different argument.
Parallels
Luke 11:39–40; Matthew 23:25–26
Sayings on the same themes
- Saying 44 Saying 44: Blasphemy Against the Spirit Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven; whoever blasphemes against the Holy…
- Saying 71 Saying 71: I Will Destroy This House I will tear down this house, and no one will be able to build it again.
- Saying 34 Saying 34: The Blind Leading the Blind If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them fall into a pit.
- Saying 61 Saying 61: Salome and the Undivided Two will rest on a couch; one will die, one will live. Salome asks who he is to climb on her couch…
- Saying 10 Saying 10: Fire on the World I have cast fire on the world, and I am watching over it until it blazes.
- Saying 16 Saying 16: Not Peace but Division People think I have come to bring peace; I have come to bring divisions — fire, sword, war. Five in a house…