The term “agrapha” refers to sayings attributed to Jesus that are not found in the canonical gospels of the New Testament. “Agrapha” is a Greek word meaning “unwritten things.” These sayings come from a variety of early Christian sources and were passed down through oral tradition before being recorded in texts outside the biblical canon.
The agrapha provide interesting additional information about Jesus and his teachings. However, because they were not included in the New Testament, most modern scholars remain cautious about accepting them as authentic words of Jesus. Their origin and validity is debated in biblical scholarship.
There are several categories of agrapha:
- Sayings found in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (early Christian leaders who succeeded the apostles)
- Sayings from apocryphal gospels and Acts of apostles
- Sayings preserved in the writings of the early church fathers
- Sayings from ancient non-Christian sources like the Talmud
Some of the more well-known agrapha include:
- “Be approved moneychangers” – possibly meaning to wisely test and discern what teachings to accept (Clement of Alexandria)
- “I choose for myself the things that are good” – emphasizing free will to choose right or wrong (Justin Martyr)
- “In the place where there are two, there is God also” – on God’s presence with even just a few together (Didache)
- “The heavens will roll up before you, and the earth” – indicating Jesus’ power over creation (Gospel of Thomas)
There are about 450 agrapha total from various sources. While most are just brief sayings and quotes, a few are lengthy accounts and speeches. Here are some key examples:
Agrapha in the New Testament
There are a couple instances of agrapha directly quoted in the New Testament. These suggest early Christian knowledge of unwritten sayings of Jesus that they considered authentic:
- Acts 20:35 – “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 – “This is my body which is for you…” Eucharist words not in the Gospels.
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas is a Gnostic gospel discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in Egypt in 1945. It is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Although later and more dubious than the canonical gospels, it does not appear to be dependent on them and may contain some authentic agrapha.
Examples from Gospel of Thomas:
- “Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.” (Saying 7)
- “Whoever has come to understand the world has found only a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world.” (Saying 56)
- “When you make the two one, you will become the sons of man, and when you say, ‘Mountain, move away,’ it will move away.” (Saying 106)
The Didache
The Didache is an early Christian document, dated first century AD, that contains teaching and rules for Christian living and church practice. It contains some agrapha on church life not found in the Bible:
- “In church, make confession of your sins, and do not come to prayer with a guilty conscience.”
- “Appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, humble men, and not lovers of money.”
- “Do not make trial of the Lord your God.”
Papias on Judas
Papias of Hierapolis recorded an agraphon about the gruesome death of Judas, found in his Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord written around 100-140 AD:
“Judas walked about in this world a sad example of impiety; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass easily, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.”
This story is not found in the New Testament, but appears to be an early oral tradition about Judas’ death.
The Apocryphon of James
The Apocryphon (secret book) of James is a 2nd century Gnostic text that claims to contain secret teachings of Jesus to his brother James. It contains some dialogues between them with unrecorded sayings:
Jesus to James: “Since you have abandoned the world and everything in it, follow me, be humble, accept suffering, be unaffected by desire, and do not judge.”
James to Jesus: “You have made me much stronger. Because of this I have gained power from you.”
Agraphon Sources
In addition to the above examples, here are some of the other main early Christian sources that contain agrapha:
- The Apostolic Fathers – Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, etc.
- Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho
- The non-canonical Gospels – Gospel of Peter, Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of the Egyptians
- Apocryphal Acts of apostles – Acts of Paul, Acts of Thomas
- Early church fathers – Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, Augustine
Critical Academic Perspectives
Despite some possible authentic material, scholarly opinion on the agrapha tends to be skeptical. Reasons include:
- Lack of multiple or early attestation for most agrapha
- Uncertain origins and probable legendary embellishments
- Theological motives behind extra-biblical sayings created to support teachings
- Likelihood of sayings being falsely attributed to Jesus
- Questionable sources like Gnositc and apocryphal texts
However, a few individual agrapha, such as the saying in Acts 20:35, are believed by some scholars to potentially go back to Jesus. But in most cases, the agrapha provide interesting historical insights about early Christianity rather than reliable new information about the historical Jesus.
In the quest for the historical Jesus, New Testament scholars place far more weight on Jesus sayings contained in multiple early sources and strata of the canonical gospels. The agrapha are late, divergent and debatable in authenticity. Nonetheless, they remain valuable for researchers seeking fuller understanding of Jesus’ influence on the early church.
In summary, the agrapha are a collection of extra-biblical sayings and teachings attributed to Jesus found in early Christian writings outside the New Testament canon. They provide intriguing glimpses into Jesus tradition and lore in the first centuries of Christianity. But overall they are too questionable in origin and transmission to widely expand our knowledge of the historical Jesus beyond what the biblical gospels record.
