The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30): Is Thomas's Version (Logion 57) Independent?

I. Introduction

The discovery in 1945 of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas among the codices found at Nag Hammadi ignited a controversy about Thomas's relation to the Synoptic Gospels that continues to this day.¹ The debate, though, has tended to focus on certain types of material rather than others. Since it is a catena of sayings attributed to Jesus, the Coptic Gospel of Thomas has often been compared to the hypothetical Q document. While that correlation is understandable, it hardly does justice to the complexity of the material contained in Thomas. The sayings in Thomas that have close parallels in the Synoptics (roughly half of the 114 sayings) range over the triple tradition (Mark, often with a strong Lukan tone), the Q tradition, Mark-Q overlaps, special Matthean material (M), and special Lukan material (L). The Q material above all, but also the Markan and the L material, have all received due consideration in the last two decades.² Much of the M material, by comparison, has received scant attention. The present essay seeks, in some small measure, to remedy that lacuna by focusing on a well-known piece of M material, the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matt 13:24-30).³ This parable has a clear parallel in logion 57 of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas (hereafter, CGT). In this essay I pose a simple question. Is it more probable that CGT 57 shows dependence, direct or indirect, on the canonical Gospel of Matthew, or is it more probable that the logion is independent of the Gospel of Matthew?⁴ Let us begin by laying out the basic facts of the case.

II. The Basic Story Line of the Parable

Following the pattern set by Mark's agricultural parable of the Sower (Mark 4:3-9 parr.), Matthew supplies his parable of the Wheat and the Weeds with a lengthy allegorical interpretation (Matt 13:36-43). Indeed, many commentators hold that the interpretation of the Wheat and the Weeds is Matthew's own creation. A much shorter version of the parable, without a separate interpretation, is found in CGT 57. The text of the two versions of the parable reads as follows:⁵

Matthew 13:24-30

CGT 57

The kingdom of heaven is like

The kingdom of the Father is like

a man sowing good seed

a man who had good seed.

in his field.

While the men were sleeping,

his enemy came and sowed weeds

His enemy came at night and sowed weeds

in the midst of the wheat and left.

upon the good seed.

When the plants began to sprout and

produce grain,

then the weeds also appeared.

Approaching, the slaves of the householder

said to him, "Sir, did you not

sow good seed in your field? How

then does it have weeds?"

He said to them, "An enemy did this."

The slaves say to him, "Do you wish

The man did not allow them

us then to go out and gather them?"

to pull up the weeds.

He says, "No, lest in gathering the weeds

He said to them, "Lest you go in order that

you uproot the wheat with them.

we pull up the weeds and you pull up the the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest,

and at the time of the harvest

For on the day of the harvest,

I will say to the harvesters,

'Gather first the weeds and tie them

the weeds will appear.

into bundles in order to burn them,

They pull them up and burn them."

but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

A number of possibilities present themselves: CGT 57 may be an abbreviation of the text in Matthew's Gospel, an abbreviation of the M tradition that Matthew also used, or a completely independent tradition that need not be seen as an abbreviation and hence may be the earliest form of the parable. In the following analysis, I will argue that, far from...