Fourth Scroll
ON THE NATURE OF THE WORLD
8 1Now as Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
2“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus.
3Then he told them many things in metaphors, saying: “Look: A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on rich soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
9Whoever has ears, let her hear.
10The Wind blows where it will. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
11Who is the father of the rain? and who has given birth to the dew? 12Out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has made frost in the sky, which descends like flowing water? 13Do you comprehend the band of the Pleiades? Have you opened the barrier of Orion?
14Say, if you know, the time of bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and if you have observed the calving of hinds? 15Does the hawk fly steadily by your knowledge, having spread out her sturdy wings, looking toward the south? 16And does the eagle rise at your command, or the vulture sit over its nest, on a crag of rock in a secret place?
17These things are parts, and so are we. And parts will be understood by means of other parts. 18What, then, is the unifying Whole? 19All things must indeed depend on one another. And it is not only in the unified Whole of particular living beings that one finds what has well been called ‘a single, united breath,’ but especially, and in a prior manner, the Universe itself. 20For a single principle surely makes the Universe like one complex living Being: one from all. And just as in a single, unified, living whole the parts have each received some single function to perform, so, too, must the parts in the Universe each have individual functions to perform. 21Each thing proceeds from a single principle while performing its own work, with one contributing to the work of the other. For they are not cut off from the Whole. 22Such is Nature, and its heavenly kingdom.
23For just as a body, though singular, has many parts, though all its many parts form one body, so it is with the heavenly kingdom. 24Now, if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 25If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? If they were all one part, where would the body be?
26As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ 27On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. 28But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 29If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
30Here, then, one may say that there is nothing that is contrary to Nature or bad for the Whole, though you will nevertheless concede that there is relative ‘better’ and ‘worse.’ 31Why, then, if what is worse also makes a contribution to the Whole, shouldn’t we say that everything is Good? For even contraries help towards completion, and there would be no Cosmos without them. Such is the heavenly kingdom.”
32So Jesus said to them. But they did not understand him.
ON THE NATURE OF THE WORLD
8 1Καὶ παράγων ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶδεν ἄνθρωπον τυφλὸν ἐκ γενετῆς. καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· Ῥαββί, τίς ἥμαρτεν, οὗτος ἢ οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, ἵνα τυφλὸς γεννηθῇ;
2Ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Οὔτε οὗτος ἥμαρτεν οὔτε οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ. 3καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς πολλὰ ἐν παραβολαῖς λέγων· Ἰδοὺ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπείρειν. 4καὶ ἐν τῷ σπείρειν αὐτὸν ἃ μὲν ἔπεσεν παρὰ τὴν ὁδόν, καὶ ἐλθόντα τὰ πετεινὰ κατέφαγεν αὐτά. 5ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη ὅπου οὐκ εἶχεν γῆν πολλήν, καὶ εὐθέως ἐξανέτειλεν διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν βάθος γῆς· 6ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατείλαντος ἐκαυματίσθη καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ῥίζαν ἐξηράνθη. 7ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας, καὶ ἀνέβησαν αἱ ἄκανθαι καὶ ἔπνιξαν αὐτά. 8ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν καὶ ἐδίδου καρπόν, ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα.
9Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκυέτω. 10τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ. καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις, ἀλλ’ οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγει·
11Τίς ἐστιν ὑετοῦ πατήρ; τίς δέ ἐστιν ὁ τετοκὼς βώλους δρόσου; 12ἐκ γαστρὸς δὲ τίνος ἐκπορεύεται ὁ κρύσταλλος; πάχνην δὲ ἐν οὐρανῷ τίς τέτοκεν, ἣ καταβαίνει ὥσπερ ὕδωρ ῥέον; 13συνῆκας δὲ δεσμὸν Πλειάδος καὶ φραγμὸν Ὠρίωνος ἤνοιξας;
14Εἰ ἔγνως καιρὸν τοκετοῦ τραγελάφων πέτρας, ἐφύλαξας δὲ ὠδῖνας ἐλάφων; 15ἐκ δὲ τῆς σῆς ἐπιστήμης ἕστηκεν ἱέραξ ἀναπετάσας τὰς πτέρυγας ἀκίνητος καθορῶν τὰ πρὸς νότον; 16ἐπὶ δὲ σῷ προστάγματι ὑψοῦται ἀετός, γὺψ δὲ ἐπὶ νοσσιᾶς αὐτοῦ καθεσθεὶς αὐλίζεται ἐπ’ ἐξοχῇ πέτρας καὶ ἀποκρύφῳ;
17Καὶ οὖν μέρη μὲν ἐκεῖνα, μέρη δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς· ἄλλα οὖν ἄλλοις. 18τίς οὖν ἡ σύνταξις ἡ μία; 19συνηρτῆσθαι δὴ δεῖ ἀλλήλοις τὰ πάντα. καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν καθ’ ἕκαστα τοῦ εὖ εἰρημένου σύμπνοια μία, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον καὶ πρότερον ἐν τῷ παντί. 20καὶ μίαν ἀρχὴν ἓν πολὺ ζῷον ποιῆσαι καὶ ἐκ πάντων ἕν. καὶ ὡς ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ τὰ μέρη ἕν τι ἔργον ἕκαστον εἴληφεν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ παντὶ ἕκαστα ἔργα ἕκαστον ἔχειν. 21πρόεισι μὲν δὴ ἕκαστον ἀπὸ μιᾶς τὸ αὑτοῦ πρᾶττον, συμβάλλει δὲ ἄλλο ἄλλῳ· οὐ γὰρ ἀπήλλακται τοῦ ὅλου· 22οὕτως ἡ φύσις καὶ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν αὐτοῦ·
23Καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ἕν ἐστιν καὶ μέλη πολλὰ ἔχει, πάντα δὲ τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος πολλὰ ὄντα ἕν ἐστιν σῶμα, οὕτως καὶ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν· 24ἐὰν εἴπῃ ὁ πούς· Ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ χείρ, οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος; καὶ ἐὰν εἴπῃ τὸ οὖς· Ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὀφθαλμός, οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος;
25Εἰ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα ὀφθαλμός, ποῦ ἡ ἀκοή; εἰ ὅλον ἀκοή, ποῦ ἡ ὄσφρησις; εἰ δὲ ἦν τὰ πάντα ἓν μέλος, ποῦ τὸ σῶμα;
26νῦν δὲ πολλὰ μὲν μέλη, ἓν δὲ σῶμα. οὐ δύναται δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς εἰπεῖν τῇ χειρί· Χρείαν σου οὐκ ἔχω, ἢ πάλιν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῖς ποσίν· Χρείαν ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔχω· 27ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ δοκοῦντα μέλη τοῦ σώματος ἀσθενέστερα ὑπάρχειν ἀναγκαῖά ἐστιν, καὶ ἃ δοκοῦμεν ἀτιμότερα εἶναι τοῦ σώματος τούτοις τιμὴν περισσοτέραν περιτίθεμεν. 28Ἀλλ’ ὁ θεὸς συνεκέρασεν τὸ σῶμα τῷ ὑστερουμένῳ περισσοτέραν δοὺς τιμήν, ἵνα μὴ ᾖ σχίσμα ἐν τῷ σώματι ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων μεριμνῶσιν τὰ μέλη. 29καὶ εἴτε πάσχει ἓν μέλος, συμπάσχει πάντα τὰ μέλη· εἴτε δοξάζεται ἓν μέλος, συγχαίρει πάντα τὰ μέλη.
30Ἐνταῦθά τις ἐρεῖ μὴ εἶναι μηδὲν παρὰ φύσιν μηδὲ κακὸν τῷ ὅλῳ· ἀλλ’ ὅμως τὸ χεῖρον καὶ τὸ βέλτιον συγχωρήσεται. 31τί οὖν, εἰ τῷ ὅλῳ καὶ τὸ χεῖρον συνεργόν, καὶ οὐ δεῖ πάντα καλὰ εἶναι; ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἐναντία συντελεῖ καὶ οὐκ ἄνευ τούτων κόσμος· οὕτως καὶ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν·
32Ὡς εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς. καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ συνῆκαν τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς.