Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

FROM THE GOSPELS TO JESUS §7.9
matters which may be noted here but are best held for consideration until we look
more closely at the traditioning process (§8.6).
7.9. Knowledge of Jesus' Teaching and Agrapha
To complete the review of sources for the teaching of Jesus we should also refer
to specific references to such teaching in Paul (1 Cor. 7.10-11; 9.14; 11.23-25)
and to the likelihood that Paul and other early letter writers alluded to the traditions
of Jesus' teaching on several occasions. The question however is somewhat
complex and is best left till later (§8.1e).
Also to be mentioned are the agrapha (unknown sayings) of Jesus attributed
to him in the rest of the New Testament (particularly Acts 20.35), in variant
readings in the Gospels (particularly Luke 6.4 D), and in Patristic sources (notably
GTh 82, cited by Origen, on Jer. Horn. 3.3). 165 They do not add much to the
overall picture, their credibility as sayings of Jesus largely depending on their
compatibility with the more familiar Synoptic traditions. But they do constitute a
further reminder that there must have been a fairly lively oral tradition of Jesus'
sayings which continued to be circulated apart from the canonical Gospels. It is a
fuller consideration of that tradition to which we must now turn.
165. Overlapping collections by O. Hofius in Schneemelcher and Wilson, New Testament
Apocrypha 1.88-91, and Elliott, Apocryphal New Testament 26-30 (with bibliography);
see also Charlesworth and Evans, 'Jesus in the Agrapha' 479-95; W. G. Morrice, Hidden Sayings
of Jesus: Words Attributed to Jesus outside the Four Gospels (London: SPCK, 1997).
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