Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

FROM THE GOSPELS TO JESUS
the more plausible explanation is of two orally varied versions of the same tradition.
As before, the evidence does not determine whether one or the other (or
both) has simply drawn directly from the living oral tradition known to them, or
whether one or the other has borrowed in oral mode from the Q document. Either
way the evidence is more of oral dependence than of literary dependence. Consider
the following examples.
Matt. 5.13
13 You are the salt of the earth; but if salt
has lost its taste, how can it be restored? It is no
longer good for anything, but
is thrown out to be trampled under foot.
Matt. 5.25-26
25 Come to terms quickly with your
accuser while you are on the way (to court) with
him, lest your accuser
hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the
guard, and you will be thrown in
prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out
from there until you have paid back the last
penny.
Matt. 5.39b-42
But whoever hits you on your right cheek, turn to
him the other also; 40 and to the one who wants
to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your
cloak also; 41 and whoever forces you to go one
mile, go with him a second. 42 Give to the one
who asks you, and do not turn away the one who
wants to borrow from you.
Matt. 6.19-21
19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust consume and where
thieves break in and steal;
20 but store up for yourselves
treasures
in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break
in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is. there
will be also your heart.
Luke 14.34-35
§8.5
34 Salt is good; but if even salt
has lost its taste, how can it be seasoned? 35 It is
fit neither for the earth nor for the manure heap;
they throw it out.
Luke 12.57-59
57 And why do you not judge for yourselves
what is right? 58 Thus, when you go with your
accuser before a magistrate, on the way (to court)
make an effort to settle with him, lest you be
dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you
over to the officer, and the officer throw you in
prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out
from there until you have paid back the very last
halfpenny.
Luke 6.29-30
29 To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer
the other also; and from the one who
takes away your cloak do not withhold your
tunic also.
30 Give to everyone
who asks you; and from the one who takes what
is yours, do not ask for them back.
Luke 12.33-34
33 Sell your possessions,
and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do
not wear out, an unfailing treasure
in the heavens, where no thief comes near and
no moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is. there
also your heart will be.
Q. Kloppenborg Verbin's response (Excavating Q 62-65) fails to reckon with the variability in
agreement within individual pericopes and the phenomenon of stable core elements, to which
I am here drawing attention.
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