Apocryphon of James 7:12-21 reads:
Rather be
eager on your own and,
if possible, be first before
me, for thus
the Father will love you.
Become those who hate
hypocrisy and intention that’s
evil, for intention
is what produces hypocrisy,
and hypocrisy is far from
Truth. . . . (Samuel Zinner, The Apocryphon of James (NHC I, 2): A
Commentary with Complete Facsimiles, Transcription, and Translation [Luminescence
Academic Series 1; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Luminescence, L.L.C., Publisher, 2024],
45)
Zinner provides this cleaned-up translation elsewhere in his volume:
“Be eager to be
saved without being urged. Rather, be ready on your own and, if possible, get
there before me, because the Father will love you.
“Come to hate
hypocrisy and evil intention, because intention is that gives birth to
hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is far from the truth.” (Ibid., 118, emphasis in original)
Commenting on the “evil intention” or yetzer hara, Zinner wrote:
“Evil
intention.” This refers to
the יצר הרע, the so-called evil inclination, imagination, or intention. Compare
Gen 8:21, “for the imagination (יצר) of man’s heart is evil (רע) from his
youth. Although “hypocrisy is far from the truth” clearly pertains to
morality and ethics, one could also understand the statement from within a
Platonic epistemological framework, namely, pretense is far from the ideal
archetype of truth. Note well that Ap. Jas. states “because intention
is what gives birth to hypocrisy,” not “because evil intention is
what gives birth to hypocrisy.” We could explain this in two ways. First,
the author may have simply wanted to avoid too much repetition. Second, and
preferable, would be that the author first uses the phrase “evil intention” to
reflect what would become a well-known Rabbinic two-word phrase, and then
condenses this to the biblical use of יצר by itself, as in Gen 8:21, where not
the evil inclination is said to be evil, but the inclination in general or as
such is declared evil. (Samuel Zinner, The Apocryphon of James (NHC I, 2): A
Commentary with Complete Facsimiles, Transcription, and Translation [Luminescence
Academic Series 1; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Luminescence, L.L.C., Publisher, 2024],
)
To Support this Blog:
