Gospel of Thomas - Chapter 001
On the existence of sensus plenior
- Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
- Lu 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
- Eph 3:9 And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
The scriptures (Old Testament) speak of Christ. He revealed the hidden meaning to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and Paul and the disciples primarily taught from the Old Testament to show that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Luke mimicked sensus plenior in Acts 12 when he used the story of Jesus as an outline to tell the account of Peter miraculously getting out of prison. Here is the story of Christ that Luke hides in the account of Peter:
- Jesus was vexed by Herod as a child when he fled to Egypt. He was arrested before Passover, hung between two prisoners, poked in the side, held by three barriers (2 days in death and the stone), the stone opened itself, saw Mary first who ran to tell the disciples and was told she was crazy, and after Jesus finished visiting his disciples, he went to another place.
Here is Luke's account of Peter:
- The church (known as the body of Christ) was vexed by Herod, Peter was arrested before Pasover, chained between two guards, poked in the side, held by three barriers (two sets of guards and the gate), the gate opened itself, he went to see Mary, the woman ran to tell the disciples who said she was crazy, and after Peter was finished visiting the disciples, he went to another place.
There are many more parallels when we get into the details. I say that Luke mimicked sensus plenior because he was obviously taught to read sensus plenior in the Old Testament and had to be aware of it in his own writing. There is also a major difference between his writing and that of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament every verse of every chapter of every book participates in prophecy of Christ. Though the same MAY be true of Luke, I can only find it occasionally, like intentional references to it in the OT.
I find that Thomas gives hints to help flush out the sensus plenior of the OT.
Next: the rules which are derived by using the same methods of interpretation which reveal sensus plenior (or which are used to interpret OT prophecy).
