English
Jesus said, ‘Whoever has found the world and become wealthy, he should disown the world.’
Interpretation
Compare Saying 81. The duplication of that other saying suggests it was passed on through divergent oral traditions before it entered the book. Where Saying 81 speaks of becoming wealthy in the same breath as becoming a king, which are positive things (according to Saying 2), the meaning has changed in this version. Here, becoming rich is interpreted as literal, material wealth, a worldly desire which should be rejected.