And when He went to His Father, He sent to us His Spirit and said to us "I am with you till the world shall end. For Christ sits at the right hand of His Father, and Christ dwells among men." He is sufficient above and beneath, by the wisdom of His Father. And He dwells in many, though He is one, and all the faithful each by each He overshadows from Himself, and fails not, as it is written:— I will divide Him among many. [Isaiah 53:12] And though He is divided among many, yet He sits at the right hand of His Father. And He is in us and we are in Him [Aphrahat Demonstation 6]
Baarda acknowledges that these words (i.e. no explicit mention of a heavenly enthronement) undoubtedly concluded Aphrahat's gospel.
The surviving Arabic Diatessaron ends as follows:
and lo, I am with you all the days, unto the end of the world. For whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but whosoever believeth not shall be rejected. And the signs which shall attend those that believe in me are these: that they shall cast out devils in my name; and they shall speak with new tongues; and they shall take up serpents, and if they drink deadly poison, it shall not injure them; and they shall lay their hands on the diseased, and they shall be healed. But ye, abide in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be clothed with power from on high. And our Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, took them out to Bethany: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And while he blessed them, he was separated from them, and ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and at all times they were in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Yet Aphrahat's text preserves the original form of the material that went back to Justin and Tatian:
I am with you till the world shall end. For Christ sits at the right hand of His Father, and Christ dwells among men.
Could Aphrahat's text represent a more primitive version of Tatian's original text. Baarda writes:
Personally I am inclined to believe that Aphrahat referred (here) to the end of 'the Gospel,' namely to the post-resurrection situation, in which Jesus went to the One who sent him ... In this situation Jesus presented his disciples with his Spirit (John 20,22) and gave his farewell with the words of Matthew 28,20. He ultimately sat at the right hand of his Father (Mark 16.19) This embroidery of the Gospels may give us the impression that Aphrahat had in mind the Diatessaron but this not strictly necessary. [Baarda The Gospel Quotations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage p. 266]
I am clearly of the opinion that Aphrahat's text was indeed a Diatessaron and I am not alone on this. Baarda himself acknowledges this later in his career. The point of course is that this primitive text resembles the prayers of Ephrem I cited earlier.
Yet compare it now to what appears in Justin's Apology Chapter 45:
And that God the Father of all would bring Christ to heaven (only) after He had raised Him from the dead, and would keep him here until He has subdued His enemies the devils, and until the number of those who are foreknown by Him as good and virtuous is complete, on whose account He has still delayed the consummation [cf. Matt 28:20] — hear what was said by the prophet David. These are his words: “The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool [cf. Mark 16:19]. The Lord shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem; and rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. With Thee is the government in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of Thy saints: from before the morning star have I begotten Thee.” [Ps. cx. 1, etc]. That which he says, “He shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem,” is predictive of the mighty, word, which His apostles, going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere [cf. Mark 16:20]; and though death is decreed against those who teach or at all confess the name of Christ, we everywhere both embrace and teach it. And if you also read these words in a hostile spirit, ye can do no more, as I said before, than kill us; which indeed does no harm to us, but to you and all who unjustly hate us, and do not repent, brings eternal punishment by fire. [Justin Apology 1.45]
My guess is that the original gospel used by Justin, Tatian and Aphrahat went something like this:
And Jesus said to them 'I am with you till the world shall end. For Christ sits at the right hand of His Father, and Christ dwells among men.' And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the accompanying signs.
Compare Justin's connection of the reference to Christ sitting at the right hand and Psalm 110 and Irenaeus' with regards to his long ending of Mark:
Also, towards the conclusion of his Gospel, Mark says: "So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God;" confirming what had been spoken by the prophet: "The LORD said to my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool." Thus God and the Father are truly one and the same; He who was announced by the prophets, and handed down by the true Gospel; whom we Christians worship and love with the whole heart, as the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things therein. [Irenaeus AH III.10.5]
I think Irenaeus' text is a 'correction' of the original gospel which in our terms 'blends' Matt 28.20 and Mark 16.19 - 20 but in reality which Irenaeus divided into two different endings. But then again, that's just me ...
The discerning reader however will notice something about Aphrahat's ending. It is essentially a recapitulation of the conclusion of the introduction of the gospel which Augustine paraphrases:
You have shown men the way of humility in that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men. [Confessions VII.11]
Come on people is there a better proof that Aphrahat's ending MUST have been the original conclusion of the gospel? Don't you see, the original author developed an imprint of the ending at the very beginning. Look again:
And the Word became flesh, and took up his abode among us; and we saw his glory as the glory of the only Son from the Father, which is full of grace and equity and of his fulness received we all grace for grace.
This is the exact scenario which emerges at our reconstruction of the ending of the gospel:
And Jesus said to them 'I am with you till the world shall end. For Christ sits at the right hand of His Father, and Christ dwells among men.' And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the accompanying signs.
I'm telling you guys this is the first time we have ever caught a glimpse of what the original evangelist laid down in his gospel. The reason no one else saw it before is because they were too busy thinking in terms of 'Matthew,' 'Mark,' 'Luke' and 'John.'
In short falling into the very trap that Irenaeus set up for us in the very beginning ...
If you are interested in reading how this observation fits within my greater understanding of the workings of Secret Mark WITHIN the contemporary Alexandrian Church please go here
If you want to read more about how Alexandrian Christianity was rooted in the Jewish traditions of Alexandria, Philo of Alexandria and more feel free to purchase my new book here
