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| PentecostalTheology.com
Papias was a church father from 60-130 AD. It is often said that he represents an authentic chain of tradition back to the original apostles as he has connections to either John, or elders related to the apostles.
As such, Papias often becomes a key figure when utilising arguments for the gospels as he affirms Mark as the traditional gospel author (with a Petrine background) and Matthew and so forth.
However, he also makes a seemingly odd statement about what Jesus said about the end times and talking vines:
The Lord used to teach about those times and say: "The days will come when vines will grow, each having ten thousand shoots, and on each shoot ten thousand branches, and on each branch ten thousand twigs, and on each twig ten thousand clusters, and in each cluster ten thousand grapes, and each grape when crushed will yield twenty-five measures of wine. And when one of the saints takes hold of a cluster, another cluster will cry out, "I am better, take me, bless the Lord through me."
We find this odd saying nowhere by Jesus in the gospels and scholars believe it to be similar to 2 Baruch.
Even Eusebius expresses doubt towards Papias’ views of the millennium and Jesus’ authentic saying.
Therefore, does this odd statement from Papias lower his reliability on the gospel tradition given the lack of attestation and unusualness of this Jesus saying?
What implications does this bear for gospel authorship and Papias’ role in describing the textual tradition?
