Introduction to The Gospel of Thomas
Today we will look at the Gospel of Thomas. It is not in the
Christian canon for some reasons. the Gospel of Thomas becomles very famous
though in the last part of the 20th century because it was
rediscovered, published and created some sentations. According to the Gospel of
Thomas, Jesus has a twin brother: Dydimos Judas (or Jude) Thomas. Dydimos
is a Greek word for twin and it is also used for “testicles”. In the semitic
language, “thomas” seemingly means “twin”. So the name of Jesus’ twin brother
is Judas or Juda or Jude and Dydimos and Thomas is his nickname. There is a trend
of Christianity called Thomasine, popular especially in Syria and in the East
which traced their existence back to Thomas. There was an apostle Thomas among
the twelve apostles of Jesus who has a nickname “twin”. Traditional orthodox
Christians do not believe he is Jesus’ twin brother, but in Thomasine christianity he is connected to Jesus Himself as Jesus’ twin.
According to some forms of eastern christianity, therefore,
espeacially early forms in Syria, Mesopotamia and India, Thomas was the apostle
who brought the Gospel to India the first time. Some modern indian christians
still traced their church back to the apostle Thomas. There are all kinds of
Thomas literature from the ancient world, besides the Gospel of Thomas we know
the “Infancy Gospel of Thomas” which tells the story of Jesus when he was a
little child; “acts of Thomas”; “the hymn of Jude Thomas the apostle in the
country of the indians”. The all appeared in the second century, and they did
not make it into the Bible.
Before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices (Nag Hammadi
is a name of a village in modern Egypt), in 1945 egyptian peasants found
thirteen large books (codices). They have been buried there, probably, sometime
in the 4th century and have been hidden there, because that is the
time when certain form of christianity were being outlawed and declared
heretical. We call these the Nag Hammadi Library (or Nag Hammadi Corpus or nag
Hammadi Texts) because the modern village where they were found is called Nag
Hammadi. Before this discovery, there was a Gospel of Thomas and we have three
papyrus fragments in Greek version that has part of the Gospel of Thomas. The
Nag Hammadi discovery is very exciting because it greatly increased our
knowledge of some forms of christianity that the only thing we have known about
them by orthodox writers condemning it. When an orthodox condemns another form
of christianity; we cannot necessarily trust what they say. Orthodox writer,
for example, claim that gnostics had wild sex orgies, they drink blood and had
cannibalism. Regular christians were accused by their ennemies by doing precisely
the same thing. So, we do not believe every thing. Whzt we have in the Nag Hammady
texts is a first hand text from these people who understood christianity differently
from what can be orthodox christianity.
The modern study of gnosticism have been revolutionized by
this study because it brought to light a complete version of the Gospel of
Thomas in coptic language. It also brought to light all the other texts written
by different people. The text in the Nag Hammadi codices were written around
350 AD. Most of these texts were written in the second century and scholars say
the Gospel of Thomas was written before 200 AD. Some scholars say the Gospel of
Thomas was written in the first century and even as early as Mark or Q or even
earlier. Most scholars do not believe that. Most of the scholars believe the
Gospel was written in Greek in the frst half of the second century between 100
and 150 AD. But we do not know, it is a complete guess. Some of the sayings in
the Gospel of Thomas looks older, i.e., older versions of the sayings of Jesus
(parable). But it is very debattable. That is the reason why people use the
Gospel of Thomas when researching on the historical Jesus.
There are 114 sayings (logia) in the Gospel of Thomas. They are
introduced by: “these are the obscure or the hidden sayings that the living
Jesus ordered that Dydimus Jude Thomas wrote down”. There is no passion narrative;
there is description of the death of Jesus, there is no resurrection and mot
people think that Jesus speaks as if He is already been resurrected. People think
it is the post resurrected Jesus or even before his death Jesus talked this
way.
Some Sayings from the Gospel of Thomas
Comparison with the Gospel
Logion 9, the parable of the sower:
Jesus said: “Now the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered them. Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. Others fell on rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. And others fell on the good soil and it produced good fruit: it bore sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure.”
As we see it looks very similar to what we have in the
canonical Gospel. This why some people say it is more primitive.
Logion 8:
And he said, “ The man is like a wise fisherman 30 who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw 35 all the small fish 34 back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears 1 to hear, let him hear.”[2]
Again, it is very similar to what we find in the canonical
Gospel.
But when we read logion 48:
Jesus said, “ If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, ‘Move away,’ and it will move away.”[3]
It sounds similar to Matthew
21:21// Mark 11:23 but with some difference:
Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done” (Matt. 21:21 NRSV).
Here in the Gospel of Thomas it is the peace making that gives
the power to overthrow the mountain, while in the canonical Gospel it is faith
that is able to give that power.
Logion 86 reads:
Jesus said, “ [The foxes have their holes] and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest.”[4]
We immediately notice that it sounds very similar to Luke
9:58:
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Lk. 9:58 NRSV).
And then logion 113 reads:
His disciples said to him, “When will the kingdom come?” <Jesus said,> “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is’. Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”
This is another example of saying that looks very much like
of what we have in the Bible, see for example, Luke 17:20, 21:
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” (Lk. 17:22–21 NRSV)
Now let us look at some peculiarities of the Gospel of Thomas.
For example, logion 13:
Jesus said to his disciples, “Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a righteous angel.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him, “Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your (sg.) master. Because you (sg.) have drunk, you (sg.) have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.” And he took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.”[5]
Also logion 29 reads:
Jesus said, “If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth 1 has made its home in this poverty.”[6]
And then the last sayings:
Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”[7]
Look also logion 24:
His disciples said to him, “Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it.” He said to them, “Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.”[8]
In logion 3 we have the notion of nowledge inh the sense “acquaintance”:
Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ 1 then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”[9]
We have seen “dualism” in the Gospel of Thomas: poor and
rich, men and women, light and darkness. Which are familiar to Bible readers. But
some of the sayings are just inscrutable. Look, for example, logion 7:
Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.”[10]
And also logion 15:
Jesus said, “When you see one who was not born of woman, prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is your father.”[11]
The logion 97 reads:
Jesus said, “The kingdom of the [father] is like a certain woman who was carrying a [jar] full of meal. While she was walking [on the] road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her [on] the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty.”[12]
Then the strange description of the kingdom in logion 98:
Jesus said, “The kingdom of the father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. Then he slew the powerful man.”[13]
Another strange sayings
is found in logion 105:
Jesus said, “ He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot.”[14]
The Gospel of Thomas is
still causing debate among scholars. Some people say it is a gnostic gospel, some
say it is not. I hope these few examples will help you understand what the
Gospel of Thomas is. See you in then next article.
Bibliography
Lambdin, Thomas O. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. Edited by James M. Robinson.
San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990.
[1]
Thomas O. Lambdin, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (ed.
James M. Robinson; San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990), 127.
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Ibid., 131.
[4]
Ibid., 135.
[5]
Ibid., 127–128.
[6]
Ibid., 130.
[7]
Ibid., 138.
[8]
Ibid., 128.
[9]
Ibid., 126.
[10]
Ibid., 127.
[11]
Ibid., 128.
[12]
Ibid., 136.
[13]
Ibid.
[14]
Ibid., 137.