Gospel of Thomas reflexions 1-16Reflexions : 01-16 17-32 33-48 49-64 65-80 81-96 97-114 Context 1-2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Context for the Gospel of Thomas.Thomas went to India to preach the words and deeds of the Lord. First he started to preach that the Law and the Prophets were fulfilled in Christ. No one was interested, because they know nothing about the Law neither the Prophets. Secondly he tried to preach his own experience about Jesus death and resurrection. No one was interested, because every Hindi believed that the death is not permanent due to the reincarnation. So he started to teach that we are the children of God, that the Spirit took home in our poverty and that we became one in the Kingdom of the Father. (BTW a Jesuit, Robert de Nobili preached something like this in India in 1606, with great success, until his successors were stopped in 1744). Thomas died in India. Some of his disciples came back to the West and the Gospel of Thomas is the collection of their tradition. The similarities with the canonical Gospels can be easily explained if he accept the testimony of Papias, that Matthew wrote first the Oracles which was interpreted by all the others as they knew, so Thomas had the written copy of this lost Oracles (Q) before he left for India. The differences are explained as Thomas own tradition accommodated to the view of the Hindi people. No reason to suppose any other connection, or put the origin of the Gospel of Thomas to the 2nd Century or later. The Church fathers did not accepted it as Apostolic, because it is third hand testimony (Tomas disciples / collector). Still it is Jesus teaching applied to the Hindi environment by Apostle Thomas. Prolog and saying #1-#2These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded. 1. And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death." 2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]" This is as I read the text. The book is a free collection of the memories of a community. The Thomas Didimus as author means only that the community was based on the Thomas tradition. This tradition was apparent in the end of the 1st Century (John describes significant details about Thomas, Papias records the existence of written book of this tradition). The central theme of the collection is defined in #1, by the recording clerk of the community: We approach God and the true life trough knowledge. This is deeply Christian teaching, man/woman are created to the image of God, which is the knowledge and the free will. Some people are knowledge oriented, some are will oriented, the important thing is that the goal is God and the life through God. This is implied in the milieu of the whole book. The road to this life is bumpy, thorny: needs endurance, those who go through will be astonished, troubled, reign, rest. John of the Cross and St Theresa of Avila testify about the same road, this is common human experience. See biblical references at Prolog Saying #1 Saying #2 See concordance at hidden dead find seek Saying #3Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' 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 (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." Here is my reading based on the text of the Oxyrhyncus fragment. Explaining the characteristics of the knowledge the Gospel of Thomas gets to the point what is the object of the knowledge, and starts to talk about the Kingdom of the Father. The Kingdom is not Jupiter’s/Zeus’ kingdom above the clouds, neither Pluto’s/Hades’ Kingdom underground but it is within (inside/among) us and outside us: everywhere. Naturally not in the visible, experiential order but beyond that. The Kingdom is the Father’s Kingdom, and the subjects of the Kingdom are the Children of the Father (#4 will explain in more details what it means) Finally it addresses the problem what will happen of those who do not achieve the knowledge. They will be in the state of poverty and more they will be the poverty. This strangeness (persons as abstract noun) has to emphasize some secret meaning and the answer is IMHO #29: "I marvel at how this great wealth (the Spirit) has come to dwell in this poverty" and thus #54: "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.". Not only the knowledge, but the weakness too could get us to the Kingdom through the Spirit. See more biblical references at Saying #3 See concordance at children
Saying #4Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live. For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one." #3 explained that the true knowledge leads to the recognizing that we are the children of the Father, and this understanding takes us to the Kingdom of the Father. Also explains in context of the full text, that those who lack of this knowledge will be the poverty, and thus by the marvel that the Great Wealth found home in the poverty also will be blessed members of the Kingdom. #4 explains further what the children are in that Kingdom. The children apparently not in physical sense but related to their knowledge are seven days old: full of simplicity, easiness, they are innocent, dependent, unable to survive by their own, living on the love or mercy of their parents or caretakers. We are insufficient in our own, but sufficient through God, who reveals His power in our weakness. #4 also explains that such children will be the first in the Kingdom of the Father and ads the image, that in the ultimate stage of the Kingdom of Father every opposites will be united onto a single attribute. With this the main scenario of the Gospel of Thomas is set up: - one way to the Kingdom of the Father is the knowledge - in the Kingdom of the Father we are infants, insufficient in our own, but sufficient through God - ultimately the Kingdom of the Father will synthesize the opposites. Let me say it again: this is the same doctrine as that of the Canonical Gospels, just applied to the Hindi thoughts and understanding. See more biblical references at Saying #4 See concordance at live single Saying #5Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.] The knowledge brings the wise man to the Kingdom of the Father, where they shall understand that the 7 days old infants precede them in the temporary Kingdom, but there will be a synthesis/equalization in the eternal Kingdom. #5 tells us that regardless of this we had the obligation to seek the knowledge, so our presence in the present Kingdom depends on our works too. It also tells again that in the eternal Kingdom everything will be revealed. The author is using passive tense because the agent (the Father) is evident from the preceding sayings. The same idea as in 1 Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. The last sentence above (about the resurrection) is in the Greek fragment, but it is not in the Coptic text. See more biblical references at Saying #5 See concordance at hidden revealed Saying #6His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?" Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed." For first look it is a very confusing saying. The disciples, ask a straight question, Jesus in His answer talk about something different; and the ‘don’t do what you hate’ seems to be too self-oriented, licentious statement. By my own I got only so far, that the saying cannot be licentious, because #27: "If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the (Father's) kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath you will not see the Father." explicitly denies the licentiousness; and also that Jesus rejects the hypocrisy, basically repeating the last part of #5: everything will be disclosed. I had to look after others view, and http://www.geocities.com/Athens/9068/splith.htm is a good place (click on the number below Peter Kirby’s site). The first part, the question of the disciples probably belongs to #14, which (in full accordance with the NT) answers the question, declaring that the religious activities of the Judaism are superfluous, consequently not good. As for the ‘don't do what you hate’ there is a common agreement, that it is from Tob 4:15 "Do to no one what you yourself dislike". omitting the ‘to no one’. IMHO this omission is a logical consequence of Mk 12:31: "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself." Which is true in reverse way also: thou shall love yourself, and do not do for yourself what you are forbidden to do to your neighbor. (a frequent principle of the casuistic moral-theology of the Jeuits) See more biblical references at Saying #6 See concordance at fast Saying #7Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human." The human beings are the Christians, the members of the Kingdom of the Father, the lions are the enemies of the Christians. If an enemy becomes Christian, he or she will be full member of the community. If a Christian lapses, and associates with the enemies of the Christianity, he and his former faith still could make some good, and in long term there is hope, in long term the enemies will be transformed to Christian. When I was young this view was called the basic optimism. There was harsh communism around, many Christians were persecuted and quite a few lapsed. An old Jesuit said: Don’t worry, we are the fertilizer, we are rotting, but a new generation will grow up from that. Elaine Pagels asks the question: What would be happen, if the Gospel of Thomas would be part of the NT. Would it mean a different orthodoxy? Her answer if the Gnostic Gospels (1972) is yes, in the Beyond Belief (2003) is may be. My answer is no. See more biblical references at Saying #7 See concordance at eat Saying #8And he said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!" The parable is the combination of the hidden treasure, the pearl and dragnet parable (Matt 13:44-50). Both found only at Matthew, consecutive in the above order. The Kingdom of God worth more than anything else. In the Gospel of Thomas the pearl parable is found in #76, same meaning as Matthew, the treasure parable is in #109 in the meaning that the original owners foolishly gave it away, and the new buyer finds and uses it for his own advantage. The parable in #8 is different from Matthew. The selection is made at the sea, and the large fine fish is selected only. It resembles the ‘Old man and the Sea’ from Hemingway, without the basic pessimism of the 20th Century. The writer/collector of the Gospel of Thomas believed in the Kingdom of the Father. The ‘anyone here with two good ears had to be listen’ is a frequent warning either in the Gospel of Thomas (#8, #21, #24, #63, #65, #95) and in the canonical Gospels. See more biblical references at Saying #8 See concordance at chose listen Saying #9Jesus said, "Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure." Same parable as Matt 13:1-9 Mark 4:1-9 Luke 8:4-8. The seed is the word, the knowledge. The knowledge comes from the sower. The knowledge does not comes from the recipient, it comes from outside, form the sower, and it does not mean sufficiency in itself, it must be received appropriately to bring up fruits. One more interesting thing. In the real life the sower tries to sow the seed only into good soil. In the Kingdom of the Father the seed is abundant, it goes everywhere free. Does who do not receive can not blame God, they have to blame themselves, without work it is ineffective. In the other hand, w/o seed their life is futile. Neither the canonical Gospels nor the Gospel of Thomas gives answer who is the sower, may be God or just a teacher. From the 4 sources Mark and Matthew are almost identical, Luke and the Gospel of Thomas are different from that and each other. It is noteworthy also that the Synoptic Gospels at least are using the decimal system (hundredfold) the Gospel of Thomas as a proof for the oriental origin use the older 60 based system. See more biblical references at Saying #9 See concordance at seed Saying #10Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes." This is one of the rare places in the Gospel of Thomas, which has parallel only in Luke 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? The interesting difference is that in the Gospel of Thomas Jesus guards the fire, in Luke he just wills/desires it to be kindled. Also Luke adds, that the baptism is the fire, as John the Baptist predicted it in Luke 3:16 he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire According to the NT the Holy Spirit is the fire, in the Gospel of Thomas Jesus himself or His abode, the Kingdom of God This fire divides the members of the Kingdom from the word: #16: I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the son against the father. The parallel for #16 in Luke immediately follows the parallel of #10, and it is paralleled in Matthew too (Matt 10:34-35) with significantly different words. It is noteworthy the OT and NT is full with the concept of the unquenchable hellfire, which is missing from the Gospel of Thomas. The most probable reason is that in the Hinduism to which Thomas adopted Jesus teaching the belief of the reincarnation and the Wheel excludes this eternal fire, and Thomas wanted to adapt the positive ideas not the negatives. See more biblical references at Saying #10 See concordance at fire world Saying #11Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?" The first sentence may be part of #10, and is this case the fire is the Apocalyptic fire 2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? The heaven (same word as sky in e.g. #3 (where the birds live) but also means many places the Kingdom of heaven), and the one above will pass away. The canonical Gospels expand it Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. This sentence in the Gospel of Thomas seems to be based on the geocentric model of the world. The 'The dead are not alive, and the living will not die’ makes a distinction between those who are not saved and those who are saved. The first group is already dead, excluded from the Kingdom of God, the members of the second group will live forever in the Kingdom of the living Father. The third part seems to be a reference to the Wheel of the Hinduism. Things are coming out from Brahma, go down in 12 steps, then back to the unity with Brahma in 12 steps, then the process start again. The 'when you become two, what will you do’ may be the dilemma of the Buddhism, which seeks the way how to jump from the Wheel to the freedom. In the third part there is a jump from the future to the past. In the mentality of the Hinduism, this could refer to the view that the beginning and the end are the same. Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. The Lord incarnated into the word, and elevates it into His level, we are His image. See more biblical references at Saying #11 See concordance at dead living Saying #12The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?" Jesus said to them, "No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being." James in the Greek NT and in the Coptic is Jacob. (Frequent Jewish name from the patriarch. The KJV translated all Jacob in the NT to James, for the shake of the sponsor of the translation King James proving that money moves the scholars). In the NT there are 2 or 3 James-es.
The James here is James the Just, the second patriarch of Jerusalem, who wrote the letter of James, and who died in 62 AD when the Jews throw him down from the pinnacle of the temple, and because he survived they stoned him proving the agreement of the community. His brother Apostle Judas, who died at age 120, followed him as the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Acts and Paul mentions James repeatedly as the leader of the Church in Jerusalem, and Paul (Gal 1:19) identifies him as ‘brother of Jesus’. #12 perfectly fit to the supposition that after James the brother of John was executed in 42 AD and the Apostles chose James the Just as Patriarch of Jerusalem Thomas left to Parthia and India, so he remembered that situation. Thomas here makes testimony for the necessity of the commissioned universal authority (‘no matter where you are’). As for the 'for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.' I would like to read that 'ask James: for whose shake the world was created', or ‘James the brother of Jesus, for whose shake the word was created’ but the 'ask him' or 'brother of Jesus' is not in the text. The word to word meaning that the world was created for the shake of James makes no sense, and has no support at all by any other sayings or outside sources. The 'for whose shake heaven and earth came into being' means the same as #29: if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels. See more biblical references at Saying #12 See concordance at leader Saying #13Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I am like." Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just messenger." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended." And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up rocks and stone me, and fire will come from the rocks and devour you." Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The 'messenger' if close to the meaning of the Christ the 'Annoited one' for people who don’t have the Jewish traditions. Also the wise philosopher is resembles the Jewish concept of ‘rabbi’. Please note the mention of Matthew as a reference to his Oracles as a possible source for the Gospel of Thomas. The rest is the signature that the Gospel is connected to Thomas. His testimony is basically the same as the testimony of Peter in Matthew: you are the incomprehensible, you are God. The relationship (Son of God) will be explained in #15. And the same as in Jhn 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus answers that He is the fire, His teaching fills up and make intoxicated Thomas The unspeakable three things are not explained, but definitely powerful or provocative, if the Jewish mind would associate to the stoning. It definitely means, that the teaching is Jesus is entirely new blazing teaching, not a Judeo-Christian lukewarm ideology See more biblical references at Saying #13 See concordance at drunk fire Saying #14Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits. When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them. After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you." The first part of #14 is the direct answer to the question in #6: His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?" Jesus probably meant to avoid the hypocrite fasting, praying, giving, because #27 requires to fast from the world and to keep the Sabbath as Sabbath. (see Matt 6:1-8); or Jesus wants to avoid the fasting/praying/giving which intends to diminish the joy of the presence of the bridegroom, Jesus, as #104 indicates (see also the same Matt 9:14-15, Mark 2:18-20, Luke 5:33-35) This first part of the saying compared to Matthew is an example how the understanding of a new teaching changes from the obscure to the clear. The Gospel of Thomas gives the obscure answer, so the natural conclusion is that it was the first written before the present Matthew. Naturally the evil is present in our world, so there is a possibility that the clear teaching was intentionally obscured. The middle part is found almost word to word in Luke 10:7-9, and except for the ‘cure the sick’ (Matt 10:8) has no parallel at the other synoptic Gospels. It was not present in the Oracles of Matthew, for a Jew it seemed to impossible to eat anything without restriction (see Acts 10:11-16). The dietary admonition is explained in the last part of this #14. The message almost word to word is the same as Matt 15:11 or Mark 7:15. The denial of unnecessary dietary laws. Interestingly this is not in Luke, for the apparent reason that the Greeks had no dietary restrictions. See more biblical references at Saying #14 See concordance at fast Saying #15Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship. That one is your Father." #15 has no parallel neither in the NT nor in the Gnostic litterature. Most probably it is a reference to the Trinity, together with #30: Jesus said, "Where there are three deities, they are divine. Where there are two or one, I am with that one For this interpretation we had to understand that the Nag Hammadi Library is a Gnostic library, translated by Gnostics, and since they used the word God as Demiurge, the creator of the material world, they translated the references to God to Father (as the KJV translated Jacob to James) . Thus the meaning of #15 is: only one who did not born from women, the Son (eternally begotten of the Father) is your God. This message is similar as Matt 16:16 Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." but the emphasis is not of Jesus the real man, but on the Son of God, the second divine person. The docetism taught that Jesus Christ had no body (because the body and the matter in general is the evil) consequently Jesus’ body was just imagination, He did not born of women, wasn’t real human being and did not died, because only body could die; he came to free us from the bondage of the body. This belief came from outside of the Church, flourished in the Manicheism, influenced Mohamed, and was revived by the Albigens and Cathars. Some Gnostics were docetist also, some were not This docetist interpretation of #15 is possibile, but not necessary. Similar teaching is in #29: But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. #80: Jesus said, "He who has recognized the world has found the body, but he who has found the body is superior to the world." indicates that Jesus found body. See more biblical references at Saying #15 Saying 16Jesus said, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone The first part is closer to Matt 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. then to Luke 12:51 Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. The fire and war means the same as the sword: destruction of the unity, division, as in Babel, which was the end of the Noah-ite covenant, so Jesus brought the end of the covenant with Israel. For the second part Luke is closer Luke 12:52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; The last sentence part : 'they will stand alone' is unique for Thomas. It means someone who lives outside of the marriage. The former relationships are broken. This part is parallel to: #55: Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be worthy of me." and also parallel to Matt 10:37-38 and Luke 14:25-27 Interestingly the two other passages using the same word as 'stand alone' in #16, prize this unmarried status #49: Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who are alone and chosen, for you will find the kingdom. #75: Jesus said, "There are many standing at the door, but those who are alone will enter the bridal suite." During persecution the unmarried status is better. See more biblical references at Saying #16 See concordance at world Reflexions : 01-16 17-32 33-48 49-64 65-80 81-96 97-114 T.A.D.M.N |