There is a good read by Melissa Harl Sellew floating around and I thought it informative for a couple of reasons: because it provides insight into the differences between Thomas and the Synoptic Gospels and because it demonstrates a different approach to understanding those differences. Her words in the ‘Abstract’ (introduction) provide a tidy description of this, her approach.
“This article moves away from questions of dependence or autonomy to show that comparison of the texts’ style and content is fruitful for understanding both Thomas and the Synoptic Gospels. When we read the Synoptics against Thomas, some of the central characteristics of Mark, Matthew, and Luke stand out in higher relief. Differences in theology, narrative structures, genre, and approaches to community formation combine to confirm that early gospel writers had a variety of choices about their modes of representation of the meaning(s) of Jesus. As part of its pattern of distance from Judaism, Thomas shows that it was possible to present Jesus as somehow removed from the thought world of Scripture, even as a source of revelatory or prophetic information.”
Here (below) is a teaser from the article that, when well considered, gives good cause for pause and contemplation.
“The Jesus of Thomas, in great contrast, though he speaks proverbs, macarisms, and parables alike to those of his Synoptic counterpart, nonetheless performs no deeds of power, encounters no opposition from either Jewish or Roman leaders, makes no threats or warnings of imminent divine judgment or eschatological crisis. Only by foreknowledge of the New Testament Gospels (or for argument’s sake, the Gospel of Peter) would a reader of Thomas realize that Jesus was to meet a gruesome death at the hands of the Romans, framed as a divinely required sacrifice to redeem the world of sin, and yet was somehow able to transcend death through resurrection. In other words, the “Jesus Christ crucified, and him alone” preached by Paul (1 Cor 2:2) is not the subject of the Gospel of Thomas.“
In contemplation, if you decide to go there, there’s a lot more to unpack than you might first think.