Category: Thomas

I’ve named the last category of questions by the disciples in the Gospel of Thomas as ‘The Kingdom’. Again, these are just the questions.

What I think is important to consider about these questions is the disciples thought Jesus knew the answers. Unlike the questions that I grouped in the area titled ‘Blindness’, where the apostles wrestled with understanding who Jesus was, in these questions they understood who he was and believed that he knew of the ‘Kingdom’. If this is so, then it reinforces my assertion that the sequence in which the sayings of Jesus are presented in the Gospel of Thomas is not the sequence in which they occurred. (Else wise how could the questions that exist sayings 20 and 22 be asked by someone who later asked the questions in sayings 43 and 91.)

The Kingdom:

(18) Tell us how our end will be.

(20) Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like.

(22) Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?

(51) When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?

(113) When will the kingdom come?

Within the sayings of the Gospel of Thomas there were three sayings, containing six questions, that are ‘housekeeping’ in nature. By housekeeping I mean that they were either about how the disciples were to conduct themselves or what rituals were to be observed.

Again, because I’m less interested in the answers to the questions right now than I am in what these folk asked of Him, I’ll pass on providing His responses other than to opine on what I believe the meaning of His responses, at a high level, indicates: He provided no directions for forming or maintaining a ‘church’ or an organized following.

Keep in mind that the answers to the questions asked in Saying 6 are found in the first two sentences of Saying 14 (this is my take). Without a drum roll or further blathering, the questions were:

(6)  Do you want us to fast?  How shall we pray?  Shall we give alms?  What diet shall we observe?”

(12) We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?

(53) Is circumcision beneficial or not?

I took a little time yesterday to look at the questions that were asked of Jesus by his apostles in the Gospel of Thomas. Essentially I just looked at the questions that where asked of him and not any answer that was given. I quickly realized that the results could be pigeonholed into three categories. I think of them as: “Housekeeping” , “Blindness”, and “The Kingdom” .

I’m not sure what this little (and very quickly done) exercise tells us other than this was a pretty unimaginative and self centered group of folk.

To me, the most interesting question asked of him was not by an apostle, it was by Mary. It’s odd that the question she asked could not be neatly tucked into any of the three categories, it reads ” Whom are your disciples like?”

Anyway, here are the four questions that were asked that fall into the ‘Blindness’ category. I title it blindness because they could not see who was before them.

(24) Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it.
(37) When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?
(43) Who are you, that you should say these things to us?
(91) Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you.

As we read what Ron Cameron writes on the Gospel of Thomas, we need to remain cognizant that there are other works that are ascribed to Thomas.  Some of these works are dated to the third century, while the Gospel of Thomas is said (depending on who does the saying) either in middle of the first century (some few years after the death of Jesus) on the first part of the 2nd century.  Cameron says: 

The fact that Judas “the Twin” was the apostolic figure particularly revered in Syriac-speaking churches is important evidence for the date and place of composition of the text. For as Koester (in Layton 1989: 39) has shown, Gos. Thom.’s identification of this author as Jesus’ brother Judas does not presuppose a knowledge of the NT, but “rests upon an independent tradition.”

In addition, the peculiar, redundant name Didymus Judas Thomas seems to be attested only in the East, where the shadowy disciple named Thomas (Mark 3:18 par.; John 14:5) or Thomas Didymus (John 11:16; 20:24; 21:2) was identified with Judas in the Syriac NT and called Judas Thomas (John 14:22).

The occurrence of variants of this distinctive name in the Acts of Thomas is especially striking, not only because the latter evidently shows acquaintance with Gos. Thom. 2, 13, 22, and 52, but also because it is widely held that the Acts of Thomas was composed in Syriac in the early 3d century. Other documents that invoke the authority of Judas Thomas by name are also of Syriac origin, such as the Teaching of Addai,the Abgar legend (Eus. Histl. Eccl. 1.13.1-22), and the Book of Thomas the Contender (NHC II, 7).

Patterson:  If Thomas were dependent upon the synoptic gospels, it would be possible to detect in the case of every Thomas-synoptic parallel the same tradition-historical development behind both the Thomas version of the saying and one or more of the synoptic versions. That is, Thomas’ author/editor, in taking up the synoptic version, would have inherited all of the accumulated tradition-historical baggage owned by the synoptic text, and then added to it his or her own redactional twist. This is not the case. 

Rather than reflecting the same tradition-historical development that stands behind their synoptic counterparts, these Thomas sayings seem to be the product of a tradition-history which, though exhibiting the same tendencies operative within the synoptic tradition, is in its own specific details quite unique. This means, of course, that these sayings are not dependent upon their synoptic counterparts, but rather derive from a parallel and separate tradition.

Stephen J. Patterson:  While the cumulative nature of the sayings collection understandably makes the Gospel of Thomas difficult to date with precision, several factors weigh in favor of a date well before the end of the first century: the way in which Thomas appeals to the authority of particular prominent figures (Thomas, James) against the competing claims of others (Peter, Matthew); in genre, the sayings collection, which seems to have declined in importance after the emergence of the more biographical and dialogical forms near the end of the first century; and its primitive christology, which seems to presuppose a theological climate even more primitive than the later stages of the synoptic sayings gospel, Q.

Together these factors suggest a date for Thomas in the vicinity of 70-80 C.E. As for its provenance, while it is possible, even likely, that an early version of this collection associated with James circulated in the environs of Jerusalem, the Gospel of Thomas in more or less its present state comes from eastern Syria, where the popularity of the apostle Thomas (Judas Didymos Thomas) is well attested.

Blatz:  His disciples said to him: On what day will the rest of the dead come into being, and on what day will the new world come? He said to them: What you await has come, but you do not know it.

Layton:  His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come to pass, and when will the new world come?” He said to them, “That (repose) which you (plur.) are waiting for has come, but for your part you do not recognize it.”

Doresse:  His disciples said to him: “On what day shall rest come to those who are dead, and on what day shall the new world come?” He said to them: “This <rest> that you wait for has (already) come, and you have not recognised it.”

Three translations of this interesting saying:   

Blatz:  They said to him: Tell us who you are, that we may believe in you. He said to them: You test the face of the sky and of the earth, and him who is before you you have not known, and you do not know (how) to test this moment.

Layton: They said to him, “Tell us who you are, so that we might believe in you.” He said to them, “You (plur.) are testing the face of heaven and earth, and you have not recognized the one who is in your presence! And you do not recognize how to test the present time.”

Doresse: They said to him: “Tell us who thou art that we may believe in thee.” He said to them: “You examine the appearance of heaven and earth, but He who is in front of you you do not recognize, and this moment you know not how to examine!”

One of the great things about the Gospel of Thomas is that no body of man has had 2000 years to work it over, twist it, or weaponize it to support their view or to support their motives.  Everything within the Gospel of Thomas is compared to the canonical gospels, and beyond weighing the truthiness of Thomas, it also introduces an new introspection into the other gospels as well.   More on that later.  Stevan Davies has written extensively on The Gospel of Thomas, and one his observations strikes me as extremely important.  He says: 

John’s Gospel contrasts this world with another world from which Jesus comes (cf., e.g., 8:23; 17:13-19). Thomas is not dualistic in this sense. For Thomas there is no contrast between this world and another world; rather Thomas contrasts this world as apprehended properly with this world not apprehended properly. Thomas is replete with sayings contrasting the condition of people whodo and who do not apprehend the world through the primordial light of the beginning. Those who do are full; those who do not are empty (Gos. Thom. 28). Those who do are united and filled with light; those who do not are divided and in darkness (saying 61). Those who do are wealthy (sayings 85, 110); those who do not are in poverty (saying 3). Those who do drink from Jesus and become like Jesus (sayings 13, 108); those who do not are drunk and do not pay attention to Jesus (saying 28).

There is such great difference between the several translations of this verse, I thought it best to post 4 of them for your consideration. 

Lambdin:  Jesus said, “Among those born of women, from Adam until John the Baptist, there is no one so superior to John the Baptist that his eyes should not be lowered (before him). Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the kingdom and will become superior to John.”

Blatz: Jesus said: From Adam to John the Baptist there is among the children of women none higher than John the Baptist, for his eyes were not destroyed (?). But I have said: Whoever among you becomes small will know the kingdom and will be higher than John.

Layton: Jesus said, “From Adam unto John the Baptist there has been none among the offspring of women who has been more exalted than John the Baptist, so that such a person’s eyes might be broken. But I have said that whoever among you (plur.) becomes a little one will become acquainted with the kingdom, and will become more exalted than John.”

Doresse:  Jesus says: “From Adam to John the Baptist, among those who have been born of women, there is none greater than John the Baptist! But for fear that the eyes <of such a one> should be lost I have said: He who among you shall be the small<est> shall know the Kingdom and be higher than John!”

Jesus said, “The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

Jesus 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. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell 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?”

A few days ago I jotted down a my thoughts on the first few words of Saying 3 in the Gospel of Thomas and posted them on this site.  Since then, almost daily, I’ve ponder on the balance of the saying.   Here is what I came up with:  It’s deep!  The full saying is below:

(3) Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the 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 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.”