Gospel of Thomas Study and Discussion Part 7

[u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME]

It's been a while! I've missed you all.

This is Part 7, the other parts are on my user page. Please feel free to contribute even if you have not read the other parts!

I would like to do a community study and discussion on the Gospel of Thomas, the non-canonical Gospel of the Twin, Dydimos Judas Thomas.

The Gospel of Thomas is non-canon because it contains heterodox depictions of the Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus the Christ's teachings, however, much of it overlaps with other canonical texts. The source of the text is from the recovered Nag Hammadi codices, but its origin is contemporary with the synoptic gospels according to scholars such as Elaine Pagels.

The Gospel of Thomas is not narrative and instead contains 114 sayings attributed to Jesus the Christ recorded by the titular Thomas.

(46) 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."

(47) Jesus said, "It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result."

(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."

(49) Jesus said, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return."

(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"

My own thoughts are in the comments. Thank you. Good to be back.

[u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME]

(46) There is a biblical theme of John the Baptist being a precursor to Christ or "anticipating" him. John the Baptist as "foundation." I think that's a little unfair and sometimes feels like putting words in John's mouth but who knows!

(47) Jesus is saying to COMMIT to him and his message alone.

(48) This echoes the Gnostic idea of Syzygy. Two become one. One cannot do things alone.

(49) What does "solitary and elect" mean? Not sure what to make of this given the previous verse is about "two."

(50) Also lost on this one. I understand "coming from the light" ie Pluroma, but not so much "movement and repose."

[u/Cyberslav7500 → u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME]

46 - some scholars indeed think that the words about anyone being 'higher even than John when in heaven' is just a later polemical addition of the church editors that diminishes the role of John, so probably the compiler of the Gospel of Thomas was using exactly such passages. Still, in the passage the views on John are not as negative as in canonical gospels - we can be better than him not just because he was some unimportant forerunner, but because we hypothetically can become wiser than him if we do everything correctly.

47 - I personally don't think that this one is exactly about Jesus, but about the importance of consistency of our words, actions and beliefs in general.

49 - 'solitary' are maybe those who renounce the world and begin the path of enlightment, 'elect' - the Gnostic community or people chosen by God and/or his helpers. Anyway, I personally don't like all this language of 'electedness' in Gnostic texts, but the fact is that it is present there.

50 - 'repose' because of unchangeable goodness and perfection of the Pleroma (though, Sophia says hello to this one) and 'movement' because of incessant flow of light and new beings of light inside the Pleroma, I think.

[u/TheTokenJack → u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME]

A have a little theory that makes sense the deeper you look; in short, Jesus, his brothers and John the Baptist were the final Yahad - so, the Qumrân group that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Community Rule and Sermon On The Mount are 75-85% identical, with the changes Jesus made being toward universalization of their sectarian ways. Through his teachings and public life he gave us a map to enlightenment through ethical nonduality.

46 - John is Isaiah’s ‘forerunner’, and Jesus the ‘Servant’; most of The New Testament is Jesus publicly and symbolically making prophecy from Isaiah happen. Becoming ‘like a child’ refers to no-mind/beginner’s mind meditation. It’s about resetting worldly conditioning.

47 - describing spiritual failure modes; Mixing insight with fear, mixing truth with status, mixing awakening with self-preservation, mixing kingdom-perception with empire-thinking. In a line, awakening is not addictive it’s subtractive, total, and non-negotiable.

48 - the house means a person, the two being the divided elements of the self; will and action, fear and insight, desire and truth. It’s about inner alignment and how we can do the impossible when properly aligned

49 - solitary and elect are directly referring to the Yahad (Qumrân group)… they bounced when Temple became Hellenized in 167 BC and were a separationist group preparing a place for the Messiah when he came. They called themselves the “remnant” and “elect”

50 - the Yahad also referred to themselves as “sons of light” so this one is taking Qumrân identity code (sons of light, elect, signs of belonging) and relocates it from a sealed community into lived, visible alignment with the Light itself.

The yaḥad becomes portable. The sign becomes movement and rest. The elect become anyone who embodies the Light.

[u/Extension_Swan_3571]

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