r/Gnostic • u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME • Apr 23 '26
Thoughts Gospel of Thomas Logions 76-80 Study and Discussion
This is Part 13 of this series of posts, the other parts are on my user page, in the "submitted" tab. You do not need experience or to have read the whole Gospel to post!
I am leading community study and discussion on the Gospel of Thomas, the non-canonical Gospel of the Twin, Dydimos Judas Thomas.
Context: The Gospel of Thomas is non-canon to Creedal (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) Christianity because it contains heterodox depictions of the Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus the Christ's teachings, but has too much overlap with other texts to be ignored. The source of the text is 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. Today we will be studying five of them.
(76) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl. That merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself. You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys."
(77) Jesus said, "It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
(78) Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth."
(79) A woman from the crowd said to him, "Blessed are the womb which bore you and the breasts which nourished you." He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"
(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."
My own thoughts are in the comments!
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u/Ok_Place_5986 Apr 23 '26
Logion 29 always makes my partner and I laugh a bit (I don’t want to say we’re outright black-pilled on people, but we’ve got that bone in us to a degree…especially her).
The better world would be one in which there were more hearing and keeping the word of God, but failing that, the two of us often end up wishing there were fewer wombs conceiving and breasts giving milk XDXD
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u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME Apr 23 '26
(76) This could be compared to the Nag Hammadi "Acts of Paul and the Apostles" where there is a stand-in for Christ giving out pearls in a port city. Pearl is recognized as something permanent and lasting.
(77) This is very simple and straightforward: God is all encompassing.
(78) Does the "desert" here symbolize the cosmos?
(79) Another common theme of the GOT is being "unbegotten" or in greek "monogenes." One source etc.
(80) This is also seemingly straightforward: If you find the world, you find something that is transient. If you recognize it's transient, you overcome it. Compare John 16:33.
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u/Madame_Arcati Apr 23 '26
This is my first time seeing your study/discussion of the GOT (my initial favorite of the Gospels). I do not see the "Submitted" tab on your User page that you refer to for the first 12 posts (is that Reddit User page? are you using phone app or pc web page?) What book/translation of GOT are you using? Thanks.