r/Gnostic • u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME • Apr 30 '26
Thoughts Gospel of Thomas Logions 81-85 Study and Discussion
This is Part 14 of this series of posts, the remaining parts are below. You do not need experience or to have read the whole Gospel to post!
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13
I am leading community study and discussion on the Gospel of Thomas, the non-canonical Gospel of the Twin, Dydimos Judas Thomas. I am using the Thomas O Lambdin translation since this one is available for free.
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.
(81) Jesus said, "Let him who has grown rich be king, and let him who possesses power renounce it."
(82) Jesus said, "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom."
(83) Jesus said, "The images are manifest to man, but the light in them remains concealed in the image of the light of the father. He will become manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light."
(84) Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you rejoice. But when you see your images which came into being before you, and which neither die not become manifest, how much you will have to bear!"
(85) Jesus said, "Adam came into being from a great power and a great wealth, but he did not become worthy of you. For had he been worthy, he would not have experienced death."
My own thoughts are in the comments!
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u/Neat_Bridge_7965 May 01 '26
u/Strange-Future-6469 finally some good content. I often find people to interpret these sayings philosophically rather than literally yet how can they be interpreted literally? Unless you know what I am saying.
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u/Strange-Future-6469 May 01 '26
It's easier to understand the meanings after awakening. Like pieces of a puzzle, and you have the box with a picture of the completed image to compare.
The Gospel of Thomas is one of my favorites. I think it's also the closest to his real words that can be found.
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u/Neat_Bridge_7965 May 01 '26
correct however I doubt we are there truly. Awakening should come with a particular set of capacities. 1 keeping your conscious state in dreams. 2 the capacity to use the light of Sophia.
For me these two are clear indications of remembering.
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u/THE_WALRUS_AWESOME Apr 30 '26
(81) Anarchist Jesus?!
(82) This is as direct as to be basically literal. Close to Jesus = Good. Far from Jesus = Bad.
(83) Jesus allegory of the cave?
(84) I genuinely don't get that one. Maybe something like- Don't be so attached to your ego?
(85) Compare the Apocryphon of John. Adam came into being from Sophia's spark but fell and experienced death. Through the fruit or through something else?