A Brief Glance At The Apocryphal Gospel Of Thomas

by Joel Hendon⁽¹⁷¹⁾ Red Star

There are many writings of the era of the New Testament letters and some are called "New Testament Apocrypha" which means "of doubtful or unknown origin". And after study by many of the best scholars they have been deemed to be uninspired and not worthy of inclusion in the New Testament canon. One such is the Gospel of Thomas. It's introductory heading is; "These are the secret sayings spoken by Jesus and transcribed by Didymos ("the twin") Judas Thomas"

This writing contains one hundred and thirteen verses and/or paragraphs. We will list a few and discuss them briefly. Several of them appear to be taken from the writings of some of the apostles as a direct quote or a similar statement.

1. And he said, "The one who finds the interpretation of these sayings shall not taste death." (Compare this with John 8:52: "Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.")

2. Jesus said, "Let the one who seeks not stop seeking until he finds; and when he finds, he will be agitated. When he is agitated he will be amazed, and he will rule over everything." (This may have been a take-off of Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.")

9. Jesus said, "Behold, a sower went out, took a handful [of seeds], and scattered. Some fell on the path, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they did not root in the soil, and they did not produce heads of grain. Others fell among thorns, and they choked the seeds, and worms devoured them. And others fell on good soil, and it brought forth a good crop, yielding sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure." (A definite take of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:3-9, and Luke 8:5-8. Matthew's account follows: "And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty fold.")

It is believed that this writing is from the period of around 150-200 AD, and probably written by a man whose name was actually Thomas but of course, certainly not the Thomas of the New Testament. There are also several translations to the English language. You may access all of these with an explanation of the letter, where found, etc., at; http://www.ntcanon.org/Gospel_of_Thomas.shtml

This location also lists a translation of the Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent) "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas", which is an entirely different and obviously erroneous writing.

Webgazine Columnist.

Article submitted Thursday, April 09, 2009 & read 18 times.

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