Analysis of the Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas was written before the year 200 and is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus. The author is believed to be Judas who is Jesus’ younger brother. The riddles presented in this text are portrayed as having some divine power for “whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death” (1). One saying is followed by another saying without a narrative component. The parables do not predict any upcoming cosmic event such as the future coming of the Son of Man (Koester, intro. 125). Despite that, the Gospel of Thomas greatly resembles the hypothetical Q source. Some parables contained in this text parallel those found in the Synoptic Gospels. The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the sower are two such parallels. Also, the Gospel of Thomas concentrates more on the power and divinity behind Jesus rather than on the characteristics of Jesus. Jesus seems to talk to his disciples in the voice of heavenly Wisdom (Koester, INT 153). Thus, the important issue of this gospel is the knowledge and wisdom of the sayings.
Contained in the Gospel of Thomas are many parables and sayings that parallel those found in the Synoptic Gospels. This begs the question if the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas were using the same source. It is probable that these gospels were using Q. The Q document is a collection of Jesus’ sayings that are thought to have been assembled between about 50 and 70 (Harris, UTB 359). If the gospels used the Q document, this explains the parallelism. One such parallel is the parable of the mustard seed. When describing the kingdom of heaven in The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, “It is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky” (20). Similarly, in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus also compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32, Matthew 13:31-32, and Luke 13:18-19). This is only one such example in a plethora of parallels.
Another important factor worthy of mention is the fact that the Gospel of Thomas appears to be a gnostic text. According to Ron Cameron, a majority of scholars have concluded that the Gospel of Thomas is a gnostic gospel, though it cannot be assigned to a particular school, it surely seems to be gnostic (ABD 539). Though it could be debated that this text is more mystical than gnostic, it seems to have a gnostic undertones. This is especially evident when Jesus says, “There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness” (24). This could be a reference to the gnostic belief in emanations and the parent of the pleroma from whom all the emanations of light originate. In another instance, Jesus says, “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 itself and became manifest in their image” (50). Again, the gnostic myth of the realm of light could be applied to this statement; thus, this enhances the probability that this text is gnostic.
The sayings are meant to be a secret set of sayings to be revealed to certain people. According to Helmut Koester, “The message of the Gospel of Thomas is fundamentally esoteric and is directed to a limited group of elect people” (Koester, INT 153). Consequently, the concept of secret sayings could be attributed to gnosticism since the gnostics consider themselves to be the chosen ones. The phrase “whoever has ears to hear, let him hear” is repeated several times throughout the text. This indicates a belief that only a select few will have the ability to comprehend the parables since they are the ones who have the ears to hear. The sayings were thought to bring a secret wisdom to those who deciphered the meanings. Thus, the sayings are of the voice of divine Wisdom. Jesus proclaims the presence of divine wisdom as the true destiny of human existence (Koester, INT 153).
The authorship of this text is attributed to Didymus Judas Thomas. A closer analysis of this name shows that the middle name of Judas is the actual person who is believed to have recorded the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas-he is also the founder of the churches in the East. Judas was the younger brother of Jesus who apparently looked very much like Jesus himself. This caused him to be called Jesus’ twin. In fact, Didymus is the Greek word for twin. Likewise, Thomas is the word for twin in Jesus’ native language of Aramaic. “Judas is thus the original, given name of the pseudepigraphic author of the collection” (ABD 535). Thus, Didymus and Thomas are simply titles for Judas that reflect his relationship to Jesus thus giving him divine authority.
Bibliography
Cameron, Ron. “Gospel of Thomas”. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. New York: Doubleday Press, 1992. pp 535-540.
Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000.
The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1989.
Koester, Helmut. Introduction to the New Testament. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982, pp 152-154.
