False Gospels

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False Gospels

• The Famous
• The Gospel of Thomas

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The Gospel Itself
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1. What is the Gospel?

• There are no narratives
• The gospel consists of 114 sayings of Jesus
• The gospel was found, with many other ancient
  documents in the Nag Hammadi library by a man
  named Mohammad Ali
• The gospel is written in Coptic, though many
  scholars believe that it was originally in Greek.

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Nag Hammadi Materials
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2. Who Wrote the Gospel?

• in the first verse, the author calls himself
  Didymus Judas Thomas. Who was this person?
• The word didymus means twin in Greek the word
  Thomas means twin in Aramaic. The persons name
  was Jude.
• Jesus had a brother named Jude and Some Syriac
  preserve an idea that Jesus had a twin.

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3. Other Questions

• When was Thomas written?
• Did Thomas make use of the Synoptic gospels or
  vice versa?
• Do any of these sayings actually go back to
  Jesus?
• Does the gospel have Gnostic pre-understanding?

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Short Excurses on Gnosticism

• Gnosticism was a cult that originated in the 200
  A. D.
• It had a great deal to say about secret
  knowledge and mysteries.
• There was, at least in some strains of
  Gnosticism, a devaluation of the body.
• Thus the spirit is saved, the body is worthless.

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4. Opening Sayings from Thomas

• These are the secret sayings which the living
  Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas
  wrote down.
• (1) And he said, Whoever finds the
  interpretation of these sayings will not
  experience death.
• (2) Jesus said, 15 Let him who seeks continue
  seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will
  become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he
  will be astonished, and he will rule over the
  all.

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What Do the Sayings Teach?

• The sayings are said to be secret.
• The key to eternal life is in correctly
  interpreting them.
• Contrast the NT where in the Gospels and in Paul
  the death and resurrection are the keys for
  eternal life.

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5. Sayings that are Like the NT

• Thomas 20- The disciples said to Jesus, Tell us
  what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said
  to them, it is like a mustard seed. It is the
  smallest of 30 all seeds. But when it falls on
  tilled soil, it produces a great plant and
  becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.
• Mark 430-31 Mark 431-32 31 "It is like a
  mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil,
  though it is smaller than all the seeds that are
  upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows
  up and becomes larger than all the garden plants
  and forms large branches so that THE BIRDS OF
  THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE."

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Sayings

• Thomas 26 - Jesus said, You (sg.) see the mote
  in your brothers eye, but you do not see the
  beam in your own eye. When 15 you cast the beam
  out of your own eye, then you will see clearly
  to cast the mote from your brothers eye.
• Matt. 73-5 Matthew 73-4 3 "Why do you look at
  the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do
  not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4
  "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take
  the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log
  is in your own eye?

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Sayings

• Thomas (34) Jesus said, If a blind man leads a
  blind man, they will both fall 20 into a pit.
• Matthew 1514 14 "Let them alone they are blind
  guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a
  blind man, both will fall into a pit."

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When was the Gospel Written?

• Some scholars argue for a date in the 50s or
  early 60s thus making Thomas the earliest
  gospel.
• Many scholars today will date the book at around
  150-200
• The reasons for this late date are Thomass
  familiarity with the Synoptics Thomas seeming
  knowledge of other NT writings and Thomas
  Gnosticism

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6. The Use of Thomas Today

• Is it possible that Thomas contains genuine
  sayings of Jesus that do not appear in the NT?
• If so, what should the Christian do with these
  sayings?

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7. Thomas Gnosticism

• Saying one seems to clearly foreshadow the
  Gnostic character of the book.
• It is secret
• They bring eternal life to those who understand
  them.
• Thus salvation is not through the redeeming death
  of Christ, but through the secret knowledge.

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Gnosticism

• Thomas 3b But if you will not know yourselves,
  you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that
  poverty.
• This seems to tell us that we are spiritual
  beings trapped in an impoverished body.
• This entrapment is shown in several ways
• One who is drunk
• One who is draped with unneeded clothes.

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Gnosticism

• Bodies are Evil- Thomas 36 His disciples said,
  When will you become revealed to us and when
  shall we see you?
• Jesus said, When 30 you disrobe without being
  ashamed and take up your garments and place
  them under your feet like little children and
  tread on them, then will you see 40 the son of
  the living one, and you will not be afraid.

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Gnosticism

• Material world with the body is evil- (29) Jesus
  said, If the flesh came into being because of
  spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into
  being because of the body, it is a wonder of
  wonders. Indeed, I am amazed 39 at how this great
  wealth has made its home in this poverty.

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Gnosticism

• Salvation is becoming one with the divine entity
  from which you have been divided.
• This comes not to everyone- Thomas 23 Jesus said,
  I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and
  two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand
  as a single one.
• Thomas 114- Simon Peter said to them, Let Mary
  leave us, 20 for women are not worthy of life.
• Jesus said, I myself shall lead her in order
  to make her male, so that she too may become a
  living spirit resembling you males. For every
  woman who will make herself 25 male will enter
  the kingdom of heaven.

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8. Final Analysis

• Thomas is late for a New Testament Document.
  (A.D. 150-200 at the earliest)
• Thomas is Gnostic rather than mainstream
  Christian.
• Thomas was likely originally written in Syriac
  (see N. Perrins recent work).
• For more work see C. Evans Fabricating Jesus
  (IVP, 2006)