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SUBJECT: Gospel of Thomas
QUESTION: What is your read on the Gospel of Thomas?
ANSWER:
APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS
1. The Gospel of Thomas: 2. The Gospels of the Childhood:
(a) Next to the Protevangelium the oldest and the most
widely spread of the apocryphal gospels is the Gospel of
Thomas. It is mentioned by Origen and Irenaeus and seems to
have been used by a Gnostic sect of the Nachashenes in the
middle of the 2nd century. It was docetic as regards the
miracles recorded in it and on this account was also
acceptable to the Manichees. The author was one of the
Marcosians referred to by Irenaeus. Great variations exist
in the text, of which there are only late catholic recasts,
two in Greek, one in Latin and one in Syriac One of the
Greek versions is considerably longer than the other, while
the Latin is somewhat larger than either. They are very
largely concerned with a record of miracles wrought by Jesus
before He was 12 years of age. They depict Jesus as an
extraordinary but by no means a lovable child.
Unlike the miracles of the canonical Gospels those recorded
in this gospel are mainly of a destructive nature and are
whimsical and puerile in character. It rather shocks one to
read them as recorded of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
wonder-worker is described by Renan as "un gamin omnipotent
et omniscient," wielding the power of the Godhead with a
child's waywardness and petulance. Instead of being subject
to His parents He is a serious trouble to them; and instead
of growing in wisdom He is represented as forward and eager
to teach. His instructors, and to be omniscient from the
beginning. The parents of one of the children whose death He
had caused entreat Joseph, "Take away that Jesus of thine
from this place for he cannot dwell with us in this town; or
at least teach him to bless and not to curse." Three or four
miracles of a beneficent nature are mentioned; and in the
Latin gospel when Jesus was in Egypt and in his third year,
it is written (chapter 1), "And seeing boys playing he began
to play with them, and he took a dried fish and put it into
a basin and ordered it to move about. And it began to move
about. And he said again to the fish: 'Throw out the salt
which thou hast, and walk into the water.' And it so came to
pass, and the neighbors seeing what had been done, told it
to the widowed woman in whose house Mary his mother lived.
And as soon as she heard it she thrust them out of her house
with great haste."
As Westcott points out in his Intro to the Study of the
Gospels, 444, "In the apocryphal miracles we find no worthy
conception of the laws of providential interference; they
are wrought to supply present wants or to gratify present
feelings, and often are positively immoral; they are
arbitrary displays of power, and without any spontaneity on
our Lord's part or on that of the recipient." Possibly the
compilers of the 1 st-century narratives above mentioned had
in many cases deemed it expedient to make the miraculous an
essential-even a too prominent-part of their story; and this
may be the reason why John in the opening of the Fourth
Gospel declared all the reported miracles of the Childhood
to be unauthorized by the statement that the first miracle
was that performed, after the beginning of the public
ministry, at the marriage at Cana of Galilee. "This
beginning of his signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him"
(John 2:11). ~from International Standard Bible
Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by
Biblesoft
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APOCRYPHA
The last group of New Testament apocryphal writings consists
of APOCALYPTIC books. The New Testament Book of Revelation
inspired the early Christians to write their own books that
were similar in content and style. Probably the most popular
of the apocryphal apocalypses are the Apocalypse of Peter,
the Apocalypse of Paul, and the Apocalypse of Thomas. These
apocalypses give Bible scholars a clear picture of the early
Christian's view of heaven and hell, since they emphasize
the state of sinners after death.
While these apocryphal New Testament books are interesting
and informative, none are considered authoritative like the
books of the New Testament. For various reasons, these books
were judged unworthy and were not accepted as authoritative
when the New Testament took its final form in the third
century A.D. Thus, God has worked throughout history not
only to inspire the Bible but also to preserve its
authenticity and integrity so it can serve as a standard and
guide for all believers.
~from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright
(c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers |