Board index ‹ Assorted Bible Questions

[Mythios]

I’ve been studying Biblical Apocrypha recently and the Gospel Of Thomas really interested me, both in its writing style and the content present. I’m not sure how/if it fits in with biblical canon or whether it was even written by someone who believed its contents.

So I’m asking this group their thoughts on it; genuine or forgery? Canon compatible or not? Are it’s teachings valid regardless?

[jimwalton]

It's an anonymous writing from 2nd-century Gnosticism. The Gnostics claimed to be recipients of revelation from God that has been passed on secretly among a group of elite initiates. Their writings lack authenticity because they contain bizarre narratives about Jesus's boyhood miracles and are full of heterodox teachings (such as the god of the Old Testament being the evil god of this world as differentiated from Jesus, the good god). The Gnostics teach about evil powers who with to keep humans trapped in their bodies, which are perceived as evil), but there are certain select group of enlightened people who will see salvation because of their knowledge. It's all contrary to the Bible, and so it doesn't fit in with the biblical canon at all. These legends and distortions give us no reason to trust them. Gnosticism is often seen as a heretical offshoot of Christianity that was highly refuted by those who knew real Christianity.

Most of what we know about many of these writings come from the Church Fathers polemicizing against them. The church leaders almost unanimously rejected them. (I say almost unanimously because some church leaders, one in particular, became apostate and promoted them.

The Gospel of Thomas is claimed to have been written by Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, but scholars reject the attribution. It was written in the 2nd century. Though it has some sayings and a parable similar to sayings of Jesus in the Bible, most of what is has doesn't agree with the New Testament. It claims that Jesus's death on the cross didn't save anybody, but instead salvation can be found in the secret sayings of Jesus. Hippolytus, Cyril, and Origen all called it heresy. Eusebius labelled it as absurd and heretical fiction.

> genuine or forgery?

It was genuinely written by a Gnostic, but not by Thomas, and so a forgery from that vantage point.

> Canon compatible or not?

Not canon-compatible. There is too much in it that contradicts the New Testament.

> Are it’s teachings valid regardless?

No. We read it with interest but grant it no authority.