Of all the texts discovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945, the Gospel of Thomas is undoubtedly among the most accessible and well-known.  Scholars now feel there's good reason to believe this compilation of Jesus' "wisdom sayings" dates back as far as the New Testament gospels. The book feels familiar in many ways because several of the sayings have parallels in the New Testament, but the direction taken by the Gospel of Thomas is decidedly different.

The way the book is formatted tells us a great deal.  Thomas is strictly a collection of wisdom sayings, parables and stories with almost no narrative information. In this sense, Thomas is very similar to the lost Sayings Gospel of Q that much of Matthew and Luke are based on. Scholars feel that these "sayings gospels" are probably the original style of writing that circulated among early Christians.  Why is that important?

The New Testament gospels are written in a persuasive narrative style that was designed to focus on the person of Jesus and convince readers that they should believe in him as a messiah and savior. The narrative style also directs the reader' attention and tells them what conclusions they should come. On the other hand, the series of sayings presented in Thomas are interactive; they require the reader to tease out their own meaning. The difference between sayings gospels and narrative styles signals a significant shift in focus from the message to the messenger.

Instead of focusing on Jesus, both the Greek and Coptic versions of Thomas open by saying, "These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Judas Thomas the Twin recorded. And he said, 'Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.'"  Instead of pointing to Jesus as a savior, the reader is instructed to take personal responsibility and seek out the meaning of Jesus' words for themselves. In other words, the listener is supposed to become their own savior.

To Christians who have been taught that Jesus was either the only begotten son of God, or part of a Trinitarian Godhead, these statements might seem quite surprising. But gnostic Christian writers, along with the authors of Thomas, Q and the New Testament gospel of Mark all speak of Jesus in fully human terms.  In fact, an extremely heated argument raged over Jesus' humanity or divinity for centuries after his death. The question of Jesus' nature has important implications for all of us, which are made clear in Thomas.

If we examine the New Testament gospels in the order in which they were written, a steady change in Jesus' persona becomes apparent. He begins as a human wisdom teacher or prophet, becomes a human adopted by God, is changed into a demigod (½ human, ½ god) by followers who were formerly pagan, becomes a God in his own right in the New Testament Gospel of John, and is finally made equal to the God of the Old Testament by the trinity doctrine that was enforced by the Roman Emperor Theodosius

During this transition, the institutionalized church came to the conclusion that without a divine intercessor, humans were beyond salvation.  But other early Christians maintained that the human Jesus was an example all humans could follow and eventually each of us could have a direct, personal relationship with the Divine, just as Jesus did.

Although the New Testament is focused on identifying Jesus as the messiah, in Thomas, the term is not used. But many of Jesus' followers were convinced that a longed for messiah would crush their enemies and literally establish God's kingdom on the earth. Certain Jesus was the messiah, the asked "When will the kingdom come?" Instead of giving signs, in Thomas Jesus informs them that a messiah is not needed because "The Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." When they asked "When will the new world come?" He tells them, "What you look for has come, but you do not know it."

The name given to the book also says a great deal about Jesus' humanity.  Several gnostic writings are attributed to "Thomas" because the name meant "twin." Some Christians believe Thomas was Jesus' literal twin brother, but the symbolic use of the name by gnostic writers suggests that each reader who comes to an understanding of Jesus' words becomes his twin and shares his connection with the Divine. In Thomas, Jesus makes this point when he says, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to the person."

Jesus' sayings offered living water, but he also emphasized that we must drink it ourselves. When we quench our spiritual thirst by contemplating the words of Jesus, we're taking responsibility for our own spiritual awakening, not relying on a savior. Like water, Jesus' words were meant to be ingested, to become part of our being.

Copyright © Lee and Steven Hager

About the Author:
Lee Hager and her husband Steven are the authors of The Beginning of Fearlessness: Quantum Prodigal Son, a spiritual quest and scientific adventure based on Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, quantum physics and the gnostic gospels. Discover how the synergy of science and spirituality can transform your life.