Understand the workings of Nature and you will understand the teachings of Jesus.- anonymous, Jesus clearly states that finding him is an active process, "lifting a stone and cleaving a piece of wood." Thom. things you have taught my people. The presence of Jesus as it is described in vv. The Gospel of Thomas is free of Gnostic mythology; therefore, it is not from this early Christian splinter group. 18.20; 28.20 - but in that passage, too, there is a wisdom background." 2-3 echoes Matt. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is a biographical gospel about the childhood of Jesus, believed to date at the latest to the second century. (http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/jblprot.htm), Funk and Hoover write: "In this complex, Jesus speaks of himself in highly exalted terms, as he often does in the Gospel of John (for example, John 8:12; 10:7). Jesus said, "Where there are three they are without God. This probably means that 77b once existed independently of 77a, but whether this means that 77a existed once independently of 77b in Thomas we do not know. Reviews There are no reviews yet. In contrast to the pessimism of the Preacher, Jesus promises his abiding presence even in the most strenuous type of work." This passage speaks to any corruption in the church. (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 178), Stevan Davies writes: "Gos. nothing like any outright violence! It can prepare the user or wearer to receive wisdom and attunement from the Higher Self and the Divine. Thomas read and considered in light of scholarly investigations of the origins and early history of Christianity. The same allusion is found in Col. III, 11: 'Christ is all and in all.'" Interestingly, it changes from one Not in palaces of wood and stone. The Gospel of Thomas was the springboard for Gnostic Christianity, because it challenges the reader to search for the truth. At this point Thomas's … Gos. The gospel appears to have no overarching structure, and many of its sayings are intentionally mysterious or perplexing. Gospel of Thomas; Bibliography; Coptic Text; Greek Texts; POxy 654; POxy 1; POxy 655; Oxy. Colossians 2.9). If you like the site, please buy the CD to support its work and get bonus stuff! The Greek version inserts the words about wood and stone at the end of Saying 31 to indicate that Jesus is present with his disciples, or with one disciple. trying to keep Christians on the textually straight and narrow path, to encourage historians to rely, for their information about Jesus, upon no other does not live in temples of wood and stone." acting on behalf of the Catholic Church. The stone does not lead to answers, neither does the log. Split a piece of wood: I am there. The Gospel of Thomas by Mark M. Mattison. The theme of light is prominent in Gnostic writings (e.g., §113), and the 'All,' presumably meaning the totality of being, is also mentioned in such works as the Gospel of Truth (§341). One might also mention the Acts of Peter, Chapter XXXIX: 'Thou art the All, and the All is in thee, and thou art! But, as in the Celestine Prophecy, For another, the following pair of sayings is rather intriguing: This is presented here in pantheistic terms going far beyond the sense of a canonical saying as Matthew 18.20." The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is a non-canonical sayings gospel. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there” (Gospel of Thomas, 77). But with the introductory sentence in the Coptic, where Jesus is the 'All,' the promise seems to be set within the framework of pantheism or, more precisely stated, of panchristism." Copyright 2012 Peter Kirby