Library/New Testament apocrypha
Gospel of Thomas
One hundred fourteen sayings of the living Jesus, some close to the synoptics, some stranger: a light in a person of light, a requirement to be passers-by, a secret that the universe is already inside. Not a Watcher book, but the other great ‘hidden knowledge’ gospel.
- Status
- New Testament apocryphon
- Date
- 1st–2nd century CE (debated)
- Languages
- Coptic (Nag Hammadi) · Greek fragments (Oxyrhynchus)
- Setting
- A list of secret sayings, no narrative passion
What it contains
- 114 logia
- No passion narrative
Why it sits outside most canons
No cross, no church order, too useful to Gnostic readers. The great church built on narrative Gospels.
Themes
- Secret sayings
- Knowledge
- Kingdom within
- Ascent of the self
Passages
Gos. Thom. 1–2
Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death. Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds.