I. Thomas is a sayings book of 115 sayings
in a list format.
A. There
is a scholarly consensus that a sayings book is a more primitive form of
writing than a narrative text.
Source: The Gospel of Thomas by Marvin Meyer,
HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, pages 7-8:
“As
a collection of sayings of Jesus, the Gospel Of Thomas is closer in genre to
other ancient collection of sayings than to the New Testament Gospels.”
B.
Sayings books belong to an early oral tradition in which Jesus’ sayings were
circulated. Please see part III of this essay for sources.
C. Q,
another saying book, was used when Matthew and Luke wrote their
narrative form of Jesus’ sayings.
Conclusion: The fact that Thomas is a sayings book is ipso facto evidence that it was written before Mark (which is a narrative text) which was composed circa 70 A.D. It is possible that when Jesus’ brother, Judas, composed Thomas circa 30 A.D. , he used Q as part of an oral tradition of Jesus’ sayings. It is also possible that Q borrowed some of Thomas’ sayings.
II. Thomas is part of a library
of 52 ancient texts.
Source: Nag Hammadi library - Wikipedia
A. The
Nag Hammadi Library consists of copies of Greek texts translated into Coptic.
Source: The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and
Commentary, Btill, Leiden/Boston, 2014, page 98:
“Fifithly, a similar kind of argument
can be made for the fact that the Gospel of Thomas is extant in Nag Hammadi
Codex, II, which is essentially a (translation of a) Greek collection (as is
probably the whole Nag Hammadi corpus).”
B. Thomas was embedded into other Coptic
writings, the second document of codex II. Source: see part A above.
Conclusion: Thomas was discovered in 1945 as part of a collection of 52 texts. These texts were originally written in Greek and then translated into Coptic. This would indicate that the copyists, probably monks, were copying word-for-word from original Greek texts.
Conclusion: Thomas was discovered in 1945 as part of a collection of 52 texts. These texts were originally written in Greek and then translated into Coptic. This would indicate that the copyists, probably monks, were copying word-for-word from original Greek texts.
III.
Early citations of the sayings of Thomas.
A. In
his Refutation of All Heresies Hippolytus of Rome cites a variant of
saying 4. This text is dated as 225 A.D.
Source:
The Gospel of Thomas by Gathercole, page 35 ( op. cit. part II, A, above).
B. Later
in Refutation, 5.8.32, Hippolytus
cites sayings 11: “So they say, “If you ate dead things and made them living,
what will you do when you eat living things?”
Source: The Gospel of Thomas by Marvin, (op.
cit. part I, A, above), page 7.
Conclusion:
Thomas was in circulation by 225 A.D.
To be clear: The Coptic sayings book of Thomas
was composed after 300 A.D. This would imply that sayings 4 and 11 were part of
an original Greek text.
IV: Self-Authenticating Sayings: In this section I ask the reader to allow his Spirit to be moved by the sayings of Jesus in Thomas. When saying Jesus’ words aloud during your morning devotion each day, is there a saying that resonates with you? Does this saying start to come deeply inside you? Is this saying the words of a Master? Below are 3 of my favorite sayings:
A. “In the days when you ate what was dead, you made it alive.
When you are in the Light what will you do? On the day when you were one, you
became two. When you have become two what will you do?”
--Saying 11.
B. “The Father’s Kingdom is like a woman who was carrying a jar
filled with meal. While she was away on a long journey, the handle of the jar
broke and the meal spilled out behind her on the road. She had not noticed a
problem. When she reached her house, she put the jar down and discovered it was
empty.”
--Saying 97.
C. “Whoever is near me is near the fire and whoever is far from me
is far from the Kingdom.”--Saying 82.
Conclusion: Thomas’ sayings
were said at a high spiritual level. Once they have become part of you, they
can inspire and transform you. Thus, I strongly encourage readers to spend
10-15 minutes each morning activating Jesus’ words for eternal life and then
reading a saying aloud. What sayings in Thomas
inspire you?
Summary: In this essay I have shown that since Thomas is a sayings book it is part of
an early oral tradition dating to Jesus’ Resurrection, circa 30 A.D. It is
possible that Jesus’ brother, Judas, mixed-and-matched various sources such as
another contemporary sayings book, Q. Since Thomas
was found as part of a collection of texts, all of which were originally
written in Greek, we have evidence that Greek was the original language of Thomas. Also, the monks who copied the
52ancient texts did so on a word-for-word basis. Note that there is no
evidence that any sayings were added to these texts since as in the case of
say, Plato’s Republic, we have
original Greek texts to compare. Early citations of Thomas shows that it was in
circulation by 225 A.D. with citations of sayings 4 and 11. Finally, I invite the reader to allow the sayings of Jesus in Thomas to touch him and to transform him to a higher spiritual level.
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