Gnostic Gospels—Thomas

Who was saint Thomas?

Who was Saint Thomas? Thomas was one of the twelve disciples. They were also called apostles or “those sent.” Thomas was counted among them: “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him” (Matthew 10:2-4).

Thomas is sometimes referred to in the gospels as Didymus, a Greek word which means “twin.” There is conjecture over whose twin he might be; some list him as the twin of Matthew, others, the twin of James, the Less.

In any case, Thomas is infamous for his declaration after the resurrection of Jesus, “Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it’” (John 20:24-25).

When Thomas was finally confronted by the Lord several days later, Christ’s response to him has always been taken as a rebuke: “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” (John 20:26-29).

This may, indeed, have been a deserved reprimand from the Lord. Nevertheless, one can well appreciate Thomas’ dilemma due to his misfortune in not having been with the other disciples when they first saw the Lord. No doubt the other disciples had their own questionings about the Lord’s resurrection as evidenced by their dejection and fear; neither were they the ones to whom Jesus referred, since they had believed in His resurrection after seeing Him.

Thomas also exhibited inquisitiveness during the earlier days of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus had said, “‘You know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:4-6).

Obviously, Thomas was a person who needed a clear understanding, who wanted all the facts and all of the evidence up front. Indeed, this can be a deterrent to faith; perhaps Jesus’ response to Thomas was made to emphasize the grace of believing without seeing to those who would come after him, namely, you and me. Those of us who look back on the scriptural account of Thomas, scoff at his doubt; perhaps, we, without the written account of the resurrection, might also need our own verification.

Who was Saint Thomas? He appeared to be one who loved the Savior and seemed ready to die with Him. “Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’” (John 11:16). Thomas ultimately overcame his grappling with fear and doubt. He is found with the eleven disciples in the upper room where they would expectantly wait together with other followers of Jesus to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:12-14).

The Gnostic gospels – Was St. Thomas one?

Gnosticism is from the Greek word “gnosis” which means “knowledge” or “the act of knowing.” It appears that, in the early church, an elite group appointed themselves apart from the greater body of the Church as “special witnesses” or as ones who claimed divine revelatory experiences. There are several characteristics that seem common to Gnosticism:

Gnostic Gospels—-Judas

Gospel of Judas – What Is It?
The Gospel of Judas was discovered in the 1970s in an Egyptian cave. Until recently, no institutions were willing to pay the exorbitant fee to get the manuscript due to its dubious origin. A foundation in Switzerland eventually purchased the codex to release its content.

In 2006, National Geographic announced that the manuscript has been authenticated by carbon dating, studied, and translated by biblical scholars. However, up to one-third of the gospel according to Judas is missing or illegible.

This manuscript held by National Geographic is likely dated to the 5th century AD.

Gospel of Judas – Who Wrote It and What Does it Say?
It is unknown who wrote the Gospel of Judas. Our biggest clue comes from Irenaeus (a second century Christian) who referenced the Gospel of Judas as invented history of heretics and rebels. In about 180 AD, Irenaeus wrote:

“They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.” (Adversus Haereses I.31.1; Roberts-Donaldson translation.)

The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic Gospel and is consistent with Gnostic viewpoints. The Gnostics believed that the road to salvation was through secret knowledge given by Jesus to his inner circle. The biggest controversy in this text revolves around the theory that Jesus wanted Judas to betray Him in order to fulfill Jesus’ plan. This is contrary to the New Testament, which presents Judas as a traitor.

The Gospel of Judas begins with these words: “the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot during a week three days before the celebrated Passover.” Later, the text says that Jesus tells Judas, “you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothed me.” (The Gospel of Judas, Published by the National Geographic Society, 2006.)

This is contrary to the New Testament account. If it was Jesus’ plan for Judas to betray Him, why would Jesus call Judas the “one headed for destruction” in John 17:12? Jesus also stated that it would have been better if Judas had never been born: “For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!”

The Bible reports that Judas committed suicide when he saw that Jesus was condemned. Why would Judas do this if He was following Jesus’ instructions? Matthew 27:5 says, “Then Judas threw the money onto the floor of the Temple and went out and hanged himself.” Gospel of Judas – Why Isn’t It Accurate?
The Gospel of Judas is considered “Gnostic” in origin. Generally, Gnostics hold that salvation of the soul comes from a quasi-intuitive knowledge of the mysteries of the universe and of secret formulae indicative of that knowledge. The gospel according to Judas is simply a heretical forgery like the Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Philip.

We now have over 25,000 ancient texts and fragments confirming the legitimate biblical accounts. Maybe there’s a reason we’ve only found one copy of the Gospel of Judas laying in an ancient trash heap in the back of a solitary cave. Just as Judas betrayed Jesus Christ, this gospel has betrayed the truth of God.

http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/gospel-of-judas.htm

Gnostic Gospels

Why are there lost books of the Bible?

To begin with, there are no “lost books of the Bible.” These so-called “lost books” were known by the Jews in Old Testament times as well as by Christians of the New Testament era, but they were not considered inspired Scripture. Therefore, they were not included in the Bible.

Why were they not included? There are several reasons for exclusion of these books. Many of them lacked apostolic or prophetic authorship, they did not claim to be the Word of God, and they contained unbiblical concepts or serious historical inaccuracies.

However, the Roman Catholic Church did include certain books to the canon of scripture which they called the Apocrypha meaning “hidden.” They were written by the Jews between 300 and 100 B.C., and the Catholic Church felt they should be included because they consider them inspired. The Apocrypha was contained in the Greek scrolls probably available during Jesus’ lifetime, but were not considered a part of the Scriptures. The Apocrypha was included in the Bible until the 1500s, but Martin Luther objected, and decided not to include it in his German version of the Bible.

There are, however, books available that have collections of the “Lost Gospels” and of other “Epistles” that are not found in our Bibles today. Why?

Before the Bible became the book we know of today, there was an official collection of books recognized by the church which were called scrolls (the form of binding used for all writings including books like the Gospels and less formal writings like letters and Epistles). They were very expensive to duplicate, and they were also produced by hand so the early churches shared resources with each other. Therefore, the scrolls were freely circulated among the churches, but concerns arose among the churches that letters and books containing less than Christian ideals were being circulated. So, in 397, the Council of Carthage adopted an official canon of books that were considered to be “in” and books that were to be considered “out.” So, now, we have the official Bible of today with 66 books with an addition of the 14 books of the Apocrypha.

There is also discussion that the so-called “lost books” of the Bible refers to ancient Israelite books that are not really “lost” because we know of their existence as they are mentioned in the Bible. They are just a scriptural sidelight. There are 54 biblical passages that cite 20 different titles of “lost books,” but scholars believe these titles are just duplicates.

When we think of the Bible which is to be the inspired Word of God, we cannot believe that this book would not be complete. We know the Spirit of God worked through man who wrote the Bible, so we conclude man makes mistakes. Yes, mistakes are possible, but not mandatory. Human beings can and do produce writings with NO errors. Divine inspiration solves that problem of human involvement as God insures the results so it doesn’t make any difference who does the writing.

It is also theorized that since man produced the Scriptures, then the Bible is not the Word of God. It is made up of beliefs of the early church leaders, therefore, since they rejected certain books as unrepresentative of their beliefs and did not represent their point of view then they have the final word on what is included. Any books they rejected were never part of their Bible to begin with so the definition of “lost books” is not defined correctly. The early church had within its authority to reject as non-canonical certain books, but they are not lost; merely discarded.

Archaeology has discovered many manuscripts that are most valuable and significant, but while they are noteworthy and wonderful pieces of literature, they are not lost books of the Bible.