The Gospel of Thomas is probably the most famous non-canonical gospel everyone seems to know a little bit about it
They'll ask questions like why is the Gospel of Thomas not in the New Testament?
Or did you know the Gospel of Thomas might be an independent source to the sayings of Jesus?
But what does the Gospel of Thomas really say and why isn't it in the bible?
the Gospel of Thomas is preserved in its entirety in a
Single Coptic text from the non Kamati library a horde of early Christian texts discovered in the mid 20th century
[it] appears in a few Greek fragments to the Coptic manuscript dates to the 4th century ce II
But it's probably a copy of an earlier Greek version that dates to the 2nd century
but some scholars have even
Posited a late first century date dating Thomas is actually really difficult because unlike the canonical gospels of Matthew Mark Luke and John
The Gospel of Thomas is a sayings gospel. It's comprised of
[114] sayings of Jesus
No, narratives. No sermons just short sayings
So presumably editors could have added to the text throughout its composition in fact one scholar April DeConnick argues that the gospel of Thomas
Underwent Several layers of composition starting as a kernel of Aramaic
Jesus sayings in the mid [1st] century all the way through to the [2nd] century with the version that we have today though
Not all scholars agree with Dr.. DeConick to make things simple and to avoid this debate,
Let's just say that the gospel of Thomas probably was composed in Greek and dates probably between 135 [c]. E and 200 C
E
though with the added
possibility that some sayings might date all the way back to the historical Jesus and some of them might have been in Aramaic now a
Lot of people think of the gospel of Thomas as a Gnostic gospel in an earlier video
I say why this
Assumption is a lot more complex than what you think the gospel of Thomas actually lacks a lot of Gnostic features
There is no mention of a evil demiurge. There's no mention of [eons] or archons like what we see in the gospel of Judas
We just have a few sayings that sound
esoteric and the fact that the gospel was packaged with other gnostic gospels
Like the Apocryphon of John in actuality a large portion of the gospel of Thomas has parallels to the new testament [gospels]
however these parallels are always a little bit different which leads some scholars to believe that the gospel of Thomas is an
Independent source to the sayings of [Jesus] for example Thomas verse 96 has close parallels to Matthew 13:33
[Jesus] said the kingdom of the father is like a certain woman she took a little leaven concealed it in some dough and made it
into large loaves
Matthew on the other hand reads he sent to them another parable the kingdom
Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened
So we obviously have parallel texts here, but there are enough differences between these two texts that make scholars think they are independent texts
Maybe one of them more original than the other but who's to say which one is more original this question is actually
Really difficult to answer some scholars think that Thomas often
Contains the older version of these Jesus sayings because they're more simplistic than the canonical gospels which often have very
Embellished parables [a] good counter-argument comes from Simon Gather [:] his huge commentary on the Gospel of Thomas
[he] argues that the Gospel of Thomas is not independent of the canonical gospels and in fact
whoever compiled Thomas was probably aware of the synoptic [Gospels] in Thomas verses 13 14 and
44 there seems to be some influence on the gospel of Matthew and in thomas verses 33
65 and 104 there seems to be influence from the Gospel of Luke furthermore
He argues since the gospel of thomas dates to the second century and is far removed from Jesus's Life [and] since the gospel of Thomas
Lacked specific details about first century Palestine he concludes that it doesn't tell us much at all about the historical
Jesus as
Scholarship currently stands and with the primary sources that are available
To us at the present the gospel of Thomas can hardly be regarded as useful in the reconstruction of a historical picture of Jesus
So at this point in the debate
We should just admit yeah some of the sayings are very ancient and some of them might date back to the historical Jesus himself
But the nature of our sources just don't let us know for sure and very smart people are on both sides of the debate
So finally let's tackle this question of why the Gospel of Thomas is not in the new testament
[some] people would say well since there's so much overlap between the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of Thomas
Why is it not in the fold it seems to belong there now the canonization of the new testament [is] extremely complex
But there are a few factors that we can consider to help answer this question first of all there seems to have been a lot
Of resistance to have any more gospels than just for we have evidence that the four gospels circulated as a collection very early on
Even [before] the broader canon started to develop for example Papyrus 45 of the Chester Beatty Papiri
Contains the four gospels in the book of acts dating to about the third century CE so even while the gospel of Thomas
Started to circulate the four gospel exclusive fan club was already starting to solidify
moreover there seems to have been a lot of resistance two gospels of Thomas in General [Church] authorities such as
Hippolytus origin [Eusebius] Cyril Didymus the Blind [Jerome] and
Ambrose all of these guys mention a gospel of thomas and all of them say that they're forgeries made by heretics
Origins quote is particularly striking also in circulation is the Gospel according to Thomas?
These come from those who set their hands to it, but the church of God approves for alone now
We can't be for sure if these guys are talking about the gospel of Thomas that we have today
After all there were several books called Thomas we have the infancy Gospel of Thomas and we have the book of Thomas the contender
But this is evidence that there was significant push back against any gospel named Thomas
so these are two factors to consider if anyone asks why the
Gospel of Thomas is not in the bible the four [gospel] tradition was very early and very popular and a lot of church authorities
Just rejected any Gospel of Thomas
But we should also consider that in many respects the canonization of the new testament [was] an organic process
[it] wasn't all top-down decrees from Church authorities
Certain books gained huge popular Followings and circulated more widely [matthew] for example is known to be one of the more popular
gospels of early Christianity we found the remnants of about a dozen manuscripts of Matthew that date to the second and third century and
Sixteen of the gospel of John, but only one thomas manuscript and even then this manuscript is from the fourth century it appears
Thomas was just not as popular as other gospels like Matthew and therefore did not
Circulate as widely over all the gospel of Thomas is one of the greatest finds from the 20th century and has greatly
Contributed to our understanding of early Christian textual practices and early Christianity in general at this point though
I would say go read it for yourself. It's not that long and you might learn [something] new as always
Thanks for watching and subscribing
And I'll see you [next] time now this video [was] the latest in my series varieties of early
Christianity where I try to approach early Christianity from a different perspective?
not heretics versus Orthodox Christians
But rather looking at Christianity as a complex web of competing in overlapping Christian communities
We've talked about topics like [Marcion] and the Gospel of Judas
but if you have any
Suggestions yourself feel free to leave them in the comments below and I'll add them to the queue and also special shout out to our
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Thanks again, and I'll see you next time