Tuesday, September 30, 2014

"down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus" - Mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas




Tokyo



Mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas


Some expressions in the Gospel of Thomas really sound true:

The Gnostic Society Library
The Nag Hammadi Library
The Gospel of Thomas
Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin

...
 

(110) Jesus said, "Whoever finds the world and becomes rich, let him renounce the world."

(108) Jesus said, "He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."

(99) The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside."
He said to them, "Those here who do the will of my father are my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the kingdom of my father."

(96) 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. Let him who has ears hear."

(95) Jesus said, "If you have money, do not lend it at interest, but give it to one from whom you will not get it back."

(94) Jesus said, "He who seeks will find, and he who knocks will be let in."

(93) "Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung-heap. Do not throw the pearls to swine, lest they [...] it [...]."

(91) They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you."
He said to them, "You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment."

(90) Jesus said, "Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves."

(89) Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?"

(86) Jesus said, "The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest."

(82) Jesus said, "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom."

(79) A woman from the crowd said to him, "Blessed are the womb which bore you and the breasts which nourished you."
He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"

(78) Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth."

(73) Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html

But there are some paragraphs we cannot easily understand without knowing contexts in which they were written.

The Gospel of Thomas is regraded as secondary material in relation to the Gospels of Mark, Luke, Mathew, and John.  But, the former seems to include reliable words as much as the so-called Q source, the possible underlying document for the latter four Gospels.

(The Vatican should have checked all the paragraphs to recommend some as true words of Christ Jesus.  But, if the Pope lost holy ability to find holy words of their Lord, it is no wonder that the Vatican has simply neglected the Gospel of Thomas.)

But, would anybody write this Gospel, including some strange or crazy paragraphs, to harm Christianity or dupe people in days as early as the second century?  For example, who today can accept the following one as holy: (105) Jesus said, "He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot."

There are still mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas.

(Was there any need for the author or Thomas to put in the Gospel confusing and made-up words of Christ Jesus to secure something important from his enemies?)



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Act 9:29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Act 9:30 Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Act 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.