The Gospel Of Thomas Who Was Jesus?

“Who was Jesus?” is a question that historians and religious scholars have been trying to answer for many centuries, ever since the creation of the Christian religion. May texts, whether biblical or otherwise, offer various insights into who Jesus was as both a religious leader and as a person. Included in these texts is the Gospel of Thomas, a non-canonical collection of the secret teachings of Christ. Although it is not included in the canonical gospels of the New Testament, The Gospel of Thomas shares similarities with the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, even more fascinating and beneficial to study are the differences between them. The Gospel of Thomas depicts Jesus as the son of God whose significance lied not in his
There are few indications of who Christ spoke to outside his own realm of disciples, and it is difficult to pull from these encounters the way in which the public responded to his statements. In the 32nd teaching, Jesus explains, “No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him” (23). Although this vague statement provides no context, it implies that there was opposition to his religious leadership. However, unlike the biblical texts, this opposition never specifically leads to the death of Christ. All four gospels of the New Testament narrate the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus, but the Gospel of Thomas fails to include his death or resurrection, arguably the most crucial events in the life of Christ to the Christian
This teaching recounts a remark Jesus made after observing infants. He told his disciples that the babies were like those who would enter the kingdom. He told them that by making the “two one” and making “the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside” one will enter the kingdom of heaven (22). The “one” refers to the soul, and the “two” refers to the soul in addition to the body. Jesus speaks more about these two in both the 87th and 112th teachings. In the former, Jesus warns, “Wretched is the body that is dependent upon a body, and wretched is the soul that is dependent on these two” (26). The latter is stated differently but carries a similar message: “Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul; woe to the soul that depends on the flesh” (28). What Christ is trying to establish through this type of teaching is that the soul should not depend on the flesh, the physical human body. The soul is the purest form, and in order to enter the kingdom, one must rid themself of the