What is known about the Gospel of Thomas?

Answer 1

Three Greek fragments of the Gospel of Thomas survive (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, 654, and 655), as do testimonia in early Christian literature, especially in the writings of Hippolytus of Rome. A complete copy of the Gospel, in the Coptic language, was found at Nag Hammadi, as the second tracrate in Codex II. A number of codexes had been placed in an earthenware jar and hidden in a cave to avoid destruction by mainstream Christians, and were found by farmers in 1945.

Answer 2

The Gospel of Thomas is a sayings gospel that is variously attributed to the second century or earlier in the first century. Like the four New Testament Gospels, there is no reason to believe that it was written by one of the disciples. There are many apparent literary dependencies between Thomas and the Gospel of Mark, and some scholars now believe that these must have been copied from Thomas to Mark, rather than the other way around. Since Mark is known to have been written approximately 70 CE, this lends weight to the scholarly view that Thomas was written in the middle of the first century and is older than Mark.

Three Greek fragments of the Gospel of Thomas survive (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, 654, and 655), as do testimonia in early Christian literature, especially in the writings of Hippolytus of Rome. A complete copy of the Gospel, in the Coptic language, was found at Nag Hammadi, as the second tracrate in Codex II. Towards the end of the fourth century, the leaders of what had become mainstream Christianity mandated the destruction not only of pagan religious books but also of Christian books they regarded as heretical. Thomas and other Gnostic works were placed in an earthenware jar and hidden in a cave near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, to save them from Christians bent on their destruction. They were found by farmers in 1945.

In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus performs no physical miracles, discloses no fulfilment of prophecy, announces no apocalyptic kingdom that will disrupt the world order, and dies for no one's sins. Instead, he reveals wisdom and knowledge so that people may be enlightened. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is not presented as the unique or incarnate son of God, and nothing is said of a cross with saving significance or an empty tomb. He is not designated the Christ or the messiah, nor acclaimed master or lord, and when Jesus refers to himself once in the gospel (saying 86), as child of humankind or son of man, he does so in the generic sense of referring to any person as a human being.