Beginning

English

These are the secret words which Jesus, the living one, spoke and [Judah who is also Thomas | Twin Judah Thomas] wrote.

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Interpretation

The Gospel of Thomas survives in two different languages. The Coptic version is almost complete, while the Greek copy is most lost. The authorial attribution in this Beginning differs slightly between the two versions. The Greek calls its author ΙΟΥΔΑ Ο ΚΑΙ ΘΩΜΑ (Iouda ho kai Thōma, Judah who is also Thomas). The Coptic version says he is ⲆⲒⲆⲨⲘⲞⲤ ⲒⲞⲨⲆⲀⲤ ⲐⲰⲘⲀⲤ (Didymos Ioudas Thōmas, Twin Judah Thomas).

The name ΔΙΔΥΜΟΣ/ⲆⲒⲆⲨⲘⲞⲤ is a direct translation from Aramaic תאומא (Tōma), all of which mean ‘Twin’ in English. In biblical literature, this disciple is known as ΘΩΜΑΣ (Thōmas). In the early Christian literature, several of the disciples of Jesus shared the same names, and additional names were used to distinguish them. In the Gospel of Mark, there are ‘Simon Peter’ and ‘Simon the Cananaean’ (changed to ‘the Zealot’ in the Gospel of Luke). We also find the disciples James son of Zebedee and James son of Alphaeus. The Gospel of John mentions ‘Judah, not Iscariot’ and ‘Judah, son of Simon Iscariot’. It is entirely within historical possibility that a third disciple was also named Judah, which led to him being distinguished with the nickname ‘Twin’. The Gospel of John is the only one to clarify his identity with the Greek equivalent ΔΙΔΥΜΟΣ The preference for his nickname ‘Thomas’ over his real name ‘Judah’ happened so early in Christian tradition that knowledge of his real name nearly disappeared. Like the New Testament gospels, the Gospel of Thomas was not actually written by its attributed author. This introductory statement is fictional, most likely added to the book very late in its development.

The statement that the teachings of this book are ‘secret’ has been interpreted to mean it was written by the ‘Gnostics’, a group of Christians who were regarded as heretics by the orthodox majority. These Gnostics believed salvation comes by unlocking secret ΓΝΩΣΙΣ (gnōsis, knowledge), and only an elite few will succeed in accomplishing this. However, there was no monolithic group which may be identified as ‘Gnostics’. While there were Christians, beginning in the second century CE (or possibly the late first century), who did have ‘gnostic’ beliefs, they were as diverse as their so-called ‘orthodox’ counterparts. Some gnostic Christians did appear to use Thomas, though this means little in regards to the book’s origins. (The same Christians also used texts written by Greek philosophers centuries before Jesus even lived, simply because they found such literature helpful in the formation of their theology.) Even in the texts which became the New Testament canon, Jesus is occasionally depicted as a teacher of esoterism. The presence of ‘secret’ teachings in the Gospel of Thomas cannot be taken as evidence it originated as a ‘gnostic’ document. There is also the problem of the common ideas taught by gnostic Christians. They believed that the the biblical god, Yhwh, was an ignorant or malevolent deity at the bottom of a pantheon of divine beings, all of whom had emanated from an unknown supreme God. They believed that Jesus had been sent by the supreme God to reveal the secret knowledge which would free divine souls that had been trapped in human form as part of Yhwh’s imperfect creation. While some parts of the Gospel of Thomas seem to walk the line in regards to secret knowledge, there is nothing in the book which disparages Yhwh, nor so much as implies he is a lower god within a large pantheon. It seems best to identify the more difficult parts of Thomas as representing an ascetic wisdom theology which, over the second century CE, split along multiple paths. One path led to the gnostic branches of Christianity, which have largely died out, but another path led to the more mystically-inclined branches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which still exists today.

Jesus is called Ο ΖΩΝ (ho zōn, the living one) in the Greek version of Thomas. This may be connected to the idea of his resurrection from death, but the epithet is also given to God in a different context, to indicate his capacity as a giver of life (cf. John 6.57). Its use here may indicate that Jesus has taken on this role as life-giver due to his apotheosis.

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Parallels

Mark

4.10–12 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables, in order that they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand, so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’

John

11.16 Thomas, who was called Twin

Revelation of John

1.17–18 And when I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead. And he put his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not fear. I am the first and the last, and the living one, and I was dead, but see I am alive for ever and ever, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’