What Scripture says
The four Gospels present Jesus’ words within the story of his life, death and resurrection (Mark 1:1, John 20:30–31, ESV). Thomas contains sayings only, with no crucifixion or resurrection. Paul treats the death and resurrection as the heart of the gospel, “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
What the evidence says
History
What it is
The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, most introduced simply with “Jesus said”. It opens: “These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” There is no story, no miracles, no death or resurrection.
The discovery
The full text was found in Coptic at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, in a 4th-century manuscript. Earlier, at the end of the 19th century, three Greek fragments had been found at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. They date from around AD 200, and were only identified as parts of Thomas after the Coptic text was found.
What the sayings are like
- About half resemble sayings in Matthew, Mark and Luke, sometimes closely, such as the parable of the sower (saying 9) and the mustard seed (saying 20).
- Others are unlike anything in the Gospels and reflect ideas found in Gnostic and other mystical movements: salvation through knowing oneself, the kingdom as an inner reality, and rejection of the body and the world. “Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass” (saying 56).
- The final saying has Peter say, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus replies that he will lead her to “make her male”, for “every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven” (saying 114).
Textual Criticism
The dating debate
| View | Date | Main argument |
|---|---|---|
| Majority | 2nd century | Thomas reflects the wording, even the editorial changes, of Matthew and Luke |
| Minority | Core from the 1st century | Some sayings seem simpler or earlier than their Gospel parallels |
Simon Gathercole and Mark Goodacre argue Thomas depends on the canonical Gospels, sometimes reproducing distinctive wording from Matthew’s and Luke’s editing of Mark. A minority of scholars, especially in the Jesus Seminar of the 1990s, argued an early core goes back to the 1st century and preserves independent sayings of Jesus.
Why it wasn’t accepted
- Late date, for most scholars, long after the apostles.
- Different teaching: salvation through secret knowledge rather than Christ’s death and resurrection.
- No church used it as Scripture. Hippolytus and Origen (3rd century) mention a Gospel of Thomas used by heretical groups.
Where they meet
Thomas is a later work that mixes sayings like those in the Gospels with teaching that doesn’t fit them. The church didn’t accept it because it lacked apostolic roots and taught a different message (see 3.9).
What’s still open
Whether any of its unique sayings go back to Jesus. A few scholars think so; most doubt it.
Bottom line
The Gospel of Thomas is 114 sayings of Jesus, mostly 2nd century, with Gnostic ideas (its last saying says Mary must “become male” to enter the kingdom). Leaving it out is rated Settled.