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Why Christians Should Read Gospel of Thomas
A surprisingly modern book that dives into the heart of doubt, curiosity and faith
Thomas, known as the Twin was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. The Bible records very little about him beyond his doubt in the resurrection (John 20:24–31), naive curiosity (John 14: 1–5) about Jesus’ message and his bluster of faith to “go and die with Him” (John 11:16). The 3rd century text, Acts of Thomas contains brief accounts of his travels to India in AD 52. Sparse threads of Indian history weave a story of him establishing seven churches along the Malabar coast, working miracles and eventually entering martyrdom in Mylapore India.
For nearly 2000 years, not much more was known about this curious, courageous, doubter. His message was presumed to be no different than the Gospel sanctioned by the Paul and the official Church, namely that “Jesus is the Only Son of God who came to Earth from Heaven to offer his blood and flesh as a sacrifice to the Father-God to atone for the sins of children of Adam and Eve”.
In December 1945, grave diggers in the Egyptian town of Nag Hamadi unearthed ancient texts which contained 50+ manuscripts from the time of Christ — one of these were the Gospel of Thomas. While this book and others books enjoyed popular circulation in the early days of Christianity, they were labeled heresies when Christianity became a state sanctioned and state endorsed religion. Heretics were persecuted and many of their writings were burnt. The courage of a nameless scribe saved the Nag Hamadi manuscripts for discovery almost 2000 years later.
Unlike the synoptic Gospels that chronicle Jesus’ life as a supernatural phenomenon(angels and miracles), Thomas’ gospel contains 114 sayings of Jesus’ that inspires the reader to seek after the kingdom while affirming that the kingdom is simply ‘here’.
It is a modern book that fearlessly dives into the heart of doubt, curiosity and faith.
Seek till you are troubled
Jesus said, Let one who seeks not stop seeking until one finds. When one finds, one will be troubled. When one is troubled, one will marvel and will reign over all.” -Gospel of Thomas v2
