The Gospel of Thomas Sain 沈羽軒 Lisa 蔡明倫 Christine 林奕寧 Latitia 郭立歆 Lucy 林姿伶

Content Background Features Importance

Background

What is Gospel of Thomas? A collection of teaching, in which Jesus tells his disciples in private. A complete version in Coptic was found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, 1945,

Who wrote it? “These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” (preface)

Why isn't it in the Bible? The time gap between the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas and that of the four gospels is huge. The idea of Gnosticm in The Gospel of Thomas is very different from that of four Bibles

Features

Tone and Structure Gnostic, mystical, and inauthentic. No narrative structure. No biological narrative about Jesus. Unconnected and in no particular order. A more streamlined or less elaborate version.

The Philosophy Jesus is presented as a spiritual guide. Little concern for orthodox religious concepts and doctrines. Emphasizes direct and unmediated experience.

Compare to the New Testament New TestamentThe Gospel of Thomas Jesus as : "Christ'' " Lord" "Jesus" "Son of Man." Content: Jesus' birth, baptism, miracles, travels, death, and resurrection, crucifixion, or final judgment. No mention of the description in the left form but the sayings. Similar: In The Gospel of Thomas, many sayings have parallels in the Gospels of the New Testament.

Compare Thomas 8 with Matthew 13:47–50 And Jesus said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!“ "Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The Importance

It closely relates to the source of the New Testament gospels, “Q.”

It suggests that there did exist a collection of sayings of Jesus in the early church.

Some authorities have referred to this sacred text as the Fifth Gospel.

It expresses the “Gnostic” idea.

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