The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament.

The Coptic Gospel of Thomas

“Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.” 

“Jesus said, “The Father’s kingdom is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself. So also with you, seek his treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no worm destroys.” 

The Coptic Thomas forms part of the Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of scrolls found at a site by that name near Chenoboskion, Egypt, just after World War II. This “library” contains primarily, though not exclusively, Gnostic works written in Coptic, the language of ancient Egypt and parts of Ethiopia.

The Gospel of Thomas was one of the most sensational discoveries of the twentieth century. This collection of writings is a collection of sayings of Jesus written by Didymus Judas Thomas – according to some early Christian legends, he was the twin brother of Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas records 114 secret teachings of Jesus. There are no stories, no miracles, no passion narrative. Those aspects of the life of Jesus do not matter to the author of The Gospel of Thomas. What he is concerned with are the mysterious teachings of Jesus.

Those familiar with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke will read familiar passages in the Gospel of Thomas – passages like the parables of the sower and the mustard seed.

Some biblical scholars have suggested that the sayings and teachings of Jesus recorded in The Gospel of Thomas may be closer to what Jesus actually taught his disciples – that is closer to what is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. Of course we will never know for sure until manuscripts dated to the first century are discovered and verified – both canonical Gospels and non-canonical writings. Until then, we have a lot of material to read, learn, and discern.

Pastor Dave  

The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament.

The Gospel of the Egyptians

6. 45. The Lord said to Salome when she inquired: How long shall death prevail? ‘As long as ye women bear children’, not because life is an ill, and the creation evil: but as showing the sequence of nature: for in all cases birth is followed by decay.

Excerpts from Theodotus, 67. And when the Saviour says to Salome that there shall be death as long as women bear children, he did not say it as abusing birth, for that is necessary for the salvation of believers.

Strom. iii. 9. 63. But those who set themselves against God’s creation because of continence, which has a fair-sounding name, quote also those words which were spoken to Salome, of which I made mention before. They are contained, I think (or I take it) in the Gospel according to the Egyptians. For they say that ‘the Savior himself said: I came to destroy the works of the female’. By female he means lust: by works, birth and decay.

This is another gospel that has been lost to the “dustbin” of time. Again, like the gospel of the Hebrews, we only have quotes and references to it from the writings of Clement, one of the early church fathers. Most of the contents of the writings we have from Clement recount conversations between Jesus and a woman named Salome. Many of the sayings concern the “desires of the flesh and sexual activity” and how they should be condemned and are opposed to the will of G-d. In fact the gospel appears originally to have condemned the practice of marriage.

Salome, as you might remember, is one of the women who discovered the empty tomb on the day of the resurrection of Jesus. Apparently Salome became an important figure in some circles of Christianity including those who were living in and around Egypt. She is named as a disciple of Jesus in both the Gospel to the Egyptians and the Gospel of Thomas, as well as in the Secret Gospel of Mark. Here are some other attributes of Salome:

• Salome has a voice in the Gospel to the Egyptians and asks Jesus a few questions. The implication there, however, is that she was childless.
• In the Gospel of Thomas, she shared a couch with Jesus during a meal.
• In the early Church several traditions maintained that Salome was the source of some “secret traditions” handed down by Jesus’ disciples.
• By the latter part of the 2nd century, however, these traditions were deemed to be heretical.
• One of these second-century sects (the Harpocratians) traced their origin back to Salome.

It is important to remember that women did have an important role to play, not only in the life of Jesus, but in the life of the disciples before and after the resurrection. Although the men of the third and fourth centuries would often downplay the role and the “reputations” of many women, we can reclaim their significance by reading books like the Gospel of the Egyptians.

Pastor Dave