The Hidden Gospel (Gospel of Thomas)

In this episode I begin exploring the Gospel of Thomas, focusing on the prologue of the gospel, which reads: “These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and that Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” I give a little background, and then explain what it means to say that the gospel is hidden, using biblical examples of hiddenness from the parables of Jesus and the epistles of apostle Paul. It is not an esoteric gospel, but a gospel hidden in plain sight. It is an open secret, to use the phrase of nondual teacher Tony Parsons. 

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Transcript

I have been wondering what I might talk about in the coming year. I decided that I am going to talk about the Gospel of Thomas. I have been reading it slowly, one saying a day for several weeks now, and I am going to share what I believe it says and means. Back in 2020 I did a single episode on the Gospel of Thomas, but this time I am going to do multiple episodes and get into it in much more depth. 

The Gospel of Thomas is the most well-known and the earliest of all the extant noncanonical gospels. Scholarly opinion is divided on its date and authorship, but many think it was written as early as the Gospel of Mark, which is the earliest gospel in the New Testament. 

It may be even earlier than Mark. It bears a lot of similarity to a theoretical gospel source named Q, which the three synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke - use as a common source. Q is a collection of the sayings of Jesus without a narrative, or very little narrative. That is exactly what we have with the Gospel of Thomas. 

If Thomas is as early as Q, that means it is the earliest gospel that we have. Furthermore it is the only one that claims in the text to be written down by one of the original twelve apostles. None of the canonical gospels claim that. The titles of the familiar New Testament gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – were added later.

So the Gospel of Thomas is important. Sometimes it is referred to as a Gnostic gospel, but that is generally considered to be inaccurate now. It has none of the characteristics of Gnosticism, such as genealogies, cosmology and rituals. There are no esoteric passwords, secret hand signs or various types of divine beings. Instead there are just sayings of Jesus, many of which are also found in the canonical gospels. 

I think all the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas are at least as authentic as the ones we find in our New Testament. They are more closely tied to an apostle than any other gospel, except possibly the Gospel of John. That is all I am going to say as an introduction to the book. I will add more details concerning background and history of the books as they are relevant to the interpretation of the book. 

The Gospel of Thomas begins with these words: “These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and that Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” First let’s look at the apostle's name. He is known by three names, much like Simon Peter, who is also called Cephas. The apostle Thomas is called Judas Thomas, also called Didymos.

The name Thomas is derived from Aramaic and literally means “the twin.” That is also the meaning of Didymos, which is the Greek word for twin. So Thomas apparently was a twin; he had a twin brother or sister. The Book of Thomas the Contender, which is a book found in the same Nag Hammadi library in which the full manuscript of the Gospel of Thomas was found, says Thomas was Jesus’ twin brother. That would change the Christmas story, wouldn’t it? That is extremely unlikely. 

It is possible that Judas Thomas was the twin brother of James, who was Jesus’ brother. We are told in the Bible that Jesus had a brother named Judas, also known as Jude, the traditional author of the New Testament Letter of Jude. The Letter of Jude starts off, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James.” That would mean that Jesus had a couple of brothers who happened to be twins.  

So I guess that is possible that Judas Thomas was Jesus’ brother, but Judas (Judah or Jude) was a very common name. Furthermore the Letter of Jude bears no resemblance to the Gospel of Thomas. So I think it is unlikely that the apostle Thomas was related to Jesus or James by blood. But it really isn’t important, although it is fun to speculate.

Let’s get back to the text. “These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and that Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” This verse refers to Jesus as the “living Jesus.” This is a way of saying that Jesus spoke these words before his death, to distinguish these sayings from sayings attributed to Jesus after the resurrection, as we find in other gospels. These sayings are purported to be the words of the historical Jesus.

“These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and that Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” I want to focus now on the phrase “hidden sayings.” This can mean a lot of things. Those who want to dismiss this gospel say it means that these sayings are some type of esoteric knowledge, like in the mystery religions and secret societies that were rampant in the ancient world and exist still today. Initiates are given secret knowledge.

That is not what the Gospel of Thomas is talking about. If it were, the hidden sayings would be communicated verbally and passed down by oral tradition. They would not be written in a gospel for anyone to read. These “hidden sayings” refer to the open secret of the Kingdom of God, also known as nondual Reality. 

The New Testament talks about the gospel of Christ as such an open secret. The apostle Paul ends his Letter to the Romans with these words: “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations....”

The apostle Paul says in First Corinthians, “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 

The Letter to the Ephesians, traditionally ascribed to Paul says, “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places....” 

So the New Testament talks about a hidden gospel. That is the gospel that the Gospel of Thomas is talking about. That is the hiddenness that the Gospel of Thomas is referring to. I could give more biblical examples, but these three should suffice to show that the Gospel of Thomas is not talking about esoteric or occult knowledge for the spiritual elite, but a truth for everyone that is hidden in plain sight. 

Tony Parsons talks about the Open Secret. I was talking to a church on a Zoom call a couple of years ago. One of the church members accused me of teaching the occult. He repeated that accusation a couple of times during the conversation. Occult means hidden; I explained that I was hiding nothing. This is not a secret teaching. This is the Reality of God proclaimed daily by all creation from the beginning of the world. Yet it is seems to be hidden from people’s eyes.

Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God as like a treasure hidden in a field and like yeast hidden in a lump of dough or seed hidden in the ground.

Nondual Reality is right before our eyes, hidden in plain sight, but people do not see it. Jesus says in the Gospel of Thomas, “The Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, but people do not see it.” He says, “Recognize what is in front of your face, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest.” 

Ultimate Reality is right here right now. It is like a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, Jesus said. It is so obvious that people miss it. It is as plain as the nose on our face, as the saying goes. But we cannot see the nose on our face, can we? Until we find a way to turn around and look at ourselves – which is one of the meanings of repent – to spiritually look in the mirror and see who we really are. Then the truth is obvious. That is the hidden gospel of Jesus. This Truth is what Jesus is communicating in the Gospel of Thomas.