Easter According to Thomas (Gospel of Thomas)

In this episode we look at Easter through the eyes of the apostle Thomas as found in the Gospel of Thomas. I contrast it with the canonical view of this apostle as “Doubting Thomas” as depicted in the famous story in the Gospel of John. We find that Thomas – like the apostle Paul -  had an understanding of the resurrection of Jesus as a spiritual experience that is beyond the physical senses and beyond the human mind to understand.  

In this episode I mention my book “The Evolution of Easter: How the Historical Jesus Became the Risen Christ.” Here is the link:

 https://www.amazon.com/EVOLUTION-EASTER-Historical-Became-Christ/dp/1983077143/ 

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Transcript

Today we look at Easter through the eyes of Thomas. We also look at the seventeenth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. The two are connected, as I will show. The first thing we notice when reading the Gospel of Thomas is that there is no Easter story. There is no resurrection account. 

That reveals how early the Gospel of Thomas is. The earliest canonical gospel, the Gospel of Mark, also has no resurrection account. Textual criticism reveals that an ending with a resurrection was added to the Gospel of Mark later. But the earliest ending of Mark has no resurrection appearances, only the empty tomb. It ends with the words, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” 

That is it. Silence. Not even a message by the women about resurrection; it says the woman “said nothing to anyone” about what the angel at the tomb said. The Gospel of Thomas shares that early approach. So does Q, which is the source for Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This shows how early the Gospel of Thomas really is. 

The earliest approach of Thomas and Q were only sayings of the historical Jesus. Then came narrative gospels with resurrection stories. First there is Mark, where there is an empty tomb and an angel saying Jesus had risen, but no resurrection appearances to anyone.  

The earliest account of a resurrection appearance of the risen Christ in the Bible is not found in the gospels but in the writings of the apostle Paul. In this famous resurrection chapter of First Corinthians, Paul gives the earliest account of Easter appearances.  

In that passage he includes stories that we do not find in the gospels. For example he says that Jesus appeared to James, Jesus’ brother, and to 500 people at one time. That is a story I wish we had in the gospels. Why don’t we have that mentioned in a gospel? Why was it left out? Paul says, “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles [meaning more than just the Twelve, which he mentioned earlier], and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” 

This appearance to Paul is the earliest written account and the only firsthand account that we have of a resurrection appearance. When the story of Jesus appearing to Paul is told later in the Book of Acts, we learn that it was not a bodily appearance. It was a spiritual appearance. Other people were with Paul at the time but saw nothing. Paul makes it very clear in this chapter that the resurrection of Jesus was spiritual, not physical. Paul says: 

“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ... I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” 

The earliest understanding of the resurrection of Jesus is that it was not flesh and blood. It was a visionary encounter, not a physical resuscitation of flesh and bones. Only later as the first generation of believers died off did the resurrection accounts become physical. This happened first in the gospels of Matthew and Luke and finally in the Gospel of John, which is the latest canonical gospel with the most physical appearance of all.  

I cannot go into further detail about this here. If you are interested you can read my book on the topic entitled “The Evolution of Easter: How the Historical Jesus Became the Risen Christ.” At one point I also called it “Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? I will put a link to it in the transcript and description of this episode. 

 https://www.amazon.com/EVOLUTION-EASTER-Historical-Became-Christ/dp/1983077143/ 

Here I am simply pointing out that the Resurrection of Jesus was not originally understood by the followers of Christ as physical. It evolved from spiritual, visionary encounters to a physical bodily resurrection.  

The apostle Thomas understood the resurrection as a spiritual experience. His gospel contrasted with the later approach that we find in Matthew and Luke. By the time the Gospel of John was being written, the physical theory was dominant. Thomas’ approach was seen as a threat. So after Thomas’s death someone created the story of Doubting Thomas. The church came up with the famous story of Thomas converting to the idea of a bodily resurrection. 

According to John’s gospel, the apostle Thomas was not present when the risen Christ appeared to the apostles. When Thomas heard about the resurrection, he said he would not believe unless he saw with his own eyes. He famously said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Thomas is depicted as one who will not believe in the physical resurrection. So John’s gospel provides proof. The story says: 

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

Thomas became an example of a Christian who did not believe in the physical resurrection but is convinced it was real. In other words he converted to the orthodox view.  In other words the church rewrote history by creating its own narrative. But it is “fake news” as they say. Not good news. It is church disinformation fabricated to suppress the message of the Gospel of Thomas and others who still held to the earliest understanding of the spiritual resurrection. Later they suppressed it even more by banning and burning the Gospel of Thomas.  

This is where the 17th saying in the Gospel of Thomas comes in.  In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart." This is Thomas’s view of resurrection.  

The Gospel of John has a resurrection that the eye can see and the hand can touch and the ear can ear hear. The Jesus in John’s gospel says, ‘Stop doubting and believe!” In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus said, "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart." 

What Jesus is talking about in the Gospel of Thomas is a mystical awareness of that what is beyond physical senses. He is talking about the Eternal Christ. The Logos, the Tao. This saying will sound familiar to Christians. It is quoted in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the same letter that contains the idea of a spiritual resurrection. In a chapter that talks about spiritual wisdom, Paul writes: 

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: 

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him— 

Paul says “as it is written” and then quotes this saying. Paul quotes The Gospel of Thomas! Of course, most Christians will not admit that. They say Paul is quoting from the Book of Isaiah. But when you look up that passage in Isaiah, it does not sound much like what Paul is quoting. The saying in the Gospel of Thomas is a much better fit. If Paul is not quoting Thomas, then both Paul and Thomas are both quoting from an unknown source.  

In any case this saying has to do with Easter! Easter is about the revelation of what no eye has seen, what no ear have heard, and what no human mind has conceived. Jesus says this is what he offers us. "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart." This is the Easter revelation. Call it resurrection if you want. Call it spiritual liberation from death. Call it spiritual awakening. Whatever you call it, this is Easter according to Thomas.