The Rarity of Nondual Christian Teaching (The Gospel of Thomas)

In this episode I am exploring sayings 38 and 39 in the Gospel of Thomas. Both have parallels in the canonical gospels, but not exactly. Once again context – or more exactly lack of context – is an important factor in the interpretation of these sayings of Jesus. I will read the sayings in Thomas for you.

Jesus said, "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me."

Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so. As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."

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Transcript

In this episode I am exploring sayings 38 and 39 in the Gospel of Thomas. Both have parallels in the canonical gospels, but not exactly. Once again context – or more exactly lack of context – is an important factor in the interpretation of these sayings of Jesus. I will read the sayings in Thomas for you.

Jesus said, "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me."

Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so. As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."

The first saying has a parallel in the Gospel of John. That is very interesting. It is rare to find parallels to anything in the Gospel of John. It tells us that both Thomas and John were drawing upon the same oral or written sources. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is presumably speaking to his disciples. In the Gospel of John Jesus speaks these words to the Pharisees, chief priests and temple guards who had been sent to arrest him. Here is the passage in John:

When the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus, they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him. So Jesus said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me. You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 

At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go that we will not find Him? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

So there was confusion about what Jesus means by these words. Usually when interpreting these words in the church, the emphasis is that Jesus came from the Father and is returning to the Father. So it is thought to mean his forthcoming death. Thomas never talks about Jesus’ death or this resurrection or second coming or ascension, for that matter. For Thomas it is all about what is realized here now. 

In Thomas Jesus says, “Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them.” To clarify this, similar words are found in the Gospel of Luke. “Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Thomas is reinterpreting a saying that was usually interpreted to mean his death and changed it to emphasize the rarity of this type of teaching that Jesus is giving. And in the Gospel of Thomas that is the nondual Kingdom of God.  "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me."

Jesus is saying that he is the only one teaching this type of nondual teaching. Of course, he is talking about his time and place. He was the only one teaching this in first century Israel. It is rare to find anyone teaching this in Christian circles or even now. It is rare to find any Christian teaching the nondual message of Jesus. There are nondual teachers in other traditions, but in the Christian tradition it is rare. 

Apparently, it was rare even in Thomas’ day. As I have explained before, the gospel of the nondual Kingdom of God was taught by Jesus but was nearly lost after Jesus’ death. Those who took control of the early Christian movement  in the first century – specifically James and Paul and their theological followers – taught a dualistic gospel that Jesus would not have recognized. But gratefully there were some apsotles like John and Thomas and others who were falsely called heretics and gnostics, who continued in the tradition of Jesus. 

This interpretation of saying 38 is confirmed in what Jesus says in the next saying. number 39. Here it is again: Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so. As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."

Originally Jesus was referring to the Pharisees and Jewish scribes of his day. But when Thomas was recording this in his gospel, Thomas likely had in mind those Christians who were following in the way of the scribes and Pharisees. He was thinking of the pharisaic and legalist Christian leaders, like James and Paul. 

In the Book of Acts, when Paul is called before the Sanhedrin, he says, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees.” He was a scholar, a student of Gamaliel. When Thomas recorded Jesus’ words “The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them,” I think he has in mind the apostles Paul and James, who were not disciples of Jesus and led Christianity away from the teachings of Jesus.

The early church was given this wonderful gift of the teaching of the nondual kingdom of God and they were not passing it on. Instead they were substituting another gospel. In the words of Jesus here, they had taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. The Greek word for knowledge is gnosis. This is not later Gnosticism that got sidetracked into mythologies and genealogies. This is the original knowledge of the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus.

Imagine that picture Jesus is painting. The 12 apostles were given the keys of the Kingdom, the keys to the Father’s house, and instead of opening the door and pointing people to it and inviting people in, they were hiding the keys so that people could not enter the Kingdom of God. They refused to go in, and they were not allowing people who wanted to enter to go in. In later years the Church did this by banning gospels like The Gospel of Thomas and others found in Nag Hammadi, burning gospels and epistles that did not agree with the official church teaching. 

Jesus ends with the words: “As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves." This is a variation on the familiar canonical saying “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Jesus – and Thomas – were saying, “Watch out! Not everyone who says they are passing on the teachings of Jesus really are. You must spiritually discern who is pointing to the door into the Kingdom and who is trying to keep you out. That is as true in the Christian Church today as it was when the Gospel of Thomas was written.