In a time when division runs rampant—even in the church—and believers shred each other publicly for differing opinions, one man bravely steps out to call Christians to unity in the One who binds them all together—Jesus Christ. Author Dr. James W. Walraven dares to suggest that Christians make wiser choices, forgive one another, and mature in their faith.
Walraven, author of Will God Save Everyone, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He suggests that though doctrines diverge, rather than separate over differences, Christians rally around the truth of the gospel—believers should treat others better than themselves. In a me-first, turbulent culture, the biblical call to love one another is almost a radical concept, but Walraven is convinced unity can be achieved.
“Spiritual maturity is critical when it comes to recognizing and resisting the many false teachings that are being promoted,” Walraven says. “As the world becomes increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith, the need for unity will be increasingly important.”
Dr. Walraven’s new book, One in Christ is written with strength through supporting Scriptures and other resources, yet with personal vulnerability, each chapter concludes with thought-provoking personal challenges designed to move believers closer to oneness in Christ.
What does the “Jesus” of “The Gospel of Thomas” teach? What does he proclaim? Will we find this “Jesus” teaching the same things as the biblical Jesus? All quotes are taken from: Dart, John and Ray Riegert. “The Gospel of Thomas: Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus.” Berkeley: Seastone, 2000.
The gospel starts (page 14): “These are the secret words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymus Judas Thomas wrote down.” One sees the Gnostic bent from the start: the book reveals secret wisdom known only to Gnostic teachers and their initiates.
There are roughly 70 sayings that parallel what Jesus said in the actual New Testament Gospels. Here is one (page 34): “If a blind man leads a blind man, both of them will fall into a ditch.”
That so many sayings parallel the New Testament Gospels helps “Thomas” have an appearance of legitimacy. It is therefore potentially easier to fool those who aren’t familiar with or reject portions of the New Testament Gospels.
There are many sayings unique to “Thomas.” For example (page 28):
“Jesus saw some infants being nursed and said to his disciples, ‘These children are like those who enter the kingdom.’ They said to him, ‘If we are children shall we enter the kingdom?’ Jesus said to them, ‘When you make the two one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male is not male and the female not female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, and an image in place of an image, then you shall enter the kingdom.’"
According to Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 8:1, prior to being split into separate male and female beings, Adam was an androgynous whole. We tend to think that the sexual identity issues our culture currently face are somehow new. Yet here in “Thomas,” with this saying, we see a blurring of male and female, with the male not being male and the female not being female. What does this “one” look like? The text doesn’t answer that question, leaving it open.
Page 55: “When you bring forth what is in you, what you have will save you. That which you do not have in you will kill you if you do not know it within you.”
What does this saying tell us? Salvation is something that we must possess and bring forth from within. It is not found outside of ourself. There is no biblical Jesus who died on the cross for our sins.
Here is another cryptic saying (page 63): “Adam came into existence from great power and great wealth yet was not worthy of you. For had he been worthy, he would not have tasted death.”
Adam is lost, not worthy of being redeemed. One can infer that since he wasn’t enlightened, he is forever lost.
The most controversial saying of all (page 114): “Simon Peter said to them, ‘Let Mary leave us, because women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘Look, I shall lead her so that I can make her male in order that she also may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
On one level, women will understandably find this saying extremely offensive. Yet on a different level, what the saying states has largely happened in our culture, with women in essence seeking to become like men (the reverse is arguably also true with the feminization of men).
One would think that “The Gospel of Thomas” would be rejected based on this last quote (the final saying in “Thomas”). But no, its denial of Jesus Christ is more important. Its move towards non-binary identity is arguably another key. Just as people do with the real Bible and a passage they don’t like, that last saying can be ignored.
Are any of these other sayings even remotely biblical? No. It is easy to understand why Gnostic writings like “The Gospel of Thomas,” along with the others we’ve briefly looked at, not to mention all the others, were excluded from Scripture. They are not biblical, go directly against what the genuine gospels teach, and are not from God. Rather, they are from a different spiritual source. They declare other gospels, gospels that are false, gospels that Scripture, particularly the book of Galatians, warn against and condemn.
In the next post, we will begin looking at the various books of Enoch.
The Gnostic writings: The Nag Hammadi find uncovered many gnostic writings.
They include among others: “The Secret Book of James,” the “Secret Book of John,” “The Gospel of Thomas,’ “The Gospel of Philip,” “The Revelation of Peter,” “The Gospel of Mary,” “The Acts of Peter,” and “The Gospel of Judas.” As noted in the previous post, those who seek to discredit Christianity wish that these writings would replace the biblical gospels.
Of these writings, “The Gospel of Thomas” is probably the most important. A copy of it was obtained by the Jesus Seminar, smuggled out of Egypt, and then published by them in "The Five Gospels." According to the Jesus Seminar, “The Gospel of Thomas” is the oldest and most authentic gospel.
In “The Five Gospels,” they are honest enough to admit their dishonest approach. They had already determined that Jesus was merely an illiterate peasant who uttered pithy sayings and got in trouble with both the religious and political leaders. As such, he never claimed to be God. Therefore, any text in the Gospels attributed to Jesus that indicated anything different, had to be by definition, later legendary additions by various Christian communities.
“Thomas” has none of that, and therefore it had to be the oldest most authentic gospel. Since in “Thomas,” Jesus mostly uttered pithy, often obscure, sayings, that helped cement its status. As we saw in the previous post, the historical and archeological evidence point to a much later compositional date than the biblical gospels. But, Jesus being both fully God and fully human is not an allowable option for these “scholars,” and therefore something else must be true.
As mentioned, of all the Gnostic writings, “Thomas” is probably the best known. But some of the others have been quite influential as well. In this brief overview, looking at all the Gnostic writings is not possible, but a couple will be mentioned briefly before we take a more detailed look at “Thomas.”
One of the famous passages from the Gnostic gospels comes from “The Gospel of Philip.” That passage states, and doesn’t state, due to holes (lacuna) in the manuscript: “And the companion of the […] Mary Magdalene [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her […] on her […].”
The idea that Jesus didn’t die, had children with Mary Magdalene, and Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” nonsense, stem in essence from that passage.
The most common reconstruction of that phrase is: “used to kiss her often on her mouth.” That is just a logical guess. No one knows the answer.
Another important Gnostic gospel is “The Gospel of Judas,” written probably around 150 AD. The hero of that gospel is, as expected, Judas Iscariot. In essence, Jesus gives secret information to Judas, information he alone understands. The other disciples believe in the false god, the demiurge. They will do all sorts of evil. Jesus tasks Judas with betraying him. While Judas will be reviled, even killed by the other disciples, he will ultimately be vindicated.
In 2008, Peter Rollins wrote, “The Fidelity of Betrayal,” a book built upon the “Gospel of Judas.” It it, he states that the best way to honor and maintain fidelity to Jesus is by betraying him.
Rollins’ book became a key work within the emergent/progressive church, helping birth pyrotheology (an incendiary system that emphasizes approaching life by faith, but minus belief in anything) Pyrotheology is another key within progressive Christianity. One recently recommended practice was to encourage people to give up God for Lent, to embrace atheism (pyrotheology is a form of religious nihilism).
The Gnostic gospels have significantly impacted our contemporary culture. As we will see in the next post, arguably in some ways, “Thomas” is even worse.
Unfortunately, I need to take a few days away from doing this blog. Due to my lack of eyesight, I fell (again) yesterday. I was out walking, doing errands, and the town that I live in has almost no sidewalks. Where the edge of the pavement meets the dirt, those last couple of inches have about a 45 degree angle or so. I didn’t realize I was right at that edge, planted my foot right on that angle, and although I didn’t roll my ankle, I still fell. The good news is that as far as I can tell, nothing is broken. But, when playing the falling game which I not so humorously refer to as “kiss the concrete,” the concrete always wins. So I am fairly beat up. It is just one of the realities I occasionally have to deal with due to my minimal eyesight.
Hopefully, I’ll only miss a couple of regularly scheduled blog entries, and will resume the series “Extra-Biblical Books?” shortly.
I apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause. Prayers would be appreciated.