Analysis of the Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas was written before the year 200 and is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus. The author is believed to be Judas who is Jesus’ younger brother. The riddles presented in this text are portrayed as having some divine power for “whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death” (1). One saying is followed by another saying without a narrative component. The parables do not predict any upcoming cosmic event such as the future coming of the Son of Man (Koester, intro. 125). Despite that, the Gospel of Thomas greatly resembles the hypothetical Q source. Some parables contained in this text parallel those found in the Synoptic Gospels. The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the sower are two such parallels. Also, the Gospel of Thomas concentrates more on the power and divinity behind Jesus rather than on the characteristics of Jesus. Jesus seems to talk to his disciples in the voice of heavenly Wisdom (Koester, INT 153). Thus, the important issue of this gospel is the knowledge and wisdom of the sayings.

Contained in the Gospel of Thomas are many parables and sayings that parallel those found in the Synoptic Gospels. This begs the question if the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas were using the same source. It is probable that these gospels were using Q. The Q document is a collection of Jesus’ sayings that are thought to have been assembled between about 50 and 70 (Harris, UTB 359). If the gospels used the Q document, this explains the parallelism. One such parallel is the parable of the mustard seed. When describing the kingdom of heaven in The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, “It is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky” (20). Similarly, in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus also compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32, Matthew 13:31-32, and Luke 13:18-19). This is only one such example in a plethora of parallels.