Non-believers often question the authenticity of the Bible. It is common to hear the assertion that the Church suppressed letters and books which supposedly contain scandalous information about Jesus that the Church wanted to hide. Of all these ‘suppressed’ Gospels, the most often mentioned is 'The Gospel of Thomas’.
Determining the canon
In 1945, farmers in Nag Hammadi, Egypt discovered a buried earthenware jar containing ancient manuscripts. Among the cache of texts was one that begins, ‘These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down,’ and ends with ‘The Gospel According to Thomas.’
To explain why ‘The Gospel According to Thomas’ is not in the Bible we must first know why the other books are part of the New Testament. It is not true to say that the Church decided which books comprised the canon. While the human process was lengthy and flawed, the formation of the canon was a matter of God’s helping the Church to recognise what he had already determined.
Only after a lengthy process of debate and decision-making was the New Testament canon of 27 books finally settled. The Councils of Hippos (393) and Carthage (397) both accepted the present canon. This was at least two and a half centuries after the appearance of the Gospel of Thomas which was known by the Church Fathers and rejected as an authentic gospel with good reason.
While the human process was lengthy and flawed, the formation of the canon was a matter of God’s helping the Church to recognise what He had already determined.
Tests of approval
Basically, there were three criteria to be fulfilled in determining the canon of Scripture: apostolic origin, orthodox doctrine and universal acceptance.
Apostolic Origin. Christ gave the apostles the task of preserving his teaching and taking it to all the world (Matt 28:16-20). To be included in the canon, a book had to be linked to an apostle or to someone who had seen the risen Jesus and had heard his teaching in person. Some of the books were written by the apostles themselves, others by close companions, or, like Hebrews, are based on eyewitness testimony (Heb 2:3).
Orthodox Doctrine. Many early documents claimed to teach Christian doctrine. It was imperative to winnow out the orthodox from the erroneous. Any document contradicting the accepted teaching of the apostles was rejected. Before the New Testament was codified, the apostles’ teaching was transmitted orally. Oral transmission within cultures that practise it has been shown to be very accurate — not like ‘Chinese Whispers’ to which it is sometimes compared.
Universal Acceptance. Some non-canonical books may have been helpful and doctrinally correct. However, to be recognised as canonical, a book had to have broad-based acceptance and recognition of its authoritative nature across the Christian world. Letters written by Paul to churches in Asia Minor were saved, copied, and circulated all over the civilised world, and Christians everywhere recognised their authoritative nature. This is what we would expect if God was involved in the process of determining the canon.
To be recognised as canonical, a book had to have broad-based acceptance and recognition of its authoritative nature across the Christian world.
We accept by faith that the canon is correct; however, it is not blind faith. The early Church had very clear ideas about the formation of the canon, and today’s Christians can affirm their decisions. They were certainly in a better position than we to make this judgement.
Does Thomas pass the tests?
Does the Gospel of Thomas pass the tests of the early church?
Apostolic authority. It is generally agreed that Thomas was written in the middle of the second century, long after the apostles had died. The Gospel of Thomas relies on large parts of the New Testament. It quotes, or alludes to, all four Gospels, as well as Acts, most of Paul’s letters, and Revelation. Only someone who had access to all these works could compile this book. It is apparent that The Gospel of Thomas piggybacks on these earlier authentic writings.
Orthodox Doctrine. The text reflects a type of the Gnostic heresy not prevalent until mid-second century. Gnosticism taught that the god who created the world was evil, and by extension, his entire creation was too. Salvation, then, was the liberation of the soul from the physical realm into a spiritual realm. This salvation could be obtained only through a secret knowledge (gnosis in Greek).
The Gospel of Thomas is clearly Gnostic, emphasising learning the secrets of Jesus. The prologue begins, ‘These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke.’ Moreover, the first saying states, ‘Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.’
Gnosticism taught that the god who created the world was evil, and by extension, his entire creation was too. Salvation, then, was the liberation of the soul from the physical realm into a spiritual realm.
Unlike the canonical Gospels, Thomas doesn’t follow a narrative structure telling of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection. Instead, Thomas contains 114 esoteric sayings of Jesus, purportedly containing the secrets Jesus taught his disciples.
Universal Acceptance. There’s no evidence to suggest any part of the Church accepted Thomas. Lacking apostolic authority and divine qualities, the early Church had no reason to consider it Scripture. Thomas was never included in any of the early discussions or canonical lists. In all the debates, only the four Gospels were mentioned. Thomas was so obviously ‘uninspired’ literature it wasn’t even up for discussion. The early historian Eusebius, for example, includes Thomas in his ‘heretical books’ section and suggests that it ‘ought not to be reckoned even among the spurious books but discarded as impious and absurd.’
The Gospel of Thomas wasn’t rejected because it contained true information the Church wished to hide. It wasn’t backed by apostolic authority. Its contents contradict the orthodox texts. And the Church never even came close to considering it as authoritative. We can trust that the New Testament we have is the authentic written Word of God.
