Gospels of Thomas and Philip and Truth - Syriac Christian Church

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Alexandria (circa 150211 AD) in his Stromata (Patches)— but without explicit attribution to Thomas. Then 100 years ago at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, there were discovered a few fragments of what we now know to be a prior Greek version of Thomas, datable by paleography as follows: PapOx 1 Th 26-33 77 200 AD PapOx 654 Th Prolog 1-7 250 AD PapOx 655 Th 36-39 250 AD —see Biblio.10. The more recent discovery of the Coptic version of Thomas has finally made this Gospel available in its entirety. Yet further evidence, such as the asyndeton in logion 6, reveals an underlying Semitic source document (see Guillamont, Recent Scholarly Comments). As indicated in the press release reprinted below, almost all biblical scholars who have been studying this document since its first publication have now concluded that Thomas should be accepted as an authentic fifth Gospel, of an authority parallel to John and the Synoptics. It is particularly to be noted that several of the logia in Thomas (12 24 28 37) are evidently post-resurrection sayings. The Gospel of Philip— as can be inferred from its entries 51 82 98 101 137— was composed at least in part after 70 AD by Philip called the Evangelist (not the Apostle), who appears in the Book of Acts at 6:1-6 8:4-40 21:8-14. There is no known previous reference to or citation of this complex scripture, which is an elegant series of reflections on the Abrahamic tradition, on Israel and the (incarnate) Messiah, whilst elaborating a metaphysic of Spiritual Idealism. The Gospel of Truth was composed in about 150 AD by Valentine, the famous saint of Alexandria (born circa 100 AD). A continuous interwoven meditation on the Logos, it was scarcely mentioned in antiquity— and until the Nag Hammadi discovery not even a phrase from this noble composition was known to have survived. (A preliminary version of another text from the Nag Hammadi library, which may also be by Valentine: 4
www.metalog.org/files/supremacy.html.) In the early years following the discovery of these documents, and before they could be given sufficiently careful scrutiny by scholars, it was commonplace for them collectively to be labeled ‘gnostic’ (see e.g. Grant & Freedman [1960], in Recent Scholarly Comments). This has always been a generic term for the Mediterranean mixture of essentially anti-sensory religious movements of the early centuries AD, and so was at first unfortunately considered a convenient category in which to place all of the diverse Nag Hammadi writings. Subsequent investigation has shown, however, that neither Thomas nor Philip nor the Gospel of Truth can correctly be labeled gnostic, as they each explicitly affirm the reality of our physical incarnations in their historic ambiance (including, most notably, the crucifixion): ‘Gnosticism’— whether Oriental, Platonic, Mystery-Religion or Theosophical— by definition considers the perceptible universe (including our own incarnate lives as well as all human history, Biblical or otherwise) to be inherently illusory and hence malignant. The unequivocal Old Testament view, on the other hand— which Christ in the canonical Gospels most certainly accepted— was that the entire realm of the five senses is neither unreal nor evil, but rather divinely created and good: so, among countless examples, Gen 1:31 (‘everything that He had made ... was very good’) and Lk 24:39 (‘flesh and bones as ... I have’). A careful reading of the three Coptic Gospels makes it abundantly clear that they are unequivocally within this quite un-gnostic Biblical tradition; see Comm.1, below. The New Testament canons of the Western (Catholic/Protestant), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian and Syrian/Nestorian Churches all differ significantly from one another— and even these were under dispute within the various branches of Christianity until many centuries AD; previously there were only widely diverse opinions recorded by various individuals well after the Apostolic era, regarding not only today's commonly accepted works but also such writings as the Epistle of 5
Page 1 and 2: Metalogos’ The Gospels of Thomas
Page 3: Introduction In December of 1945 tw
Page 7 and 8: as the original Gospel Messianics w
Page 9 and 10: Establishment— whether political,
Page 11 and 12: Somsel); also in MSWord print versi
Page 13 and 14: www.metalog.org. 20. ‘The History
Page 15 and 16: (www.metalog.org/files/tpb/sabbath.
Page 17 and 18: the words of Jesus contained in our
Page 19 and 20: contains ... four parables which ar
Page 21 and 22: the year 140 AD, and could date fro
Page 23 and 24: These are the secret sayings° whic
Page 25 and 26: together?’; ³the Qur’án 27:75
Page 27 and 28: sick among them. For what goes into
Page 29 and 30: act feminine, when you establish [a
Page 31 and 32: 33. Yeshua says: What thou shall he
Page 33 and 34: 45. Yeshua says: They do not harves
Page 35 and 36: 55. Yeshua says: Whoever does not h
Page 37 and 38: invites thee. He replied to him: My
Page 39 and 40: 77. Yeshua says: I-Am the Light who
Page 41 and 42: 89. Yeshua says: Why do you wash th
Page 43 and 44: nor does he allow the oxen to eat.
Page 45 and 46: evolving after the invasion of Alex
Page 47 and 48: Image/Imagery (22 50 83 84): Gk Ε
Page 49 and 50: Sabbath (27): Heb tb# (shabat: repo
Page 51 and 52: Yeshua (Prologue et passim): Aram (
Page 53 and 54: you.’) 9. The light with the dark
Page 55 and 56:
it had no wheat as food for humanki
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Logos; and his blood is the Sacred
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are born. Therefore we also are mot
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have found his sons to be noble for
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(Isa 44:9-20!, Ph 14) 55. Vessels o
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65. (Among) the unclean spirits the
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28 58) 72. The truth did not come u
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80. Thru the Sacred Spirit we are i
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the Sovereignty of the Heavens, whi
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on that which he had planted. His h
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custom drink this, we shall receive
Page 77 and 78:
the Union° is the recognition. The
Page 79 and 80:
and sun and wind bring on the flowe
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woman mate with each other, except
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that visible beings are thus weak a
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eternal. And it is thus revealed to
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Shorter Oxford English Dictionary,
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thereafter in Mesopotamia. Joseph t
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Disciple, one of the Seven and auth
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1. The Gospel of Truth is joy for t
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8. Thus he became a reposeful and l
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whither he is going. He understands
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drawn to cut this way and that as e
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27. Then the moment comes when thos
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35. Thus strength grows in action.
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compassion of the Father who will h
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Father is the Son. How otherwise wo
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speaking the perfect light which is
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(1) Are the Coptic Gospels Gnostic?
Page 114 and 115:
It would merely beg the question to
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This allusion strongly conveys a ma
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It will be of value to list here th
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III Philip 46 is thus a logion whic
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composed of God’s imagination. VI
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structure of [Mahayana] Buddhist ph
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4.3 the ego is within its imagery (
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excerpts suffice to show that what
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The Gospels stipulate that those wo
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The Gospels endorse John's Baptism
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Pauline Church— which indeed has
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epose? Tales from the Old French,
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he did not know that he was dead [J
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opinion of St Paul, all things cons
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teachings set forth in the Gospel o
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Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth
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celibacy indeed entered Christianit
Page 148 and 149:
Bertrand Russell, ‘An Outline of
Page 150 and 151:
William D. Davies, ‘Paul and Jewi
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primary, but rather a Jewish Christ
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doomed to disappointment.... The Bi
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ejecting the [Mosaic] law.... Paul
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Jon Sobrino, Jesus Christ Liberator
Page 160 and 161:
individual deeds. || One might refl
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fitting teacher for flesh and blood
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Gospels of Thomas and Philip and Truth - Syriac Christian Church

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