Date: May 1, 2014
To: Bible Study Group
For: Gospel of Thomas, Prologue and sayings 1 -11
Most of the info below is from LeLoup’s book, The Gospel of Thomas (published in French, 1986)(translated into English, 2005). LeLoup's numbering system is the same as that used in the New New Testament. In addition to the translation, LeLoup included a 2-3 page “commentary” after each of Jesus' sayings. He also included citations from our canonical Gospels so we can compare Jesus' words to the modern Bible. I have included his citations below. I thought they might be helpful to our study. I also included highlights of LeLoup's commentary.
Prologue: These are the veiled sayings . . .
1 Cor. 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Col. 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Mother’s Evening Prayer, by Mary Baker Eddy, 4th verse:
Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
“Lo, I am with you alway,” -----watch and pray.
Highlights of LeLoup's Commentary: Some would translate "apocryphal words" in the literal sense of the Greek word apokruphos, which simply means "hidden." But this prologue implies much more that: Yeshua [Jesus] has come to reveal to us the Words of the Secret of the Human and the Divine: God in human and human in God . . . the secret of Being and of Love. In the Gospel of Matthew he invites us to "pray to the Father who is there, in secret," and not to be rigid in our justice, like the Pharisees and hypocrites. The God of Love who dwells in the depths of human beingness is a secret, and it is from these hidden depths that we can act, think, and speak in true freedom.
Didymus Judas Thomas, the "twin" (didymos, in Greek), is Jesus' intimate friend who has compiled these words. They were written down by Thomas, which could mean the apostle himself during the time of Yeshua or perhaps another author who represented the lineage of Thomas. (According to later tradition, Thomas died in Madras, India, and his tomb is still venerated there today.) But what is important for us is to read these scriptures so as to come closer to the Word: to hear the voice and the secret of the Living One within us. p.60
Highlights of LeLoup's Commentary: Some would translate "apocryphal words" in the literal sense of the Greek word apokruphos, which simply means "hidden." But this prologue implies much more that: Yeshua [Jesus] has come to reveal to us the Words of the Secret of the Human and the Divine: God in human and human in God . . . the secret of Being and of Love. In the Gospel of Matthew he invites us to "pray to the Father who is there, in secret," and not to be rigid in our justice, like the Pharisees and hypocrites. The God of Love who dwells in the depths of human beingness is a secret, and it is from these hidden depths that we can act, think, and speak in true freedom.
Didymus Judas Thomas, the "twin" (didymos, in Greek), is Jesus' intimate friend who has compiled these words. They were written down by Thomas, which could mean the apostle himself during the time of Yeshua or perhaps another author who represented the lineage of Thomas. (According to later tradition, Thomas died in Madras, India, and his tomb is still venerated there today.) But what is important for us is to read these scriptures so as to come closer to the Word: to hear the voice and the secret of the Living One within us. p.60
1. Whoever finds the meaning . . . will not experience death.
(LeLoup translates this as: Whoever lives the interpretation of these words . . . will no longer taste death )
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
Highlights of LeLoup's Commentary: Hermeneutics, or the art of interpretation, implies something more than exegesis, which often limits itself to reconstructing the context of a scripture in order to explain its structure and meaning-----and forgets to look for the deeper Meaning.
Hermeneutists are thirsty for Meaning and are not as interested in the color and form of the water jug as they are in drinking at the Source that is accessible through the words. To be a hermeneutists in this sense means to live the interpretation of the logia of Yeshua [Jesus]. It means to become One-----if only for a moment-----with that Meaning.
This moment of unity awakens in us the Presence of the Uncreated and the taste of something beyond that which is composite and is therefore subject to decomposition-----in other words, the taste of something beyond death.
Yeshua has become the interpreter who lives the meaning of Love and Life through deeds as well as words. His exegesis was written not only through his teaching, but also with his flesh, his blood, his laughter, and his tears. Those who had eyes to see saw in him the Living One. p. 61-62
Highlights of LeLoup's Commentary: Hermeneutics, or the art of interpretation, implies something more than exegesis, which often limits itself to reconstructing the context of a scripture in order to explain its structure and meaning-----and forgets to look for the deeper Meaning.
Hermeneutists are thirsty for Meaning and are not as interested in the color and form of the water jug as they are in drinking at the Source that is accessible through the words. To be a hermeneutists in this sense means to live the interpretation of the logia of Yeshua [Jesus]. It means to become One-----if only for a moment-----with that Meaning.
This moment of unity awakens in us the Presence of the Uncreated and the taste of something beyond that which is composite and is therefore subject to decomposition-----in other words, the taste of something beyond death.
Yeshua has become the interpreter who lives the meaning of Love and Life through deeds as well as words. His exegesis was written not only through his teaching, but also with his flesh, his blood, his laughter, and his tears. Those who had eyes to see saw in him the Living One. p. 61-62
2. Let the one who seeks continue seeking until he finds . . .
Matthew 7:7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Mother’s Evening Prayer, by Mary Baker Eddy, 4th verse:
Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
“Lo, I am with you alway,” -----watch and pray.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary:
This logion describes the five stages in gnosis, which constitute a true initiatory process: the quest, discovery, shock and disturbance of this discovery, wonder and amazement, the presence and reign over All (i.e. sabbath or the great repose.) The recognition of Being troubles us and upsets us, for awakening to this dimension forces us to question our ordinary, so-called normal view of the world. p. 63
Hymn 136, 4th verse:
Till time and space and fear are naught
My quest shall never cease,
Thy presence ever goes with me
And Thou dost give me peace.
3. If those who lead you proclaim ‘The realm is in the sky,’ then the birds . . .
Matthew 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Mark 13:5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Romans 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Deut. 30:11 ¶ For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: “This Logion tells us that the Kingdom is the presence of the Spirit of God within us. It is no longer just the ego that rules us, with its memories, fears, and desires-----it is the beginning of the reign of the Living One within us. . . . to know ourselves is to discover that we are known.” p.67.
Hymn 136, 3rd verse:
I climb, with joy, the heights of Mind,
To soar o’er time and space;
I yet shall know as I am known
And see Thee face to face.
4. An old person will not hesitate to ask a small child of seven days . . . (and) . . . many who are first will be last . . . (and). . . they will come to be one alone.
Matthew 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Matthew 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Mark 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Luke 13:30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: “But no matter what our age is, no matter how heavy the weight of memories, this gospel invites us to remember the Divine Child within us, our unconditional core. By letting this Child live, we see the world through the fresh and joyous eyes of the Source.” p. 71.
re: first shall be last:
“This line is akin to the teaching of Lao-tzu, who advocated the art of being “useless” (i.e. not used)[“not used” by mortal mind?]. Masters of this art have no pretense of knowing anything; they simply look, content to be the calm witness of what is. True gnosis consists largely of a vast removal, ridding ourselves of encumbrances. We get rid of vain words and concepts so that the mind becomes like a clear mirror, like the look of a child, like the forgotten lake lost in the wilderness where no one swims, its water reflecting the moon impeccably, without a ripple.” p.72
Science & Health by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 298:8-24
What is termed material sense can report only a mor-
tal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can
Truth’s witness
bear witness only to Truth. To material sense,
the unreal is the real until this sense is corrected
by Christian Science.
Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, in‐
volves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, real‐
ity. Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in
matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense
of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never
reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal.
When the real is attained, which is announced by Science,
joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat. Spirit‐
ual ideas, like numbers and notes, start from Principle,
and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead
up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense
of being.
5. Recognize what is in front of you, and what is hidden from you will be revealed . . .
Matthew 4:22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Matthew 10:26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Luke 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
Highlights from LeLoup’s Commentary:
“Gnosis is not a system, not another ideology through which we are to interpret and understand the world. On the contrary, it means opening our eyes to what we are already looking at, right in front of us, not searching somewhere else.
Heaven, the Kingdom of God, are there where I am. As Meister Eckhart said, “The eye with which I see God is the eye with which God sees me: one eye, one vision, one knowledge, one love.”
Things are not hidden from themselves; they are open-----the veils hiding them are in the habits of our own vision, so crude, so overloaded with memories and assumptions about reality, distorting what is before us.
We know the story of Paul, of the day when the scales fell from his eyes and he saw the living Christ in the very people he had been persecuting. And on Mount Thabor, as the Byzantine tradition teaches, it was not Christ who was transformed, but rather the eyes of the disciples, who were finally able to see him truly. p. 73
6. Stop lying. Do not do that which is against your love.
Col. 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Eph. 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
James 3:14 But is ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Matthew 10:26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Highlights from LeLoup’s Commentary: “There exists a form of “spiritual materialism”, denounced by sages from all traditions. The ego is an extremely clever monkey indeed----it can make use of fasting, prayer, and alms in such a way as to feed and inflate itself and to confirm itself in its vanity.
This is what is meant by the usage of the term Pharisee in the Gospel of Thomas, as well as in the canonical gospels. It is the desire to appear righteous in the eyes of others while something is rotten inside. p. 75
7. Fortunate is the lion eaten by a human, for lion becomes human.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: In gnostic thought, the lion is more the ego or mental activity that stalks us, devouring our attention and our true identity, which is the Self.
Fortunate is the “little me” integrated into the Self, for it has found its true place.
Unfortunate is the person so devoured by ego (that “bundle of memories”, as Krishnamurti called it) that he forgets the Self. Then human becomes lion (egocentric): the ego-persona co-opts and devours everything in sight. p. 77.
8. The good fisherman and . . . one fine large fish. . .
Matthew 13:47-48 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which when full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Matthew 5:13
¶ Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Matthew 13:45
¶ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Luke 5:9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: Our intellect is more or less a finely women net with which we “capture” myriad things. The small fish symbolize the specialized knowledge of the arts and sciences. The big fish is the knowledge of Being.
Sooner or later on the gnostic path, a moment comes when we must throw back all the small fish. We must let go of all that vast array of information, for though not bad in itself, it often distracts us and, in any case, can teach us nothing about what is essential.
To keep the big fish is to deepen our self-knowledge, our knowledge of Being. It is to maintain the Presence of the One in the midst of multiplicity. p 78.
9. Once a sower went out and sowed a handful of seeds.
Gen 26:2 And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Deut. 28:38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Matthew 13:3
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mark 4:3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Luke 8:5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: This logion recalls the importance of the ground that receives the see.
The road symbolizes the typical, ordinary way of mankind, with all its distractions. When the creative seed is received by a dispersed, distracted consciousness, it cannot grow and thrive.
The self-knowledge of which the Gospel of Thomas speaks is not some form of introspection, some endless process of self-analysis that finally renders of sterile and inhibited. It is a state of nonjudgmental attention, without a “why?” as Meister Eckhart said.
Rocks, where the seed cannot take root, often symbolize hardness of heart in the Bible. The closed heart of “heart of stone,” is impervious to the creative code. p. 79-80.
10. I have sown fire . . . . and now I tend it to a blaze.
Luke 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: On the day of Pentecost the Spirit descended upon the disciples like flames. They caught fire and were illuminated by its Presence. Like the burning bush, they burned without being consumed. These flames symbolize the conscious love taught and revealed by Jesus Christ.
This fire is in us, smoldering beneath the ashes of our mediocrity, a hidden glow that awaits the Ruah (Hebrew for “spirit” or “breath”), the divine Breath, to burst into flame.
Then the fire can spread from us to those around us, until that ultimate day when the world will become like the burning bush, saturated with Presence. p. 81.
11.When you were One, you created two. But now that you are two, what will you do? When you are in the light, what will you do?
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 19:16 ¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Luke 3:10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
1 Cor. 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
Gen. 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Highlights of LeLoup’s Commentary: With this implacable reminder of impermanence, Jesus invites us to look for what does not pass, what is truly alive and cannot die: the Uncreated. It is not composed and cannot be decomposed. p. 82-83.
