The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, found buried in an Egyptian jar in 1945. It has no birth story, no miracles, and no crucifixion. It asks one thing of you: look inside. This guide explains what it is, where it came from, and what it teaches.
Key Takeaways
- The Gospel of Thomas is a list of 114 sayings of Jesus. It is not a story about his life.
- A complete Coptic copy was found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Greek fragments were found earlier at Oxyrhynchus.
- Its central idea: the kingdom of God is not a place or a future event. It is something to be recognized within you.
- About half of its sayings echo the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The rest are new, or unfamiliar to most readers.
- Scholars still debate its date. Estimates run from the middle of the first century to the middle of the second.
- It was never part of the New Testament, and you should read it as a window into early Christian diversity, not as a replacement for anything.
- Roughly half of the sayings have parallels in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and a few parables appear only in Thomas.
- A 14-day reading plan below helps you read it as a practice, not just a curiosity.
In This Guide
- What Is the Gospel of Thomas?
- How the Gospel of Thomas Was Found
- When Was It Written, and Who Wrote It?
- What Does the Gospel of Thomas Teach?
- Key Sayings and What They Mean
- How It Differs From the Four Gospels
- Is the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?
- Why Was It Left Out of the Bible?
- Watch and Listen on NLS TV
- How to Read It for Yourself
- Gospel of Thomas Timeline
- The Nag Hammadi Library: What Else Was in the Jar?
- Twelve More Sayings Worth Slowing Down For
- Parallels With Matthew, Mark, and Luke
- Thomas and the Gospel of John
- What Modern Scholars Debate
- Common Misunderstandings
- Which Translation Should You Read?
- A 14-Day Practice for Reading Thomas
- Listen: Conversations on Jesus’ Hidden Teachings
- Books to Go Deeper
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Go Deeper: The True Teachings of Jesus
What Is the Gospel of Thomas?
The Gospel of Thomas is an early Christian text made almost entirely of short sayings, or logia, that it attributes to Jesus. It opens by naming its author as Didymos Judas Thomas, and it promises that anyone who finds the meaning of these sayings will not taste death.
What makes it unusual is what is missing. There is no birth in Bethlehem, no healing of the sick, no trial, and no resurrection. There is only the teaching, delivered in riddles, parables, and short, sharp statements. The reader is asked to wrestle with each one.
It belongs to a group of writings that were left out of the Bible. For the wider picture of those lost texts, see our guide to the true teachings of Jesus and the lost gospels.
How the Gospel of Thomas Was Found
In December 1945, a farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt dug up a sealed clay jar. Inside were thirteen ancient books, bound in leather, written in Coptic. One of them contained a complete copy of the Gospel of Thomas.
The text was not entirely new to scholars. Decades earlier, in the 1890s and early 1900s, archaeologists digging at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt had pulled up Greek papyrus fragments of unknown sayings of Jesus. After Nag Hammadi, researchers realized those fragments were pieces of the same gospel, in its original language.
The Coptic copy dates to about the fourth century. The Greek original is thought to be much older.
When Was It Written, and Who Wrote It?
Nobody knows for certain. The name Thomas is almost certainly a literary attribution, not a signature. Two broad views exist:
- An early date. Some scholars place the earliest layer of the collection in the second half of the first century, close in time to the canonical Gospels.
- A later date. Others place it in the early to mid second century, as a text that drew on the Gospels already in circulation.
Because the question is still open, it is wise to treat any confident claim, in either direction, with caution. What we can say is that the text was read, copied, and valued by some early Christian communities.
What Does the Gospel of Thomas Teach?
Read as a whole, the sayings return to a handful of ideas again and again.
| Theme | What the sayings point to |
|---|---|
| The kingdom is within | The kingdom is not far off in the sky or in the future. It is present, inside and all around you, and most people fail to see it. |
| Knowing yourself | To know yourself is to know where you come from. Ignorance of the self is a kind of poverty. |
| Seeking and finding | Seek, and keep seeking. Finding brings trouble first, then wonder, then rest. |
| Bringing forth what is within | What you bring forth from within you can save you. What you do not bring forth can destroy you. |
| Becoming one | Making two into one, the inner like the outer, is the doorway into the kingdom. |
| Light in the world | There is a light within a person of light, and it lights the whole world. |
If these ideas sound familiar, it is because they echo what mystics in many traditions have said. They also line up with the heart of what we explore in The Hidden Teachings of Jesus Christ.
Key Sayings and What They Mean
The Kingdom Is Inside You and Outside You
One of the best known sayings says that the kingdom is inside you and also outside you, and that those who come to know themselves will find it. The point is a shift in where you look. You are not waiting for rescue. You are asked to wake up.
Split a Piece of Wood
Another saying says that if you split a piece of wood, Jesus is there, and if you lift a stone, you will find him. Many readers hear a mystical view of presence in all things. Others read it as a statement about the sacred hiding in ordinary matter.
What You Bring Forth
The saying about bringing forth what is within you is often quoted today. It treats your inner life as something that must be expressed, not buried. It places responsibility on you, not on an outside authority.
The Kingdom Is Spread Out Upon the Earth
The final stretch of the book says the kingdom is already spread out over the earth and people do not see it. This is the clearest statement of Thomas as a text about perception rather than belief.
How It Differs From the Four Gospels
| Matthew, Mark, Luke, John | Gospel of Thomas | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | Narrative story of Jesus’ life | List of sayings with almost no story |
| Death and resurrection | Central to the message | Not mentioned |
| Salvation | Through faith in Jesus’ death and rising | Through insight and self-knowledge |
| The kingdom | Coming, and also present | Present now, hidden in plain sight |
| Status | Part of the New Testament | Not part of the New Testament |
Neither view needs to cancel the other. Many readers use Thomas as a companion to the Gospels, not a rival.
Is the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?
This is debated. The text was found alongside books that are clearly Gnostic, and some of its language about light, origins, and returning to the source fits that world. But it lacks the elaborate creation myths of fully Gnostic works. Some scholars call it Gnostic, some call it proto-Gnostic, and some argue it belongs to a separate strand of early Christian wisdom teaching.
A fair summary: Thomas shares a mood with Gnostic writing, an emphasis on inner knowing over belief, without clearly sharing its whole system.
Why Was It Left Out of the Bible?
By the fourth century, church leaders had settled on a list of books for the New Testament. Thomas did not make it. Reasons commonly given include its late or uncertain origin, its lack of a narrative of Jesus’ death and rising, and its use by groups that church leaders considered outside the mainstream. The jar at Nag Hammadi is often thought to have been buried when such books were being discouraged.
Watch and Listen on NLS TV
If you want to see this world of hidden Christian history brought to life, start here:
- The Forgotten Christ
- The Vatican Files: The Bible’s Secret History
- Mystic Christianity
- Marketing the Messiah, a documentary on how the image of Jesus was shaped over time
How to Read It for Yourself
- Read slowly. Take one saying a day. Do not rush to a conclusion.
- Sit with the riddle. The text expects confusion at first.
- Ask what it says about you. The sayings are addressed to a reader who is looking.
- Compare with the Gospels. Notice what is similar, and what is new.
- Journal what surprises you. Those are the places to go deeper.
To make this a practice, not a one-time read, explore NLS Mastery.
Gospel of Thomas Timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| First century | Jesus’ sayings circulate by word of mouth and in early written collections. |
| Late 1st to mid 2nd century | The Gospel of Thomas is composed, possibly in stages, in Greek. The exact date is debated. |
| About 200 CE | Greek fragments of Thomas are copied at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. |
| 4th century | The Coptic translation is copied into a codex. Church leaders fix the New Testament list. |
| 1897 and 1903 to 1904 | Grenfell and Hunt dig up the Oxyrhynchus papyri containing unknown sayings. |
| 1945 | The Nag Hammadi jar is found, including the full Coptic Gospel of Thomas. |
| 1977 | The Nag Hammadi library is published in a single English edition, opening it to the general public. |
That last date matters. For most of the twentieth century, the Gospel of Thomas was a scholars’ text. Only in the last few decades has it reached ordinary readers, which is why many people still find it surprising.
The Nag Hammadi Library: What Else Was in the Jar?
The Gospel of Thomas did not travel alone. The jar held thirteen leather-bound codices containing more than fifty texts. Many were previously known only from the writings of church leaders who attacked them. Among the works found:
- The Gospel of Philip, with reflections on sacred union and inner transformation.
- The Gospel of Truth, a meditation on knowing the divine.
- The Apocryphon of John, a creation account central to Gnostic thought.
- The Thunder, Perfect Mind, a poem spoken in the voice of a feminine divine presence.
- The Dialogue of the Savior, a conversation between Jesus and his disciples.
Seen together, these books show that early Christianity was much more varied than later tradition suggests. Thomas sits in the middle of that variety.
Twelve More Sayings Worth Slowing Down For
The numbers below follow the standard numbering of the 114 sayings. We paraphrase them here instead of quoting any one translation, so read a full translation alongside this list.
- Saying 1. Finding the meaning of these sayings is the way past death. The promise is placed at the very start.
- Saying 2. The seeker keeps seeking until they find. Finding troubles them, then astonishes them, and then they reign over all things. It describes a path with three stages.
- Saying 22. Infants taking milk are like those who enter the kingdom. To enter, you must make the two into one, the inside like the outside, and the above like the below.
- Saying 29. Spirit coming into a body is a wonder. But the spirit living in poverty is a greater wonder still, because the real treasure is the inner one.
- Saying 42. A short instruction to become passersby. Many readers hear a call to non-attachment.
- Saying 50. If asked where you come from, say you came from the light. It points to an origin beyond the visible world.
- Saying 70. Bring forth what is within you and it will save you. If you do not, it will destroy you.
- Saying 77. Jesus calls himself the light above all things, and says that wood and stone hold his presence.
- Saying 83. Images are visible to people, but the light within them is hidden by the image of the Father’s light.
- Saying 108. Whoever drinks from his mouth becomes as he is, and hidden things are revealed to them.
- Saying 113. The kingdom does not come with signs to watch for. It is already spread across the earth, and people do not see it.
- Saying 114. The final saying is the most debated. Peter asks that Mary leave, and Jesus replies that he will lead her so that she becomes a living spirit. Readers disagree sharply about what it means.
Parallels With Matthew, Mark, and Luke
Roughly half of the sayings have close or loose parallels in the first three Gospels. Some well-known examples:
| Teaching | In Thomas | Also in |
|---|---|---|
| The sower | Saying 9 | Matthew, Mark, Luke |
| The mustard seed | Saying 20 | Matthew, Mark, Luke |
| The leaven | Saying 96 | Matthew, Luke |
| The lost sheep | Saying 107 | Matthew, Luke |
| The pearl | Saying 76 | Matthew |
| The hidden treasure | Saying 109 | Matthew |
There are also parables found only in Thomas. In saying 97, a woman carries a jar of meal, the handle breaks, and the meal spills out along the road without her noticing. In saying 98, a man tests his strength by driving a sword through a wall before a real fight. Both are short stories about preparation, loss, and inner readiness.
Thomas and the Gospel of John
Scholar Elaine Pagels has argued, in her book Beyond Belief, that the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas may represent two answers to the same question: how do we know the divine? In John, Jesus is the unique gateway, and belief in him is the way. In Thomas, Jesus points to a light that every person carries.
She also notes the figure of “doubting Thomas” in John’s Gospel and asks whether this is a quiet critique of Thomas’ followers. That is her argument, and other scholars disagree. It is worth reading both sides.
What Modern Scholars Debate
- Date. Early scholars of Thomas, such as Helmut Koester, argued for an early date. Others argue it depends on the Gospels.
- Layers. April DeConick has proposed that Thomas grew over time, starting with a small core of sayings and expanding as communities added to it.
- Sayings source. Thomas looks like the hypothetical “Q” source, a lost collection of sayings used by Matthew and Luke. This has made it important to scholars studying how the Gospels came about.
- The Jesus Seminar. The 1993 book The Five Gospels included Thomas next to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as evidence for the historical Jesus.
- Gnostic or not. As covered above, this remains open.
No single reading wins out. That uncertainty is part of what makes the text alive.
Common Misunderstandings
- “It was a secret Gospel kept hidden by the church.” It was lost for centuries, and church leaders did exclude it, but it was not a single secret document. It was one of many writings in circulation.
- “It proves the Bible is wrong.” It does not. It shows a different early voice.
- “Thomas the apostle wrote it.” Most scholars doubt this.
- “It is just Gnostic nonsense.” That dismisses a serious, complex text.
- “It replaces the Gospels.” Few readers use it that way.
Which Translation Should You Read?
Because the Coptic text is hard, translation matters. A few widely read options:
- Marvin Meyer. Readable, with helpful notes and the Greek fragments included.
- Thomas O. Lambdin. The translation used in the standard Nag Hammadi Library in English.
- April DeConick. A translation tied to her theory that the text grew in layers.
If you are new to it, start with Meyer. Read the whole thing once straight through, then go back saying by saying.
A 14-Day Practice for Reading Thomas
Reading Thomas as a one-time curiosity misses the point. It is built to be returned to. Try this for two weeks:
- Days 1 to 3. Read sayings 1 to 10 slowly. Write down which one irritates you.
- Days 4 to 7. Read sayings 11 to 40. Pick one and carry it all day.
- Days 8 to 10. Read sayings 41 to 80. Look for places you feel a pull of recognition.
- Days 11 to 13. Read sayings 81 to 113. Ask what each is asking you to see.
- Day 14. Read saying 114 and sit with it. Write a page on what changed.
Meditation, journaling, and quiet reflection all pair well with this text. If you want guidance on building an inner practice, explore the courses and live teachings in NLS Mastery.
Listen: Conversations on Jesus’ Hidden Teachings
- The Vatican Banned the Book of Enoch and Other Teachings with Paul Wallis
- Jesus’ True Teachings Found in Lost Texts with Billy Carson
- Secret Truth of Jesus’ Teachings with Betty Kovács
- Former Catholic Priest Reveals Jesus’ Mystical Lost Years with Fr. Sean O’Laoire
Books to Go Deeper
- The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus A readable translation with scholarly commentary by Marvin Meyer.
- Beyond Belief Elaine Pagels on the Gospel of Thomas and why it was set aside.
- The Gnostic Gospels A classic introduction to the Nag Hammadi library.
- The Nag Hammadi Scriptures The full Nag Hammadi collection in one volume.
- The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation A scholarly translation with a theory that the text grew in layers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Gospel of Thomas in Simple Terms?
It is an early Christian text made of 114 short sayings attributed to Jesus. It has no story of his life, only his teachings, many of them riddles about knowing yourself and finding the kingdom within.
Who Wrote the Gospel of Thomas?
The text names Didymos Judas Thomas, but scholars do not think the apostle himself wrote it. The real author is unknown.
Where Was the Gospel of Thomas Found?
A complete Coptic copy was found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Earlier Greek fragments came from Oxyrhynchus.
Is the Gospel of Thomas in the Bible?
No. It was not included in the New Testament canon.
Is the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?
Scholars disagree. It shares some themes with Gnostic writings, but it lacks their detailed creation myths.
How Old Is the Gospel of Thomas?
The Coptic copy is from about the fourth century. The original Greek text is dated by scholars anywhere from the late first century to the mid second century.
What Does the Gospel of Thomas Say About the Kingdom of God?
That it is present now, inside you and around you, and that people fail to see it.
Does the Gospel of Thomas Mention the Resurrection?
No. It does not mention the crucifixion or resurrection.
How Is It Different From the Four Gospels?
The four Gospels are stories. Thomas is a list of sayings that stresses insight and self-knowledge over belief in an event.
Where Can I Learn More About Jesus’ Hidden Teachings?
Start with the audio course The Hidden Teachings of Jesus Christ and the films on NLS TV listed above.
How Many Sayings Are in the Gospel of Thomas?
There are 114 sayings in the standard numbering. The numbering is a modern convention, not part of the original manuscript.
What Does “Didymos Judas Thomas” Mean?
Didymos is Greek for “twin” and Thomas is Aramaic for “twin.” The name points to a twin of Jesus in some traditions, and the text presents him as the one who records the sayings.
What Is Saying 114 About?
Peter asks that Mary leave the group, and Jesus says he will lead her so she can become a living spirit. Scholars disagree on how to read it, and it is often discussed in debates over gender in early Christianity.
What Is the Q Source?
Q is a hypothetical lost collection of Jesus’ sayings that scholars think Matthew and Luke both used. Thomas resembles it in form, which is why the comparison is so often made.
Why Is the Gospel of Thomas Important?
It is a very early witness to how some followers of Jesus remembered and used his sayings, and it widens our picture of early Christianity.
Can Christians Read the Gospel of Thomas?
Yes. Many Christians read it as a historical text and a point of comparison, even though it is not part of the New Testament.
Is the Gospel of Thomas Reliable?
Scholars treat it with caution, as they do every ancient source. It is valued as evidence of early traditions, while its date and layers remain debated.
Where Can I Read the Gospel of Thomas Online?
Several translations are available online and in print. A printed edition with notes, such as Marvin Meyer’s, is a good starting point.
Go Deeper: The True Teachings of Jesus with John Davis
The sayings of Thomas point to a kingdom that is found within. John Davis walks that path in his Next Level Soul Mastery course on the true teachings of Jesus.
Join John as he guides you through the true teachings of Jesus, not as religion, but as a direct path of inner awakening. You will find practical insights into love, forgiveness, presence, and the Kingdom of Heaven within that you can embody in everyday life.
What you will walk away with
- Live from love
- Find the Kingdom within
- Release fear and judgment
- Live your awakening
14 lessons, part of Next Level Soul Mastery, our collection of in-depth courses.
