The Gospel of Thomas has no story at all. There is no birth, no baptism, no miracle, no trial, no cross and no empty tomb. It opens by calling itself the secret sayings of the living Jesus, and then for 114 entries it lets him talk.
How we got it
Scholars had a puzzle before they had the book. Between 1897 and 1904, excavators at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt dug up Greek papyrus scraps of sayings of Jesus, some familiar and some not. Nobody knew what they belonged to.
Then in December 1945 a complete Coptic copy came out of the ground in the jar at Nag Hammadi. The scraps matched. The Greek shows the text was circulating by about 200, and it may be a good deal older.
What it says
About half the sayings have parallels in Matthew, Mark and Luke, sometimes in a form that looks earlier and sometimes later. The other half are why people keep reading it.
Saying 3 says the kingdom is inside you and outside you. Saying 77 has Jesus say to split a piece of wood and he is there, to lift a stone and find him. Saying 70 is one of the sharpest lines attributed to him anywhere: bring forth what is within you and it will save you, and if you do not, what is within you will destroy you.
Then there is Saying 114, which ends the book with a claim that Mary must become male to enter the kingdom. It is uncomfortable, it is in the text, and anyone selling Thomas as a modern gospel tends to leave it out. Read that one too.
The first saying sets the terms: whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death. Salvation here does not come through a death on a cross. It comes through understanding, and you have to do the work yourself.
Why it was left out
Thomas was not on anyone’s shortlist and then removed at the last minute. By the time lists were being made, church writers already treated it with suspicion. Hippolytus and Origen mention it as a book used by groups they opposed. Eusebius puts it with the rejected books.
Three things counted against it. No strong tradition tied it to an apostle’s circle, despite the name. It did not fit the story of the cross and resurrection that had become the center of Christian preaching. And a faith where each person finds the kingdom through their own insight is hard to build a church on.
Elaine Pagels argues that the Gospel of John was partly written against this very tradition, which is why John alone tells the story of doubting Thomas. It is a contested reading, and a great one.
Where to start
Read it straight through in one sitting. It takes about half an hour. Then go back to the ten sayings that stayed with you, and compare them with Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.
For where to go next, see the best books on the lost gospels.
Common questions
Why was the Gospel of Thomas not included in the Bible?
It had no widely accepted claim to come from an apostle's circle, church writers such as Hippolytus and Origen treated it with suspicion, and its idea of salvation through understanding fit poorly with the gospels already in use. Eusebius lists it among the rejected books around 325.
Is the Gospel of Thomas older than the Bible gospels?
Nobody knows. Some scholars date an early layer to the mid first century, others date it to the second century and argue it depends on Matthew and Luke. Greek fragments from Egypt prove it existed by about 200.
Is the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?
It was found among Gnostic texts and has some of the language, but it lacks the full Gnostic creation myth. Many scholars now avoid the label or use it with care.
How many sayings are in the Gospel of Thomas?
114, by the modern numbering. The original has no numbers. It is simply a list of things Jesus said, most introduced with 'Jesus said.'