The Gospel of Thomas

Not a narrative — no birth, no miracles, no cross, no resurrection. One hundred and fourteen sayings, flatly introduced: These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. Several appear in Matthew and Luke in more polished form; a number appear nowhere else and are unforgettable. Its instruction is not belief but recognition: "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." (Saying 70.) And the kingdom is not coming — it is "spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it" (113). Some scholars doubt it is "Gnostic" at all; it may simply be very early, and very Syrian. It is the one text on this bench a reader can open cold and be changed by.