Difference between revisions of "Book of Thomas the Contender" - New World Encyclopedia

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This, Jesus explains, is "the doctrine of the perfect."  Only the foolish are guided by the "fire" which provides the illusion of truth, but in the end imprisons them in "a dark sweetness"  and blinds them with "insatiable lust."
 
This, Jesus explains, is "the doctrine of the perfect."  Only the foolish are guided by the "fire" which provides the illusion of truth, but in the end imprisons them in "a dark sweetness"  and blinds them with "insatiable lust."
  
    Thomas answered and said, "It is obvious and has been said, 'Many are [...] those who do not know [...] soul.'"
+
On the other hand, "Blessed is the wise man who sought after the truth, and when he found it, he rested upon it forever and was unafraid of those who wanted to disturb him."
  
    And the savior answered, saying, "Blessed is the wise man who sought after the truth, and when he found it, he rested upon it forever and was unafraid of those who wanted to disturb him."
+
The time of the end is close at hand: "Only a little while longer, and that which is visible will dissolve."
  
    Thomas answered and said, "It is beneficial for us, lord, to rest among our own?"
+
Thomas asks he and the other disciples should deal with those who defend physical life and procreation as the only means by which humans can know salvation, using the slogan: "Had we not been begotten in the flesh, we would not have known iniquity." Jesus gives a harsh reply to this: "Do not esteem them as men, but regard them as beasts, for just as beasts devour one another, so also men of this sort devour one another."  
  
    The savior said, "Yes, it is useful. And it is good for you, since things visible among men will dissolve - for the vessel of their flesh will dissolve, and when it is brought to naught it will come to be among visible things, among things that are seen. And then the fire which they see gives them pain on account of love for the faith they formerly possessed. They will be gathered back to that which is visible. Moreover, those who have sight among things that are not visible, without the first love they will perish in the concern for this life and the scorching of the fire. Only a little while longer, and that which is visible will dissolve; then shapeless shades will emerge, and in the midst of tombs they will forever dwell upon the corpses in pain and corruption of soul."
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"How can we go preach them," Thomas protests, "since we are not esteemed in the world?" Jesus predicts that those who do listen will be persecuted by the rulers of this world, who in turn are under the dominion of powerful evil angels.
  
    Thomas answered and said, "What have we to say in the face of these things? What shall we say to blind men? What doctrine should we express to these miserable mortals who say, "We came to do good and not curse," and yet claim, "Had we not been begotten in the flesh, we would not have known iniquity"?"
+
Jesus follows this with a series of curses:
  
    The savior said, "Truly, as for those, do not esteem them as men, but regard them as beasts, for just as beasts devour one another, so also men of this sort devour one another. On the contrary, they are deprived of the kingdom since they love the sweetness of the fire and are servants of death and rush to the works of corruption. They fulfill the lust of their fathers. They will be thrown down to the abyss and be afflicted by the torment of the bitterness of their evil nature. For they will be scourged so as to make them rush backwards, whither they do not know, and they will recede from their limbs not patiently, but with despair. And they rejoice over [...] madness and derangement [...] They pursue this derangement without realizing their madness, thinking that they are wise. They [...] their body [...] Their mind is directed to their own selves, for their thought is occupied with their deeds. But it is the fire that will burn them."
+
<blockquote>"Woe to you, godless ones, who have no hope, who rely on things that will not happen! Woe to you who hope in the flesh and in the prison that will perish!... Woe to you within the fire that burns in you, for it is insatiable! Woe to you because of the wheel that turns in your minds! Woe to you within the grip of the burning that is in you, for it will devour your flesh openly and rend your souls secretly... Woe to you, captives, for you are bound in caverns!... Woe to you who love intimacy with womankind and polluted intercourse with them! Woe to you in the grip of the powers of your body, for they will afflict you! Woe to you in the grip of the forces of the evil demons! Woe to you who beguile your limbs with fire!.. Woe to you, for you did not receive the doctrine..."</blockquote>
  
    And Thomas answered and said, "Lord, what will the one thrown down to them do? For I am most anxious about them; many are those who fight them."
+
These woes are followed in turn by a series of blessings on those who do receive the truth:
  
    The savior answered and said, "What is your own opinion?"
+
"Blessed are you who have prior knowledge of the stumbling blocks and who flee alien things. Blessed are you who are reviled and not esteemed on account of the love their lord has for them. Blessed are you who weep and are oppressed by those without hope, for you will be released from every bondage... For when you come forth from the sufferings and passions of the body, you will receive rest from the good one, and you will reign with the king, you joined with him and he with you, from now on, for ever and ever."
 
 
    Judas - the one called Thomas - said, "It is you, lord, whom it befits to speak, and me to listen."
 
 
 
    The savior replied, "Listen to what I am going to tell you and believe in the truth. That which sows and that which is sown will dissolve in the fire - within the fire and the water - and they will hide in tombs of darkness. And after a long time they shall show forth the fruit of the evil trees, being punished, being slain in the mouth of beasts and men at the instigation of the rains and winds and air and the light that shines above."
 
 
 
    Thomas replied, "You have certainly persuaded us, lord. We realize in our heart, and it is obvious, that this is so, and that your word is sufficient. But these words that you speak to us are ridiculous and contemptible to the world since they are misunderstood. So how can we go preach them, since we are not esteemed in the world?"
 
 
 
    The savior answered and said, "Truly I tell you that he who will listen to your word and turn away his face or sneer at it or smirk at these things, truly I tell you that he will be handed over to the ruler above who rules over all the powers as their king, and he will turn that one around and cast him from heaven down to the abyss, and he will be imprisoned in a narrow dark place. Moreover, he can neither turn nor move on account of the great depth of Tartaros and the heavy bitterness of Hades that is steadfast [...] them to it [...] they will not forgive [...] pursue you. They will hand [...] over to [...] angel Tartarouchos [...] fire pursuing them [...] fiery scourges that cast a shower of sparks into the face of the one who is pursued. If he flees westward, he finds the fire. If he turns southward, he finds it there as well. If he turns northward, the threat of seething fire meets him again. Nor does he find the way to the east so as to flee there and be saved, for he did not find it in the day he was in the body, so that he might find it in the day of judgment."
 
 
 
    Then the savior continued, saying, "Woe to you, godless ones, who have no hope, who rely on things that will not happen!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you who hope in the flesh and in the prison that will perish! How long will you be oblivious? And how long will you suppose that the imperishables will perish too? Your hope is set upon the world, and your god is this life! You are corrupting your souls!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you within the fire that burns in you, for it is insatiable!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you because of the wheel that turns in your minds!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you within the grip of the burning that is in you, for it will devour your flesh openly and rend your souls secretly, and prepare you for your companions!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you, captives, for you are bound in caverns! You laugh! In mad laughter you rejoice! You neither realize your perdition, nor do you reflect on your circumstances, nor have you understood that you dwell in darkness and death! On the contrary, you are drunk with the fire and full of bitterness. Your mind is deranged on account of the burning that is in you, and sweet to you are the poison and the blows of your enemies! And the darkness rose for you like the light, for you surrendered your freedom for servitude! You darkened your hearts and surrendered your thoughts to folly, and you filled your thoughts with the smoke of the fire that is in you! And your light has hidden in the cloud of [...] and the garment that is put upon you, you [...]. And you were seized by the hope that does not exist. And whom is it you have believed? Do you not know that you all dwell among those who that [...] you as though you [...]. You baptized your souls in the water of darkness ! You walked by your own whims!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you who dwell in error, heedless that the light of the sun which judges and looks down upon the all will circle around all things so as to enslave the enemies. You do not even notice the moon, how by night and day it looks down, looking at the bodies of your slaughters!
 
 
 
    "Woe to you who love intimacy with womankind and polluted intercourse with them! Woe to you in the grip of the powers of your body, for they will afflict you! Woe to you in the grip of the forces of the evil demons! Woe to you who beguile your limbs with fire! Who is it that will rain a refreshing dew on you to extinguish the mass of fire from you along with your burning? Who is it that will cause the sun to shine upon you to disperse the darkness in you and hide the darkness and polluted water?
 
 
 
    "The sun and the moon will give a fragrance to you together with the air and the spirit and the earth and the water. For if the sun does not shine upon these bodies, they will wither and perish just like weeds or grass. If the sun shines on them, they prevail and choke the grapevine; but if the grapevine prevails and shades those weeds and all the other brush growing alongside, and spreads and flourishes, it alone inherits the land in which it grows; and every place it has shaded it dominates. And when it grows up, it dominates all the land and is bountiful for its master, and it pleases him even more, for he would have suffered great pains on account of these plants until he uprooted them. But the grapevine alone removed them and choked them, and they died and became like the soil."
 
 
 
    Then Jesus continued and said to them, "Woe to you, for you did not receive the doctrine, and those who are [...] will labor at preaching [...]. And you are rushing into [...] will send them down [...] you kill them daily in order that they might rise from death.
 
 
 
    "Blessed are you who have prior knowledge of the stumbling blocks and who flee alien things.
 
 
 
    "Blessed are you who are reviled and not esteemed on account of the love their lord has for them.
 
 
 
    "Blessed are you who weep and are oppressed by those without hope, for you will be released from every bondage.
 
 
 
    "Watch and pray that you not come to be in the flesh, but rather that you come forth from the bondage of the bitterness of this life. And as you pray, you will find rest, for you have left behind the suffering and the disgrace. For when you come forth from the sufferings and passions of the body, you will receive rest from the good one, and you will reign with the king, you joined with him and he with you, from now on, for ever and ever, Amen."
 
 
 
The Book of Thomas The Contender Writing To the Perfect
 
 
 
Remember me also, my brethren, in your prayers:
 
Peace to the saints and those who are spiritual.
 
 
 
*"As they are killed, they are assimilated to all the beasts of the perishable realm."
 
  
 
==Quotes==
 
==Quotes==

Revision as of 22:57, 14 August 2008

The Apostle Thomas, known here as "The Contender"

The Book of Thomas the Contender, also known more simply as the Book of Thomas (not to be confused with the Gospel of Thomas), is one of the books of the New Testament apocrypha discovered in the Nag Hammadi library, a cache of Gnostic literature secreted in the Egyptian desert since the fourth century CE. The title derives from the first line of text. :"The secret words that the savior spoke to Judas Thomas..." A title appended to the end of the text speaks of the work as "The Contender writing to the Perfect."

Composition and date

There are two competing theories as to the composition of the text. The first theory hold that since the actual dialog lasts only for slightly more than half of the text, with the remainder being a monologue, the current book may have originally been two works, one of dialog, one of monologue. The second holds that the work originated as a letter, in effect an Epistle of the Contender, written by a non-Christian Jew who upheld a Hellenic philosophy. In this theory, the text was later given a Christian setting and converted into a dialog.

An additional consideration is that, since the scribe writing the text is named as Matthaias, this work may actually be the lost Gospel of Matthias referred to in some writings of the Church Fathers. The dialog can also be read as an internal conversation between Jesus and his "lower self," Judas Thomas, sometimes called "the Twin," who is cast as the "contender" for supremacy of the soul. In this view, the New Testament's "Doubting Thomas" and Judas "the betrayer" could also be descriptive of this internal battle between the Christ Self and "ego identity."

Content

The content of this work is quite gnostic in style, in the sense of imparting a secret, arcane knowledge related to good versus evil, and while it lacks references to the elaborate gnostic cosmology, its allusions to such concepts as the pleroma and light versus fire clearly point to gnostic influence origins. For example:

Then the savior continued and said, "O unsearchable love of the light! O bitterness of the fire that blazes in the bodies of men and in their marrow, kindling in them night and day, and burning the limbs of men and making their minds become drunk and their souls become deranged...

Summary

The book opens by identifying its scribe as Mathaias, who transcribed the following dialog between Jesus and Thomas. Jesus commands Thomas to listen to him, so that Jesus can "reveal to you the things you have pondered."

Jesus acknowledges Thomas' reputation as his "twin and true companion" and encourages him to learn his true identity, which cannot be known as long as he remains in ignorance. Jesus identifies himself as "the knowledge (Greek: gnosis) of the truth," and predicts that in the future, Thomas will be cal "the one who knows himself."

Thomas implores Jesus to teach him of "the hidden things," so that he can speak of them to his fellow humans after the savior's ascension. Jesus explains that our "visible bodies" survive by devouring other living creatures, and thus become subject to change and decay. "That body is bestial," he explains, originating from sexual intercourse like any lower animal. He therefore instructs his disciples to be "like babes" until they reach perfection.

Thomas implores Jesus to share more. "Why does this visible light (the sun) that shines on behalf of men rise and set?" he asks. The savior replies the the sun is merely part of a transitory existence, and what "when all the elect abandon bestiality," even the sun will "withdraw up to its essence."

He goes on to denounce the fire of passion, which makes minds of males and females drunk and deranges their souls, "for the males move upon the females and the females upon the males." Jesus advises that truth seekers "make themselves wings" to fly from such lusts.

This, Jesus explains, is "the doctrine of the perfect." Only the foolish are guided by the "fire" which provides the illusion of truth, but in the end imprisons them in "a dark sweetness" and blinds them with "insatiable lust."

On the other hand, "Blessed is the wise man who sought after the truth, and when he found it, he rested upon it forever and was unafraid of those who wanted to disturb him."

The time of the end is close at hand: "Only a little while longer, and that which is visible will dissolve."

Thomas asks he and the other disciples should deal with those who defend physical life and procreation as the only means by which humans can know salvation, using the slogan: "Had we not been begotten in the flesh, we would not have known iniquity." Jesus gives a harsh reply to this: "Do not esteem them as men, but regard them as beasts, for just as beasts devour one another, so also men of this sort devour one another."

"How can we go preach them," Thomas protests, "since we are not esteemed in the world?" Jesus predicts that those who do listen will be persecuted by the rulers of this world, who in turn are under the dominion of powerful evil angels.

Jesus follows this with a series of curses:

"Woe to you, godless ones, who have no hope, who rely on things that will not happen! Woe to you who hope in the flesh and in the prison that will perish!... Woe to you within the fire that burns in you, for it is insatiable! Woe to you because of the wheel that turns in your minds! Woe to you within the grip of the burning that is in you, for it will devour your flesh openly and rend your souls secretly... Woe to you, captives, for you are bound in caverns!... Woe to you who love intimacy with womankind and polluted intercourse with them! Woe to you in the grip of the powers of your body, for they will afflict you! Woe to you in the grip of the forces of the evil demons! Woe to you who beguile your limbs with fire!.. Woe to you, for you did not receive the doctrine..."

These woes are followed in turn by a series of blessings on those who do receive the truth:

"Blessed are you who have prior knowledge of the stumbling blocks and who flee alien things. Blessed are you who are reviled and not esteemed on account of the love their lord has for them. Blessed are you who weep and are oppressed by those without hope, for you will be released from every bondage... For when you come forth from the sufferings and passions of the body, you will receive rest from the good one, and you will reign with the king, you joined with him and he with you, from now on, for ever and ever."

Quotes

  • He who has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has at the same time already achieved knowledge about the depth of the all.
  • If the things that are visible to you are obscure to you, how can you hear about the things that are not visible?
  • You are babes until you become perfect."

References
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