My dear sister Namji mundahug
Thank you for the thread!
Well, there is a huge difference between being a "Gnostic" and being a "Heretic", not all Gnostics were heretics and not all heretics were Gnostic (ie Arianism, Montanism, Ebionitism etc.). Many of the early Fathers of the Church were Gnostics. To be a true Gnostic is to posses intellectual or esoteric knowledge of spiritual things. Both orthodox Christians and those of a heretical formulation claimed to have such.
Gnosticism comes from the greek word "Gnosis" meaning "knowledge". This word is used in the New Testament, most prominently by Paul. The Greek word "Pleroma" means "Fullness." It refers to the totality of Divine Power. It's used generally in Gnosticism, and also by St. Paul in Colossians 2:9, who was a Gnostic
par excellence.
Read:
The title "Gnostic" does not refer to a heretic but to the orthodox Christian who attains the divine gnosis (knowledge) from the Holy Spirit, by illumination through Christ (the Logos) in the light of the tradition of the church.
Gnosticism isn't a uniform phenomenon or system of belief. There developed many strands in the second century, of which an orthodox Gnosticism [the earliest form] thrived in the early Church. This orthodox form was the original, and we call it nowadays (post-first millenium) "Catholic mysticism" whether Eastern or Western.
Jesus explained the very essence of Gnosticism when he said:
"...The knowledge [gnosis] of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you..."
- Jesus Christ (13:11)
As such there is an "orthodox Gnostic" tradition in Christianity. Saint Clement of Alexandria, Saint Justin Martyr, Origen and Saint Jerome to name a few, were all loyal orthodox Catholics and Gnostics.
As an example Saint Clement, an important early Church Father.
Here is Pope Benedict XVI's description of his Gnosticism:
...This knowledge, Clement tells us, becomes for the soul a lived reality: It is not just a theory. Rather, it is a life force, a union with a transforming love. The knowledge of Christ is not just a thought, but a love that opens the eyes, transforms the person and creates communion with the "Logos," the divine Word that is truth and life. In this communion, which is the perfect knowledge and is love, the perfect Christian reaches contemplation and union with God.
In this way, on the journey to perfection, Clement gives the same importance to moral requirements as to the intellectual ones. The two go together because it is not possible to know the truth without living it, nor to live the truth without knowing it. It is not possible to make oneself like God and contemplate him simply with a rational knowledge: In order to achieve this objective, it is necessary to live according to the "Logos," a life according to truth. And, therefore, good works have to accompany intellectual knowledge, as the shadow accompanies the body.
There are two virtues which particularly adorn the soul of the "authentic gnostic." The first is freedom from passions ("apátheia"); the second is love, the true passion, which ensures intimate union with God. Love gives perfect peace, and enables the "authentic gnostic" to confront the greatest sacrifices, including the supreme sacrifice in the following of Christ, and brings him to rise to the level of living virtue. In this way, the ethical ideal of ancient philosophy, that is, the freedom from passions, is redefined by Clement and complemented by love, in the unending process which leads to being like God....
Read:
The writings of St. Clement reveal that he was sincere in studying contemporary culture, while his heart was inflamed with divine love...As he loved the true gnosis (knowledge) he desired every Christian to be a true Gnostic. His Christology, therefore, concentrates on the redeeming work of Christ as the Light, Who shines upon our minds, that they might be illuminated, and he calls baptism "illumination." In the Protrepticus he calls men to accept our Lord Jesus, saying, "The Logos is not hidden from any one. He is the general Light, who shines upon all. Therefore there is no darkness in the world. May we hurry to attain our salvation. May we hurry to attain our renewal."...St. Clement and his disciple Origen were optimistic. His optimistic attitude is very clear in his writings which concentrate on the following points:
I. The first and greatest lesson for the Gnostic or the true believer is to know himself, for thus not only he knows God whose joyful kingdom is within him, but also he will be in His likeness.
II. His theology concentrates on the unceasingly inner renewal realized by the Holy Spirit who deified the believers.
III. In his writings he calls the Gnostics to attain the exceedingly spiritual joy under all circumstances, even while they are sleeping....
"...The summit of faith, is the knowledge (gnosis) itself, for which all the organs of perception exist...The primacy of knowledge the apostle shows to those capable of reflection...he teaches that knowledge (gnosis), which is the perfection of faith, goes beyond catechetical instruction, in accordance with the magnitude of the Lord’s teaching and the rule of the Church....The Instructor, divided by us into three books, has already exhibited the training and nurture up from the state of childhood, that is, the course of life which from elementary instruction grows by faith; and in the case of those enrolled in the number of men, prepares beforehand the soul, endued with virtue, for the reception of Gnostic knowledge. And the gnosis itself is that which has descended by transmission to a few, having been imparted unwritten by the apostles..."
- Saint Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 - c. 220), Early Catholic Church father
Now on the Gospel of Thomas particularly...
The Gospel of Thomas is actually not really a Gospel per se. Its a sayings source, much like the hypothetical Q or the proposed Signs Gospel under lying John.
St Augustine, an important fourth century church father, once said this:
"...Our Father who art in Heaven: what is this – Heaven? And where is Heaven? Then comes a surprising response: “… who art in Heaven – that means: in the saints and in the just. Yes, the heavens are the highest bodies in the universe, but they are still bodies, which cannot exist except in a given location. Yet if we believe that God is located in the heavens, meaning in the highest parts of the world, then the birds would be more fortunate than we, since they would live closer to God. Yet it is not written: ‘The Lord is close to those who dwell on the heights or on the mountains’, but rather: ‘the Lord is close to the brokenhearted’, an expression which refers to humility. Just as the sinner is called ‘Earth’, so by contrast the just man can be called ‘Heaven’.”
These words of St Augustine were quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 Christmas Eve Mass Sermon.
“If we believe that God is located in the heavens, then the birds would be more fortunate than we”
Now, this idea is not in the Bible. Where does it come from? Well there was this ancient text, you know found in Nag Hammadi in 1945 and in it this saying is attributed to Jesus, in this document alone and nowhere else:
"...Jesus said, "If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is
in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they
say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you.
Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.
When you come to know yourselves, then you will find the Kingdom, and
you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living
Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty
and it is you who are that poverty."
(The Gospel of Thomas)
The Gospel of Thomas witnesses to Sacred Tradition that is not in the Bible but which was attested to in the theology of St Augustine and other Church Fathers, up and until today with Pope Benedict.
And this is not the only instance where Thomas seems to have access to genuine Sacred Tradition not preserved in the Bible.
The following agrapha comes from the book of 2 Clement, which is an Orthodox writing and an Apostolic Father from the 2nd century.
"For the Lord himself, being asked when the kingdom would come, replied, ‘When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female’" ( 2 Clement 12).
This is clearly a quote from the Gospel of Thomas, saying 22, or at least derived from the same common source (which is thus Orthodox). The saying in Thomas 22 reads:
Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants tasting milk are like those who enter the kingdom.”
They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the Kingdom?"
Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand … then you will enter"
This saying is also referred to by the Church Father, Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata:
"When Salome inquired when the things concerning which she asked should be known, the Lord said: When ye have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female." - (Stromateis iii)
Here are other examples where the Church Fathers clearly quoted Thomas (or the source behind Thomas. These sayings surface nowhere else apart from in the Fathers and Thomas):
Augustine, Against Adversaries of the Law and Prophets 2.4.14 (it is now known that this saying comes from Thomas 52):
The apostles asked the Lord: Has the advent already happened in the past?
And the Lord answered: You have dismissed the living one who is before your eyes and talk idly of the dead.
Here is the saying from the Gospel of Thomas 52:
His disciples said to him: Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and they all spoke of you. He said to them: You have abandoned the living one before your eyes, and spoken about the dead.
Another saying found in Thomas which is quoted by the Church Fathers is the following:
Origen, On Jeremiah, Latin homily 20.3:
He that is near me is near the fire.
He that is far from me is far from the kingdom
Gospel of Thomas saying 82
Jesus said: He who is near to me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.
Another example...
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, 10, 64:
"For not grudgingly, he saith, did the Lord declare in a certain gospel: My mystery is for me and for the sons of my house."
Gospel of Thomas 62:
I tell my mysteries to those who are worthy of my mysteries
There are many other such agrapha quoted by the Church Fathers which crop up in Thomas. We can only conclude then that the Gospel of Thomas is not a heretical Gnostic gospelbut rather part of the orthodox gnostic tradition. The Gospel of John, an orthodox text in the New Testament, was widely used by heretical Gnostics - in fact the earliest commentary on it comes from a heretical Gnostic. So Thomas' usage by the Nag Hammadi community does not make it a heretical Gnostic text [in fact other texts in that canon are not heretical either such as the Apochryphon of James].
As you can see Thomas (or its source text) was extremely well-known to the Fathers and frequently quoted as an Orthodox source containing genuine Sacred Tradition not contained in the Four Canon Gospels.
Even Orthodox Wiki says of Thomas:
"(The First Epistle of Clement) ranks with Didache and the Gospel of Thomas as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of extant Christian documents outside the canonical New Testament"
http://orthodoxwiki.org/First_Epistle_of_Clement
Thomas is not actually a "Gnostic" Gospel, if by Gnostic you mean the un-Orthodox kind which devalues the flesh and teaches that the material universe was created by an evil deity. It has a very high view of the flesh and has none of that heretical Gnostic mythology in it. It is a work of orthodox Gnosticism.
Steven Davies, one of the foremost scholars of Thomas, said:
“Thomas, if anything is anti-Gnostic, with its emphasis on the presence of the Kingdom of Heaven within the world now . . . Gnosticism emphatically insisted that the Kingdom of Heaven is to be found in the highest sphere above this world and certainly not here"
~Stevan Davies <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
The Gospel of Thomas was first discovered in the late 19th century as a group of fragments which were called by scholars, 'The Logia of Jesus'.
The Catholic Church accepted these sayings as part of the sacred tradition of Jesus outside the Bible.
Even the ultra-conservative Catholic encyloepedia written in 1911, accepts these sayings as orthodox and authentic agrapha:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01225c.htm
List of authentic agrapha
The sources from which the <!--3ref=u69=02137a.htm-->authentic<!--k02--> <!--3ref=u44=x51479.htm-->Agrapha<!--k06--> may be gathered are:
(a) the New Testament and the New Testamentmanuscripts; (b) the <!--2ref=u96=01601a.htm-->Apocryphal<!--k01--> <!--3ref=u76=15006b.htm-->tradition<!--k02-->; (c) the <!--2ref=u47=11560a.htm-->patristic<!--k01--> citations; and (d) the so-called "Oxyrhynchus Logia" of Jesus. <!--3ref=u44=x51479.htm-->Agrapha<!--k06--> contained in <!--2ref=u94=08399a.htm-->Jewish<!--k01--> or <!--2ref=u94=10424a.htm-->Mohammedan<!--k01--> sources may be curious, but they are hardly <!--3ref=u69=02137a.htm-->authentic<!--k04-->. Since the <!--3ref=u44=x81740.htm-->criticism<!--k03--> of the <!--3ref=u44=x51479.htm-->Agrapha<!--k06--> is in most cases difficult, and often unsatisfactory, frequent disagreement in the critical results must be expected as a matter of course. The following <!--3ref=u44=x51479.htm-->Agrapha<!--k06--> are probably genuine sayings of Jesus.<!--BIBLE-SUMMA-FATHERS-->
(a) In the New Testament and the New Testamentmanuscripts: In <!--2ref=u69=04080b.htm-->Codices<!--k01--> D and Phi, and in some versions of Matthew 20:28, "But ye seek from the small to increase, and from the greater to be less." In <!--3ref=u69=04080b.htm-->Codex<!--k03--> D of Luke 6:4: "On the same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, he said to him: <!--3ref=u66=09580c.htm-->Man<!--k02-->, if thou <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->knowest<!--k03--> what thou doest, <!--3ref=u76=xxyyyk.htm-->blessed<!--k01--> art thou; but if thou <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->knowest<!--k06--> not, thou art <!--2ref=u96=09569a.htm-->accursed<!--k01--> and a transgressor of the <!--3ref=u44=x67319.htm-->Law<!--k03-->." In Acts 20:35, "Remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said: It is a more <!--3ref=u76=xxyyyk.htm-->blessed<!--k04--> thing to give, rather than to receive."<!--BIBLE-SUMMA-FATHERS-->
(b) In apocryphal <!--3ref=u76=15006b.htm-->tradition<!--k02-->: In the <!--3ref=u44=x63392.htm-->Gospel<!--k03--> according to the <!--3ref=u44=x63971.htm-->Hebrews<!--k03--> (Jerome, Ezech., xviii, 7): "In the <!--3ref=u44=x63392.htm-->Gospel<!--k04--> which the <!--3ref=u44=x69948.htm-->Nazarenes<!--k03--> are accustomed to read, that according to the <!--3ref=u44=x63971.htm-->Hebrews<!--k07-->, there is put among the greatest crimes he who shall have grieved the <!--3ref=u44=x85915.htm-->spirit<!--k04--> of his brother." In the same <!--3ref=u44=x63392.htm-->Gospel<!--k04--> (<!--yyy=x65718.htm-->Jerome<!--u44-->, <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Eph.<!--k03-->, v, 3 sq.): "In the <!--3ref=u44=x63969.htm-->Hebrew<!--k03--> <!--3ref=u44=x63392.htm-->Gospel<!--k04--> too we read of the <!--3ref=u44=x67693.htm-->Lord<!--k08--> saying to the <!--3ref=u47=05029a.htm-->disciples<!--k02-->: And never, said he, rejoice, except when you have looked upon your brother in love." In <!--2ref=u76=01648b.htm-->Apostolic<!--k01--> <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Church-Order<!--k03-->, 26: "For he said to us before, when he was teaching: That which is weak shall be <!--2ref=u76=13407a.htm-->saved<!--k01--> through that which is strong." In "Acta Philippi", 34: "For the <!--3ref=u44=x67693.htm-->Lord<!--k08--> said to me: Except ye make the lower into the upper and the left into the <!--2ref=u73=13055c.htm-->right<!--k01-->, ye shall not enter into my <!--2ref=u77=08646a.htm-->kingdom<!--k01-->."<!--BIBLE-SUMMA-FATHERS-->
(c) In <!--3ref=u47=11560a.htm-->patristic<!--k02--> citations: Justin Martyr, <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Dial<!--k03-->. 47: "Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ said, In whatsoever things I apprehend you, in those I shall <!--3ref=u44=x83538.htm-->judge<!--k03--> you." Clement of Alexandria, <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Strom<!--k06-->. I, 24, 158: "For ask, he says for the great things, and the small shall be added to you." Clement of Alexandria, <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Strom<!--k06-->. I, 28, 177: "Rightly therefore the <!--3ref=u96=13635b.htm-->Scripture<!--k02--> also in its desire to make us such dialecticians, exhorts us: Be approved moneychangers, disapproving some things, but holding <!--2ref=u56=05789c.htm-->fast<!--k01--> that which is <!--3ref=u44=x82968.htm-->good<!--k03-->." Clement of Alexandria, <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Strom<!--k06-->. V, 10, 64: "For not grudgingly, he saith, did the <!--3ref=u44=x67693.htm-->Lord<!--k08--> declare in a <!--2ref=u66=03539b.htm-->certain<!--k01--> <!--3ref=u96=06655b.htm-->gospel<!--k02-->: My <!--2ref=u76=10662a.htm-->mystery<!--k01--> is for me and for the sons of my house." Origen, <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Homil<!--k03-->. in <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Jer.<!--k03-->, XX, 3: "But the <!--3ref=u63=08374c.htm-->Saviour<!--k03--> himself saith: He who is near me is near the fire; he who is far from me, is far from the <!--3ref=u77=08646a.htm-->kingdom<!--k02-->."<!--BIBLE-SUMMA-FATHERS-->
(d) In the Oxyrhynchus <!--3ref=u96=09323a.htm-->Logia<!--k02-->: The first <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k03--> is part of Luke 6:42; of the fourth, only the word "poverty" is left; the eighth, too, is badly mutilated. The text of the other <!--3ref=u96=09323a.htm-->Logia<!--k06--> is in a more <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->satisfactory<!--k03--> <!--2ref=u66=04211a.htm-->condition<!--k01-->. Second <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k06-->: "Jesus saith, Except you <!--3ref=u56=05789c.htm-->fast<!--k02--> to the world, you shall in no wise find the kingdom of God." Third <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k06-->: "Jesus saith, I stood in the midst of the world, and in the flesh was I seen of them, and I found all <!--3ref=u66=09580c.htm-->men<!--k02--> <!--2ref=u98=01274a.htm-->drunken<!--k01-->, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul grieved over the sons of <!--3ref=u66=09580c.htm-->men<!--k08-->, because they are blind in their heart, and <!--npm-->see not." Fifth <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k06-->: "Jesus saith, Wherever there are two, they are not without God; and wherever there is one alone, I say I am with him. Raise the <!--2ref=u96=14308a.htm-->stone<!--k01--> and there thou shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there am I." Sixth <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k06-->: "Jesus saith, A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, neither doth a physician work cures upon them that know him." <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Seventh<!--k03--> <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k06-->: "Jesus saith, A city built upon the top of a hill and stablished can neither fall nor be hid." Eighth <!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm-->Logion<!--k06-->: "Jesus saith, Thou hearest with one ear . . ."
<!--3ref=u44=xxyyyk.htm--><!--BIBLE-SUMMA-FATHERS-->
The last "the Oxyrhynchus <!--3ref=u96=09323a.htm-->Logia" <!--k02-->are fragments from the earliest known copy of the Gospel of Thomas (before its name was known and discovered entirely in Nag Hammadi in 1945).
So in view of all of this the current Pope's positive attitude to the Gospel of Thomas, to the extent of referencing it as an authority in his 2008 book on Jesus, is not suprising to me - although it might be to a lot of people.
