Today I am looking at the nineteenth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees in paradise for you. Summer or winter they do not change and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death."

This saying naturally breaks down into the segments. First is a beatitude. Then there is the statement about the stones. And third is the enigmatic saying about the Trees of Paradise. All three have echoes in the canonical gospels. Once again the Gospel of Thomas gives us new insights into the New Testament sayings.

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In this episode we look at the 18th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. “The disciples said to Jesus, ‘Tell us how our end will be.’ Jesus said, ‘Have you discovered the beginning, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death.’"

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In this episode we look at Easter through the eyes of the apostle Thomas as found in the Gospel of Thomas. I contrast it with the canonical view of this apostle as “Doubting Thomas” as depicted in the famous story in the Gospel of John. We find that Thomas – like the apostle Paul - had an understanding of the resurrection of Jesus as a spiritual experience that is beyond the physical senses and beyond the human mind to understand.

In this episode I mention my book “The Evolution of Easter: How the Historical Jesus Became the Risen Christ.” Here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/EVOLUTION-EASTER-Historical-Became-Christ/dp/1983077143/

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode we are looking at the sixteenth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, “People think, perhaps, that I have come to throw peace upon the world. They don't know that I have come to throw disagreement upon the world, and fire, and sword, and struggle. There will be five in one house. Three will oppose two. Two will oppose three. The father will oppose his son and the son oppose his father. And they will stand up and they will be alone.”

This saying has a parallel in the Gospel of Matthew. By comparing the two we can see differences and discover the uniqueness of Thomas’ version, which teaches Christian nonduality.

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Today we look at the fifteenth saying in the Gospel of Thomas. It is a short, but important saying. Jesus says, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship. That one is your Father." I look at both the “not born of woman” part, and the use of the word Father. Father is one of Jesus’ favorite words for Nondual Reality.

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

In this episode we look at the fourteenth saying in the Gospel of Thomas.

Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."

This saying deals with the issue of religion, and in particular religious practices or disciplines. Jesus previously dealt with this subject in part in the sixth saying. Here in the fourteenth saying, Jesus goes deeper into the topic of spiritual practices. He mentions the same four practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving and diet. But in this saying he emphasizes the dangers inherent in religious practices.

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https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Today we look at the thirteenth saying in the Gospel of Thomas.

“Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out."

And he took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."

This saying in the Gospel of Thomas stands in clear contrast with the famous passage in the canonical gospels where Peter gives his famous confession of faith. The Gospel of Mark says:

“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.”

In Matthew’s gospel Peter gives a longer and more famous answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

The difference between the canonical and noncanonical accounts is the difference between traditional Christianity and Christian nonduality.

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Today I look at the twelfth saying in the Gospel of Thomas. This saying is different from all the previous ones in that it deals with leadership in the early church. But it also contains some spiritual truth, which we will see in a moment. It reads: “The disciples said to Jesus, ‘We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?’ Jesus said to them, ‘No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.’"

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU