The Gospel of Thomas vs. Canonical Gospel
The gospel of Thomas is believed to have been written in the 4th century. The manuscript containing the sayings of Jesus was discovered in Egypt in the year 1945. There are close similarities between the sayings in the gospel of Thomas and the gospel of Mark and John. For example, in the chapters of Jesus’ ministry in the book of the Mark, there are around 35 sayings that are neither Mark’s or comments by Jesus. Of the thirty-five around twenty, one such saying is found in the gospel of Thomas. John 8: 51, 52 says whoever keeps the word of God will not taste death, in the same manner, the first saying of Thomas says, whoever discovers the interpretation of the sayings will not taste death. The gospel of Thomas is, however, different from the canonical gospel of Mark and John in that, unlike the two canonical gospels, the gospel of Thomas does not give a storyline connecting the life of Jesus. In the gospel of Thomas, there are no summaries about the teachings of Jesus. Another thing is, unlike the canonical gospel, there are no theological commentaries and interpretations like in the gospel of John. The gospel instead consists of 114 sayings of accredited to Jesus.
Something important about Jesus according to the gospel of Thomas is that all the 114 sayings are attributed to him. The early church looked for three attributes before they could include a book into the gospel canon, the book should have apostolic authority, have a divine touch, and have corporate reception. The gospel of Thomas lacked these three attributes; therefore, the church rejected it as a canonical book. The second-century church criticized gnostic Christianity as being hearsays with no factual basis. According to Irenaeus, authentic Christianity is that which acknowledges the divine nature of God and the Trinity, which is God, the father, the son, and the holy spirit.