The Gospel of Thomas 52-59

52 His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke about you." He said to them, "You have left out the living one who is with you. You have only spoken of the dead."

The apocryphal 4 Esdras (sometimes called "2 Esdras") refers to the entire Old Testament with the number twenty-four: "...when the forty days were ended, the Most High spoke to me, saying, 'Make public the twenty-four books that you wrote first, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them'" (4 Esdras 14:45, NRSV).

The number "24" is arrived at this way: Five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (that's 12 so far). Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Esdras (Ezra-Nehemiah combined), and the (one) book of the Minor Prophets (that five more -- 17 in all). Chronicles, Daniel, Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes make 7 more: 24 in all, although the last five are sometimes combined as "the five rolls" in a single book.

53 His disciples asked him, "Is circumcision useful or not?" He answered them, "If it were useful, then fathers would beget them already circumcised from their mothers. But the true spiritual circumcision is valuable in every way."

Here Jesus appears to be quoting Paul (see Galatians 5, Romans 2, Colossians 2, and so forth). For the spiritual circumcision, see Romans 2.

54 Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven." [Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20]

This is combines the second part of Matthew's Beatitude (5:3) with the first half of Luke's (6:20). It's interesting that for the most part, the Gospel of Thomas prefers to say "kingdom of the Father" rather than "of God" or "of heaven" (see saying 57 below), yet here the words are the same as Matthew's "kingdom of heaven."

55 Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross as I do ¹ is not worthy of me." [Luke 14:26; Matthew 10:37]
¹ Or: his cross in my way.

There are similar sayings as this in the Gospels, but always with much more context and explanation by Jesus.

56 Jesus said, "Whoever knows the world has only found a corpse. The world is not worthy of one who has actually found a corpse."

This cryptic saying reflects a gnostic view of the flesh, which is to be transcended. But in the resurrection, our fleshly bodies will still be ours (Job 19).

57 Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a man who had seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, 'I'm afraid that you will try to pull up the weeds but you pull up the wheat along with them.' But when harvest comes the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned." [Matthew 13:24-30]

The correct understanding of the parable of the weeds is found in Matthew 13:36-43. It's interesting to note that in the New Testament, the kingdom of God is always represented as an activity, and the parables explain God's work among us. But here, the core of the parable isn't an activity at all, but just a guy "who had seed."

58 Jesus said, "Blessed is the one who has suffered ¹ and found life." [Matthew 5:10]
¹ Or: Blessed is the one who has worked hard...

The translation issue is over the word for "work" which could be "labor" or "suffer."

59 Jesus said, "Look to the living One while you live, or when you die and seek him you will not be able to see." [John 7:34 and 13:33]

This isn't a bad warning, and reflects the same thoughts as saying 38. And yet, just being able to understand is not the same as not being able to misunderstand.

That's why John spells it out so clearly:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12, NIV)