There is a problem with the text in this saying, whether "his... treasure" is meant or "his... face," (probably "treasure"). As with all the other sayings in this book, there is only the command to seek the treasure -- but there is no comforting message telling us what that treasure is. This is the writing of a cult that wants to tell its initiates whatever it pleases, not the true word of God.
77 Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am the All. All has come from me, and to me does all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up a stone, and you will find me there." [cp. John 8:12; 9:5]
Jesus did speak this way at times. The important thing to remember is that when you lift up a stone and see a worm wriggling there, the worm is not Christ. And when you split a log and see the rings or a rotten part, those things are not Christ. God came into the world in human flesh -- Jesus -- to be obedient to the Father and to give himself up for our sins. Everything that is exists because of Jesus, and he is in everything. But at the same time, he still has his human flesh. He did not give it up when he ascended into heaven.
78 Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed swayed by the wind? To see a man dressed in fine clothes like your kings and your great men? They are dressed in fine things, but they cannot understand the truth." [Matthew 11:7-9; Luke 7:24-26]
This appears to take Jesus' words about John the Baptist and apply them directly to Jesus himself.
79 A woman from the crowd said to Him, "Blessed are the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you." He said to her, "Blessed are those who hear the word of the father and obey it. For the days are coming when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'" [Luke 11:27-28; 23:29]
This is similar to several things in Scripture and in the apocryphal Gospel of the Egyptians (3, "Until when will people die?"... "As long as women give birth."). Since this book of sayings never follows up by revealing how we are saved, even an accurate quotation like this one is not helpful to the person who doesn't know the content of the genuine Gospels. Like so many things in Thomas, this is more like the warning cry of John the Baptist without the following saving gospel of Jesus.
80 Jesus said, "Whoever knows the world has found a body, The world is not worthy of one who has actually found a body."
Compare this with Thomas saying 56. The only difference is a wordplay in the Coptic between euptoma 'corpse' and epsoma 'body.'
81 Jesus said, "Let the one who had riches rule, but let him who has power renounce it."
This saying may reflect some of Paul's sarcasm in 1 Corinthians 4:8.
82 Jesus said, "Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom."
This is one of the better known of all the sayings in The Gospel of Thomas. It is quoted by Origen, by Didymus the Blind and in Armenian document. In one of his letters, Ignatius also says: "And why have I also surrendered myself to death, to fire, to the sword, to the wild beasts? But, in fact, he who is near to the sword is near to God; he that is among the wild beasts is in company with God; provided only he be so in the name of Jesus Christ. I undergo all these things that I may suffer together with Him, He who became a perfect man inwardly strengthening me." (Smyrnaeans 4:2 ff., Lightfoot's translation). Notice that Ignatius, a genuine Christian, continues with the gospel message about Jesus, where the Gospel of Thomas simply leaves a mystery.
83 Jesus said, "Images are visible to men, but the light in them is hidden in the image of the Father's light. He will be revealed, but his image is hidden by his light." 84 Jesus said, "You're happy to see your own image. But when you see your images that came into being before you, and which neither die nor appear, what a burden it will be!"
These cryptic sayings would mask God behind the idea of light. But Jesus is the image of the Father. When Philip asked Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father," Jesus replied: "Don't you know me Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?" (John 14:8-9).
The gnostics and others claim to have a message from God, but they only obscure Jesus and his work for us. That's why John said:
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. (1 John 4:1-6, NIV).
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