Gospel of Thomas - Class notes on sensus plenior

[goatguy-too]

(34) Jesus said, "If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit."

 

Seeing represents understanding.

 

The word בור pit also means 'declare'.

 

When people who do not understand the scriptures lead others in understanding of the scriptures they both fall, by declaring what they believe to be true to be Truth.

[goatguy-too]

(35) Jesus said, "It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then he will (be able to) ransack his house."

 

Jesus is the Son over his house which is the church.

 

Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

 

The word גרם strong also means 'cut off'. Jesus is the man who was 'cut off' from his people when he was made to die outside the camp.

 

This teaching is in the context of:

 

Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.

Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand.

 

It would seem that Thomas would suggest that if the works (hands) of Christ were bound, then the house could be ransacked. But Jesus said his work could not be stopped:

 

Mt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[goatguy-too]

(36) Jesus said, "Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear."

 

Morning is the reconciliation between grace (darkness) and holiness (light). Evening is the same between holiness and grace. Garments are always 'works'.

 

Thomas says do not be concerned about works and you go from holiness to grace or grace to holiness. Works are something we have been created to do.

 

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

Works do not produce grace, nor do they produce holiness.

[goatguy-too]

(37) His disciples said, "When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?"

Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid"

 

Garments are always works.

 

When you count all your righteousness (good works) as filthy rags, when you are ready to meet God with all your flesh exposed, your sins revealed, then you will meet him without fear.

 

Those who come dressed in garments of their own making will approach in fear; never sure if their works have covered their sin.

 

Ge 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Ge 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.

[goatguy-too]

(38) Jesus said, "Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me."

 

 

2Th 2:3 ¶ Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

 

Since the days of the apostles men have sought the hidden sayings of Christ and have not found them. Is that the great falling away that Paul speaks of? By 300 AD, Augustine and Constantine had removed Jewish influence from the church, making it difficult, if not impossible to see the hidden pictures of Christ in the scriptures.

[Aetherous]

Since there has not been much discussion, I just started documenting them all. I hope that the silence is not because I have caused offense and you just don't know how to confront me. Though I doubt that since confronation is usually easy in forums.

 

This is all original material, and I appreciate that you would allow me to post it here for feedback. Though after losing a couple posts, I am now puting it in my own wiki before posting here.

 

I think your work here is actually very interesting, and appreciate that you're sharing so much of it.

[goatguy-too]

Thanks turtle,

 

(39) Jesus said, "The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."

In saying 5 we saw that the keys to the kingdom, the keys to the new teaching of peace were the hidden pictures of Christ in the Old Testament. The Pharisees hid them... they intentionally changed the methods of interpretation so that Jews who read their own scripture would not see Christ.

How often have you heard that Hebrew does not have vowels, Yet the rabbis teach among their own that יהוה Yahweh, consists solely of vowels and that we discern that God is Spirit since it is pronounced with only the breath.

The first century saw the invention of several formalized Jewish hermeneutics. PaRDeS was introduced, Kaballah was promoted so much that Greek Gnostics adopted its interpretations. The cross of Christ has become an offense to nearly every other religion because of it's exclusive claim that God alone is God. Yet it is this claim that offers hope. We merely need to acknowledge God as God in order to enter into an intimate relation with him.

Edited November 11, 2013 by goatguy

[goatguy-too]

(40) Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed."

 

Jesus said he was the vine with the Father as the husbandman:

 

Joh 15:1 ¶ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

 

Thomas is addressing a false vine. Christ is the source of wine/grace. So the false vine is a source of false grace. All such false sources will be destroyed.

 

Anything that offers grace outside the cross of Christ, Thomas claims is a false vine. Again we find the offensively exclusive statements of orthodox Christianity within the GOT. I highlight this because there are so many Christian scholars who condemn the GOT as being Gnostic, yet their own blindness to the genre of riddle contained in GOT and the Bible, makes them fall into the pit of saying 34.

[goatguy-too]

(41) Jesus said, "Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has."

 

The hand represents works. Since we have seen before that works do not generate grace nor holiness, then the one who has works must be doing the works tah tGod create dfor him:

 

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

This indicates that the one who has works is ina relationship with God already. Those who are in a relationship will receive more.

 

Those who do not have any works are found in the sorry condition that James mentions:

 

Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

 

The guy who has good works has faith. The one who does not, has a false faith. He is a pretender to the faith. He says he believes in Christ, but Jesus never 'knew' him; Jesus did not 'teach' him, and he has no new life within.

[goatguy-too]

(42) Jesus said, "Become passers-by."

 

We are to become citizens of the kingdom of heaven, the new teaching of peace, as did Abraham.

 

Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.

 

We do not take possession of earthly things, nor earthly passions. We can enjoy the things of the earth as a tourist recognizing we don't belong here. (Ac 7:6, Heb 11:9)

[goatguy-too]

You know turtle, as fascinating as I found GOT... when the methods are applied to the Bible, every verse of every Chapter of every book of the OT unpacks in this way to show a hidden picture of Christ. It is humanly impposible that I should impose a system upon it and make it work out this way. I found it encouraging, that though I could show that the apostles used this method, it was from the Bible. Here the independent source of Thomas validates the work done in sensus plenior.

[goatguy-too]

(43) His disciples said to him, "Who are you, that you should say these things to us?"

 

<Jesus said to them,> "You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews, for they (either) love the tree and hate its fruit (or) love the fruit and hate the tree."

This saying originates from the dietary law:

 

Le 11:3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, [and] cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

Le 11:4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: [as] the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he [is] unclean unto you.

Le 11:5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he [is] unclean unto you.

Le 11:6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he [is] unclean unto you.

Le 11:7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he [is] unclean to you.

 

We eat the word of God... meditate (ruminate) upon it, and it creates the fruit of a holy (separated) walk. This is the clean animal.

The Pharisee had a walk that was separated (the appearance of holiness) which was not based upon the word of God, but upon their own self-righteousness.

The Scribe ruminated upon the word of God, but it did not produce in him the fruit of a holy walk.

[goatguy-too]

(44) Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven."

 

There is possibly a riddle in here that I do not see yet, but it is the same teaching as:

 

Mr 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

Mr 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

 

The plain teaching is that it is the Holy Ghost who guides you into repentance and into a relation with God. If you refuse the guide you refuse the destination.

[goatguy-too]

(45) Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things."

 

A good man brings forth good from his storehouse

 

The word אוצר store house is composed of the word אור light and the letter צ which is the 'heart of the righteous man'.

 

The word בל heart is pronounce Bal. Look familiar? It is a phonetic pun to בעל Baal which also mean 'lord' and 'man'. Baal was the god of the OT which opposed God. It is reminiscent of original sin where man is made a peer to God. Here man makes himself lord of his own heart. The letter ע represents evil. It is the preaching of holiness and grace without the cross. When the ע is added to bar, 'son', it becomes 'son of evil'. From the heart of בעל comes evil (ע).

[goatguy-too]

(46) Jesus said, "Among those born of women, from Adam until John the Baptist, there is no one so superior to John the Baptist that his eyes should not be lowered (before him). Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the kingdom and will become superior to John."

 

This is a rich saying. Compare to :

 

Mt 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

 

In what manner is John the greatest among those born of women? It is in his understanding. Eyes represent understanding. This is verified by the account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

 

Donkey = prophet... every donkey in scripture represents a prophet in figure.

Female = those who don't see (understand) clearly

 

Jesus was led by an old female donkey. Jesus was proceeded by the old prophets who did not understand fully.

He rode on the young male donkey representing John who knew exactly who Jesus was.

He sat on the garments/works of the disciples to say he was finished with their works.

The people broke branches from the tree... Christ is the tree, we are the branches. The separated themselves from him.

Rather than wave the branches in the air/spirit, they threw them to the ground to say they were a peopel of earth/flesh.

They removed their own garments/works and threw them to the earth to say their works were of the flesh.

 

What appeared to be a warm welcome was a rejection of Christ as a spiritual leader. The next day they all cried "Crucify him!". The hidden meaning tells us more than the literal.

 

Those who become as little children are not 'born of women' but of the spirit. They have a greater understanding of the scriptures than even John had.

[goatguy-too]

(47) Jesus said, "It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result."

 

These are all the same riddle concerning the law of Moses and the new teaching of peace. You can't mix them.

 

Horse = physical strength

Stretch a bow = aim at a target

 

You can't divide your physical efforts between to things requiring your effort. You can't shoot at two targets. You can't serve two master, a master is the sovereign. Old wine/grace was merely a promise of grace through the cross, the new wine (effectual grace) no longer has the old symbols. Yo ucan't pour the new teaching of peace into the framework of an old legalism. You can't fix the old system by tagging the name of Jesus to it.

 

Beware of the Judaisers (Php 3:2)

[goatguy-too]

(48) Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."

 

 

The house is Bethel, the same as in saying 16. The two who make peace are the Father and the Son. The mountain is the place you go to meet God. For Moses it was the mountain and the tabernacle.

 

The word אהל means to move your tent elsewhere, it also mean tabernacle and it means 'shine'.

 

When the Father and Son were reconciled after the cross, the place where God dwelt was changed. He now lives in the hearts of men. Where he shines. (Joh 1:4)

[goatguy-too]

(49) Jesus said, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return."

 

From the Coptic we may clarify this "Blessed are the solitary one (sing) and the elect, for you (pl) will find the kingdom...

The solitary one is Christ who died alone on the cross after all his friends and followers abandoned him. The elect is the church. The kingdom is 'teaching of peace'.

[goatguy-too]

(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"

 

We came from the Light - in pun 'a lo khoom' the not dark or 'the light' with Elohim. We came from God.

The place... - We are 'in God' since nothing can be outside of him.

the light came into being - God said, "Let there be light (Gen 1:3)

by itself - 'a lo khoom' from Elohim.

and became manifest through their image - Jesus is the light which is the express image of God.(Heb 1:3)

 

we are the children of light - (Joh 12:36)

 

it is movement and repose - life and rest.

Fish that swim in the water are clean, those which lie on the bottom are unclean. A fish must move through water, live in the word, to be alive. The rest is the peace which passes all understanding (Php 4:7). It is a trust in Christ.

[goatguy-too]

(51) His disciples said to him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?"

He said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it."

 

When is the rest for the dead and the new teaching of peace?

It already came. Rest came through the cross, the new teaching of peace was ushered in the moment Jesus said, You have heard it said..., but I say..."

[goatguy-too]

(52) His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in you."

He said to them, "You have omitted the one living in your presence and have spoken (only) of the dead."

 

Arrgh! I was on a roll. Sorry.

Some keys to consider,

• Israel started with Jacob.
• Prophets in Judah probably don't count as prophets in Israel, since the nation was split.
• Many prophets were mentioned, but we don't know what they said, therefore they didn't 'speak'.
• There are a couple possibilities for the one who is alive. It could be John, who is an Old Testament prophet, was alive, and by that time Judah was known as Israel again. The other would be Jesus.
• 24 is two 12's which could be patriarch's and disciples. Probably not since they weren't dead yet.

Help me.... ;-)

Edited November 12, 2013 by goatguy

[goatguy-too]

(53) His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision beneficial or not?"

 

He said to them, "If it were beneficial, their father would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become completely profitable."

 

This is the same teaching as:

 

Ga 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all.

Ro 10:12 ¶ For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

 

Implied is that we are as God would have us right from the womb. Only conversion of the heart matters.

[goatguy-too]

(54) Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven."

 

compare to

 

Mt 5:3 ¶ Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

The change to this saying may indicate that Thomas was written earlier than Matthew, and Matthew felt it necessary to clarify the teaching by making the distinction of the 'poor in spirit'.

 

Matthew is written in a form where what Jesus says in Matt 5 and following is parallel to what Jesus did in Matthew 8. Jesus went up a hill and said Blessed are the poor (in spirit) and then in Ch 8 he came down the hill and heals a leper. Who could be more poor in spirit than a leper? This parallel format divides Matthew into four block, which help tremendously for interpretation of his words, when they are connected to an associated action.

 

The proper interpretation is that the law of leprosy is a key to understanding what Jesus said.

 

The leper shaves his head as a symbol of Christ who lost his authority on the cross when the Father left him there ("Why have you forsaken me?") The leper covers his lip as a sign that his prayer has gone unanswered. ("Remove this cup...") The leper is cast outside the camp (Jesus dies outside the city) When the leper is fully covered with leprosy (a symbol of sin) he is declared clean! When Jesus bore our sin completely he was clean in resurrection. Then the clean leper goes through a ceremony like the priest because Jesus went on to be our high priest.

 

How does this apply to men? We declare God as God, losing our authority. We cover our lip to show that until the time of repentance God has not heard our prayers (nor was he obligated to hear them). We declare that we no longer belong to the earth, we are outside the camp. And because of sin we do not belong to heaven. When we are fully undone by confessing or sin and sinfulness, we are declared clean. Then we become priests as we intercede for others.

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

[goatguy-too]

(55) Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me."

 

Compare with :

 

Lu 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

 

Since they are nearly identical and the passage in Luke is not well understood we must understand hate first.

 

De 19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

De 19:6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he [was] not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

 

In the law it is implied that the accident was an act of hate. The one chopping did not previously hate the man, but hated him in this accident.

 

Consider the law of Love which says you put the other person first. The one chopping did not consider the safety of his fellow first, so it was not an act of Love, but of hate.

 

It is not a feeling anymore than love is a feeling. It is the act of putting someone second, not first. Now consider the saying again, and it makes perfect sense that one should consider Christ first above all else. He gave his life for us, we can do no less in return.

[goatguy-too]

(56) Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world."

 

The world is passing away. the flesh is dead. If you understand the world, you find that it is dead. In realizing that it is dead you have distinguished between the flesh and the spirit which is better than not knowing that the world is dead.

Edited November 12, 2013 by goatguy