Could Christians have excluded the Gospel of Thomas because of its questionable sayings?
The Gospel of Thomas has been argued for Biblical inclusion by many secular scholars.
The book although is not a traditional narrative, like the rest of the Gospels, but rather contains a variety of “sayings” of Jesus.
According to New Testament Scholar scholar Craig Blomberg:
“About one-third of the sayings sound pretty close to what you can find in the New Testament, (but) almost half of them are pretty gnostic.”
Craig Blomberg
Gnosticism is the idea that there is a “secret knowledge” that only of some. It asserts that matter is evil, and is very dualistic.
These gnostic sayings don’t fit in at all with the rest of the New Testament.
“Whoever discovers the meaning of these sayings will not taste death”
(GosThom 1)
“The kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father”
(GosThom 3).
Many skeptical scholars place the composition of Thomas at the same time as the traditional gospels, but there is much more evidence for a later origin.
Where the error starts is that there are very gnostic and anti-women sayings in Thomas.
Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
GosThom 114).
Additionally, Thomas was written in Syriac, which was a language used in ancient Syria, not Israel.
The original gospels were written in Greek, but the canonical gospels were not translated into Syriac until around 175 AD.
Finally, no early church fathers mention the Book of Thomas as a legitimate book.
The idea that Thomas is authentic is purely based off theory, not evidence.
What do you think?
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Adherent Apologetics 
I believe that if God wanted the gospel of Thomas to be in the Holy Scriptures, it would be in there. After all, It’s the word of God which He promised to preserve.
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Great points!
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Hi Zac,
I read your post on the Gospel of Thomas and I know for a fact that everything it contains is false. If you want to know who actually wrote the Gospel of Thomas, when it was written and for what purpose it was created, you will find that information in the nine posts I just recently placed on my blog. The information contained there will prove that all your information is false. These posts are under the category of ‘my research material’. Please read Parts 1 and 2 first so that you can have a better understanding of the posts that follow. I have been working on this for the past twenty-five years, therefore the comment I made is not based on my opinion but on actual facts.
As you will see, the Gospel of Thomas does not belong in the New Testament and neither does the Gospel of John. Now you will know why. Please reads the posts carefully since you have never seen nor heard this information before. It’s time you started to do your own research so that you wouldn’t have to rely on someone else’s theory or opinion, especially when they can’t prove that it is true. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me by email. Peter
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