Early Christian Writings Gospel of Thomas Saying 51 Previous - Gospel of Thomas Home - Next

You can view this web page along with Grondin's Coptic/English Interlinear in frames.
Nag Hammadi Coptic Text Funk's Parallels
GThom 113, POxy654 3,
GThom 3, Luke 17:20-
21, Luke 17:22-25, Matt
17:9-13, Matt 24:23-28,
Mark 9:9-13, Mark
13:21-23, DialSav 16.

BLATZ LAYTON DORESSE

(51) His disciples said to
him: On what day will the
rest of the dead come into
being, and on what day will
the new world come? He
said to them: What you
await has come, but you do
not know it.
(51) His disciples said to
him, "When will the repose
of the dead come to pass,
and when will the new
world come?" He said to
them, "That (repose) which
you (plur.) are waiting for
has come, but for your part
you do not recognize it."
56 [51]. His disciples said
to him: "On what day shall
rest come to those who are
dead, and on what day shall
the new world come?" He
said to them: "This <rest>
that you wait for has
(already) come, and you
have not recognised it."

Visitor Comments Scholarly Quotes

The knowledge and wisdom
is already inside you. You
are not at the level of
understanding to grasp its
truth.
- Stephen
This is clearly criticising the
sects who concern
themselves entirely with a
future Apocalypse and not
with mystical teachings. Like
sayings 3 and 113, it is
saying that we need to
transform ourselves, not wait
for the world to be
transformed.
- Mystic-Oli
The theme of movement/rest
is not just a metaphor for life
in this world. We are points
of perception in an Absolute
Reality of Universl Mind.
Treatise on the Resurrection 49:9-25 also presents resurrection as something that has
already happened: "So do not think in a partial fashion, Rheginos, nor conduct
yourself in accordance with this flesh for the sake of oneness, but flee from the
divisions and the bonds, and already you have the resurrection. For if one who will
die knows about oneself that one will die - even if one spends many years in this life,
one is brought to this - why not regard yourself as risen and brought to this?" (The
Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 90)
Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "The question is Thomas's
equivalent for the Pharisee's question about the coming of the kingdom in Luke
17:20; the answer is like the answer in Luke 17:21: 'The kingdom of God is within
you.' Because, like the earthly Jerusalem (Luke 19:42, 44), the disciples are still
blind, they do not (fully) recognize its presence - in Jesus." (The Secret Sayings of
Jesus, p. 161)
R. McL. Wilson writes: "Of the latter Bartsch observes that Gnostic Umbildung is
unmistakable, and that the idea of the 'new world' comes form such works as 2 Peter
(iii. 13) and Revelation (xxi. 1); but the motif of the disciples' lack of understanding
is definitely old. Bauer at one point offers an interpretation which would explain
logion 51 in the context of the earthly life of Jesus, but quotes also a Naassene text
which shows how the version in Thomas might have developed." (Studies in the
Gospel of Thomas, p. 82)
F. F. Bruce writes: "The theme of 'rest' is carried on from Saying 50. But the
expectation of rest after death is here transformed into an assurance that the Gnostic
We become symbiotes of a
physical body at its birth for
a life of movement and
actions. We return to a life of
rest at its (the bodies) death
in which we contemplate our
actions while in movement
and the right intentions and
goals of action. We are
already in the life of birth,
death and resurrection but do
not understand. Birth and
death do not exist for our
souls, only for our temporary
bodies.
- active mystic
A student in a school has not
so far graduated. This
commentary is for such
- Thief37
You already are what it is
you are seeking. Your true
nature is not something to be
gained but something to be
recognized.
- SoStill
51
has attained true rest already. This kind of transformation, not unlike that which Paul
describes ironically in 1 Corinthians 4.8, is sometimes referred to as an 'over-realised
eschatology' (cf. 2 Timothy 2.18)." (Jesus and Christian Origens Outside the New
Testament, p. 133)
Funk and Hoover write: "The question posed in v. 1 employs the characteristic
Thomean term 'rest': this term is a synonym for salvation in Thomas (see 50:3; 60:6;
90; in addition, the Greek fragment of Thomas 2 adds the additional verse: 'and
having reigned, one will rest.') The term 'rest' with a similar meaning is not unknown
in other texts, both Christian (Matt 11:28-29; Rev 14:13) and Judean (Sir 51:26-27),
but it carried special significance among gnostic Christians and Platonists. To achieve
'rest' meant to find one's place again in unity with the highest God. (In developed
gnostic systems, at the beginning was the incomprehensible, invisible, eternal, and
ungenerated Forefather, Depth; Depth gave rise to a female counterpart, Silence.
Together they produced the next pair of Aeons, which eventuate in fourteen such
pairs, each pair with lesser power and memory of its origin than the previous pair. At
the lowest level is Wisdom and the creator God. Salvation consists in reascending the
ladder of divine emanations and rejoining the godhead.)" (The Five Gospels, p. 502)

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