There is no ground for denying that some Gnostic Gospel of Thomas existed during the 2nd century. The quotation preserved by Hippolytus does not occur in any of the extant recensions of the Thomas Gospel which afterwards sprang up ; but even these, for all their size, cannot have corresponded to the entire work, which (on the evidence of Nicephorus) extended to no fewer than 1300 stichoi, almost double the length of the longest extant recension. Even in these extant recensions it is probable that the orthodox editor (or editors) must have removed the majority of Gnostic or Docetic allusions. And the Hippolytus quotation would naturally be one of these. Furthermore, we have an indirect proof that such a Thomas Gospel did exist prior to IrenfBus, In describing the tenets of the Mar- cosians, that Church Father charges this Gnostic sect with introducing apocryphal and spurious scriptures (i. 20. 1), and with circulating the following legend. ' When the Lord was a boy, learning his letters, and when his master said to him as usual, " Say Alpha," he said " Alpha." But when the master went on and ordered him to say "Beta," the Lord replied, " You tell me first what Alpha means, and then I will tell you what Beta means."' The Marcosians, Irenaeus adds, told this story to show that Jesus alone knew the mysterious significance of Alpha. The legend illustrates the mystic content which the sect put into the letters of the alphabet,! but its immediate interest for us lies in the fact that this story occurs in the Story of the Infancy.
Irenaeus proceeds (i. 20. 2) to show how the Marcosians also misinterpreted the canonical Gospels to suit their propaganda ; e.g. Lk 2*^ they explained to mean that the parents of Jesus did not know He was telling them about the Father ; in Mt 19'*"^'' (quoted as, ' Why call me good ? One is good, my Father in the heavens') the word ' heavens ' denotes ' aeons ' ; and the word ' hidden ' in Lk 19'*^ denotes the hidden nature of the Depth (jSa^os). Among these quotations from ' the Gospel ' (i.e. the canonical Gospels) Irenaeus includes one which does not occur in our four Gospels : ' His saying, / have often desired to hear one of these words, but I had no one to tell me, indicates (they allege), by the term one. Him who is truly one God.' This curious and unparalleled Logion may have been quoted by mistake from an un- canonical Gospel like that of Thomas, but we can- not do more than guess upon a point of this kind. In an 11th cent.Athos MS of the Gospels (cf. Stud. Bib. V. [1901-03] 173) there is a note to the effect that the pericope adulterce belonged to the Gos- pel of Tiionias (t6 ^-e0d\a^o^' toDto roO /card Qup.av evayyeXLov iarlv) ; if SO, it must have occurred in an edition which has not been preserved.
The extant recensions, to which we have just referred, are versions of a Story of the Infancy {rb. IlatStKd Tou KvpLov) narrated by Thomas, which is, and may have been intended to form, a sequel to
* Usually, Jn 2" was held, as e.g. by Euthymius Zigabenus, to rule out such legends of miracles done by the boy Jesus.
t The influence of Egyptian mythology is asserted, but ex- aggerated, by Conrady in SK (1903) 397-459.
J e.g. Alpha and Omega. One of the Marcosian fantasies was that the dove at the Baptism indicated the perfection of Christ's nature, the symbol of a dove being Omega and Alpha.
GOSPELS (UNCANONICAL)
GOSPELS (UNCANONICAL) 487
him do.' On the other hand, a better spirit is shown in the folloAving anecdote (S 16): 'And again, Joseph had sent his son Jacob (James) to gather sticks, and Jesus went with him. And while they were gathering sticks, a viper bit Jacob (James) in his hand. And when Jesus came near
the stories of the Protevangelium Jacobi. The resemblances and differences between the four i-ecensions may be seen by comparing their accounts of an incident which happens to be recorded by all the four, viz. the unpleasant story of how Jesus once became unpopular.
A 4-5
Again, he was passing through the village, and a boy ran and knocked against liis shoulder. Jesus was angry, and said to him, 'Thou shait not go back as thou earnest.' And at once he fell and died. Some who saw what happened said, ' Whence was this child born, for every word of his becomes act and fact?* And the parents of the dead boy went to Joseph and blamed him, saying, ' With such a child, thou canst not dwell with us in the village. Or, teach him to bless and not to curse ; for he is killing our children.'
And Joseph called the child apart and admonished him, say- ing, 'Why doest thou such thmgs? 'These people suffer, and hate us, and persecute us.' Jesus said, ' I know these words of thine are not thine. Still, I will say nothing, for thy sake. But they shall bear theirpunish* ment.' And immediately his accusers were blinded. And those who saw it were terribly afraid and perplexed ; they said of him, that every word ho uttered, good or bad, became fact and proved a marvel. And when they [he ?] saw Jesus had done such a thing, Joseph rose and took hold of his ear and pulled it hard. The child was much annoyed and said to him, ' It is enough for thee to seek and not to find. Certainly thou hast not acted wisely. Knowest thou not that I am thine ? Do not vex me.'