What The Acts of Thomas tells us about Jesus in India

What The Acts of Thomas tell us about Jesus in India

Most people who are aware of The Acts of Thomas are aware that it deals with Thomas' mission to India.  Some are also aware that it deals as well with several appearances of ____Jesus of Nazareth in India.  Some also believe that it is evidence that Jesus survived the crucifixion and went to India.

This document will gather everything The Acts of Thomas says regarding Jesus with the related context.  At the end, I will give my summation of what I see.

My source is
http://www.gnosis.org/library/actththenom.htm

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The following sums up everything (relevant) said about Jesus in The Acts of Thomas:

11 The groom saw the Lord Jesus bearing the likeness of Judas Thomas and speaking with the bride
13 the Lord departed from before them (the bride and bridegroom), saying thus: The grace of the Lord shall be with you.
27 the Lord was revealed unto them by a voice, saying: Peace be unto you brethren. And they heard his voice only, but his likeness they saw not, for they had not yet received the added sealing of the seal (Syr. had not been baptized).
29 when night fell and he (Thomas) slept, the Lord came and stood at his head, saying: Thomas, rise early, and having blessed them all, after the prayer and the ministry go by the eastern road two miles and there will I show thee my glory: for by thy going shall many take refuge with me, and thou shalt bring to light the nature and power of the enemy.
47 (Prayer of Thomas): ...Jesu, man that wast slain, dead buried!
59 he himself ceased not preaching and speaking to them and showing that this is Jesus Christ whom the scriptures proclaimed, who is come and was crucified, and raised the third day from the dead.
72 (Prayer of Thomas): ...thou, Lord, art he that gavest thyself for us, and with thy blood hast purchased us and gained us as a possession of great price: and what have we to give thee, Lord, in exchange for thy life which thou gavest for us?

...

80 ...the apostle said: What I shall think concerning thy beauty, O Jesu, and what I shall tell of thee, I know not, or rather I am not able, for I have no power to declare it, O Christ that art in rest, and only wise that only knowest the inward of the heart and understandest the thought. Glory be to thee, merciful and tranquil. Glory to thee, wise word. Glory to thy compassion that was born unto us. Glory to thy mercy that was spread out over us. Glory to thy greatness that was made small for us. Glory to thy most high kingship that was humbled for us. Glory to thy might which was enfeebled for us. Glory to thy Godhead that for us was seen in likeness of men. Glory to thy manhood that died for us that it might make us live. Glory to thy resurrection from the dead; for thereby rising and rest cometh unto our souls. Glory and praise (good report) to thine ascending into the heavens; for thereby thou hast shewed us the path of the height, and promised that we shall sit with thee on thy right hand and with thee judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Thou art the heavenly word of the Father: thou art the hidden light of the understanding, shewer of the way of truth, driver away of darkness, and blotter-out of error.

...

156 And then Judas began to pray and to speak thus: O companion and defender (ally) and hope of the weak and confidence of the poor: refuge and lodging of the weary: voice that came forth of the height (sleep, Gr.): comforter dwelling in the midst: port and harbour of them that pass through the regions of the rulers: physician that healest without payment: who among men wast crucified for many: who didst go down into hell with great might: the sight of whom the princes of death endured not; and thou camest up with great glory, and gathering all them that fled unto thee didst prepare a way, and in thy footsteps all they journeyed whom thou didst redeem; and thou broughtest them into thine own fold and didst join them with thy sheep:

...

158 And when they were come up, he took bread and a cup, and blessed it and said: Thine holy body w}lich was crucified for us do we eat, and thy blood that was shed for us unto salvation do we drink; let therefore thy body be unto us salvation and thy blood for remission of sins. And for the gall which thou didst drink for our sakes let the gall of the devil be removed from us: and for the vinegar which thou hast drunk for us, let our weakness be made strong: and for the spitting which thou didst receive for us, let us receive the dew of thy goodness: and by (or for) the reed wherewith they smote thee for us, let us receive the perfect house: and whereas thou receivedst a crown of thorns for our sake, let us that have loved thee put on a crown that fadeth not away; and for the linen cloth wherein thou wast Wrapped, let us also be girt about with thy power that is not vanquished and for the new tomb and the burial let us receive renewing of soul and body: and for that thou didst rise up and revive, let us revive and live and stand before thee in righteous judgement. And he brake and gave the eucharist unto Iuzanes and Tertia and Mnesara and the wife and daughter of Siphor and said: Let this eucharist be unto you for salvation and joy and health of your souls. And they said: Amen. And a voice was heard, saying: Amen: fear ye not, but only believe.

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Introduction

This blog is to work through the evidence that Jesus either was or was not in India/Kashmir/Tibet, during his adolescence and/or some period later in his life.

I will not be referring to visions or experiences during meditation or trance-states as evidence of anything in the ancient past. I will not rely on any orthodoxies, either western or eastern, though I may use their documents as evidence. I will do my best to document my reasons for my conclusions and point out the sources for my data, so that the interested reader may cross-check my findings (and hopefully point out any errors I make).

I will start with reasons to assume that Jesus of Nazareth was an historical Jewish teacher during the late 2nd Temple period, probably being crucified by the Romans in the early 30's. In this upcoming post I expect to be responding to some of the claims of Acharya S. and others, and hope to get (at that time) some reasoned responses.

Questions of the religious or spiritual implications of any particular view on Jesus are outside the scope of this blog, and I hope to avoid them. I request that all respondents avoid comments on the religious or spiritual implications. If you wish to discuss that, make sure your mail address is accessible, and indicate in the comment that you wish to discuss the religious or spiritual implications. I am willing to have an email exchange on religion or spirituality, but would prefer to keep that out of the blog.

This is a broad and complex topic, involving several cultures and several languages. At the end we should have sufficient evidence to support a conclusion, with adequate 'sign-posts' to allow anyone else to follow our path.

Be Well,
Bob Griffin

A preliminary answer to Acharya S etc.

Some claim that Christianity is an adaptation of an Egyptian myth. The data on the other hand shows that Christianity entered Egypt from the Greek-speaking community in and around Alexandria and progressed up the Nile from there, adopting Egyptian terminology for shared concepts and maintaining Greek terminology for foreign concepts.
The following terms are pure Egyptian:
PNOUTE -- the god/God
NOBE -- sin
AMNTE -- Hades/the place of the dead
PDJOIS -- the Lord
TPE -- Heaven
PKAH -- Earth
OUAB -- Holy
The following terms were borrowed from Greek:
PECHRISTOS -- The Christ
PEPNEUMA -- The Spirit
TEPSYCHE -- the soul
Any Coptic grammar or lexicon will confirm this. Crum's Coptic Lexicon is accessible online and is the most authoritative Coptic Lexicon in English

What should we expect to find about Jesus

Coming from centuries of Christian culture, we assume that Jesus of Nazareth must have been well documented by both the Jewish and the Roman authorities. I think that we should instead look at the documentation for other figures of the time, and base our expectations on what we see in other cases.

There are four Jewish leaders whom I think present a sufficient parallel or might even have had a greater importance for the Romans. These are
Hillel, who died about the time Jesus would have turned 10,
Yokhanan ben Zakkai, who approached the Romans for permission to start the Jewish academy at Jamnia after the destruction of Jerusalem
Aqiba, who was a major spiritual leader at the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt,
and Simon bar Kokhba, who lead a rebellion against Rome in the early 2nd century.
The question I will pursue regarding these men is what sources we have for their history.