Why the Gospel of Thomas Was Excluded
The Gospel of Thomas occupies a unique place among early Christian writings because it presents itself not as a story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, but as a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus. Discovered in 1945 among the Nag Hammadi texts in Egypt, the Gospel of Thomas contains 114 sayings, many of which parallel material found in the canonical Gospels, while others reflect theological ideas that diverge sharply from emerging Christian orthodoxy. Its exclusion from the New Testament canon was not the result of a single decision but rather the cumulative outcome of theological, historical, and ecclesial judgments made over several centuries.
One of the most significant reasons for the exclusion of the Gospel of Thomas was its theological orientation. The text reflects a worldview commonly associated with Gnosticism, a diverse movement that emphasized secret knowledge as the path to salvation. In Thomas, salvation is not centered on forgiveness of sin, the atoning death of Christ, or the resurrection of the body. Instead, it is portrayed as awakening to divine knowledge already present within the individual. Jesus is depicted less as a redeemer who acts on behalf of humanity and more as a revealer who discloses hidden truths to those capable of understanding them. This emphasis conflicted with the developing consensus of the early church, which taught that salvation came through God’s historical action in Christ rather than through esoteric insight accessible only to a spiritual elite.
Closely related to this theological divergence was the Gospel of Thomas’ understanding of Jesus himself. The canonical Gospels present Jesus as fully human and fully divine, whose incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection are central to God’s redemptive plan. Thomas largely bypasses these elements. There is no narrative of Jesus’ birth, no account of his crucifixion, and no proclamation of his resurrection. This absence was not merely stylistic but theological. By minimizing the physical and historical aspects of Jesus’ life, Thomas aligned with Gnostic tendencies to view material reality as inferior or illusory. Such views were explicitly rejected by early Christian leaders, who insisted on the goodness of creation and the bodily resurrection as essential to the faith.
Authorship and historical credibility also played a decisive role. The Gospel of Thomas claims to transmit secret sayings recorded by Didymus Judas Thomas, traditionally associated with the apostle Thomas. However, modern scholarship overwhelmingly agrees that the text was composed in the mid to late second century, well after the lifetimes of the apostles. By contrast, the four canonical Gospels were widely believed to be rooted in apostolic testimony or close associates of the apostles. The early church placed great importance on apostolic origin as a safeguard of authentic teaching. Because Thomas emerged later and circulated primarily within limited and often sectarian communities, it lacked the historical credibility required for inclusion in the canon.
Another factor was the Gospel of Thomas’ limited and uneven reception among early Christian communities. Canonical texts were recognized in part because they were read widely in churches across different regions and used in worship and instruction. While the Gospel of Thomas was known to some early writers, it never achieved broad or sustained use in mainstream Christian liturgy. Church fathers such as Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Origen associated it with heretical groups and warned against its teachings. This negative reception reinforced the perception that Thomas stood outside the boundaries of acceptable Christian doctrine.
The church’s criteria for canon formation further illuminate Thomas’ exclusion. By the second and third centuries, Christian leaders evaluated texts according to several interrelated standards: consistency with the rule of faith, apostolic origin, widespread usage, and spiritual coherence with the lived experience of the church. The Gospel of Thomas failed on multiple counts. Its theology conflicted with the rule of faith, its apostolic attribution was doubtful, its usage was limited, and its vision of salvation differed fundamentally from the message proclaimed in baptism, Eucharist, and preaching.
Importantly, the exclusion of the Gospel of Thomas does not imply that early Christians were unaware of alternative interpretations of Jesus or that the canon was formed through suppression alone. Rather, it reflects a process of discernment in which communities sought to preserve texts that bore faithful witness to what they believed God had revealed in Christ. The Gospel of Thomas represented a version of Christianity that prioritized private enlightenment over communal faith, secret knowledge over public proclamation, and spiritual abstraction over historical incarnation. These emphases placed it outside the trajectory of belief that eventually defined orthodox Christianity.
Today, the Gospel of Thomas remains a valuable historical document. It offers insight into the diversity of early Christian thought and highlights the debates that shaped the formation of Christian identity. Its exclusion from the New Testament canon underscores how deeply the early church valued a coherent narrative of salvation rooted in history, embodied in community, and centered on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.