Gospel of Thomas
Sayings collected 1st–2nd century; Coptic book found 1945
A gospel of 114 sayings. Jesus speaks of a kingdom already within and among you, and of a love as careful as your own eyesight.
Gospel of Thomas 25
Jesus said, Love your brother as your own soul. Guard him like the pupil of your eye.
Meaning
Thomas teaches by sayings rather than by a journey. The reign is already inside and outside you. Love is as local as a sibling and as fragile as eyesight. The collection asks for attention, not for a password. It becomes dangerous only when nearness is used to avoid the actual neighbor.
Historical context
A Coptic book of 114 sayings was buried near Nag Hammadi and found in 1945, a fourth-century copy of an earlier Greek text. Papyri from Oxyrhynchus show Greek sayings were already in circulation. Scholars disagree about a first-century core. The incipit addresses Didymos Judas Thomas.
There is no birth story and no passion narrative. That is the genre, wisdom sayings, not evidence the users knew no other gospel. The pupil-of-the-eye line sits beside Leviticus’ neighbor command and Matthew’s talk of eyes. Dating debates should stay honest. They do not make the sentence unserious.
Ways to interpret
Historical
A sayings gospel in Greek and Coptic, copied for centuries and buried in a jar. Treat the find-story as archaeology, not as a thriller that proves a conspiracy.
Contemplative
Guard one person’s dignity when they are not in the room. The saying is about protection, not about a feeling of fondness.
Wisdom
Read saying 25 beside saying 26, the speck and the log. Sight and loyalty are one lesson. Self-knowledge without care for the sibling fails both lines.
Related readings
Gospel of Thomas 25
Jesus said, Love your brother as your own soul. Guard him like the pupil of your eye.
Gospel of Thomas 77
Jesus said, I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all has reached. Split a piece of wood: I am there. Lift the stone, and you will find me there.
Gospel of Thomas 3
Jesus said, If those who lead you say, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside you and it is outside you.