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The Original Gospel of Christ

(The Gospel of Thomas) 

The Renunciation and Ministry Teachings.

The Eye, Hand, and Foot Alignments

Pray that the Lord will send forth labourers into the harvest.

These alignments teach the renunciation of wealth and power. Recognize power, wealth and the world itself as the corpse that it is and renounce it, (27/ 80). There is a responsibility to lead. To lead one must see clearly, removing the mote from the eye, not judging others for so failing, (26). Love, not money or power, must be the single minded vision. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways, James 1:8. "If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit, (36). The merchant and anyone focused on wealth is a blind man (34/76). Renunciation must be lived out in preparation for the holy marriage of two into one.

 
In your mind’s eye see yourself as one with your brother.  "Love your brother like your (own) soul, guard him like the pupil of your eye, (25)." Two souls, and two visions or two eyes must be made as one: “eyes in the place of an eye, (22). Light will then illuminate the bridal chamber. “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light,” Luke 11:34. When two make peace in this bridal chamber they will be filled with light (48 /61). Finally, the initiate is prepared for the responsibility they will bear when the light appears and they see their images in the bridal chamber, (84).  

The Hand Sayings

The hand sayings expand the logic of the eye sayings. After renunciation the disciple gives away his wealth with an extended hand. If you want to be worthy to receive the mysteries, and enter the bridal chamber, “do not let your left (hand) know what your right (hand) is doing,” (62). The giving away of wealth must be done discreetly.

 
With humility recognize the contrast between the rich man and the good example of John the Baptist, (46). Matthew elaborates that John survived with only a “raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey,” Matthew 3:4. This is the lifestyle to which Jesus calls his disciples.

 
Recognize the world for the corpse that it is, (56). Do not lay up treasure on earth for a rich man dies in the night, (63). A blind man is one who wants to hold onto his possessions (34, 72, 76). If you want to see the kingdom, sell what you have and give the proceeds away (35, 76). Bind your hands together in common purpose, and ransack your house, (35).  Enter the kingdom with an extended hand. Like a shrewd merchant sell what you have to buy the pearl, (76).

 
This is the requirement for entrance, and a necessity for those who would serve. “It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows, and it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters,” (47). You cannot please your parents. Extend the hand to give away wealth despite opposition from family (47, 55). Matthew adds, “You cannot serve God and mammon.”  Matthew 6:24. “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth, Luke 12:33.

 
Examine your heart. See the duplicity and double mindedness and feel the persecution within yourself, (68). You have a responsibility. “The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest, (73)”

  
The Foot Sayings

The foot sayings teach the disciple to walk into the harvest in the same way as Jesus. Occurring in the Bridal Chamber (the green sayings), this alignment depicts the life of a Wandering Radical in ministry. It is a holy calling available after the eye and hand teachings are lived. The disciple, who has forsaken all, walks to new districts taking nothing for the journey, neither bread nor money. Two potential pitfalls are described: taking provisions for the journey, and asking for provisions along the way. Both can be hazardous.

 
This lifestyle is full of hardship. In order to walk this life, the powerful man must be put to death, (98). The self and self sufficiency must die. The disciple becomes dependent on those they minister to for their next meal. The temptation will be to give alms in expectation of a return, or to ask for assistance, or to fast in an effort to remain independent and self sufficient. For the true disciple, such actions harm the spirit. Rather, you will be fed when you are welcomed. “If they receive you eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them,” (14).

 
Food is not taken for the journey. The woman who carried a jar of meal with her did not realize her mistake, (97). “Take nothing for your journey, neither staffs, nor bag, neither bread, neither money,” Luke 9:3. Avoiding such mistakes, these Wandering Radicals travel from village to village ministering to the needs of the people always aware of the need to be filled and full, (97).

 
The mention of the “certain woman” and the one “not born of woman” prepares the initiate for the deeper teachings of the “likeness alignments” and the comparing of spiritual with spiritual. 

The Likeness Sayings:

 
The likeness alignments ask two questions. Who is Jesus like? (13). And who are the disciples like? (21). Jesus is compared to the image of Caesar on a gold coin, (100). He is the image of his spiritual parent, (101). The disciples are also compared to “the one you have not recognized,” (91). They too are like their spiritual Father and Mother. They are like children who have settled in a field, and found that the yoke is easy, and have found rest for themselves, (21, 91). We make the inside like the outside, and the outside like the inside, because the one “who made the inside is the same one who made the outside,” (22, 89). We discover we are like the Christ. In the bridal chamber the laborers who are sent out into the harvest see the reflection of Christ with a bright light of illumination. “What you see you shall become,” The Gospel of Philip. “Split (open) a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there,” (The Light Alignment: 33,73-75,77).

 
Living with a single eye, and an extended hand, walking in the same way as Christ we discover that we are like him, and that we are the Christ. We make the two into one. It is a life of renunciation and ministry, but also of glory and transfiguration.
 

This is the Life of a Wandering Radical

Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me," Thomas 55.

 
Clarifying for the seeker in the pursuit of this reconciliation, perfection, completion, and maturity, Jesus says to him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me," Matthew 19:21.

"Peter said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them (the disciples). Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life," Matthew 19:27-29.

Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All," Thomas 2.

The Eye, Hand, Foot, and Likeness Alignments prepare us in a step by step manner for the Bridal Chamber. Let him who has ears hear, (62, 63). Everyone progresses as far as they are able. The early church in Jerusalem were at least able to embrace the message of renunciation. “All that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need,” Acts 2:44-45. Others like Paul were able to say, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge (or gnosis) of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ…That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,” Philippians 3:8,10

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