EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 39
will not be revealed." In its concern for hidden wisdom that is revealed and un-
derstood, the Gospel of Thomas displays an interest found in other traditions, es-
pecially other gnostic traditions. In the Book of Thomas and the Secret Book of
James, for example, reference is also made to hidden sayings of Jesus and the
interpretation of the sayings. In the Secret (or Hidden) Book of John, as else-
where, the revealer indicates that questions will be answered and secrets will
be revealed to the inquirers. In the Secret Book of John the secrets of wisdom
in the world are said to be revealed, but this is personified wisdom, Sophia, whose
story is told in mythical narrative and drama. The Secret Book of John ends
with the revealer uttering a curse against anyone who betrays the mystery. The
savior says, "I have finished everything for you in your hearing. I have told you
everything, for you to record and communicate secretly to your spiritual
friends. For this is the mystery of the unshakable race." In such ways is wisdom
hidden and revealed in the Gospel of Thomas and the Secret Book of John.
Gospel of Thomas 50 is one of the most perplexing and perhaps one of
the most gnostic of the hidden sayings of Jesus. It reflects early traditions
about wisdom and the life of the soul (psyche), which must go through tran-
sitions and passages of life in order to attain its proper destiny. In the present
volume, the Song of the Pearl and the Exegesis on the Soul provide versions
of such a myth of the soul. In gnostic texts like the Secret Book of John, some
of the same motifs are used to present a gnostic account of the story of the
light and enlightened people, whose origin is in the divine light, who are cre-
ated in the image of the divine, and who are given movement and destined
for rest in the light. The format of Gospel of Thomas 50, with questions asked
and answers given, brings to mind accounts, in other sources and especially
gnostic sources, of heavenly powers interrogating the soul as it passes through
the spheres of heaven. Of course, many of these ideas are also reminiscent of
the creation story in the opening chapters of Genesis, in this case particularly
the first creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:3. And these ideas are paralleled in the
poem to the divine logos at the opening of the Gospel of John.
In the Gospel of John, in stark contrast to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is
hardly "just Jesus." In John, Jesus is the Christ, the messiah, the son of god and
son of man. He is addressed as rabbi and is called master or lord. Here Jesus is
an exalted being, one with god the father, who walks around the world, incog-
nito, as god in the flesh, and who speaks in a way that sounds like the divine
talking, in "I am" utterances. There are many of these "I am" declarations
throughout ancient religious literature, as well as in the gnostic texts pub-
lished in the present volume—see Thunder, for example. In the Gospel of