The Gospel of Judas, the Twin of Jesus

also known as the Gospel of St. Thomas

These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Judas "the Twin" [Thomas; Didymus] wrote down.

Chapter 1

(1) Jesus asked, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?"

(2) Jesus said, "I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind."

(3) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will be."

Jesus replied, "Have you discovered the beginning, then, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there you will find the end. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know, then, the end, and will not experience death."

(4) Jesus said, "The old man will not hesitate to ask a baby about the place of life, and that man will live, for many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same."

(5) Jesus continued, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death."

(6) And he said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."

(7) Then Simon Peter spoke to them, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life."

And Jesus replied, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her like Adam, so that she, too, may become a living spirit resembling Adam. For every woman who will make herself like Adam will enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

(8) He continued, "Adam came into being from a great power and a great wealth, but he did not become worthy of you. For had he been worthy, he would not have died."

(9) And Jesus said to Simon Peter, "It is to those who are worthy of my mysteries that I tell my mysteries. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

(10) Jesus continued to them, "Seek and you will find. Yet what you asked me about in former times, and which I did not tell you then, now I desire to tell you, but you do not ask it any more"

(11) He said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will become amazed, and he will rule over the All."

(12) Jesus concluded, "He who seeks will find; he who knocks will be let in."

Chapter 2

(1) The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and mother are standing outside." Jesus replied, "Those here who do the will of my Father are my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the Kingdom of my Father."

(2) He said, "Love your brother like your soul; guard him like the pupil of your eye."

(3) 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."

(4) Jesus said, "He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot!"

(5) Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will never be forgiven either on earth or in Heaven!"

(6) Jesus said, "I have cast a fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes!"

(7) Jesus continued, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world! They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war! There will be five in a house, three will be against two, and two against three; the father against the son, and the son against the father, and they will stand solitary."

(8) Jesus explained, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move away!' and it will move away.

(9) Jesus went on, "It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds the man's hands; only then will he be able to ransack the house."

(10) Jesus said, "I shall destroy this house, and no one will be able to rebuild it!"

(11) Jesus said, "Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary one who will enter the bridal chamber."

(12) Jesus concluded, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for they will find the Kingdom, for they are from it, and to it they will return."

(13) "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the Kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Day of Rest, you will not see the Father."

Chapter 3

(1) His disciples questioned him and asked him, "Do you want us to fast? How shall we pray? Shall we give alms? What diet should we observe?"

Jesus said, "Do not tell lies! Do not do what you hate, for all things are obvious in the sight of Heaven. Nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered."

(2) They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today, and let us fast."

Jesus asked, "What sin have I committed, or how have I been defeated? When the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray!"

(3) Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk around its districts, if they receive, eat what they set before you, and heal the sick among them. What goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from you mouth--it is that which will defile you!"

(4) His disciples then asked him, "Well, is circumcision beneficial or not?"

He replied, "If it were beneficial, their father would begat them already circumcised from their mother! Rather, the true circumcision of the spirit has become completely profitable."

(5) Jesus said, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become obvious to you, for there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."

(6) He explained, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of that sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'The Kingdom is in the sea,' then the fishes will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you will come to know yourselves, then all will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves then you will dwell in poverty, and it is you who will be that poverty."

(7) Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."

Chapter 4

(1) Mary asked Jesus, "Whom are your disciples like?"

He replied, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field,' and the children will undress in the owners' presence in order to let them have their field back. Therefore I say, if the owner of a house knows that the thief is coming, he will begin his vigil before he comes and will not let him dig through into the house that is his domain and carry his goods away. My disciples must be, then, on guard against the world. Arm yourselves with great strength lest the robbers find a way to come to you, for the difficulties you expect will certainly come to pass. Let there be among you a man of understanding--when the grain ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand and reaped it. Fortunate is the man who knows where the brigands will enter so that he may get up, muster his domain, and arm himself before they invade. Whoever has ears, let him hear."

(2) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "Those infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom."

They asked, "Shall we, then, enter the Kingdom as children?"

Jesus replied, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside, and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and female one and the same, so that the male not be male and the female not be female--and when you fashion eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness--then you will enter the Kingdom."

(3) Jesus said to his disciples, "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten-thousand, and they shall stand as a single one."

(4) Jesus said, "The angels and the prophets will come to you and give you those things you already have. And you, too, give them those things which you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what is theirs?' "

(5) His disciples spoke to him, "Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in you."

He said to them, "You have omitted the one living in your presence, and have spoken only of the dead."

(6) Jesus said, "Among those born of women, from Adam until John the Baptist, there is no one superior to John the Baptist, that their eyes should not be lowered in his presence. Yet I have said, whichever one of you becomes like a child will be acquainted with the Kingdom and will become superior to John."

(7) Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of a woman, prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is your Father."

(8) A woman from the crowd called to him, "Blessed are the womb which bore you and the breasts that nourished you!"

Jesus replied to the woman, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it, for there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"

(9) They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "Caesar's men demand taxes from us."

He replied, "Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."

(10) And a man said to Jesus, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me!"

Jesus said to the man, "O man, who has made me a divider?"

Then he turned to his disciples and said to them, "I am not a divider, am I?"

(11) Jesus said, "O lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the cistern!"

(12) He said, "The foxes have their dens and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest."

Chapters 5-10