What did Jesus Christ really say? What sayings reveal the true teachings of Jesus Christ and his deep spiritual practices? Many of his quotes do not appear in the Bible. Recently discovered lost manuscripts reveal there is more to learn about him. Jesus Christ’s newly discovered sayings sometimes seem esoteric and other-worldly. He often spoke in parables, multiple meanings, and metaphors that might be unintelligible to many. For example, “He that has ears, let him hear.” is an invitation to those followers who have some higher understanding to listen carefully. Spiritual wisdom and multi-dimensional meanings are perilous to translate into any language. I wonder – what did Jesus Christ really mean?
Christianity was adopted in Rome almost 300 years after Yeshua’s death, when there were very few reliable resources to be found about his life. During this time early Christians were being persecuted and hanged. So, the scribbled memoirs of the faithful followers in diverse languages became the basis for the Roman New Testament. The collection took several hundred years to select and assemble all the passages to include. Is it reliable? Who knows?
This article looks briefly at the sources for the authentic sayings of Jesus Christ NOT found in the Bible, especially where he reveals higher spiritual concepts. We believe there are over 500 “lost” manuscripts that do not appear in the Bible. See List of Lost Books: These exclusions happened for countless reasons, not always due to Vatican secrecy or censorship. Many texts were excluded because of questionable authenticity, poor translations, duplicate material, or spiritual concepts too deep for common people to understand.
The earliest versions of the New Testament were said to be written in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language that Jesus Christ is believed to have spoken. So, the recently discovered Nag Hammadi texts and the Codex Sinaiticus manuscripts may be close to the original words and intention of Jesus himself.
The Gospel of Thomas is a wonderful source of 114 lesser-known sayings of Jesus, and is found in many translations. The Coptic version was translated from Greek, written between 50-125 CE, supposedly by Didymos Judas Thomas. The text most likely existed in Syriac and may have been originally written in Aramaic. The original text probably dates to the 1st Century CE.
Today I am looking for quotes from the Codex Sinaiticus and Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi library consists of twelve books accidentally discovered in Egypt in 1945. These are now kept in the Coptic Museum in Cairo. They are written in Coptic, and very likely are translations of earlier Greek texts.
The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important discoveries in history. Handwritten somewhere in the mid 4th century, the manuscript contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament, which includes many sayings of Jesus Christ. Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt that connects Africa and Asia, historically significant for biblical connections, especially to Mt. Sinai where Moses is believed to have received the Law of God.
The Codex Sinaiticus was discovered in 1844 by Constantin Tischner, German scholar, who visited St. Catherine’s monastery in Sinai in the mid-19th century. It was discovered along with many other manuscripts in a storeroom under the kitchen floorboards. In 1900 a catalog was published, listing 1200 manuscripts found. The Codex was eventually sold to the British Government to finance the Bolsheviks activities, and now is held in the British library.
And he said: “He who shall find the interpretation of these words shall not taste of death.”
Gospel of Thomas 1,
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
He who truly understands and lives these words shall awaken and reach enlightenment. This is not literal, but figuratively he or she will no longer live in time, but in an eternal present, beyond past or future. That is the meaning of evolution and eternal life. On a physical level, this person would finally return to the place from which he originated with Source.
He said to them: “He that hath ears, let him hear. There is a light within a man of light, and it gives light to the whole world. If it does not give light, there is darkness.”
Gospel of Thomas 24
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
This is a message to those who have higher understanding saying “he that has ears, let him hear.” These words would be meaningless to most people. He points them instead to the place of light that exists within them. The light is not out there; it is not far away. Be awakened to the light inside you.
Jesus said: “Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that he who made the inside is also he who made the outside?”
Gospel of Thomas 89
Illumination:
Concentrating solely on pleasing other people’s superficial eyes achieves nothing. Concentration on internal change within yourself produces deep, permanent change all around you.
His disciples said to him: Is circumcision useful or not? He said to them: “Were the foreskin useless, men would be born circumcised. But the true circumcision in spirit has proved entirely useful.”
Gospel of Thomas 53
Illumination:
If the foreskin were harmful, man would have been born without it. If it made sense for man to fly, he would have been born with wings. All mutilations and adaptations which man has made to himself, do not serve life but only his superficial ways of living. “True circumcision in the spirit” means cutting away those extraneous concerns about religious observance that keep me trapped on the surface of life, allowing the true priorities of my life to take their proper order.
Jesus said: “He who shall not hate his father and his mother cannot be my disciple, and (he who does not) hate his brethren and his sisters and take up his cross like me, shall not be worthy of me.”
Gospel of Thomas 55
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
The word “hate” strikes to the heart of our concept of human love. But to “take up the true path” means we put everything else down. You may not carry anything else along with you when it comes to your goal of enlightenment. The challenge to follow truth is uncompromising.
For generations, parents have passed on their luggage to their children, blended with their own prejudices, fears, self-conceit, ambitions and other scars they incurred in their lives. That is why it says that the sins of the fathers will be transferred to the third and fourth generation. If you want to become whole, you have to get rid of the luggage of your parents, as do your brothers and sisters and of course your parents and their parents too. Do love them, but not their thoughts and deeds. It is a difficult task, but if you do not want to sacrifice this, you will not awaken.
Jesus said: “Look upon the living One so long as you live, that you may not die and seek to see him, and be unable to see.”
Gospel of Thomas 59
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
He who has awoken will never be able to fall asleep again. These words are a prescription for the transformation of the world. The deceit of the sleeping masses is a collective, repressed and unconscious lie. Awakening does not depend upon any grand scheme or elaborate program. It depends upon every person doing their own deep heart-work.
Will matter be destroyed or not?
The Savior said, “Every nature, every form, every creature exists in and with each other, but they’ll dissolve again into their own roots, because the nature of matter dissolves into its nature alone. Anyone who has ears to hear, should hear!”
Gospel of Mary 22
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
All forms of physical matter are inter-related and impermanent, because their nature is to dissolve back into the void. Listen if you have the ears to hear.
“The soul said, ‘Why do you judge me, since I haven’t judged? I was bound, even though I haven’t bound anyone. They didn’t recognize me, but I’ve recognized that everything will dissolve – both the things of the [earth] and all things of [heaven].’
Gospel of Mary page 15
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
The soul is the root of you, it is free and never dies. The soul does not judge. The soul exists suspended in grace, the oneness of infinity. All realms, earth and heaven are impermanent and will dissolve.
Jesus said to them, “How do [you] know me? Truly [I] say to you, no generation of the people among you will know me.”
Gospel of Judas 34
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
The Master knew his presence in history was already ordained to become a revolution that would rock the world. He also knew this wakening of Man would take many generations to come maybe even thousands of years.
Jesus said, “It’s not possible to plant seeds on rock and harvest its fruit. In the same way, it’s [not possible to sow on] the [defiled] race with the seeds of perishable wisdom. The hand which created mortal humans so that their souls may go up to the realms above, [no ruler], angel, [or] power will be able to see the [places] that [this great], holy generation [will see].” When Jesus said this, he left.
Gospel of Judas 44
Mark M. Mattison
Illumination:
Just as you can’t plant fertile seeds on rock, some generations will not be able to digest the seeds of wisdom that I am planting. And none of those in power who created humans to have a transcendent soul, will ever know what wondrous and expansive realms the holy generations will see.
“Why do you pay me lip service as a Teacher but don’t do what I say?
[These people honor] me with their [lips,]
[but] their [heart] is [far] from [me.]
[They worship me pointlessly,]
The Unknown Gospel – Fragment 2 Recto
Mark M. Mattison
The meaning here is clear, no illumination is required.
“So I’m telling you not to worry about your life, about what you’ll eat; or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”
The Gospel of Q 22-24
Mark M. Mattison
“Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth, where moth and rust destroy and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where robbers don’t break in or steal. Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.”
The Gospel of Q 33-34
Mark M. Mattison
Don’t worry about earthly wealth, which will always disappear one way or another. Cultivate the heart; focus on the wealth that will always endure.
“Don’t let the kingdom of heaven become a desert within you. Don’t be haughty because of the light that enlightens, but behave toward yourselves the way that I’ve behaved toward you. I’ve put myself under the curse for you, so that you may be saved.”
Mark M. Mattison
Some people are blessed to carry the light, and they feel proud and entitled. Instead observe the difficulty I endure for you and have value for it.
List of Gnostic Codices
The Nag Hammadi library consists of twelve books, plus eight leaves of a thirteenth book. There are a total of fifty-two tracts. These are now kept in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and, as the name suggests, are written in Coptic, although it is clear that the texts are Coptic translations of earlier Greek works. The discovery of 13 books containing 52 texts in the Nile River valley of Egypt in 1945 called Nag Hammadi opened the door for the history of early Christianism and the teachings of four Gnostic gospels called; the secret book of James, the gospel of Thomas, the book of Thomas and secret book of John.
The Berlin Gnostic Codex, discovered in 1896, was not published until 1955 contains four texts written in Coptic like the texts of the Nag Hammadi library. The texts are the Gospel of Mary, preserved in an incomplete state; the Secret Book of John; the Wisdom of Jesus Christ; and the Act of Peter. Versions of the Secret Book of John and the Wisdom of Jesus Christ are also found in the Nag Hammadi library.
The Codex Sinaiticus or Sinai Bible is a 4th-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, and the Greek New Testament, with both the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas included.
The great uncial codices or four great uncials are the only remaining uncial codices that contain (or originally contained) the entire text of the Bible (Old and New Testament) in Greek. They are the Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican Library, the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus in the British Library, and the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
- Constantin von Tischendorf and the Discovery of Codex Sinaiticus, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUSqMLb21WQ
- *In A Spacious Place, Reflections on the Journey in Christ by Christopher Page, https://inaspaciousplace.wordpress.com/?s=gospel+of+thomas+
- *https://thelostbooks.org/the-list/
- Development of the New Testament canon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_New_Testament_canon
- https://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/nag_hammadi.htm
- https://thelostbooks.org/the-nag-hammadi-library/
- **http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas/index.html
- https://www.gospels.net, This website is dedicated to extracanonical Gospels – early Christian Gospels which weren’t included in the New Testament,translatedbyMark M. Mattison.
Srijana, aka Jane Barthelemy, is an intuitive, healer, Qigong teacher, and author, raised as a Catholic in the US, with decades of experience in meditation, Kundalini, Buddhism, Qigong, Taichi, and Daoist sexuality. She has an MBA and was CFO of the original Rudi’s Bakery. Her life path followed many careers including opera primadonna in Italy and owner of a Venetian glass jewelry company. Serious health challenges led her to write two cookbooks: “Paleo Desserts” and “Good Morning Paleo”. Her website JanesHealthyKitchen.com recently won the 2022 Corp Today Magazine award for the “Most Innovative Healthy Food & Lifestyle Blog – North America”. Her upcoming books include: “Heal Your Past Lives”, “Buddha Speaks – Channeled Passages from the Master”, and “Christ Buddha Sayings: Two Masters Speak the Same Words”. She and her Bhutanese husband, Lama D, are on the faculty at the NewEarth University. They live in Bhutan where they teach meditation and healing.