The World Gospel of Thomas Saying 56

Gospel of Thomas Saying 56 

Jesus said: He who has known the world has found a corpse; and he who has found a corpse, the world is not worthy of him.

This world is one of shadows and deceptions. Because the mind of man has come to accept it as another home, he remains here to suffer and die as a creature of flesh. But this too is also a lie. Because of this deception of the carnal mind and ego, this world has become the place of the dead; it is Hades. For our sake God’s Son came down into Hades, to set us captives free. So if one has come to know the world and has discovered it is death (a carcass), then he has overcome the world and the world is not worthy of him anymore. This is why we must be resurrected because we are spiritually dead in sin and in the darkness of deception. This is why we must live by the Spirit of Christ because we are being called to a higher level of life- a higher nature that is not part of the animal kingdom. Our higher nature is found in the Kingdom of God! 

Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: "Knowing the world is equivalent to finding a corpse (or, in the parallel Saying 80, a body); this knowledge and this discovery are evidently regarded as good, for the world is not worthy of the discoverer (cf., Hebrews 11:38, and page 77). Knowing the world, then, must be truly knowing it for what it is. But we must also consider one more saying (109). The world is not worthy of the one 'who will find himself.' We conclude that Saying 57 [56], like these variants we have cited, is based on the verse which in Matthew (10:39; cf., Mark 8:34-35) follows the verses cited in Saying 56 [55]. 'He who finds his soul [life] will lose it, and he who loses his soul for my sake will find it.' Either Thomas simply mystifies his readers by speaking of a corpse or he uses 'corpse' as the equivalent for 'body' and hence for 'self.' The Naassenes used

'corpse' of the spiritual man (Hippolytus, Ref., 5, 8, 22)." (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 164)
F. F. Bruce writes: "To say that the world is not worthy of someone (cf. Hebrews 11.38) is to commend him; therefore (strange as it may seem) to find a corpse is praiseworthy. The Naassenes, according to Hippolytus, spoke of the spiritual body as a 'corpse'. [The reason for this strange use of 'corpse' was that the spiritual essence is 'buried' in the body as a corpse is buried in a tomb (Hippolytus, Refutation v.8.22).] But the analogy of Saying 111 ('as for him who finds himself, the world is not worthy of him') suggests that here 'corpse' means 'body' as used in the sense of 'self'. If so, we may have a cryptic parallel to the canonical saying about gaining the world and losing one's own self, or vice versa (Luke 9.24f.; Matthew 16.25f.), which follows a saying about denying self and taking up the cross (cf. Saying 55)." (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, p. 135) (Cp. Hebrews 11:38 Saying 27:1; 80 110; 111:3)

56) Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world [who through many deceptions has hidden the Keys of Knowledge (spiritual meanings) behind a veil of fleshly traditions, ordinances and festivals etc..] has found (only) a corpse [it is dead for the spirit of the world is poverty having no insight], and whoever has found a corpse [discovered the truth about the world and how religions still uses types and images, customs and rituals etc.. as forms and works to observe which only serves to undermine the Truth (every state has its own "holi-days"] is superior to the world [the Elect are not subject to the strong delusion "For roused shall be false christs and false prophets, and they shall be giving great signs and miracles, so as to deceive, if possible, even the Elect" but since He will not lose any of His Own it is not possible! Halleluiah!!]."