Why is the Gospel of Thomas not included in the Bible?

The Bible contains sixty-six books in all of its pages, all of them meant to show who God is. Its pages teach us to live a life of holiness in obedience to the Christ, the Son of the living God, and empower us to live a life of Godliness. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us of Scripture,

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

The Bible is a complete Book, bringing to us what is necessary for this life and beyond. The Gideons International says of the Bible,

"The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable ... Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end ... It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents."

As God's word, it is the final authority for any and everything that concerns human life. As such, anyone who adds to it or subtracts from it will receive what God declared in Revelation 22:18-19.

Perhaps, by now, you're asking what this has to do with the title of the article. It has everything to do with it. Enter: the Gospel of Thomas.

What is the Gospel of Thomas?

The Gospel of Thomas, which is not included in the Bible, is a book that doesn't go with the other books of the Bible, particularly the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It brings with it a different message, and although it may sound like a legitimate piece of Biblical literature, curious minds will find that it really doesn't deserve a place in the Bible.

Why is that?

Before we answer that question, let's talk about where it came from and what it contains.

The Gospel of Thomas was discovered alongside other texts near Nag Hammadi, in Egypt, in 1945. It was called the "Gospel of Thomas" because it opens with a line that says, when translated to English, "These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke, and Didymus Judas Thomas wrote them down."

It is basically a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus and while some sayings may sound Biblically correct, like the 54th saying, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven" (similar to Luke 6:20), other sayings make no sense at all. Case in point: saying number 7, which says:

"Blessed is the lion which the man shall eat, and the lion become man; and cursed is the man whom the lion shall eat, and the lion become man."

No point at all

This so-called "Gospel" doesn't point to Christ as the Messiah, doesn't teach the way of salvation, doesn't have a narrative, doesn't record the Crucifixion, and will even teach people things contrary to God's word. At times, it's hard to make sense of the sayings.

It's the lack of overall narrative of the life of Jesus that makes many Bible scholars reluctant  to even call it a "Gospel" in the sense that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are.

It has traditionally been attributed to the Gnostics, but even that is debated.

But if there's anything this text can be good for, it's to show us that no writing can ever compare to the word of God, written over centuries by different people yet united in its message: that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world.