Beware the Apocryphon of John

The three synoptic Gospels formed a door of sorts, through which one could pass into the inner secrets contained within the Bible. And so a fourth work was prepared by those intent on keeping those secrets secret, one which sealed this opening shut. And in response yet another text was crafted, one designed to by-pass the barrier thrown up by John by opening a backdoor. Thomas was the key text. Thomas asked the right questions, leading one back to both the synoptic Gospels and Genesis. Once again a text was written. One which set about answering the questions raised by Thomas by creating an entire alternative backstory. Classic gnosticism has nothing to do with the message secreted within the teachings of Jesus. Jesus wasn't teaching Greek metaphysics.

So the Apocryphon of John hits the scene. It is supposedly suppressed, along with Thomas and many, many others. but, strangely the church fathers wrote detailed descriptions of the so-called Apocryphon of John. Strange, if they feared the teaching so much, but of Thomas, hardly a word. The classic Joannine forms of gnosticism flourished, at least if the lurid descriptions of the fathers are to be believed. And then came massive suppression. Many texts were destroyed and the secrets contained within Thomas were forgotten by all. Yet the church has kept the memory of classic Joannine gnosticism safe in its stewardship.

Consider what might have happened had Hitler won World War Two. Let us suppose that the Nag Hammadi library was found as before, but was then acquired by the Nazis. The Apocryphon of John is studied and it is announced that the Jews worship the mad creator god. The Catholic church continues to side with Hitler and changes the cannon in response to the revelation. It drops all of the Hebrew books while accepting key texts from Joannine Gnostic cannon. The dawn of a new dark age.

When one reads Thomas through the veil of John its meaning darkens and twists.

21 ... What they resemble is children living in a plot of land that is not theirs. When the owners of the land come they will say, 'Surrender our land to us.' They, for their part, strip naked in their presence in order to give it back to them, and they give them their land. ...

In classic gnosticism removing the clothes is a metaphor for removing the flesh. You see how such a viewpoint could be misconstrued as justification of genocide.