When you think of a role model, what kind of person do you think of? Many are familiar with the man known as Jesus Christ. Even those who are not Christian could tell you his general character traits and demeanor. The Jesus most people know is a patient, gracious, and forgiving leader, thought to be the Messiah and, therefore, a role model of character. However, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal gospel, paints a different picture of Jesus during his childhood. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas portrays Jesus as a mischievous, short tempered youth with exceptional powers, often resulting in casualties. This contrast of temperament may cause a reader to question, “Why would this Infancy Gospel of Thomas be written if it contradicts the Christian beliefs?” This blog will address one potential reason for the composition of Infancy Gospel of Thomas. While highly debated, one of the proposed motives behind the composition of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas was to contribute to the Christian missionary agenda of the time by portraying Jesus as an authority figure — including episodes of his childhood that displayed that Jesus always was and is powerful — that would have been acknowledged and accepted by all audiences in that time period.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas might not provide historically accurate theological insight, but it still provides cultural context of the time of the tradition’s circulation. Understanding the background to its composition could further our knowledge about its purpose, whether to reveal hidden teachings or entertain early Christian audiences.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, while not canon, served to legitimize Jesus’s authority among the numerous religions and political leaders of the time (Cameron, 1982). During the time of oral tradition, early Christians were still trying to evangelize and spread their newfound faith in the man known as Jesus Christ. They needed to persuade others that they should believe in Jesus above all other deities, messiahs, ruling authorities. But how? During the Greco-Roman period, it was common for people to look back to these wonderous beings’ childhood as they believed a person’s character is fixed from birth (Ehrman & Pleše, 2011). Therefore, Jesus’s first actions performed as a child were likely to be indicators of his future career and deeds as an adult (Cameron, 1982). Is this what we see? Jesus’s actions as a young boy seem to be vicious and volatile, yet during his adult ministry, he seems compassionate and loving. How can his earlier portrayal be indicative of his public ministry? The Infancy Gospel of Thomas does not seem like a positive description of Jesus; he does not seem like someone people should look up to. So how does Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s depiction of Jesus align with the early Christian mission? By analyzing how Jesus is consistently portrayed between Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the canonical gospels, one can observe how early Christians might have legitimized Jesus’s influence.
Both the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and canonical Gospels describe Jesus as both equally divine and human. One can argue that the Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s sole function is to highlight Jesus’s sensational powers and abilities (Ehrman & Pleše, 2011). Even as a child, Jesus is able to perform great deeds like healing the sick and raising the dead, displaying that he is master of life and death. For example, when a scribe’s son destroys the pools of water Jesus had collected, he curses the child and kills him. He also resurrects a boy, Zeno, after he falls off the roof while playing (Cameron, 1982). Yet, Jesus’s humanity is highlighted by his notably strong emotions. He feels anger, vengeance, impudence and is unruly, unpredictable and easily provoked – all human experiences. However, Chartrand-Burke assesses Jesus’s development of humanity through a different approach. He claims that it is not Jesus’s unruliness tendencies that shape his humanity, but his portrayal as a knowledgeable youth that gives him his humanity (2001). To set some context, child rearing was not the same endeavor as it is in modern day. It wasn’t done for the mere pleasure, but for economic reasons and status reasons. People – rich or poor – were concerned with continuing their lineage, securing care during their old age, and obtaining a proper burial. Childhood was difficult, and it primarily emphasized preparation for adulthood through education, apprenticeships, and independent labor. Thus, at the time, childhood was brief as children were pushed to adulthood as quickly as possible. Children were subjected to harsh discipline and expectations, and they were sometimes treated as theological indicators since they were thought to be more “spiritually pure” than adults. Through this worldview, childhood meant disobedience and naivety while adulthood meant maturity and wisdom. Until one reached adulthood, one was not recognized as a human. In the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus grows into the idealized child by reaching adultlike maturity and wisdom as a child, enabling him to be viewed and treated as more of a “human” (Chartrand-Burke, 2001). Jesus is humanized through his youthful wisdom; yet, he maintains his divinity through his miracle-working abilities. This consistent portrayal of Jesus’s divinity and humanity is significant when you consider that the Infancy Gospel of Thomas assumes listeners are familiar with the canonical Gospels. The canonical Gospels maintain that Jesus is both wholly divine and wholly human. Therefore, a consistent depiction of Jesus in his youth as in his adult life makes Jesus’s authority more legitimate for early Christians.
Likewise, besides Jesus’s divinity and humanity, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas provides a portrayal of Jesus consistent with early Christians’ beliefs in that he is the all-powerful Lord who had the right to punish those who doubted him or prevented him completing his mission. Ehrman and Pleše (2011) encourage modern readers to take the ancient historical and social situations into perspective to understand the theological role Infancy Gospel of Thomas could have played in society. For context, the Jewish messiah had been anticipated to be a warrior – like King David – who would become the future king of Israel and “deliver God’s people from their oppressors and establish a sovereign state in Israel through God’s power” (Ehrman, 2020). Moreover, many deities of ancient Mediterranean culture were depicted as violent and angry. Even God of the Old Testament was known to be wrathful (Ehrman, 2020). When perceiving Jesus shaped by popular Mediterranean conceptions of a deity, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas provides a consistent representation of Jesus with those from ancient traditions. Jesus as a youth and as an adult convey the same message: that Jesus’s authority and knowledge is superior and those who oppose him will face punishment. This consistency of Jesus’s portrayal is continued as the events in Infancy Gospel of Thomas appear to foreshadow events that happen in his later lifetime, as seen in Luke’s gospel texts (Ehrman & Pleše, 2011). For example, in Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is criticized by a Jew for forming clay sparrows on the Sabbath. Jesus, in response, mischievously brings the sparrows to life in an act of defiance (Inf. Gos. Thom 2:4). Later during his public ministry, Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath, an act that violates Jewish law, in which the leader of the synagogue admonishes Jesus for disobeying the law, but Jesus responds by accusing him of hypocrisy, indicating how he sets free his ox and donkeys to provide it nourishment, and he was merely doing the same for the woman. Following this statement, “all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing” (Luke 13:10-17). Albeit less harsh compared to the actions of his youth, Jesus’s continued role as a powerful being whose opponents will be humbled would have given listeners assurance in Jesus’s personality. These glimpses of his extraordinary abilities and mission in his childhood hinted to traits that would be fully expressed as an adult.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas also highlights Jesus’s abilities to heal and raise the dead, abilities that are further developed and emphasized in his adulthood. In Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus heals a boy, James, who is bit by a snake. By simply blowing air on the bite, Jesus heals James’ wound immediately. Jesus also heals a man’s foot after splitting it while splitting wood. All it takes is a single touch, and the man is healed; and alike traditions in the canonical Gospels, those who witnessed Jesus’s extraordinary deed were amazed and claimed Jesus would heal many people in the future (Inf. Gos. Thom 15:1-16:3). In Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus raises a baby that had fallen to an illness and a man who had fallen of a staircase. With each, Jesus resurrected them with a command, and people marveled and worshipped him. The inclusions of onlookers’ amazement accentuate the splendor of Jesus’s deeds. Moreover, these traditions reflect those in the canonical Gospels where Jesus heals many people during his public ministry as an adult, further solidifying Jesus’s destiny as a powerful being and upholding a consistent portrayal that legitimizes Jesus’s authority.
Additionally, Infancy Gospel of Thomas functions both as an entertaining and informative text for adults and children of the early Christian community that provides instruction on how a person can improve their morals and intellect (Aasgaard, 2009). Both as a youth and as an adult, Jesus provides edification, often by questioning the society’s authoritative leaders such as teachers and scribes. Infancy Gospel of Thomas caters a wide audience by portraying Jesus similar to in the Gospel of Luke so that it satisfies the expectation of a messiah who comes to earth and provides authoritative interpretations of God’s law for his people. As a child, Jesus proves that he possesses more wisdom than his teachers who thought they were superior in knowledge (Inf. Gos. Thom 6:1-7:4). Likewise, he does the same in his public ministry when scribes and Jewish leaders repeatedly question Jesus’s actions and knowledge (Luke 5:30-33, 7:49, 11:37-54, 16:14, 20:1-2). Ultimately, these examples emphasize the same message: those who think themselves superior in knowledge are shown to be fools and are punished while those who are humble in their knowledge and accept Jesus’s message are shown mercy and given salvation. These resemblances of canonical gospel motifs are just one example of Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s edification as they intend to showcase how people misvalue academic knowledge over heavenly knowledge (Chartrand-Burke, 2001). Furthermore, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s unique traditions would have allowed any early Christian communities to relate to Jesus as a youth since they recount an engaging narrative that can be enjoyed by all people, and this relatability would have promoted Jesus as a more appealing messiah for countless communities.
It is important to note that the purpose behind Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s composition is highly debated by Aasgaard and other scholars, so further research is encouraged by others who want to investigate why Infancy Gospel of Thomas was written in the second century. For example, another suggested motive behind the composition of Infancy Gospel of Thomas is pure inquisitiveness. Perhaps early Christians, in their desire to fill the literary gaps of Jesus’s biography, began circulating traditions that described the originally unknown Jesus’s adolescence (Aasgaard, 2009). Alternatively, another proposed motive was to formulate a children’s story imbued with Christian beliefs that parents would have wanted their children adopt, behaviors to express, and traits to develop in the second century. These would have mimicked Jesus’s idealized portrayal of a child – one that depicts an “adult in a child’s body,” including early maturation and adultlike wisdom (Aasgaard, 2009).
A text for all people in the Greco-Roman world, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas aims to legitimize Jesus as an authoritative figure in the second century, when numerous religions and deities were being worshipped and promoted. To establish Jesus as an authoritative figure amongst all these other divine beings, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas sought to validate Jesus’s character and message by providing insight to his childhood, showing that Jesus’s maintained a consistent disposition and mission ever since his youth. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas not only provided supplementary information that listeners would have understood in conjunction with the canonical gospels, but it also edified a general audience, allowing anyone to understand these early Christian teachings – perfect for evangelism during a time of multitudinous deities.
Throughout this blog, I have examined a theological motive behind the Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s composition by situating it in its historical context. By understanding the apocryphal portrayal of Jesus, the context for the canonical texts becomes clearer. This blog post can hopefully inform students and researchers alike as they navigate their study of the New Testament and early Christianity and help them consider the Infancy Gospel of Thomas’s impact on theology since its non-canonical details may have challenge common perceptions of Jesus.