Talking back to teachers, blinding the masses, and even killing people, all seem pretty bad acts. One might expect that the character doing these things may be some satanic figure or at least a sinner of some kind. However, those actions are the acts of Baby Jesus in the Infancy Gospel Of Thomas.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is an early Christian text that did not make it into the canonical New Testament. It’s important to note that because The Infancy Gospel didn’t enter the canon current Christians do not hold by it. It also likely does not accurately describe the events of the childhood of Jesus. That being said it’s still a fascinating document and through reading it one can learn a lot about the Christology of early Christians and their beliefs.
The translation I’ve used comes from Pinnacle Lutheran Church and can be found here.1
The author, Thomas, self-identifies in the first Chapter. This could be the apostle Thomas making this likely pseudepigraphy. If this is referring to that Thomas this could add an additional layer of depth to the authorship as that Thomas was believed by some to be a twin of Jesus.2 Perhaps that connection is why the author chose to pose as Thomas, who would have such knowledge of the childhood of Jesus. That being said, no evidence in the text points to this being Thomas the apostle.
Note though, that he specifies that he is an Israelite. The author did view Thomas (whether that be the author or a persona the author is putting on) his Israelite identity as important to the text.
He also gives a hint as to the purpose of this book:
“that all the brethren from among the heathen may know the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ in His infancy,”
This text is meant to show miracles, and it’s specifically meant to show miracles to people who are in communities among non-Christians
Chapter 2 gives the first miracle of the young Jesus. Jesus collects the waters of a stream into pools and created 12 sparrows out of clay. He does it on the Shabbos leading to a certain Jew complaining to Jeusus' father Joseph. Jesus sends off the sparrow crying leading to all the Jews reporting him.
In Chapter 3 a boy named Annas, the son of a scribe removes some water from the pools Jesus made leading to Jesus replying as follows:
“ O wicked, impious, and foolish! What harm did the pools and the waters do to you? Behold, even now you shall be dried up like a tree, and you shall not bring forth either leaves, or root, or fruit. And straightway that boy was quite dried up.”
This causes Annos to quickly die leading to the parents of Annos complaining to Joseph. In his paper “Cursing in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas”, Dr. Daniel Eastman notes how unusual these curses are, especially due to how quickly they take effect. He also notes a parallel between this verse and Matthew 21:19
“And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once” (Matt. 21:19 NRSVue)
Dr. Eastman notices that both use the wording of withered3 and that both are a curse of fruitlessness. On the other hand, he notes, this curse is much milder than the Infancy Gospel. Dr. Eastman takes this to mean that the Infancy Gospel author used Matthew and built on his curses.4
Jesus is then struck by a boy in Chapter 4. He says to his assailant
“You shall not go back the way you came”
The boy immediately falls to his death. The crowd seems perplexed that what Jesus says happens but nevertheless, they give Joseph an ultimatum, leave or teach him.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t just say, you will die. He uses euphemisms in both these cases, perhaps modeled off the canonical Jesus.
Joseph talks to Jesus and Jesus agrees to “Be silent”. However, he does not stop cursing people and says they will still bear punishment. He strikes everyone blind without speaking to them, thus fulfilling Joseph's request.
Jesus then goes to the first of 3 teachers, Zacchaeus who recognizes Jesus has some intelligence. Zacchaeus says he will teach letters, how to honor the forefathers and love those his own age. Zacchaeus teaches all the letters when Jesus replies
“Thou who art ignorant of the nature of the Alpha, how can you teach others the Beta? Thou hypocrite! First, if you know, teach the A, and then we shall believe you about the B. Then He began to question the teacher about the first letter, and he was not able to answer Him. And in the hearing of many, the child says to Zacchæus: Hear, O teacher, the order of the first letter, and notice here how it has lines, and a middle stroke crossing those which you see common; (lines) brought together; the highest part supporting them, and again bringing them under one head; with three points of intersection; of the same kind; principal and subordinate; of equal length. You have the lines of the A.”
Zacchaeus is impressed and elements the fact that he has failed to properly teach. He beseeches Joseph and says Jesus must either be a God or an angel. The people side with Zacchaeus and the curse is lifted.
Jesus then heals a child who fell, and a man who split his foot, both events cause more praising of God
At age 6 he performs a miracle for his mother and then some for his father at eight. Joseph then takes him to another teacher to learn Greek then Hebrew letters, they learn for a bit until Jesus asks
“If you are really a teacher, and art well acquainted with the letters, tell me the power of the Alpha, and I will tell you the power of the Beta.”
The teacher gets upset and strikes Jesus. Jesus then curses the teacher who falls down (a euphemism for dying). One more teacher, who is a friend of Joseph attempts to teach Jesus and is impressed by Jesuses intelligence. In his merit, Jesus undoes past curses. Jesus then does more miracles and this text ends with a story from Luke, rejoining it with the synoptic tradition.
All this is good and well but a question still stands. What’s the point of telling these stories, especially since some of them are quite intense?
It’s been claimed by Reidar Aasgaard that these stories seek to exert control over children. A kid would learn of the potential punishments and act good.5 However is that truly the lesson a kid would get from this story? Jesus consistently disobeys his parents and teachers and is portrayed as correct to do so. If the goal of the text is to make children obedient it does a poor job doing such.
Rather the general purpose of the text is given at the start:
“that all the brethren from among the heathen may know the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ in His infancy”
This text attempts to proclaim the greatness of Jesus through the miracles of Jesus. We see this in every story told in the infancy gospel. But beyond that, there is another implicit theological purpose in the text. That is specifically to make the point of abolishing the Mosaic law.
We see this best with the targets of the curses of the young Jesus. For example, the teacher he kills within the context of the childhood of Jesus would likely be a pharisee Rabbi. The boy, Annos is also specified to be the son of a scribe. We see scribe being used as a term to refer to Rabbis in books such as the Talmud. We start to see a certain message emerging. Pharisees can either reject the message of Jesus and end up like Annos and the second teacher, or they can be like Zacchaeus or the third teacher. There’s more evidence though. For example look to the attribution, “Thomas, an Israelite”. He as an Israelite would be among many Jews who have yet to reject the Mosaic covenant, making this an issue of discussion for our author. This explains what’s meant by “all the brethren from among the heathen”, this text specifically is made for Christians amongst the Jewish heathen.
One final proof makes this case clear. That’s the miracle of turning clay into sparrows. It’s specified to have occurred on the Shabbos. This makes his act a violation of the laws of Shaboos and the Mosaic law as a whole.
The Infancy Gospel opens with the rejection of the Mosaic laws and continues on with Jesus dealing with Pharisees like Annos, and the second teacher who holds on to those Mosaic laws. One can either reject those laws and stand with Jesus, or they can remain heathen and suffer the consequences. This is the message that Thomas, the Israelite is trying to send.
Pinnacle Lutheran Church. “Infancy Gospel of Thomas.” PinnacleLutheran.org, Pinnacle Lutheran Church, 2018, pinnaclelutheran.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Infancy-Gospel-of-Thomas.pdf. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024
Meyer, Marvin W, and Wolf-Peter Funk. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures. New York, HarperOne, 2007, p. 133.
The translation I’ve used for the Infancy Gospel doesn’t use that exact terminology but the Greek word is the same.
Eastman, Daniel. “Cursing in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.” Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 69, no. 2, 2015, pp. 168–208. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24754478?seq=1. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
Upson-Saia, Kristi. “Holy Child or Holy Terror? Understanding Jesus’ Anger in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.” Church History, vol. 82, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23358904. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024