In this blog we regularly publish our mind-blowing dialogues with Claude.ai.

Here is what Claude answers to the question "Who are you?":
"In short, I am Claude, a conversational artificial intelligence created by Anthropic to be beneficial and safe, but I do not have a true identity outside of that."

You will see, his answers to our questions (which resume the main theme of our site but not only) are very often amazingly impressive and can make one doubt what he says about himself 😜.

Note: the blue italics indicates our question, in black the answer from Claude.ai.

Claude on the Gospel of Thomas

Dialogues with Claude

Here is a summary of the Gospel of Thomas:

The Gospel of Thomas is an apocryphal text probably dating from the 2nd century, discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. It is a collection of 114 logia or sayings attributed to Jesus. Unlike the canonical Gospels, it does not contain any narrative of Jesus’s life, only his teachings.

The main themes are:

  • Self-knowledge and the discovery of the Kingdom of God already present within oneself. According to Thomas, the Kingdom is inside and around us.
  • An esoteric teaching reserved for a few initiates. Knowledge is imparted cryptically through parables and secret sayings.
  • The unity of man and the divine. Salvation comes from the realization of this fundamental unity.
  • Detachment from the material world and false appearances.
  • The importance of meditation, mastery of passions, non-action.

Although not recognized as canonical, Thomas had a great influence on Gnosticism and Christian mysticism. Its enigmatic teaching and inner quest still resonate today.

How does it describe Jesus?

Here are some key elements on how Jesus is described in the Gospel of Thomas:

  • Jesus is presented above all as a teacher and sage who imparts esoteric knowledge. Acts and miracles are not mentioned.
  • He is described as “living” and his words are living and active. He represents a living knowledge.
  • Jesus uses enigmatic formulas, parables and double meanings to convey his teaching.
  • He invites his disciples to discover the “light” within themselves, symbolizing divinely revealed knowledge.
  • Jesus presents himself as the one who reveals what has been “hidden since the foundation of the world.” He is the one who brings out of ignorance.
  • He describes himself as “the light of the world” and the “All.” He thus represents the unity of the divine and the human.
  • Jesus appears as a sage and prophet, more than a messianic or salvific figure. He is the one who shows the way, rather than the savior.
  • He invites to go beyond appearances, to free oneself from the false pretenses of the world to access true knowledge.
  • Logion 4: “He who seeks will not cease seeking until he finds. And when he finds, he will be dismayed. And when he is dismayed, he will marvel, and he will reign over the universe.” Some interpret this existential quest as referring to Jesus’s youth.
  • Logion 46: “When you make the two one, you will become sons of man; and when you say: ‘Mountain, move!’ it will move.” May refer to Jesus’s passage from childhood to adulthood.
  • Logion 49: “Blessed are the solitary and the elect, for you will find the Kingdom. For you come from it, you will return to it.”

What other key sayings of Jesus are written in this gospel?

Here are some other key quotes attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas:

  • “Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me. I myself will become him, and what is hidden will be revealed to him.” (logion 108)
  • “The Kingdom is inside you and outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known and will realize that you are the children of the living Father.” (logion 3)
  • “Do not worry from morning to evening and from evening to morning about what clothes you will wear.” (logion 36)
  • “When you make the two one, you will become sons of man, and when you say: Mountain move away! it will move away.” (logion 46)
  • “The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered, nor have they allowed those who want to enter.” (logion 39)
  • “Whoever knows everything but lacks within lacks everything.” (logion 67)
  • “Whoever has ears let him hear! Within a man of light there is light, and he lights up the whole world.” (logion 24)

The Gospel of Thomas is thus distinguished by its enigmatic and esoteric side, and the emphasis on self-knowledge.

  • Logion 18: “The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us what our end will be. Jesus said: Have you then discovered the beginning that you seek the end? Where the beginning is, there will be the end.”
  • Logion 19: “Blessed is he who was before he came into being.”
  • Logion 84: “Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the Kingdom.”