What Are The Names Of Jesus Siblings?

What were the names of jesus brothers and sisters

What are the names of Jesus sisters?

In addition to his father and mother, Jesus had five brothers: James (Ya’qov) and Simon (Shim’on) and his brothers: Judah and Yehudah, Joses and Yosef, and Thomas (Toma’). He also had two sisters, Rachel (Rakhel) and Lea (Le’ah), who were his closest friends.

Is James the biological brother of Jesus?

In their interpretation of Matthew 1:25, the statement that Joseph ″knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son″ means that Joseph and Mary continued to have normal marital relations after Jesus’ birth, and that the natural sons of Mary and Joseph were James, Joses, Jude, and Simon, who were half brothers of Jesus, and that Joseph and Mary had normal marital relations after Jesus’ birth.

Who were the 3 Marys at the cross?

The Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Cleofas are referred to as Las Tres Maras, or the Three Maries. They are frequently pictured at the scene of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion or at his tomb.

Did Jesus have brothers and sisters Catholic?

Jesus was the sole child of his parents. There were no brothers and sisters pulling at Mary’s gown, but Catholicism has long held that when the Gospels refer to Jesus’ siblings, or when the apostle Paul refers to the ″brothers of the Lord,″ the phrases are really translated from the Greek to mean ″cousins″ or ″relatives.″

Did Jesus have a twin?

According to Pullman’s rendition of the narrative, Jesus had a twin brother named Christ who is also named Christ. ″I was captivated, you see, by the distinction between the two portions of the name Jesus Christ that we often use interchangeably,″ Pullman explains. ″It was the contrast between the two parts of the name Jesus Christ that I was intrigued by.″

What was Jesus’s brothers name?

The brothers and sisters of Jesus James, Joseph/Joses, Judas/Jude, and Simon are all mentioned as brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary, in the Gospel of Mark (6:3) and the Gospel of Matthew (13:55–56), respectively. The same lines also refer to unidentified sisters of Jesus who are mentioned in passing.

What was Jesus parents last name?

Jesus
Born	c. 4 BC Kingdom of Judea, Roman Empire
Died	AD 30 or 33 (aged 33–36) Jerusalem, Judea, Roman Empire
Cause of death	Crucifixion
Parent (s)	Mary Joseph

Who was the female disciple?

This is what the scripture says about the twelve: ″He was accompanied by some ladies who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Many others were there, including Mary Magdalene, from whom seven devils had been cast out; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and others.

Who is the cousin of Jesus?

Elizabeth’s cousin Mary gave birth to the infant Jesus. The pregnant Elizabeth felt the child St. John the Baptist leap in her womb at the sound of Mary’s welcome, which, according to subsequent belief, indicated that he had been sanctified and purged of original sin over the course of the conversation. The Magnificat was then sung by Mary (q.v.).

What is the name of Jesus wife?

Mary Magdalene in the role of Jesus’ wife.

How many Marys were at the crucifixion?

A group of three Marys who were present during Jesus’ crucifixion; On Easter Sunday, there were three Marys at the tomb of Jesus; three Marys who were the daughters of Saint Anne.

Who was the angel at Jesus tomb?

Mark 16 refers to a young man, who is most likely an angel, who is sitting on the right side of the throne. Two males, designated as angels in Luke 24:23, appear standing next to the ladies in the story of the women of Luke. Many believers in the Bible’s inerrancy say that the different stories are explained by Mary making many excursions to the tomb during her time there.

Who was Jesus father?

Life of Jesus in a nutshell He was born to Joseph and Mary somewhere between 6 bce and just before the death of Herod the Great (Matthew 2; Luke 1:5) in 4 bce, according to the earliest available evidence. However, according to Matthew and Luke, Joseph was solely his legal father in the eyes of the law.

Does Jesus have a wife?

You should be aware that, hidden under millennia of disinformation and deceit, Jesus had a secret wife named Mary Magdalene with whom he fathered two children. They want you to be aware of this fact. They also want you to know that their book on the subject, titled ″The Lost Gospel,″ will be available for purchase shortly for $21.74.

Does Jesus eat meat?

If it is considered that Jesus did really consume various kinds of meat, then the same rationale might be applied to support the consumption of any meats that he ate throughout his lifetime (the Bible does not explicitly say Jesus ate any meat other than fish, and some writers have made much of the fact that no lamb is mentioned at the Last Supper.)

How many siblings did Jesus have?

Answer to the question Two verses in the Bible provide us with information on Jesus’ brothers and sisters.″When he returned to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were astounded.″ Matthew 13:54–57 states that the people were amazed.What they wanted to know was, ″Where did this man receive this intelligence and these incredible powers?″ ‘Isn’t this the son of the carpenter?What if his mother’s name is Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas aren’t named the same as him?Isn’t he accompanied by all of his sisters?’So, where did this man obtain all of these things?’ I wondered.

Moreover, they were offended by him.″ Despite the fact that we do not know how many sisters Jesus had, the fact that He did have at least six siblings is certain (Mark 6:3).
‘The brother of James,’ according to Jude 1:1, is the epistle’s author and subject.
According to popular belief, this James is the James who penned the book of the same name and who was also Jesus’ brother (see Galatians 1:19).
It is likely that both James and Jude (Judas) were among the group of siblings who were initially humiliated by their elder brother’s bold notoriety and then came to take Him home to their parents (Matthew 12:46).
After His resurrection, James and Jude came to realize that He was the Son of God for the first time.
However, after seeing Jesus’ resurrection, His siblings became devout followers of the Lord.

The Greek terms adelphos (″brothers″) and adelphai (″sisters″) in Matthew 13 have led some to speculate that they relate to spiritual brothers and sisters, respectively.
The allusions to Jesus’ siblings are interpreted differently by those who believe in Mary’s eternal virginity, who believe that the passages simply indicate that Joseph had children of his own prior to his marriage to Mary.
Both theories, on the other hand, lack scriptural foundation, and there is no logical reason to assume that the siblings identified by name in Scripture were not the biological children of both Mary and Joseph.
We are never informed how many siblings Jesus had, but Mark 6:3 implies that there had to have been at least six: at least four brothers who were named and at least two sisters who were nameless, according to the text.
Questions concerning Matthew can be found here.
How many brothers and sisters did Jesus have?

Did Jesus have brothers and sisters (siblings)?

Answer to the question More than a few verses in the Bible make reference to Jesus’ brothers.A visit by Jesus’ mother and brothers is recorded in three different Bible passages: Matthew 12:46, Luke 8:19, and Mark 3:31.The Bible teaches us that Jesus had four brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, according to the book of Matthew (Matthew 13:55).Although the Bible says that Jesus had sisters, they are neither named or counted in the book of Matthew (Matthew 13:56).In John 7:1-10, Jesus’ brothers accompany him to the feast, while he remains at home.During a prayer session with the disciples, his brothers and mother are mentioned in Acts 1:14.

James, according to Galatians 1:19, was Jesus’ younger brother.
The most logical interpretation of these verses is that Jesus had true blood half-siblings, which is supported by the evidence.
Some Roman Catholics believe that these ″brothers″ were actually Jesus’ cousins, rather than his siblings.
However, the precise Greek word for ″brother″ is utilized in each and every case in which it is spoken.
While the word can apply to other relatives as well, its conventional and literal meaning is a physical brother in the traditional sense.
There existed a Greek term for ″relative″ that was not utilized in this instance.

If they were Jesus’ cousins, why were they so frequently represented as being with Mary, Jesus’ mother, if they were Jesus’ cousins?
In the context of His mother and brothers coming to meet Him, there is absolutely nothing that even remotely suggests that they were anything other than His genuine, blood-related, half-brothers and sisters.
It is also possible, according to a second Roman Catholic theory, that Jesus’ brothers and sisters were the offspring of Joseph from a prior relationship.
Without any scriptural support, a complete narrative about Joseph’s being substantially older than Mary, having been previously married, having several children, and then being widowed before marrying Mary is concocted.
There is a difficulty with this because the Bible makes no mention of Joseph being previously married or having children before he married Mary.
Considering that Joseph and Mary had at least six children before to their marriage, why aren’t they mentioned in the accounts of their journey to Bethlehem (Luke 2:4–7), their journey to Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15), or their journey back to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-23)?

No scriptural basis exists to assume that these siblings are anything other than the biological children of Joseph and Mary, as is commonly believed.Those who oppose the notion that Jesus had half-brothers and half-sisters do so not on the basis of a careful reading of Scripture, but rather on the basis of a preconceived notion of Mary’s perpetual virginity, which is itself clearly unbiblical: ″But he (Joseph) had no union with her (Mary) until she gave birth to a son,″ says the Bible.″And he named Him Jesus,″ the Bible says (Matthew 1:25).Jesus had half-siblings, half-brothers, and half-sisters who were the offspring of Joseph and Mary, and they were known as the children of Joseph and Mary.In God’s Word, there is a clear and unequivocal teaching on the subject of marriage.Return to the previous page: Questions regarding Jesus Christ Is it possible that Jesus had brothers and sisters (siblings)?

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Who Were the Brothers and Sisters of Jesus?

Now we’ll take a look at Jesus’ brothers and sisters and see what the Bible has to say about each of them.

Older Siblings

In the Book of Exodus, we learn about the 10 plagues that God inflicted on the stubborn Egyptians in order to rescue the Hebrews from their oppressive rule.The plagues were terrible: water that turned to blood, locusts, gnats, and darkness, to mention a few examples of what was happening.The tenth plague, the last of the plagues, was the most terrible of them all.Because of this, God issued a fair warning: ″I will send one more plague onto Pharaoh and upon Egypt.″ After that, he will release you from his custody.He will really drive you away when he finally decides to let you go″…All firstborn in Egypt will perish, from Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave-girl who is working at a handmill, as well as all of the firstborn of the animals, according to this prophecy.

The LORD declares, ″I will go across Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and bringing retribution on all the idols of Egypt″!
(12:12, for example) And thus it came to pass that the firstborn in the country of Egypt was murdered – both humans and beasts alike, it seemed.
As a result of striking down all the firstborn in Egypt, God declared that ″I devoted to me every firstborn in Israel, whether human or beast.″ The LORD says, ″They are mine; I am their owner.″ (Num.
3:13; et cetera) A procedure that God devised would be used to accomplish this task, in which the firstborn son of every marriage would need to be ″redeemed″ (committed) to God; therefore the name of the ritual, The Redemption of the First Born Son…or Pidyon Haben as it is known to modern-day Jews, is derived.
This ritual is only performed for the firstborn son, who is also the one who opens the womb, and it takes place at the age of 30 days.
Unless the firstborn child is born to a male, the ritual is not performed: ″Consecrate to me every firstborn; whatsoever opens the womb among the Israelites, whether human being or beast, belongs to me…

″ It is necessary for you to ransom every human firstborn of your sons.″ (Exodus 13:2 and 13) As a result of Jesus’ dedication to God at the age of thirty days, we can be certain that he had no older sisters or brothers: ″When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, ″Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord″!
(Lk 2:22-23; cf.
While taking part in the ritual, the father declares, ″This is my first born son, and the first born of his mother.″ Once again, this demonstrates that Jesus did not have any elder siblings.

Younger Siblings

When it comes to younger siblings, this is also ineffective.When Jesus was dying on the cross and ″seeing his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, look, here is your son,’″ he said to his mother.Then he turned to the disciple and said, ‘Look, here is your mother.’ As a result, the disciple accepted her into his house from that point on″ (Jn 19:26-27).According to Jewish tradition, younger siblings are expected to care for their parents after their elder siblings have passed away.However, because Jesus did not have any younger siblings, he entrusted John with the responsibility of caring for his mother.What’s the deal with John?

Perhaps he was the eldest of the apostles to have lived.
Perhaps he was the ″one whom Jesus loved,″ as the saying goes (Jn 13:23).
There was a good chance that John was the only one of the apostles in attendance.
Then there’s Mary, who was described as having given birth to ″her firstborn son″ (Lk 2:7).
The prefix ″o″ (prototokos) is used in Greek to demonstrate that Jesus is the one who is to be presented to God (or to offer himself, depending on the situation) and that he is the one who inherits all of the rights to the kingdom of God.
As a way of giving freely, Jesus declares, ″Everything that the Father has is mine.″ ″For this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and disclose it to you″ (Jn 16:15).

Because ″the Father and I are one,″ as the saying goes (Jn 10:30).

Siblings By Name

So, who exactly are those brothers and sisters who are listed by name as belonging to Jesus in the Gospel of Mark?It is the carpenter who is being referred to, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon.″Aren’t His sisters our neighbors here,″ says Jesus in Mark 6:3.According to Fr.William Saunders, ″the mistake stems from the languages of Hebrew and Aramaic, which were the languages of the majority of the original Old Testament manuscripts as well as the language of Christ.″ Because there was no unique term for cousin, nephew, half-brother, or step-brother in these languages, they had to rely on the word brother or a ″circumlocution,″ such as ″The son of Paul’s sister″ (Acts 23:16), which clearly indicates that Paul’s nephew is being addressed.

″When the Old Testament was translated into Greek and the New Testament was written in Greek, the word adelphos was employed to encapsulate all of these connotations,″ Fr.
Saunders explains further.
Consequently, we must consider the context in which the title is being utilized in each instance.″ For instance, when Spanish-speaking individuals (or French-speaking people) talk about their parents, they use the word ″my padres″ (″mes parents″ in French), which means ″my parents.″ When they refer to aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives, the word ″mis padres″/″mes parents″ is still used.
This is true in other languages as well, including English.
The Gospels provide further clarification on the aforementioned ″siblings.″ Mary of Clopas had two sons, James and Joses, who were related to each other (Mk 15:40).
Judas was the son of James (not one of the Apostles), and he was a traitor (Lk 6:16).

James the Lesser was the younger brother of Alphaeus (Lk 6:15).
They were the sons of Zebedee, who had a mother other than our Blessed Mother Mary, and they were called James the Greater and John (Mt 20:20).
But why these four in particular?
Their relationship with Jesus was documented in the works of Eusebius, a church Father and historian.
They all unanimously declared Symeon, the son of Clopas, whom the Gospel also mentions, to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish,″ Eusebius writes in his Church History when describing the process of selecting someone to replace James (the head of the Church in Jerusalem), who had been martyred.
He was, as the saying goes, a cousin of the Saviour.

Clopas was Joseph’s brother, according to Hegesippus, who writes this.″ So… Uncle Clopas was a relative of Jesus!″There were others, descended from one of the so-called brothers of the Saviour, whose name was Judas…″, says the author once more.And then there’s this…The next bishop was selected after James the Just had been killed in martyrdom, as had also been the Lord on the same account.Symeon, the son of the Lord’s uncle, Clopas, was the next bishop.Because he was a cousin of the Lord, everyone wanted him to be the second bishop.″

The Founders of the Protestant Reformation

Mary’s permanent virginity was upheld even by the three fathers of the Reformation – Martin Luther, Hulrych Zwingli, and John Calvin — all of whom were committed to the doctrine.″Christ…was the sole Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary carried no other children save Him,″ according to Martin Luther.″Brothers″ truly means ‘cousins’ in this context, because the Bible and the Jews usually refer to cousins as brothers.″ (Sermons on John, chapters 1-4, 1537-39; Sermons on John, chapters 1-4, 1539) ″To deny that Mary remained ‘inviolata’ before, during, and after the birth of her Son was to dispute the power of God,″ writes Zwingli.In addition, it was appropriate and beneficial to repeat the angelic greeting, which was ‘Hail Mary’…God saw Mary as superior to all other creatures, even saints and angels, since it was her purity, innocence, and unwavering faith that mankind was called upon to emulate.It was his final booklet, ‘Fidei expositio,’ that he wrote…

On the subject of Mary’s continuous virginity, there is an especially strong emphasis.″ To paraphrase John Calvin, ″He claims that she was the mother of Jesus, and in doing so he uses the phraseology of the Hebrew language, which includes cousins, and other relatives, under the name ‘brothers.″ Despite the fact that many of the Early Church Fathers wrote and preached about Mary’s perpetual virginity, the great St.
Augustine is credited with having said it best: ″It was not the visible sun, but its invisible Creator, who consecrated this day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and integral in her virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by whom, when he was invisible, she too was created.″ A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin carrying, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin giving birth, and a Virgin perpetuating are all examples of virginity.
″What is it about this that you are perplexed about, O man?″ (Sermons 186, verse 1)

Jesus’ siblings

Jesus had at least four brothers and two sisters, according to tradition.James, Joses (or Joseph), Jude (or Juda, Judas), and Simon are the names of the brothers in order of birth.They can be found in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, as well as other places.″Isn’t this the carpenter’s son, or something?Isn’t his mother’s given name Mary?and his brothers James and Joses, as well as Simon and Judas, are you with me?

And his sisters, aren’t they all here with us as well?
So, where does this man get all of these items from?″ (Matthew 13:55; Mark 10:45) ″What do you think, is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, and Juda, as well as Simon?
Besides, aren’t his sisters here with us too?
He had insulted them, and they were upset with him.″ (Matthew 6:3) Aside from Matthew 12:46 and Mark 3:31, there are a few more allusions to Jesus’ siblings in the Bible, including John 11:3.
A number of apologetics contend that Jesus had no siblings, or that any brothers and sisters he may have had were half-brothers and sisters who were from Joseph’s prior wife before he married Mary, according to certain scholars.
In contrast, both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke make it clear that Jesus was Mary’s ″first born son,″ making him the eldest of her children and consequently the oldest of his siblings.

″And he did not know her until after she had given birth to her firstborn son, whom he named Jesus.″ Matthew 1:25, to be exact.
″And he entered into the temple by the Spirit: and when the parents brought in the infant Jesus, he did for him according to the custom of the law,″ the Bible says (Luke 2:27) Please keep in mind that according to Jewish law, any first-born child must be dedicated to Yahveh: ″You shall set apart to the Lord all that open the womb″ (Exodus 13:12), which is the phrase mentioned by Luke.
As explained by the Catholic Church, the Greek term adelphos, which is used to identify Jesus’ brothers and sisters, may mean either ″brother″ or ″related.″ In its breadth of meaning, the term incorporates several meanings that are similar to those of the word brother.
According to the Catholic interpretation, the words allude to Jesus’ ″cousins.″ During the first half of the 5th century, Jerome spread the notion that Jesus had cousins rather than brothers or sisters.
The difficulty is that the Greek term anepsios is defined as ″cousin,″ which is problematic.
As a result, one would have to inquire.

″Why wasn’t anepsios used if that’s what was intended?″ you might wonder.This doesn’t make any sense.

The Story Of The Storytellers – The Gospel Of Thomas

However, rather than recounting Jesus’ life and death, it provides the reader with his ″hidden teachings″ concerning the Kingdom of God.Elaine H.Pagels is a professor of religion at Princeton University, where she is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion.This book begins with the words, ″These are the secret words that the live Jesus uttered, and the twin, Didymos Judas Thomas, wrote them down.″ The rest of the book is structured similarly.Then there’s a selection of quotes from Jesus that you may read.As a result, there are several questions that need to be addressed.

Is it possible that Jesus had a twin brother?
Actually, the name Thomas Didymos is derived from the Hebrew word for twin, which is Thomas.
Didymos is a Greek word that means ″twin.″ The inference is that he is Jesus’ identical twin brother.
In the Gospel of John, however, this figure occurs, and he’s one of the disciples, and he’s also known as ″the twin.″ In this scene, he looks to be Jesus’ twin brother, and he is the one who has access to hidden instruction that Jesus has not shared with the rest of the world.
Some of these expressions are well-known.
We are familiar with them from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: ″I have come to throw fire on the earth,″ Jesus declared.

Alternatively, ″Behold, a sower walked forth to sow,″ and so on.
Others are as weird and captivating as Zen koans, to name a few examples.
My personal favorite of them is saying number 70, which reads: ″If you bring forth what is within you, the things that you bring forth will save you from your situation.
Whatever it is that you are not bringing forth will eventually consume and devastate you if you do not do so.″ The gospel begins with Jesus inviting people to see what he is doing.
It is also suggested in the Gospel of Thomas that Jesus is aware of, and is condemning, other gospels’ notions of the Kingdom of God as a time or a location that are expressed in other gospels.
In this passage, Jesus states, ″If those who lead you say to you, ″Look, the Kingdom is in the sky,″ the birds will be the ones to arrive first, since they are faster than humans.

If they mention anything like ″it’s in the ocean,″ the fish will be the first to arrive.However, the Kingdom of God exists both within and outside of you.You will become well-known once you have gotten to know yourself.And you will realize that you are the offspring of the living father when you realize this.″ In this gospel, as is also the case in the Gospel of Luke, the coming of the Kingdom of God is not seen as a cataclysmic event that would usher in a new century or cause the world to come to a grinding halt.As in Luke 17:20, the Kingdom of God is described as an inner condition; ″It is inside you,″ says Luke of the Kingdom of God.″It’s within of you, but it’s also outside of you,″ the text adds at this point.

It’s similar to being in a state of consciousness.It’s difficult to put into words.The Kingdom of God, on the other hand, is something into which you can enter once you have attained gnosis, which is Greek for wisdom.However, it does not imply intellectual understanding.The Greeks used two terms for knowledge: aphrodisias and aphrodisias.One type of knowledge is intellectual knowledge, such as understanding of physics or something like.

However, this gnosis is specific to the individual, as in ″I know that person, or do you know so and so.″ As a result, gnosis is a form of self-knowledge, which you may call insight.It is an issue of recognizing who you truly are, not only who you are in terms of your name, your social status, or your place in society at large.Knowing oneself on a deep level, on the other hand.

The key of gnosis is that when you learn to know yourself at that level, you will also come to know God, because you will realize that the divine is already present inside you, according to the teachings.
THOMAS’ GOSPEL CONTAINS MENTIONS OF JESUS.
There are several noticeable differences between the Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas and the other gospels we have seen.
This is because the Gospel of Mark, for example, portrays Jesus as a completely distinct individual.
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, has come to bring us this wonderful news.

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus is not really a human being at all, but rather a heavenly presence who descends from heaven in the form of a human being.
According to the Gospel of John, ″God sent his son into the world in order to rescue the world.
Believe in him and you will be saved; if you do not believe in him and you will be condemned, you will already be damned because you have not placed your faith in Jesus Christ, the only born Son of God.
As a result, this Jesus appears to indicate that you and he are, if you will, identical twins.

And what you realize when you read the Gospel of Thomas, which is exactly what you’re supposed to discover, is that you and Jesus are identical twins on a fundamental level.
And that you come to realize that you, too, are a child of God in the same way that Jesus is.
In order for this to happen, at the end of the story, Jesus addresses Thomas and says, ″Whoever drinks from my lips will become as I am, and I will become that person, and the secrets will be disclosed to him.
Jesus did not assume the roles of ruler and teacher in this instance.
The disciples address Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, saying, ″Tell us what you want us to do and we’ll do it.
What method should we use to pray?

What exactly are we going to eat?How are we going there fast?″ Take a look at Matthew and Luke, and you will see that Jesus answers the questions.He responds, ″I’m not going to lie, I’m not going to lie.″ ″When you pray, say something like, ″Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name.″ ‘When you fast, wash your face and avoid making a spectacle of yourself.When you donate charity, do so in discreetly and without making a spectacle of yourself.″ This Jesus, according to this gospel, does not respond.

″Do not utter lies, and do not do what you despise,″ Jesus urges, since ″all is known before the gates of heaven.″ Now that you’ve received this response, you and I are in a difficult position.In this passage, Jesus, in effect, directs the attention of the reader toward oneself, and this is one of the central themes of the Gospel of Thomas: that you must embark on a spiritual quest of your own in order to discover who you are and to truly recognize that you are a child of God, just as Jesus is.The John H.Morison Professor of New Testament Studies and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the Harvard Divinity School, Helmut Koester is an expert in the field of New Testament studies.

GET TO KNOW YOURSELF In the margin of one of these texts, there is a scribal remark that reads, ″The Gospel According to Thomas.″ It also states in its first sentence: ″These are secret words that Jesus taught and that Judas Thomas Didymos wrote down.″ And the first sentence of that document states: ″These are the secret words that Jesus lived and taught, and that Judas Thomas Didymos wrote down.″ And then they begin a total of over 110 sayings, each of which is preceded by the phrase ″Jesus said.″ Some of the sayings are found in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, while others are not.Some of these have not been done.Some of these proverbs may date back to the earliest days of Christianity, while others may have been added later on.Originally written in the fourth century, the manuscript is still in existence.Remember, as with any gospel text, and this one in particular, that these manuscripts were fluid, that scribes could add things, that scribes could leave things out, that scribes could make comments, or that scribes could give an interpretation.This is especially true for this text.

This means that it is impossible to know exactly what the Gospel of Thomas looked like around the year 100 or even before that time.However, it is quite probable that it existed at the time, and that a significant portion of the content that is presently contained in that text was previously contained in a Greek manuscript that dates back to the first century.Which, of course, is quite exciting because we now have a collection of Jesus’ sayings, as well as extra Jesus’ sayings that were previously unknown, and the beginning of a whole new field of study has been opened up.What is unique about these sayings is that they all attempt to convey the message that, in order to comprehend what Jesus said, you must first identify yourself in the situation.You must be aware of your own identity and know who you are.

It all starts with a proverb referring to the Kingdom of God: ″If you are looking for the Kingdom of God in the heavens, the birds will lead the way.And if you go looking for it in the water, the fish will go ahead of you, but the Kingdom is inside you.And if you know yourself, you will be able to understand the Kingdom of God.″ This is something that is repeated throughout the gospel of Thomas: (The kingdom [of the Father]).Normally, the Kingdom of the Father is referred to rather than the Kingdom of God.) ″However, if you don’t know who you are, you will live in poverty.″ And poverty is defined as the lack of awareness of one’s bodily being in the face of adversity.The knowledge of one’s divine origin, the understanding of the truth that one has come from the Kingdom, is understood to be the knowledge of one’s divine origin.

That we are merely passing through this world on a temporary basis.
What exactly does it mean to truly know oneself?
To know oneself is to gain insight into one’s own ultimate divine identity, which is the goal of all spiritual pursuits.
You may trace this back to Greek models, which are surely still in existence, in order to comprehend it.

″Know yourself″ is a very old Greek phrase that means ″understand oneself.″ As a result, you must first recognize that your own soul is divine, and only then will you understand that you are eternal, whereas your body is the mortal component of human existence.As a result, in the Gospel of Thomas, all that is experienced physically and through sense perception, everything in this world that you may perceive in this manner, is declared to be nothing by the author of the Gospel.It is, at best, a state of chaos, and, at worst, it does not exist in the actual world.What truly exists is your divine spirit or soul, which possesses the same qualities as God himself in terms of purity and perfection.As a result, one understands oneself to be divine, while yet understanding oneself to be human.

This understanding comes through following Jesus’ teachings.
When you think about death in this way, you realize that it is indeed pointless, just as physical life is useless.
So death is no longer a problem; rather, death is a solution, because death will ultimately free the real self from the bonds of physical life, allowing him or her to live an independent existence that is no longer reliant on physical existence.
And everything else that comes with bodily existence, such as disease and poverty, among other things.
As a result, physical existence is frequently referred to as poverty.

The difference is that when you understand yourself, you are no longer in poverty.Read the Gospel of Thomas to find out more.

How Early Church Leaders Downplayed Mary Magdalene’s Influence by Calling Her a Whore

She was Mary of Magdala, one of Jesus of Nazareth’s early disciples, and she was one of the most famous women in the world.It is said that she journeyed with him, witnessed his Crucifixion, and was one of those who were informed of his Resurrection, all according to the Scriptures.Everybody, from early church officials and historians to authors and filmmakers, has contributed to the revision and expansion of the tale of Mary Magdalene throughout history.On the one hand, they downplayed her significance by stating she was a prostitute, a wrecked woman who repented and was rescued by Christ’s teachings.On the other hand, they emphasized her value by claiming she was a prostitute, a ruined woman who repented and was saved by Christ’s teachings.Mary Magdalene, on the other hand, is represented in several early Christian scriptures as more than just a mere follower; she is also depicted as Jesus’ close companion—which some have taken to suggest his wife.

Which begs the question: is there any truth to either of these tales?
What exactly do we know about Mary Magdalene, the lady who is considered to be the most intriguing woman in the Bible?
WATCH: Jesus: A Biography on the HISTORY Vault

What the Bible Says About Mary Magdalene

However, only the Gospel of Luke discussed Mary Magdalene’s role in Jesus’ life and ministry, listing her among ″some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities″ (Luke 8:1–3).All four canonical gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) noted Mary Magdalene’s presence at Jesus’ Crucifixion, but only the Gospel of Luke discussed her role in his life and ministry.According to Luke, when Jesus drove out seven devils from her, Mary joined a group of women who went with him and his twelve disciples/apostles, ″proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.″ They were ″proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.″ However, although Magdalene is not a surname, it is associated with the city of Magdala, which is located in Galilee, in the northernmost area of ancient Palestine, and from whence Mary hailed (now northern Israel).In the words of Robert Cargill, an associate professor of classical and religious studies at the University of Iowa who is also the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, ″Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ early supporters.″ ″She was mentioned in the Gospels, which indicates that she was significant.There were hundreds, if not thousands, of followers of Jesus, but we don’t know the names of the majority of them, according to what we know.As a result, the fact that she has been identified is significant.″ Mary Magdalene had an important role in the tale of the Resurrection, which took place after Jesus’ crucifixion, which she observed from the foot of the cross with many other women, and after all of Jesus’ male disciples had fled from the scene.

In accordance with the gospels, Mary went to Jesus’ tomb on Easter Sunday, either alone herself (according to the Gospel of John) or in company with several women, and discovered that the tomb was vacant.
The ladies are the ones who go to the disciples and inform them what has happened, as Cargill points out.
That’s crucial since they were the ones who found that Jesus had resurrected from the dead.
According to the Gospel of John, Jesus personally comes to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection and urges her to inform his followers of his appearance (John 20:1-13).
READ MORE: What Did Jesus Look Like When He Was Alive?

Mary Magdalene as sinner

Because of Mary Magdalene’s obvious significance in the Bible—or maybe because of it—some early Western church leaders attempted to minimize her power by presenting her as a sinner, notably as a prostitute, according to the Bible.In Cargill’s words, ″There are many academics who think that because Jesus empowered women to such a great extent early in his career, it made some of the males who would govern the early church uncomfortable later on.″ In response to this, there were two different reactions.She was to be turned into a prostitute, for example.″ Early church leaders conflated Mary with other women mentioned in the Bible in order to portray her as the original repentant whore.These women included an unnamed woman, identified in the Gospel of Luke as a sinner, who bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them, and applies ointment to them (Luke 7:37-38), as well as another Mary, Mary of Bethany, who also appears in Luke.Pope Gregory the Great clarified this confusion in a sermon in 591 A.D., saying, ″We think that the Mary, whom Luke names the wicked woman and whom John calls Mary, is the Mary from whom seven demons were evicted according to Mark.″ ‘By becoming a prostitute, she has diminished in importance.’ It has a negative impact on her in some manner.Look at what she did for a job, and you can see why she couldn’t have been a leader,″ Cargill adds.

″Of course, the second option was to advance Mary to the next level.
Some believe she was actually Jesus’ wife or friend, rather than his mother.
″She had a particular place in the world.″ READ MORE: The Bible Claims That Jesus Was a Real Person.
Is there any further evidence?

Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s wife

While some early Christians wanted to downplay Mary’s influence, others sought to emphasize her as a source of inspiration.Several centuries after Jesus’ death, the Gospel of Mary, a document dating from the second century A.D.that was discovered in Egypt in 1896, ranked Mary Magdalene higher in wisdom and influence than Jesus’ male disciples.She was also extensively featured in the so-called Gnostic Gospels, a collection of books thought to have been authored by early Christians as far back as the second century A.D.but which were not discovered until 1945, near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, and which were written in Greek.According to one of these manuscripts, referred to Mary Magdalene as Jesus’ friend and said that Jesus loved her more than the other disciples.

This document is known as the Gospel of Philip.
Possibly the most contentious statement in the scripture was that Jesus used to kiss Mary ″frequently on her.″ Damage to the writing rendered the final word illegible, while some scholars have substituted the word ″mouth″ for the unreadable term.
In the years after its publication, Dan Brown’s enormously popular mystery The Da Vinci Code has been consumed by tens of millions of readers worldwide.
The premise of the novel revolves around the long-held belief that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children together.
This concept was also at the heart of The Last Temptation of Christ, a novel written by Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis in 1955 that was subsequently made into a film directed by Martin Scorsese, as well as the cinematic adaptation of the novel.
And then there was the discovery of a previously unknown papyrus fragment in 2012 that was considered to be a copy of a second-century narrative in which Jesus refers to Mary Magdalene as ″my wife,″ according to Karen King, a professor at Harvard Divinity School.

She ultimately changed her mind after being bombarded with criticism and concluded that the so-called ″Gospel of Jesus’s Wife″ was most likely a fake after defending the document’s validity.

Mary Magdalene as trusted disciple

The Bible, on the other hand, provided no indication that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife.One can’t get a sense of that type of connection from any of the four canonical gospels, despite the fact that they include the women who travel with Jesus and, in some cases, their husbands’ names as well.The depiction of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute endured for decades after Pope Gregory the Great declared it official in his sixth-century sermon, though neither Orthodoxy nor Protestantism embraced it once their respective religions separated from the Catholic Church later in the sixth century.At long last, in 1969, the Church acknowledged that the text of the Bible did not support such interpretation..Mary Magdalene is now venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, and her feast day is observed on July 22nd in all four of these denominations.According to Cargill’s conclusion, ″Mary appears to have been a disciple of Jesus.″ ″What’s noteworthy is that Jesus had both male and female disciples in his ministry, which was not often the case at the time,″ says the author.

He notes that while the prostitute and wife hypotheses have been around for centuries, they are tales and customs that have developed long after the fact: ″Neither of them is anchored in the Bible itself.″ MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: The Evolution of Christian Thought

St. Thomas

Who is St. Thomas?

What is St. Thomas famous for?

How did St. Thomas impact the world?

St.Thomas, one of the Twelve Apostles (born, most likely in Galilee, died 53 CE in Madras, India; Western feast day December 21, feast day in the Roman and Syrian Catholic churches July 3, feast day in the Greek church October 6), was born on December 21, in Galilee, and died in Madras, India.His given names in Aramaic (Teoma) and Greek (Didymos) both indicate ″twin,″ and in John 11:16, he is referred to as ″Thomas, known as the Twin.″ According to the Syrians, he is known as Judas Thomas (also known as Judas the Twin).The Gospel of John provides a detailed description of Thomas’s personality.It is obvious that he was devoted to Jesus in John 11:5–16, when, as Jesus prepared to travel to Judaea, his disciples forewarned him of the Jews’ hostility (″now aiming to stone you,″ they said), to which he quickly responded, ″Let us also go, so that we may die with him.″ The Last Supper (John 14:1–7) was a difficult time for Thomas because he couldn’t understand what Jesus meant when he declared, ″I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may also be.″ ″And you are aware of the route I am taking.″ ″How can we know the path?″ Thomas said, prompting Jesus to respond, ″I am the way and the truth and the life.″ Perhaps the most well-known episode in his life is the one that gave rise to the expression ″doubting Thomas.″ The risen Christ came to Thomas in John 20:19–29, although he was not among the disciples to whom he originally appeared.When they informed him, Thomas demanded physical confirmation of the Resurrection, which was granted when Christ reappeared and expressly requested that Thomas touch his wounds.

Thomas became the first person to officially accept Jesus’ divinity when he had a startling awareness of the truth (″My Lord and my God″).
Thomas’s following life is shrouded in mystery.
According to Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History written in the 4th century, he was responsible for evangelizing Parthia (now Khorsna).
Later Christian tradition claims that Thomas expanded his apostolate into India, where he is credited as the founder of the Church of the Syrian Malabar Christians, also known as the Christians of St.
Thomas, which is still in existence today.
In the apocryphal Acts of Thomas, which was originally composed in Syriac, he is said to have visited the court of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophernes, who appointed him as his personal carpenter and put him in charge of the construction of a royal palace; he was imprisoned for spending the money entrusted to him on charitable endeavors.

The text describes his martyrdom as having taken place under the reign of the king of Mylapore in Madras (now Chennai), where San Thomé Cathedral, his traditional burial location, may be found today.
His relics, on the other hand, are said to have been transported to the West and eventually enshrined at Ortona, Italy.
There are several other similar writings associated with or accredited to Thomas, including the Gospel of Thomas (which was discovered in 1945 in Upper Egypt among the Coptic gnostic papyri), The Book of Thomas the Athlete, and Evangelium Joannis de obitu Mariae (″The Gospel of John Concerning the Death of Mary″).
Melissa Petruzzello was the person who most recently improved and updated this article.

Acts of Thomas – Wikipedia

This article is missing information about scholarly evaluation of the historical accuracy of the text. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(January 2020)

Acts of Thomas
Eastern icon of Thomas the Apostle
Information
Religion	Christianity
Author	Unknown, sometimes ascribed to Leucius Charinus
Language	Syriac, Greek
Period	Early Christianity

The Acts of Thomas, written in the early third century, is considered to be part of the New Testament apocrypha.
References to the work of Epiphanius of Salamis indicate that it was still in print in the 4th century.
Syriac and Greek are the only two full versions that have survived.
There are several portions of the text that have survived.
Researchers have determined that the Acts of Thomas were written in Syriac, which places them in the city of Edessa, based on the Greek version of the text.

In contrast, the Syriac manuscripts that have survived have been modified to remove the most unorthodox and openly Encratite sections, allowing the Greek versions to follow the older tradition.Four additional cycles of romances centered on the figure of the apostle Thomas have survived in fragments, but this is the only one that is complete.It is not to be mistaken with the earlier version ″″The Gospel of Thomas,″ as the phrase goes.The work, like other apocryphal works that combine popular mythology with religious propaganda, aims to both entertain and educate the audience.Additionally, in addition to the accounts of Thomas’ travels, its lyrical and liturgical aspects give vital evidence for early Syrian Christian traditions, as well as for early Christian traditions in general ″The Anchor Bible Dictionary defines it as follows: When Judas Thomas (″Judas the Twin″) went on a missionary journey to India, he wrote a series of episodic Acts (Latin passio) that chronicled his experiences.

These Acts are known as the Acts of Thomas (Latin passio).
It culminates in his martyrdom, in which he is stabbed with spears after earning the wrath of the monarch Misdaeus for his conversion of Misdaeus’ wives and a relative, Charisius, via his conversion.
He was imprisoned while converting Indian disciples, which he accomplished by the performance of miracles on their behalf.
Syriac hymn The Hymn of the Pearl (also known as the Hymn of the Soul) is found in the Acts of Thomas at various locations depending on whose manuscript tradition is being used.
The poem achieved widespread popularity in Christian circles once it was translated into English.
The Hymn, which is older than the Acts into which it has been put, is a work of art in and of itself and should be appreciated as such.

It is broken by poetry from another hymn, one that begins with ″Come, thou holy name of the Christ that is above every name″ (2.27), a topic that was adopted by Catholic Christianity in the 13th century and known as the Holy Name of Jesus.The Acts of Thomas are considered pseudepigraphical and apocryphal by mainstream Christian tradition, and the Roman Catholic Church, for its part, proclaimed the Acts of Thomas to be heretical during the Council of Trent in 1545.See also Leucius Charinus for further information.The name Judas is frequently used to refer to Thomas (his full name is Thomas Judas Didymus), because both Thomas and Didymus simply mean twin, and numerous academics argue that the term ″twin″ is only a description and not intended to be taken literally as an actual given name.The writings come to an end ″The works of Judas Thomas the apostle, which he performed in India in order to fulfill the instruction of the one who sent him, have been fulfilled.

Amen.To whom be glory throughout all of time and space ″…..

Acts of Thomas

The Acts of Thomas establishes a link between Thomas the apostle’s Indian career and the reigns of two monarchs.
Several traditions in the Book of Acts claim that Thomas was first hesitant to undertake this mission, but the Lord appeared to him in a night vision and told him, ″Fear not, Thomas.
I will send you away to India to preach the Gospel, and my grace will be with you.″ But the Apostle refused to budge, and the Lord overruled him by ordering circumstances so compelling that he was forced to accompany an Indian merchant, Abbanes, to his native place in north-west India, where he found himself in the service of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares, who was a powerful figure in the region.
As a consequence of the apostle’s preaching, several people throughout the kingdom were converted, including the king and his brother.
According to mythology, Thomas was a skillful carpenter who was commissioned to construct a palace for the king of England.

To make up for this oversight, however, the Apostle resolved to teach the king a lesson by dedicating the royal donation to charitable works and thereby building up a reserve for the hereafter.Despite the fact that nothing is known about the early development of the church, Bar-Daisan (154–223) writes that there were Christian tribes in North India at the time of his writing who claimed to have been converted by Thomas and to have books and relics to verify their claims.Nonetheless, by the year 226 CE, there were bishops of the Church of the East in north-west India, which included Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and laypeople and clergy alike were engaged in missionary work.This was the year of the formation of the Second Persian Empire.What country is mentioned in the Acts of Thomas as the location of his second mission in India?

Whose kingdom is controlled by King Mahadeva, who was one of the kings of which first-century dynasty in southern India?
The existence of the monarch is not documented in historical records.
That the Mar Thoma or ″Church of Thomas″ congregations along the Malabar Coast of Kerala State in southwest India are the only other churches that have retained a separate character, aside from a small residual Church of the East community in Assyria, is remarkable.
Tomas evangelized this region and then proceeded to the Coromandel Coast in southeast India, where he died in Mylapore near Madras after carrying out a second mission.
This is according to the medieval legend of this church.
Through much of the time period under consideration, the church in India was under the authority of the Patriarchate of Edessa, which was then under the jurisdiction of the Mesopotamian patriarchate at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and eventually under the jurisdiction of Baghdad and Mosul.

It must be acknowledged that the Apostle Thomas made a personal visit to South India, as the traditional belief holds, by way of Socotra, where an ancient Christian settlement was unquestionably present.According to evangelist historian Vincent A.Smith, ″It must also be acknowledged that the Apostle Thomas made a personal visit to South India through Socotra, where an ancient Christian settlement was unquestionably present.″ The Christian church in South India, I have concluded, is quite ancient.″

Content

The text is divided into sections with headings: 1 – when he traveled to India with Abbanes, a trader. The apostles divided up the territory to choose who would go where as a missionary. Once in India, Thomas refuses to accept his purpose, even after hearing from Jesus himself. After that, Jesus arrives in human form and sells Thomas to a merchant as a slave, despite the fact that Thomas is a good carpenter himself. Thomas is next asked if Jesus is his master, and he responds affirmatively to the question. After that, and only then, does he accept his assignment
2 – concerning his appearing before King Gundaphorus
3 – concerning the serpent
4 – concerning the colt
5 – concerning the demon who took up residence in the woman
6 – concerning the teenager who murdered the Woman A young couple begins to have relationship difficulties as the lady becomes too interested in sex, while the guy pleads for staying chaste in accordance with the teachings of Thomas. As a result, the guy assassinates his sweetheart. His hand withers as he approaches Thomas to receive the eucharist with the others in his presence, and Thomas realizes that the guy has perpetrated a heinous act. Thomas forgives the man since his intention was good, therefore he goes on a search for the woman’s body after being confronted by the male and discovers his crime and motivation. In an inn, Thomas and his companions place the lady’s body on a sofa and, after praying, Thomas instructs the male to hold the woman’s hand, resulting in the woman coming back to life.

The narrative definitely contains gnostic themes such as death and resurrection, with death not being a negative thing but rather a result of the quest of gnostic teaching, and the resurrection into higher life, once gnostic teaching is mastered, both of which are evident. Seventh – of the Captain
eighth – of the wild asses
ninth – of the wife of Charisius
tenth – wherein Mygdonia receiveth baptism
eleventh – concerning the wife of Misdaeus
twelveth – concerning Ouazanes (Iuzanes) the son of Misdaeus
thirteenth – wherein Iuzanes receiveth baptism with the rest
fourteenth – concerning the wife of Misdaeus
fifteenth
Thomas’s Martyrdom
Leucius Charinus’s Martyrdom

View of Jesus

It is possible to deduce that the book’s portrayal of Jesus is docetic in nature.
Thomas is not just Jesus’ twin brother, but he is also Jesus’ identical twin brother.
Accordingly, it is probable that Thomas is supposed to symbolize the earthly, human aspect of Jesus, but the divinity of Jesus is totally spiritual in his nature.
As a result, Jesus leads Thomas’ search from above, while Thomas completes the task on the ground level.
Jesus’ depicted view on sex is also consistent with docetic philosophy, as can be seen throughout the book.

When a couple is getting married, Jesus arrives in the bride’s bridal chamber, for example.He is strongly opposed to copulating, even if it is done for the goal of reproducing.

References

A. E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas, pp.18–71 in A. E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas. The Apocryphal New Testament, by M. R. James, pp. 364–436. A. E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas, pp. 1–17, 213–97, in A. E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas Eusebius’ History, chapter 4:30, is a good place to start. Chapter 4:30 of J. N. Farquhar’s The Apostle Thomas in North India is available online. Smith (1945), Early History of India, p.235
Smith (1945). Thomas The Apostole (Thomas the Apostle), by L. W. Brown, pp.49-59 in Indian Christians of St. Thomas. Stthoma.com. On June 8, 2003, the original version of this article was archived. Thomas the Apostle in India, by A. E. Medlycott, completely repr. in George Menachery, ed., Indian Church History Classics, Vol.1, The Nazranies, Ollur, 1998
″Thomas the Apostle in India″, by Thomas the Apostle in India.
J. N. Farquhar, The Apostle Thomas in North India, chapter 4, fully repr.in George Menachery, Ed., Indian Church History Classics, Vol.1, The Nazranies, Ollur, 1998
Quoted in George Menachery, ″Kodungallur.″, Azhikode, 1987, repr.2000
″books.″ Indianchristianity.com. 2015-07-05. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
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Bibliography

Taufe statt Ehe, says Stefan Heining. ″Baptism instead of marriage: a contribution to the understanding of the Acts of Thomas,″ unpublished doctoral dissertation at the University of Wurzburg in 2020. (urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-210796;cc-by-sa)

External links

Medlycott India and Apostle Thomas Acts of Thomas, edited by Menachery
Early Christian Writings: Acts of Thomas
The Gnostic Society Library: From the translation and notes by M. R. James in The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford 1924
The Gnostic Society Library: From the translation and notes by M. R. James in The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford 1924
The Gnostic Society Library: From the translation and notes by M. R. James in The Apocry

Substitution hypothesis – Wikipedia

Alternatively known as the twin hypothesis, it proposes that sightings of a risen Jesus can be explained not by the physical resurrection of Jesus, but by the existence of a different person, such as an identical or similar twin, who could have impersonated Jesus after his death, or died in his place on the cross (the substitution hypothesis).
As early as the first to third centuries, certain Gnostics held this stance, and it is still held by some Mandaeans and Muslims today.

Christian and Gnostic traditions

A Gnostic manuscript believed to have been published in the late second or early third century, the Book of Thomas the Contender, quotes Jesus as saying, when speaking to Thomas the Apostle, ″It has been told that you are my twin and real companion.″ As an additional point of reference, the third-century work Acts of Thomas (not to be confused with the Gospel of Thomas) features an event in which Jesus comes ″in the likeness of″ Thomas the Apostle and