Saint Thomas, also known as Thomas the Apostle, is one of the original twelve disciples in the New Testament of the Bible. His nickname “Doubting” Thomas, coined when he refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead is how most people are familiar with him.
But apart from this Thomas is not a significant disciple in the narrative of the four Gospels. He only speaks in one of the Gospels, John, and then only rarely. But if we look outside the Bible there is evidence that, in fact, Thomas may have been the most important disciple of all.
We have already covered aspects of this elusive and strange figure elsewhere. We have explored how silver coins bearing his stamp appeared in India, and we have discussed one of his contributions to the Apocrypha, that nebulous mass of unofficial literature which surrounds the Bible.
And it is in the Apocrypha that we find more fascinating stories of Saint Thomas. In fact, we find answers to puzzles left elsewhere in the New Testament, puzzles which led some early followers in a very unexpected direction.
Saint Thomas might literally be another Jesus.
Twins
To turn first to these puzzles in the Bible, the principal oddity about Thomas is that the Gospels fall over themselves to emphasize that he is someone’s “twin”. For a start the name Thomas itself literally comes from the word twin.
Thomas is also introduced in the Gospels as “Thomas, who is called Didymus” with the last word often left untranslated, which can mean it could easily be mistaken for a family name or other honorific. However Didymus also literally means “twin” and so the Bible is literally describing this man as “the twin, who is called a twin”.
OK, fine, he had a twin sibling. Surely this is no problem and this could simply be the way he was known, a nickname like “Dave the Rat” or “Benny Big Head”. But this is where the Apocrypha comes in, and specifically the Acts of Thomas.
This 3rd century text contains a description of a wedding, one which was attended by both Jesus and Thomas. At the wedding the groom mistakes Jesus for Thomas, with the text confirming that Jesus indeed “had the appearance” of Thomas. Jesus even has to correct the groom.
This is a very interesting fact when placed alongside the twin business. If this thought is followed to its logical conclusion, it would seem to be powerful evidence that Thomas is the twin of jesus himself. An identical twin, no less.
We know from the canonical Bible that Jesus had at least one brother, called James. His ministry, following the teachings of Jesus, did not last long, and he was arrested by the Jewish authorities and stoned to death.
What if Thomas was another brother? There is nothing in the Bible to confirm or deny the number of siblings Jesus had, and the Gospel of Mark names at least four. But a twin brother? It would seem that another book of the Apocrypha, the Book of Thomas the Contender, would confirm exactly that.
This book has Jesus passing on occult and cryptic knowledge to Thomas, who is explicitly characterized as the twin of Jesus. What is this knowledge? Nothing short than how to become another Jesus.
The narrative framework for the Book of Thomas the Contender has Jesus inviting Thomas to look into himself and understand who he really is. The implication is that Jesus’s divinity is something Thomas also shares. He is learning how to be God.
If this sound like ludicrous, dangerous heresy to you, then much of the early church would agree. These beliefs were stamped out in short order: Jesus, the Christians say, did not have a twin, let alone one that shared his divinity.
At least that’s what they say.
Top Image: Saint Thomas “doubts” the resurrection of Jesus. There is a surprising amount of evidence, here slyly inferred in the painting, that Saint Thomas looked identical to Jesus and may indeed have been his twin brother. Source: Hendrick ter Brugghen / Public Domain.
By Joseph Green