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3 Then why not the Gospel of Thomas?

The Gnostic Gospels is a collection of about 52 ancient texts based upon the teachings of several spiritual leaders, written from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. The sayings of the Gospel of Thomas, compiled circa 140, may include some traditions even older than some of the gospels of the New Testament, possibly as early as the second half of the first century.[1] These gospels are not part of the standard Biblical canon of any mainstream Christian denomination, and as such are part of what is called the New Testament apocrypha. Recent novels, films, and video games that refer to the gospels have increased public interest.[2][3]

The word gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge", which is often used in Greek philosophy in a manner more consistent with the English "enlightenment". Some scholars continue to maintain traditional dating for the emergence of Gnostic philosophy and religious movements.[4] It is now generally believed that Gnosticism was a Jewish movement which emerged directly in reaction to Christianity.[5] The name Christian gnostics came to represent a segment of the Early Christian community that believed that salvation lay not in faith in Christ, but in psychic or pneumatic souls learning to free themselves from the material world via the revelation.[6] According to this tradition, the answers to spiritual questions are to be found within, not without.

The documents which comprise the collection of gnostic gospels were not discovered at a single time, but rather as a series of finds. The Nag Hammadi Library was discovered accidentally by two farmers in December 1945 and was named for the area in Egypt where it had been hidden for centuries.[7] Other documents included in what are now known as the gnostic gospels were found at different times and locations, such as the Gospel of Mary, which was recovered in 1896 as part of the Akhmim Codex and published in 1955. Some documents were duplicated in different finds, and others, such as with the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, only one copy is currently known to exist. Although the manuscripts discovered at Nag Hammadi are generally dated to the 4th century, there is some debate regarding the original composition of the texts. A wide range and the majority of scholars date authorship of the Gnostic gospel of Nag Hammadi to the 2nd and 3rd century.[8] Scholars with a focus on Christianity tend to date the gospels mentioned by Irenaeus to the 2nd century, and the gospels mentioned solely by Jerome to the 4th century[citation needed]. The traditional dating of the gospels derives primarily from this division. Other scholars with a deeper focus on pagan and Jewish literature of the period tend to date primarily based on the type of the work[citation needed]:

Then why not the Gospel of Thomas?

To make the New Testament, works had to pass four tests: authored either by an apostle or by someone of close association with the apostles . . . correspond with the elements of other canonical books and hold no trace of opinions not recognized in Scripture . . . universally accepted . . . inspiration

I don't know whether the Gospel of Thomas would have passed the authorship test, since authorship would have been questioned even back then due to the absence of reference to those writings in the commentaries of Polycarp, Clement, Irenaeus, and others. This writing would then have failed on the correspondence with other books and universal acceptance tests, with no need to consider inspiration. Perhaps someday the Vatican will release the deliberations on this issue, but I think my guess is probably pretty close to accurate. The fact that no church leader before Origen (after 220 AD) mentions the Gospel of Thomas concerns me, as does its repeated reference to the "hidden words" of Jesus. The rest of the New Testament seems quite open, and hidden words strike me as out of character for Jesus and for authentic scripture.