Footnote 1 – Biblical Views: What’s Up with the Gospel of Thomas?

Gnostic Christians believed that YHWH, the Israelite God of the Hebrew Bible, was a lesser god who created the world and humans. The one Supreme God, whom the Gnostics worshiped, was a separate god. He was an indescribable and ineffable deity who dwelled outside YHWH’s universe. However, his spirit had fallen into the created universe and resided in the human soul. Only by gaining true knowledge, or gnosis, about the order of the universe and the ascent route back to the one Supreme God could the believer return and be reunited with full divinity. For these Gnostic Christians, Jesus revealed gnosis through his esoteric teachings.