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In the Babylonian Talmud, rabbis say the world was created for the sake of Moses or of the Messiah. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas uses the same idea for one man, saying heaven and earth came into being for James the Just.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gospel of Thomas 1:12
Nag Hammadi
11 Jesus said, “This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it alive; when you come into the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?” 12 The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will leave us. Who will be our leader?” Jesus said to them, “Wherever you are, you should go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.” 13 Jesus said to his disciples, “Compare me and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a righteous messenger.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him, “Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say whom you are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring I have measured out.” And he took him and withdrew and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you even one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.”
Sanhedrin 98b
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
Rav says: The world was created only for the sake of David, by virtue of his merit. And Shmuel says: It was created by virtue of the merit of Moses. And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: It was created by virtue of the merit of the Messiah.
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... The authority of James is strongly emphasized in some Gnostic writings, notably in the Gospel of Thomas (NHC II.2), logion 12: The disciples said to Jesus: ‘We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Wherever you are, you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.’ These words of Jesus are likely to represent an early tradition. It is remarkable that they are preserved in the Gospel of Thomas for, as appears from the next logion (13, quoted below), in this document it is Thomas, Jesus’ supposed twin brother, who is regarded as the ideal follower of Jesus. [...] 34.25–30. This logion is easier to understand in the light of ancient Jewish and Christian texts according to which the world was created, or continues to exist, for the sake of the righteous, Abraham, Moses, the Messiah, the Church, etc. See L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, v (Philadelphia 1925) 67–8. ...”
Luttikhuizen, Gerard P.
"Witnesses and Mediators of Christ's Gnostic Teachings" in Hilhorst, A. (ed.) The Apostolic Age in Patristic Thought
(p. 110) Brill, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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