The Original Teachings of Jesus: Recovered, Translated and Explained
by
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“When you pray, say,
‘O Giver of Life
Whose Oneness connects the Universe,
Your resounding name clears a holy place within us.
We seek your counsel.
May your desire work within us
Just as it works throughout the Universe.
Give us the bread we need
To live and to understand.
Restore us when we fail
Just as we restore those who fail us.
Don’t let us be fooled by how things appear.
Rather free us from mistakes of our incompleteness’”. (QS-26)
This is commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer,” or the prayer Jesus taught to his students. Early church scribes added a doxology (For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever) to some versions of this prayer that are in the New Testament.
His students asked Jesus, “Should we fast? How should we pray? Should we give to the poor? From what foods should we abstain?” Jesus said, “Don’t lie,’ and don’t do things you hate to others. Everything is clear from the perspective of the World of Light. For everything that is hidden will become visible, and everything covered will be uncovered.” (T-6)
Contextual explanation:
Jesus’ students are asking for clarification about the most important and basic of Jewish religious practices. They have previously been taught that these practices were absolutely necessary. Jesus has evidently been quiet about them. He is still remaining quiet and for the moment avoids the questions about fasting, praying, alms giving and food laws.
He does advise them to be truthful and he gives them a version of the Golden Rule: “Don’t do the things to others that you hate having done to you.”
Finally, Jesus implies that religious laws and practices are unnecessary when one is spiritually enlightened because with enlightenment comes knowledge of how to live.
Jesus asked his students, “What am I like? How would you compare me?” Simon Peter said, “You are like a just and fair messenger of The One.” Matthew said, “You are like a sage.” Thomas said, “Master, I am not capable of saying what you are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your master. Because you drank from the bubbling spring I poured out, you became drunk.” Then he took Thomas, withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they urgently asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?”
Thomas said to them, “If I tell you even one thing that he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me. Then fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.” (T-13)
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About the Book
There are two lost gospels, one found almost 60 years ago, and the other found less than twenty years ago, that we now know contain the oldest, largest and most accurate collections of the teachings of Jesus. These are The Gospel of Thomas and a gospel called Q1. These teachings amaze some people and disturb others because these documents were written before the early Christian church rewrote Jesus’ words to give us the New Testament gospels.
The Original Teachings of Jesus offers a unique translation of these two gospels. The sayings have been organized to make sense and flow as they would from the mouth of Jesus. Additionally, this translation recovers root meanings and idioms from Jesus’ native Aramaic to bring the subtleties and flavor of his own culture to print. For example, God is called “The One.” Heaven is called the “World of Light.” Hell is never mentioned.
The original teachings of Jesus are deeply spiritual, but they are not religious. Salvation is offered, but it is accomplished by spiritual enlightenment and has nothing to do with sin. These teachings offer a clear set of instructions for achieving spiritual enlightenment and promise that seeking and practicing bring one to a personal experience of God and of The World of Light.
This is the only book to date that combines these two lost gospels in a way that uncovers the spiritual teachings of this mystic Aramaic teacher, Jesus. There are 134 teachings, accompanied by an explanation of what they meant in the context of Jesus’ time and culture and a commentary on what the teachings mean in our own time. Last, but not least, the Introduction tells the compelling stories behind both lost gospels.
Chapters include: Spiritual Awareness, How To Live, Jesus’ Students, God, Jesus, Wisdom and The Judeans.
About the Author
Doctor Buckner was a Methodist minister from 1972-1986, having completed a Master of Divinity from