The Gospel of Thomas was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as 60 CE and as late as 250 CE. The Coptic language text is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Although a good number of these resemble sayings reported in the Synoptic Gospels, some were not seen elsewhere previously.

Saying 70 is one of those. It reads, “If you bring forth [also translated as “give birth to”] what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Today we’ll be looking at bringing forth the light within us in an action-oriented, courageous way as we explore the possible meanings of Saying 70.