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13 4Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like." 5Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended."

Jesus is not the teacher of disciples. Rather, Jesus introduces questions and statements, and this creates a context in which disciples "teach themselves" by "finding what is inside and outside themselves" and by "bringing this into their understanding." In this context, Jesus not only tells the disciples "about things," but he tells them what to ask themselves. Thus Gos. Thom. 88:

88 1Jesus said, "The messengers and the prophets will come to you and give you what is yours. 2You, in turn, give them what you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what is theirs?'"

In a context where Jesus tells the disciples what they must do, he tells them what "to say to themselves." In other words, one of the major goals of the sayings of Jesus in Gos. Thom. is to teach the reader a form of internal dialogue in which to engage. They are to use the questions and sayings of Jesus as a "living" voice that speaks to them and asks them questions. This will lead them into an activity of seeking that holds the promise of finding life. In contrast to the Gospel of John, simply "believing" what one has seen and heard will not bring life. Rather, what one has seen and heard must become a living voice that engages one in seeking and finding life. The disciples must learn both what kinds of questions to ask themselves and what kinds of responses they must give to the questions they ask themselves. The responses they give themselves must not be direct. Rather, they must be the kinds of responses that hold the potential for changing the initial questions they ask.

One of the techniques that facilitates this process, finally, is to ask if Jesus has said something about a particular topic. It is important in the process of the internal dialogue to ask oneself what statement Jesus may have made that responds to the question one is asking. Gos. Thom. 111:3 exhibits this dimension in exemplary manner:

111 3Does not Jesus say, "Whoever has found oneself, of that person the world is not worthy"?

Disciples must acquire the habit of asking themselves, "Doesn't Jesus say something about this particular topic?" In other words, what they must find and bring forth is not simply something within them but something outside them. Through an oral process of questions and answers "outside" them, they learn an oral process of internal questioning and answering that brings forth both what is inside and what is outside them.

Internally, then, the Gos. Thom. has the nature of a manual for discussion, dialogue, and reflection. It is not a manual for debating a hostile public of any kind, like the canonical gospels. There is no "public" it envisions debating. Rather, it envisions "disciples" who will call forth questions and responses attributed to Jesus and use them in a context of "public" discussion and dialogue that nurtures "internal" discussion, dialogue, and reflection. This, then, can be a process of seeking and finding life.

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