From the point of view of superstitious people brought up on such myths, Jesus the child must also have miraculous powers. The Gospel of Thomas tells of miracles performed by Jesus between the ages of five and twelve. However, this is not just an entertaining story, it has a clearly perceptible theological orientation. Already in childhood there are events that seem to be signs (signs) of his future preaching and his deeds. In this work, the influence of Gnostic works is clearly felt; The Gnostics were interested in the childhood of Jesus precisely because they did not recognize his human nature [190] and believed that Jesus the child had the same unearthly qualities as Jesus the adult. Characteristic in this respect is the surviving story from the Gnostic work "Pistis Sophia" [191] It tells how a boy (spirit) came to the house of Jesus (when he was three years old) absolutely like Jesus; little Jesus himself was working in the vineyard with his father at that time. The Spirit asked: "Where is Jesus, my brother?" Frightened, Mary tied the stranger to the bed and went to Joseph. When Jesus heard her say, he said: "Where is he, for I have been waiting for him here." When the boy entered the room, the spirit was freed, they embraced and became one. In this account, the fusion of the spirit with Jesus occurred when Jesus was very young. But this merging did not have the same religious meaning as the descent of the spirit in the form of a dove on the prophet Jesus during baptism: before merging with the stranger, Jesus is not frightened, announces that he was waiting for him, embraces the spirit, recognizes him – the boy, thus, according to this legend, already possessed supernatural properties, possessed "gnosis" – divine knowledge. The story from Pistis Sophia is characterized by the use of everyday details (as in the Protoevangelium of James): a child working with his father in a vineyard, a bed to which a spirit is tied. This everyday detail is opposed to the secret, incomprehensible meaning of what is happening. The visible world, the world of visible, concrete things, in which even Mary does not recognize the spirit and acts in accordance with primitive human reactions, is opposed to the hidden world, the true world, from the point of view of the Gnostics.

Under the influence of such stories, the Gospel of Thomas' childhood was also created. This work is a multi-layered story, where the everyday narrative about children's games, school, chopping wood, etc., as it were, hides the true meaning, which can be revealed only to those who know the meaning of the miracles performed by the boy Jesus. In the Gospel of childhood, even more than in the Protoevangelium of James, detail plays a special role. In the New Testament gospels, details, as we have shown by comparing Judeo-Christian and canonical stories, were often omitted as insignificant. Those episodes that had theological significance were explained in more or less detail. Thus, in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph's departure to Bethlehem was justified, since, according to the Old Testament prophecies, the messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. However, why Mary lived with Elizabeth, Luke does not explain, for it was only important for him to show the connection between Jesus and John the Baptist. The Gospel of Matthew does not explain the reasons for Jesus' migration from Nazareth to Capernaum (4:13). These were details of the true biography of Jesus, preserved by tradition, but they did not have a specifically doctrinal meaning. The author of the Gospel of Childhood introduces everyday details: children are playing by the stream, Jesus is sculpting birds from clay, his mother sends him to fetch water with a clay jug, a neighbor wounds his leg with an axe. True, these details are not taken from the early Christian tradition, where there could be echoes of real events, and not from the author's own knowledge of the life of a small Palestinian settlement – he clearly did not know it – they are constructed in accordance with the ideological and artistic task of the work and the needs of readers. The author was not interested in whether the Galilean boys sculpted birds from clay, whether they began their education at school with the Greek alphabet, or whether they were called by Greek names. He wrote for Greek-speaking readers, who also did not know this. It was important for him to incorporate the miracle into everyday life, which would look familiar to these readers. They believed the description and believed in the miracle that happened in a life so similar to their own. The inclusion of a miracle in a quasi-everyday reality gave rise to the hope that in their everyday existence, too, faith could lead to a miracle. But the miracles performed by Jesus in the mundane world of a small village also carried a different meaning: they acted in sharp opposition to this world, as a reminder that outside the visible world there is another one, which cannot be penetrated by anyone. This contrast is very clearly seen in the episode with the revival of the dead child (Chapter XVII). It says that after he resurrected the child and gave him to his mother, Jesus went to play with the other children, i.e. the miracle worker who had just pronounced sacred words becomes (apparently!) an ordinary child.

The composition of the Gospel of childhood is quite simple: each episode contains a story about the miracle performed by little Jesus; sometimes it is indicated at what age he committed it. In general, the first episodes are devoted to the description of miracles related to the punishment of Jesus' opponents: the boy who pushed him died, people who complained about him to Joseph went blind, the teacher who dared to raise his hand against him fell dead... The author immediately suggests to his reader that Jesus is an omnipotent and formidable, even cruel deity. However, in subsequent episodes, miracles of healing and resurrection are introduced: Jesus resurrected a boy who had fallen from a roof, though not out of pity for the boy, but because the parents of the deceased accused Jesus of pushing the boy against him. Jesus not only resurrected him, but made him testify that he had fallen by accident. Jesus heals a neighbor who injured himself with an axe and Jacob's brother who was bitten by a snake. When the new teacher recognized Jesus as full of goodness and wisdom, the lad said that for the sake of him, who truly testified, the punished teacher would also be healed. Thus, having first frightened the reader, the author of the Gospel of Childhood shows the possibility of mercy, a miracle not only of punishment, but also of salvation, and for the sake of one, the chosen one, he can have mercy on others – the accursed. The punishment itself contains an allegory: those who do not see the truth actually lose their sight. The author sees a higher meaning behind every act of Jesus, whether retribution or salvation: punishment also serves to make "the blind in their hearts" see clearly.

Almost all miracles of healing are performed by Jesus as a child in public, twice he says to the saved: "And remember me" (this addition is absent in the description of healings in the New Testament gospels). Salvation, like punishment, is not important in itself, it, according to the author of the apocrypha, should serve the conversion of unbelievers; the call to remember the miracle also contains a hidden warning to the "forgetful" — this call was addressed not only to the characters of the Gospel of childhood, but also to its readers.

In addition to the miracles of punishment and healing, the Gospel of childhood includes episodes with miracles, which are supposed to reveal in visual images the teaching of Jesus or his future. All descriptions of such miracles, in addition to the desire to once again demonstrate the supernatural nature of Jesus, have a hidden meaning: the twelve sparrows that he sent to fly are the symbol of the twelve apostles whom he will send to preach, and Jesus the sower who gathered an unprecedented harvest from the grain he threw away - the symbol of the sower of the true faith - a common image in the Christian scriptures (this image is found in both the canonical and apocryphal gospels). and Jesus, who brought water in his garment, is a symbol of the living water of faith. But what was parables in the early gospels becomes an accomplishment in the gospel of childhood, according to the constantly repeated words: everything he says becomes an act, a miracle to be understood.

In the stories of the miracles performed by Jesus, in addition to the problem of the true and the visible, there is another problem that worried Christians of the second century, the problem of punishment and intercession. Primitive Christianity was first of all a religion of "salvation", those who believed in the redemptive mission of Christ felt their chosenness. The very act of baptism meant for them the possibility of salvation from death. In the early tradition, Jesus did not punish his enemies. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was not accepted by the inhabitants of the Samaritan village, and the angry disciples offered to call upon this village "heavenly fire", but Jesus forbade them ("For the Son of Man came not to destroy human souls, but to save." – 9:53-56). Those who listened to such stories expected a reward for their sufferings in the kingdom of God on earth, and not momentary revenge on their offenders: retribution was to be accomplished once and for all during the Last Judgment. All those who did not follow Christ must be thrown into "hell of fire," or, as Matthew's Gospel says in the parable of the feast, "into outer darkness." But over time, Christians, who continued to exist in the same earthly, difficult life full of misfortunes, were faced with the question of these misfortunes as a punishment of God, the causes of which had been incomprehensible to people since the time of the ancient Eastern works about "innocent sufferers" (the most striking example is given in the Old Testament Book of Job). God, who sends misfortune, unwittingly acquired the features of a formidable and incomprehensible power, cruelly punishing for the slightest offense (death for splashed water – in the Gospel of childhood). Naturally, the punishing deity had to punish all who did not recognize him, and the Christians, in spite of their preaching of mercy, hoped that their persecutors and persecutors would perish as well as those who dared to offend the boy Jesus. The theme of punishment began to manifest itself clearly in Christian literature of the second and fourth centuries: in the Apocalypse of Peter, apparently written in the second century, along with a description of paradise, a detailed description of hell is given, with a list of all the transgressions and sins for which punishment was imposed, and in the later Gospel of Nicodemus, a story about Christ's descent into hell, which is in no way connected with the first part, is added to the absolutely fantastic description of the trial of Jesus.

Less definitely, but still perceptibly, the theme of "intercession" is present in the Gospel of childhood, which also reflected the mentality of Christians at that time, when the process of spreading the new religion in breadth was underway.

Among the Christians who were baptized by the middle of the second century, there were people of different social status, different occupations, and different moral capabilities. Already in Paul's epistles we speak of conflicts within Christians, of violations of the norms of Christian ethics[193]; Among the Christians there were people who were in the civil service, who fulfilled the prescriptions that were not always in accordance with their religious convictions [194], but along with people who renounced Christianity during the persecutions, there were also people who were ready to endure any torture for the faith [195]. In such a situation, among ordinary Christians, who, on the one hand, saw each other's shortcomings and muteness, and on the other hand, took their misfortunes for God's punishment, began to hope for "intercessors", intermediaries between them and the punishing deity (this psychological factor contributed, in particular, to the identification of the clergy as people who acted as such "mediators"). In the Gospel of childhood, the theme of forgiveness "for the sake of the righteous" appears in several episodes: Jesus promises to be silent, that is, to restrain his anger, for the sake of Joseph's requests, although Joseph does not understand the true meaning of his actions. Then, after the teacher Zacchaeus was shocked by his wisdom and recognized him as "God or an angel," Jesus pardoned those he had punished. True, this pardon was made not only for the sake of the teacher, but also so that the punished and forgiven would believe in him. And in another episode with the teacher (perhaps these episodes are duplicated in copying and editing; originally there were only two teachers: one who struck Jesus, and the other who recognized him), Jesus directly says: "... Since thou hast spoken and testified truly, for thy sake he who has been smitten shall be healed." Here the idea is clearly formulated that Jesus forgave those who sinned against him for the sake of the one who believed in him and testified about him, i.e. it was not their repentance (however, the death penalty did not give them the opportunity to repent), but the one who believed in him and comprehended his essence acts as their savior. The hope of intercessors compensated for the fear of the formidable deity into which Jesus was becoming more and more in the fantastic notions of his followers.

The image of Jesus in the Gospel of Childhood is different from the image of Jesus in the New Testament and, as far as we can judge from the fragments, in the Judeo-Christian Gospels. This difference can be traced in the description of almost all episodes of the Gospel. In the canonical texts, the few that mention Jesus' childhood and adolescence, it is said that he "grew and was strengthened in spirit, being filled with wisdom"; "But Jesus abounded in wisdom..." (Lk. 2. 40, 52). For the author of Thomas' story of Jesus' childhood, he is not "filled" with wisdom and does not succeed in it, he possesses it. Even Jesus the teacher in the Apocrypha is very different from Jesus the teacher of the New Testament. In the Gospel of Luke, there is an episode when Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth "got up to read"; the Bible was handed to him, he opened it, found the place he needed, and having read it, he sat down and began to preach (4:16-20). Such was the usual situation in synagogues. Little Jesus from the Apocrypha also takes a book at school, but does not read it, but immediately begins to speak by inspiration from above. Human features completely disappear in the image of Jesus, historical reality is replaced by a pseudo-reality created by the author. In this episode, perhaps, there is a polemic with the New Testament (and, probably, other early) gospels, a desire to introduce similar episodes, but in a different interpretation. The same fullness of true knowledge given to Jesus from the beginning is also evident in the episodes with the teachers, when Jesus demands that they explain the hidden meaning of the letters (according to Irenaeus, the Marcosians were engaged in interpreting the mystical meaning of letters and numbers). True, the explanation of the alpha lines given in the Gospel (or rather a description of them) is not quite clear, unless behind this description there was a symbolism known to readers, associated with the idea of separation and union, so important to the Gnostics. In this episode, Jesus not only possesses schoolboy wisdom, he possesses knowledge hidden from ordinary mortals.

To reveal this idea, the author of the Gospel of childhood uses an episode from the Gospel of Luke about the stay of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. According to the canonical gospel, Jesus went with his parents to Jerusalem for a feast, at the end of the feast the parents went home, but Jesus remained in Jerusalem; his parents found him in the temple, where he sat among the teachers, listened to them and asked them; "all who heard Him marveled at His understanding and at His answers" (2:42-47). In the story of this event in the Gospel of childhood, individual phrases from Luke's text are used verbatim, but the author of the apocrypha embellished the legend transmitted in the New Testament, introducing and modifying some details. In the Gospel of Childhood, Jesus silences the elders and instructs the "teachers of the people and the elders" gathered in the temple, explaining to them the meaning of the Law and the prophets. The scribes and Pharisees who listen to him are not merely amazed at his intelligence, but say to his mother, who has come for Jesus: "Such glory, such valor and wisdom we have never seen or heard of." Thus, the uniqueness of Jesus is emphasized here, teaching (and not talking) and immediately arousing the admiration of the listeners, as in the episode in school, when all who heard his sermon marveled at his grace and wisdom. The author is not interested in the question of why later the Pharisees and scribes did not recognize the teachings of Jesus and opposed it (these statements are described in both the canonical and some apocryphal gospels). His Jesus is a deity, and as a teacher, he cannot fail to convince everyone who hears him.

The episode in the temple, which concludes the Gospel of childhood, seems to connect it with the New Testament stories; the inclusion of phrases from the Gospel of Luke was probably a special stylistic device, showing that the account of Jesus' childhood is directly adjacent to the accounts of the life and preaching of the adult Jesus, which are revered by most Christians. But this connection was purely external, for the Jesus of the Gospel of childhood could not have become the Jesus created by the first preachers, who gathered around them the poor, the crippled, the orphans, the widows, all those who could not find a place for themselves in the imperial society of the beginning of our era. The acts of cruelty and self-will committed by the boy Jesus could not have been committed by the prophet who then declared: "... My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30), and also, according to the Judeo-Christian Gospels, he told his disciples: "And never be joyful, except when you love your brother."

For the first Christians, the miracles that the preachers told them about were primarily miracles of healing, for their messiah acted as a savior, a healer of soul and body. The canonical gospels also describe symbolic miracles, such as feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread, turning water into wine, etc., but the main acts of Jesus are "casting out demons" and healing the sick. This is how he was perceived by the first Christians (as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles: "And he went about doing good and healing all those possessed by the devil." – 10:38). And the same gift, according to Christian traditions, he endowed his disciples. The miracles of healing and resurrection in the Gospel of childhood are meant to show the power of Jesus; characteristically, none of these miracles is performed at the request of the sufferer (cf. Mk. 5:22:33-34): He Himself chooses those to whom He shows mercy.

In describing the resurrection, expressions are used that occur in similar episodes of canonical texts. Witnesses of miracles say: "... He saved many souls from death and will save them all his life." However, by including the use of New Testament texts in his story, the author of the Gospel of childhood changes it where it differs from his theological concept. For example, in the Gospel of Luke, the young men present at the resurrection exclaim: "... a great prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people" (7:16); in the apocrypha, the witnesses of miracles call Jesus God or an angel, but not a prophet. The New Testament texts reflect the oldest Christian tradition about Jesus the prophet, which was traced in Judeo-Christian writings. But by the time the Gospel of Childhood was written, the image of Jesus for Gentile Christians was increasingly dehumanized, so that the word "prophet" no longer expressed their perception of Christ, not to mention the fact that for Greek-speaking readers who were far from Judaism, the concept of a prophet was devoid of the religious meaning that it had for the first Christians who came from a Jewish environment.

Thus, the author of the Gospel of Childhood, without entering into an open polemic with the New Testament texts revered by many Christians of the second century and even emphasizing the connection with them, at the same time pursues a different theological concept, which goes back to Gnostic ideas. The image of Jesus depicted in the Apocrypha could not but influence the readers' perception of the entire subsequent life of Jesus up to his martyrdom, creating ideas close to the ideas of the Docetists (a sorcerer who punished with death for an offense inflicted on him could not experience real torment).