Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.' If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'" (50 Thomas)

In both language and form this is one of the most distinctively Gnostic of the sayings.

Yet in John we read Jesus saying, "I am the light of the World." (8:12) And in Matthew we also read of Jesus telling all his listeners, "You are the light of the world." (5:14)

We are of the light, come from the light, and have motion and rest in the light.

For any student of Plato - and there were certainly some among the Gnostics - the reference to motion and rest is remininisent of the dialogue on the communion of classes in the Sophist. (see Ancient Greek Online)

In the Sophist Socrates and Theaetetus establish the interrelationship of the "Great Kinds", the reality of both being and non-being, and the danger of imitative, false, insincere appearances that have neither motion nor rest and are therefore unreal.

Jesus is quoted as using philosophical language to establish our shared identity with the source of elemental reality.

Above is an icon showing St. James and St. Thomas.