This is surely meant in the same way that scholars don’t actually consider any of the gospels, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, to be written by the actual apostles they’re named after. All of them, including the Gospel of Thomas (don’t want to confuse the pedants around here!), are meant to be written as if coming directly from the apostles, hence why they’re named the way they are. Modern scholarship acknowledges that none of them can possibly be written by any of Jesus’ contemporaries but that doesn’t mean that most modern Christians know or care about that. They’re the Gospels of each of the people supposedly credited to them.
This is surely meant in the same way that scholars don’t actually consider any of the gospels, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, to be written by the actual apostles they’re named after. All of them, including the Gospel of Thomas (don’t want to confuse the pedants around here!), are meant to be written as if coming directly from the apostles, hence why they’re named the way they are. Modern scholarship acknowledges that none of them can possibly be written by any of Jesus’ contemporaries but that doesn’t mean that most modern Christians know or care about that. They’re the Gospels of each of the people supposedly credited to them.