Gospel of Thomas

An early Christian sayings collection containing 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. It survives complete in a fourth-century Coptic manuscript and partially in earlier Greek fragments.

Nag Hammadi library: A collection of ancient texts discovered near Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. The complete Coptic copy of Thomas was found among these codices.
Nag Hammadi Codex II: A fourth-century Coptic codex containing the complete Gospel of Thomas alongside other ancient religious works. Its second tractate is the only complete surviving copy of Thomas.
Gospel of Thomas saying 1: The opening saying of Thomas, which promises that interpreting its sayings will prevent death. It frames interpretation as the key to the collection's promise.
Gospel of Matthew: The first Gospel in the New Testament, presenting Jesus's life and teaching in a structured narrative. Some sayings in Matthew parallel Thomas, but Matthew embeds them in a life story.
Historical Jesus: The figure of Jesus as reconstructed through historical methods from ancient sources. Thomas's sayings are assessed as possible independent evidence for Jesus's teachings.
Coptic language: The final stage of the ancient Egyptian language, written chiefly with the Greek alphabet and additional Demotic letters. The sole complete manuscript of Thomas is written in Coptic.
P.Oxy. 1: A Greek papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus preserving portions of sayings 26–33 and 77 of Thomas. It is one of the earliest surviving witnesses to the collection.
Gospel of Thomas saying 22: A saying in which Jesus describes entering the kingdom through making two into one and reconciling opposites. Its imagery exemplifies the collection's compressed, enigmatic teaching style.
Gospel of Mark: The shortest canonical Gospel, narrating Jesus's ministry, death, and resurrection. Mark's continuous narrative contrasts with Thomas's collection of sayings.
Q source: A hypothetical early sayings source proposed to explain material shared by Matthew and Luke but absent from Mark. Overlaps with Thomas prompt debate over whether early Christian sayings circulated independently.

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