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Nag Hammadi Coptic Text
BLATZ LAYTON
[Prologue.] These are the [Prologue.] These are the
secret words which the obscure sayings that the
living Jesus spoke, and living Jesus uttered and
which Didymus Judas which Didymus Jude
Thomas wrote down. Thomas wrote down.
Oxyrhynchus Greek Fragment
Funk's Parallels
POxy654 Prologue, Matt
1:1, Mark 1:1, InThom 1,
Book of Thomas the
DORESSE Contender II 138.1-4,
ApJas 1:1-2.
[Prologue.] Here are the
secret words which Jesus
the Living spoke, and which
Didymus Jude Thomas
wrote down.

DORESSE - Oxyrhynchus ATTRIDGE - Oxyrhynchus

Here are the [secret] words which Jesus the (Prologue) These are the [secret] sayings
Living spoke an[d which were transcribed [which] the living Jesus [spoke, and which
by Didymus Jude] Thomas. Judas, who is] also Thomas, [wrote down].

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- Peter Kirby
The proper name Thomas is
derived from the root verb
tïm, which means, became
paired or twin.
- thomas
Alas, these sayings have far
too much of a sectarian
attitude. These tendencies
are also present (in my
opinion) in the Gospel of
John, but here they really
stand out: it's "us" versus
"the rest", and those others
are ignorant. The gospel of
Thomas has its historic
merits, but is too
narrowminded to be
"believable" in these days.
Marvin Meyer writes: "The incipit, or opening of the document, provides what is
most likely the earlier version of the title. A second, later title is given at the end of
the document: 'The Gospel According to Thomas.' A similar incipit opens another
document from the Nag Hammadi Library, Book of Thomas 138, 1-4: 'The hidden
sayings that the savior spoke to Judas Thomas, which I, Mathaias, in turn recorded. I
was walking, listening to them speak with each other.'" (The Gospel of Thomas: The
Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 67)
Marvin Meyer suggests that "the living Jesus" is "probably not the resurrected Christ
as commonly understood, but rather Jesus who lives through his sayings." (The
Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 67)
Joseph A. Fitzmyer writes: "logoi: The use of this word to designate the 'sayings' of
Jesus in these fragments should be noted. Nowhere do we find logia used of these
sayings; Grenfell and Hunt were, therefore, not accurate in entitling the preliminary
publication of Oxy P 1 Logia Iesou, which did not, of course, become apparent until
the discovery of Oxy P 654. From the time of Herodotus on logion meant 'oracle', 'a
saying derived from a deity'. In the LXX it denotes the 'word of God', having lost the
Greek nuance of 'oracle' and acquired that of OT revelation. In this sense we find it in
Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2; 1 Pt 4:11; Heb 5:12 (see G. Kittel, TDNT 4, 137-41). In A.
Resch's collection of Agrapha (TU 30 [1906]) we find the word used only twice, and
in each case it refers to the OT. See further J. Donovan, The Logia in Ancient and
Recent Literature (Cambridge, 1927). The use of logoi here for the sayings of Jesus
can be compared to Mt 15:12 and especially to Acts 20:35, mnemoneuein te ton
logon tou Kyriou Iesou hoti autos eipen. See also Clement of Rome, Ad. Cor. 13:1;
- Bruno
I disagree with Bruno,
respectfully. It's not "us"
versus "the rest" inasmuch as
it is the discovery by each
one of us that which the
whole cannot comprehend.
Individuals have to realize
their place and importance.
As one who reads and
understands the Bible gains
insight despite others not
doing so, the same is true for
one who understands these
sayings. There is an
important balance between
knowing these truths
inwardly and sharing them
outwardly.
- tworoads
Jesus combined the prphetic
and teachership functions.
Which do these utterances
belong to? Those who have
been through the hurlyburly
of a genuine teaching school,
which a group under a
teaching master is, will
recognise these recorded
utterances not all of which
by any means were intended
for public consumption. To
interpret them literally or by
scholarship may not prove a
method of universal
applicability, valuable
though such approaches are
in their own contexts.
- Thief37
The reputed (and possibly
actual) author of the Gospel
of Thomas was Judas, the
twin brother of the "living
Jesus" if not that of the
"risen Christ." The name
"Didymus Judas Thomas" --
"Twin Judas Twin" --
46:7 (ed. K. Bihlmeyer, pp. 42, 60) for the use of this word to designate the sayings
of Jesus. Now that we know that the Greek fragments belong to a text of the Gospel
according to Thomas, there is no longer room for the speculation that possibly they
contain part of the Logia on which Papias wrote his commentary or of the Logia that
Matthew collected (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3, 39, 1 and 16). Consequently, it is better
not to refer to the sayings either in the Oxyrhynchus fragments or in the Coptic
Gospel According to Thomas (where the word used is sage, 'word, saying') as logia,
pace R. North (CBQ 24 [1962] 164, etc.)." (Essays on the Semitic Background of the
New Testament, pp. 366-367)
F. F. Bruce writes: "'Jesus the living one' probably means 'Jesus the ever-living one'.
It is common form in Gnostic Gospels to represent the esoteric teaching or gnosis
which they contain as delivered by Jesus to his chosen disciples during his
appearances to them after he was raised from the dead. But there is no esoteric
flavour about the sayings collected in the Gospel of Thomas; many of them can be
paralleled from the canonical Gospels (especially Luke) and many others are of the
same matter-of-fact order. Perhaps it was not the sayings themselves but their
interpretation in the circle from which the Gospel of Thomas came that the compiler
regarded as 'secret'. As for the threefold name Didymus Judas Thomas, Didymus is
the Greek word for 'twin' and is used in the Gospel of John (11.16; 20.24; 21.2) to
explain Thomas, which is the Aramaic word for 'twin' (t'oma). In Syriac Christian
tradition he is identified with the 'Judas not Iscariot' who belonged to the company of
the Twelve: in the Old Syriac Gospels the question of John 14.22 is said to have been
put to the Lord by 'Judas Thomas'." (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New
Testament, p. 112)
R. McL. Wilson writes: "Of the general character of the text it must suffice to say for
the moment that it was found in a Gnostic library and contains little or nothing which
could not be adapted to a Gnostic use. The opening words, again, might be thought to
suggest a Gnostic origin: 'These are the secret words which the living Jesus spake.'
The work, that is, purports to contain esoteric teaching delivered, like other similar
revelations, by the risen Lord in the period between the Resurrection and the
Ascension. It may be, however, that too much should not be made of this, since the
Greek word APOKRUFOS did not always have the disparaging sense which later
became attached to it. In Gnostic circles it was used of books the contents of which
were too sacred to be divulged to the common herd, and it was in fact the heretical
associations which it thus came to possess which led to its use as a term of
disparagement. In the Nag Hammadi library, for example, one document bears the
title Apocryphon or Secret Book of John, another that of Apocryphon of James, and
several Gnostic gospels contain solemn warnings against imparting their contents to
any save the deserving, or for the sake of material gain." (Studies in the Gospel of
Thomas, pp. 11-12)
Joseph A. Fitzmyer writes: "We may ask in what sense the sayings of Jesus in this
collection are to be regarded as 'secret' (for it is obvious that apokryphos does not
have the later pejorative meaning of 'apocryphal' here), when many of the sayings
contain words which Jesus pronounced openly and publicly. The 'hidden' character is
rather to be found in the manner of interpretation which is found in this collection.
The quotation from Hippolytus [Elenchus 7, 20] above tells us of 'hidden words' that
Matthias had learned from the Saviour in private. This reveals a tradition which
describing the receiver undoubtedly is to be traced to Mt 13:10-11, where Christ himself distinguished
emphatically refers to that between the comprehension of the disciples and that of the crowd. The thirteenth
blood brother. Thus: "These Coptic saying illustrates this idea, moreover, when Jesus takes Thomas aside to tell
are the secret sayings which him three words which he is not allowed to repeat to the other disciples. In this very
the living Jesus spoke, and saying we learn that eternal life is promised to him who succeeds in discovering the
which (his) twin [known as] real meaning of the sayings in the collection. This probably refers to the different
Judas (the) twin wrote application or interpretation which is given to even the canonical sayings that are set
down." Whom but Yehuda, in a different context. Such shifts in meaning were undoubtedly part of the esoteric
the closest blood brother of interpretation which is intended by 'hidden' or 'secret'." (Essays on the Semitic
Yeshu'a -- his twin! -- would Background of the New Testament, p. 368)
have been taken aside and
confided in so closely
concerning the real meaning
of the latter's message? And
whom but Yehuda would be
so threatening to the later
cult of the perpetual virginity
of Mary -- mother of at least
six, if Mark and Matthew are
to be believed -- that he
would not only be unfairly
marginalized (as were his
siblings Ya'akov, Yosa,
Shim'on, Miryam and
Shlomit) by "Christian"
redactors unconcerned with
truth, but villified as the
ultimate traitor? This
apocryphal gospel is likely
closer to the origins behind
the Hellenized myths of
"Jesus the Christ" than the
Synoptics or Johannine
writings, and surely more
revealing of "His" intended
message than anything
written by Paul or Luke. No
wonder it was excised from
the catholic "canon" so early.
How fortunate for us that the
true teaching of the man
Yeshu'a -- who has become
all but mythologized by two
millenia of revisionist
blatherings by far lesser
mortals -- has not been lost
sight of completely.
- Qapa
Secret or hidden means
undiscovered; therefore,
these are the things that
people did not understand.
- marick
Both Thomas and Didymus
mean "twin" according to
F.F. Bruce. So this book is
written by Jude the Twin one
of Jesus' apostles. Twin of
whom? Who could be so
recognizable that simply
referring to him as "twin"
would invoke meaning?
According to Matthew and
Mark Jesus had a brother
named Jude. Could this Jude
be the same? And could he
be Jesus's twin?
- Solomon
Keep in mind that these
sayings, even if unaltered,
are presented in the Gospel
of Thomas out of context, so
something that may sound
strange now would, if we
knew the application and
setting, make more sense.
- Matthew
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