Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas is an early collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, discovered in a Coptic codex among the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 and thought to reflect an independent oral or written tradition.

Unlike the canonical Gospels, it lacks narrative structure and focuses on purported sayings, some paralleled in the Synoptics and others more enigmatic.

Early orthodox writers regarded the text as associated with Gnostic tendencies and therefore theologically suspect, which contributed to its exclusion from the canonical New Testament.

Modern scholarship debates its date and relationship to the Synoptic tradition, with some scholars proposing early origins and others a later, sectarian composition.

The work has become central to studies of early Christian diversity, Gnosticism, and sayings traditions.