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Gospel of Thomas · 1 of 10

Introduction

These sayings are translated from the Coptic text of Nag Hammadi Codex II, 2.

Symbols [ ] Gap in the text ( ) Editorial insertion / \ Editorial correction of a scribal error

Prologue. These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.

Asked of Sophia

Why does the introduction call these sayings "hidden" and claim Jesus was "living" here?

The chapter opens as a Prologue: “These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.” That language frames the collection as secret teaching transmitted in presence of a resurrected or ongoing spiritual Jesus rather than a merely historical teacher. It signals a Gnostic stance that revelation is esoteric and accessible through particular insight or a named disciple.

Calling Jesus “living” ties the sayings to an ongoing, revelatory authority and to inner knowledge readers are invited to seek; Didymos Judas Thomas as scribe locates the text in a chain of direct transmission. This echoes other texts in the Nag Hammadi library that present secret dialogues, and it connects to John’s Gospel where Jesus speaks of life through revelation, though Gospel of Thomas emphasizes hidden, sayings-focused transmission.

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Echoes elsewhere

The Bible · Christianitypeople were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: 5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and i The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ · Esoteric1. And Jesus stood beside the sea and taught; the multitudes pressed close upon him and he went into a boat that was near by and put a little ways from shore, and then he spoke in The Bible · Christianity1. In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of al The Sayings Gospel Q · Gnosticism2. "Nothing is concealed that won't be revealed, nor hidden that won't be made known." 3. "Whatever I tell you in the dark, say in the light; and whatever you hear whispered in you