Editing Gospel of Thomas (section)

===Oxyrhynchus papyrus fragments===
After the Coptic version of the complete text was discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, scholars soon realized that three different Greek text fragments previously found at [[Oxyrhynchus]] (the [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]]), also in Egypt, were part of the Gospel of Thomas.{{sfnp|Grenfell|Hunt|1897}}{{sfnp|Grant|Freedman|1960}} These three papyrus fragments of Thomas date to between 130 and 250&nbsp;AD.

Prior to the Nag Hammadi library discovery, the sayings of Jesus found in Oxyrhynchus were known simply as [[Logia|Logia Iesu]]. The corresponding [[Uncial script]] Greek fragments of the Gospel of Thomas, found in Oxyrhynchus are:
* [[Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1|P. Oxy. 1]]: fragments of logia 26 through 33, with the last two sentences of logion 77 in the Coptic version included at the end of logion 30 herein.
* [[Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654|P. Oxy. 654]]: fragments of the beginning through logion 7, logion 24 and logion 36 on the flip side of a papyrus containing [[surveying]] data.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0POxy--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4----ded--0-1l--1-en-50---20-about-1708--00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=POxy&cl=CL5.1.4&d=HASH66d3d01e4d152cbe92ae08|title=P.Oxy.IV 0654|access-date=2 November 2011|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203556/http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0POxy--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4----ded--0-1l--1-en-50---20-about-1708--00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=POxy&cl=CL5.1.4&d=HASH66d3d01e4d152cbe92ae08|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655|P. Oxy. 655]]: fragments of logia 36 through 39. 8 fragments designated ''a'' through ''h'', whereof ''f'' and ''h'' have since been lost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0POxy--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4----ded--0-1l--1-en-50---20-about-1708--00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=POxy&cl=CL5.1.4&d=HASH66d3d01e4d152cc692ae08|title=P.Oxy.IV 0655|access-date=2 November 2011|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202730/http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0POxy--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4----ded--0-1l--1-en-50---20-about-1708--00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=POxy&cl=CL5.1.4&d=HASH66d3d01e4d152cc692ae08|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The wording of the Coptic sometimes differs markedly from the earlier Greek Oxyrhynchus texts, the extreme case being that the last portion of logion 30 in the Greek is found at the end of logion 77 in the Coptic. This fact, along with the quite different wording Hippolytus uses when apparently quoting it (see below), suggests that the Gospel of Thomas "may have circulated in more than one form and passed through several stages of redaction."{{sfnp|Meier|1991|p=125}}

Although it is generally thought that the Gospel of Thomas was first composed in Greek, there is evidence that the Coptic Nag Hammadi text is a translation from [[Syriac language|Syriac]] (see [[#Syriac origin|Syriac origin]]).