# When Was the Gospel of Thomas Written?

> Greek copies of the Gospel of Thomas are dated after 200 and in the mid third century, and the Coptic copy shortly before 350. Those dates are of manuscripts. They do not fix the year the book was composed.

- Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/when-was-the-gospel-of-thomas-written
- Religions: none
- Denominations: none
- Beliefs: Non-Canonical
- Tags: gospel-of-thomas, canon, gospels
- Updated: 2026-10-13


The Gospel of Thomas is a sayings book. The copies that survive are later than the first century, and they do not fix the year someone first wrote the book. The information section on [earlychristianwritings.com](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas.html) [(1)](#ref-1) says P.Oxy. 1 is dated shortly after 200 for paleographical reasons, the other two Greek fragments are estimated in the mid third century, and the Coptic text was written shortly before 350. Ron Cameron, quoted on that page, says a plausible date of composition is speculative. [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) quotes Hippolytus and Eusebius on a book by this name and does not assign it a composition year.

## Key Points

- The same information section says the book is extant in three Greek fragments, P.Oxy. 654, P.Oxy. 1, and P.Oxy. 655, and in one Coptic manuscript. [(1)](#ref-1)
- Cameron, quoted there from the Anchor Bible Dictionary, says Hippolytus of Rome, writing between 222 and 235, quotes a variant of saying 4 from a text titled the Gospel of Thomas. [(1)](#ref-1) [Hippolytus, Refutation 5.7](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050105.htm) [(2)](#ref-2), names a Gospel inscribed according to Thomas. The quotation is on [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels).
- Cameron’s range, as that page prints it, runs from the middle of the first century, as an earliest possible date, to toward the end of the second century, before P.Oxy. 1 and before Hippolytus. He adds that if the book is an independent sayings collection, the last decades of the first century would be more likely than a mid-to-late second-century date. That is his judgment. [(1)](#ref-1)
- The page’s header reads “Estimated Range of Dating: 50-140 A.D.” That line is the compiler’s estimate. It is not a date written on a manuscript.
- [Eusebius, Church History 3.25](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm) [(3)](#ref-3), lists a Gospel of Thomas among books he did not receive. [How Was the Bible Canon Decided?](/non-canonical/how-was-the-bible-canon-decided) is the lists. [John 20:28](/bible/john/20/28) [(4)](#ref-4) is the apostle Thomas in the Gospel of John: “My LORD and my God.”

## What the Copies Are Dated

On dating, Ron Cameron states, as the earlychristianwritings.com page quotes him:

> Determining a plausible date of composition is speculative and depends on a delicate weighing of critical judgments about the history of the transmission of the sayings-of-Jesus tradition and the process of the formation of the written gospel texts.

[(1)](#ref-1) The sentences that follow, on that page, set the earliest possible date in the middle of the first century, when sayings collections began to be compiled, and the latest possible date toward the end of the second century, prior to the copying of P.Oxy. 1 and the first reference by Hippolytus. If the book is a sayings collection on an autonomous tradition, and not a harmony made from the New Testament, he says a date in the last decades of the first century would be more likely than a mid-to-late second-century date.

Those sentences are about composition. The copy dates on the same page are separate. P.Oxy. 1 is dated shortly after 200. P.Oxy. 654 and P.Oxy. 655 are estimated in the mid third century. The Coptic text was written shortly before 350. A copy gives a latest time by which the book existed in that form. It does not name the year of the first copy.

[The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) reports a secondary page that dates the Greek fragments about AD 130–250 and says they cover about twenty of 114 sayings. That report is broader than the three paleographical sentences above. This page uses the more specific copy dates and leaves Cameron’s composition range as his judgment.

## Who Knew a Book by This Name?

Hippolytus is the early named witness Cameron calls incontrovertible. Writing between 222 and 235, he quotes a variant of saying 4 and says it comes from the Gospel of Thomas. [(1)](#ref-1) The Refutation itself says the saying occurs in the Gospel inscribed according to Thomas. [(2)](#ref-2) By the early third century, a book with that title was in use among the people Hippolytus describes.

Eusebius, in the fourth century, lists the Gospels of Peter, Thomas, and Matthias with books put forward under the apostles’ names that he did not receive as Scripture. [(3)](#ref-3) [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) prints his classification. This page does not adopt his insult as its own word for the book. The fact his list records is that he did not count Thomas among the received Gospels.

The ancient title is not a signature. Naming Thomas does not show that the apostle wrote the sayings. [Who Wrote the Gospels?](/christianity/who-wrote-the-gospels) is the question for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

## Where the Copies Were Found

The information section says the Greek pieces are the Oxyrhynchus papyri numbered above, matching the prologue and sayings 1–7, sayings 26–33 and 77.2, and sayings 24 and 36–39. [(1)](#ref-1) [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) reports the complete Coptic copy as Nag Hammadi Codex II, a book found in 1945. This page did not open a museum record for that find. It uses that article’s report, and the copy date “shortly before the year 350” from the information section. [(1)](#ref-1)

The book is sayings. It does not narrate the passion, the burial, and the resurrection the way [Matthew 28](/bible/matthew/28), [Mark 16](/bible/mark/16), [Luke 24](/bible/luke/24), and [John 20](/bible/john/20) do. Saying 114, in which Jesus is reported to say he will make Mary male, is quoted in one word on [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels), because the English translation is copyrighted. [Mary Magdalene in the Bible](/christianity/mary-magdalene-in-the-bible) is the Mary of the four Gospels.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Who Wrote the Gospel of Thomas?

The title names Thomas. Hippolytus, between 222 and 235, already cites a book with that title. [(1)](#ref-1) [(2)](#ref-2) The title does not prove the apostle wrote it. [John 20:24–28](/bible/john/20) [(4)](#ref-4) is a different text: the apostle Thomas, in the Gospel of John, calls the risen Jesus “My LORD and my God.”

### Where Was the Gospel of Thomas Found?

Greek fragments come from Oxyrhynchus: P.Oxy. 1, 654, and 655. [(1)](#ref-1) The Coptic copy is the Nag Hammadi book [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) reports as found in 1945. The information section dates that Coptic text shortly before 350. [(1)](#ref-1)

### How Old Is the Gospel of Thomas?

The Greek copy P.Oxy. 1 is dated shortly after 200. The other two Greek fragments are estimated in the mid third century. The Coptic text is shortly before 350. [(1)](#ref-1) Cameron says the year of composition is speculative, somewhere from the middle of the first century to the end of the second, and he prefers the last decades of the first century if the sayings are independent of the New Testament. [(1)](#ref-1) The header “50-140 A.D.” on that page is the compiler’s estimate, not a date on a leaf.

### Is the Gospel of Thomas Scripture?

Eusebius did not receive it. [(3)](#ref-3) Irenaeus, quoted on [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels), says the Gospels cannot be more or fewer than four. [How Was the Bible Canon Decided?](/non-canonical/how-was-the-bible-canon-decided) is those lists. The Christian confession read from the four is that Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised, and that he is God. [John 20:28](/bible/john/20/28) [(4)](#ref-4) is Thomas’s confession in John.

### Is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas the Same Book?

No. This page is about the sayings Gospel of Thomas. It does not date a separate infancy book, and it does not quote one.

## Keep Reading

- [The Lost Gospels](/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels)
- [How Was the Bible Canon Decided?](/non-canonical/how-was-the-bible-canon-decided)
- [Who Wrote the Gospels?](/christianity/who-wrote-the-gospels)
- [Mary Magdalene in the Bible](/christianity/mary-magdalene-in-the-bible)
- [Non-Canonical](/non-canonical)
- [Common Arguments](/common-arguments/christianity#when-was-the-gospel-of-thomas-written)

## Passages Quoted on This Page

### Papias, in Eusebius, Church History 3.39.15

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, New Advent.

[Open on newadvent.org](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm)

> Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord's discourses, so that Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.

### John 20:28

King James Version.

> And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.

### John 20:24–28

King James Version.

> [20:24] But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. [20:25] The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. [20:26] And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. [20:27] Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. [20:28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.

## Sources
Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site.

1. [Gospel of Thomas, Information on the Gospel of Thomas](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas.html) (Peter Kirby’s compilation. The header “Estimated Range of Dating: 50-140 A.D.” is the compiler’s estimate. The information section dates the copies. Ron Cameron is quoted there from the Anchor Bible Dictionary, volume 6.)
2. [Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 5.7](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050105.htm) (A Gospel inscribed according to Thomas. The longer quotation is on The Lost Gospels.)
3. [Eusebius, Church History, 3.25](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm) (The Gospels of Peter, Thomas, and Matthias among books Eusebius did not receive. His wording is on The Lost Gospels.)
4. [Gospel of John, 20:28](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/20/28). King James Version

## See Also
- [How Was the Bible Canon Decided?](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/how-was-the-bible-canon-decided) — Josephus counts twenty-two books. Athanasius, Jerome, Hippo and Carthage, Trent, Westminster, Article VI, and the Orthodox lists do not agree. Nicaea’s canons contain no book list.
- [The Lost Gospels: Thomas, Peter, Judas, and Mary](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/the-lost-gospels) — Irenaeus argues for four Gospels. He names a Gospel of Judas. Hippolytus and Eusebius name Thomas. Serapion stopped the Gospel of Peter. Saying 114 of Thomas speaks of making Mary male.
- [What Is the Book of Enoch and Why Isn’t It in the Bible?](https://apologetics.wiki/non-canonical/what-is-the-book-of-enoch) — 1 Enoch is a composite book written in Enoch’s name. Jude 14–15 quotes 1 Enoch 1:9. The Jewish canon and the major Christian churches did not receive the book. The Ethiopian Orthodox narrower canon does.
- [Do Catholics Believe in the Old Testament?](https://apologetics.wiki/catholic/do-catholics-believe-in-the-old-testament) — The Catechism calls the Old Testament an indispensable part of Scripture and says the Old Covenant has never been revoked. Catholics also receive the deuterocanonical books, and they do not keep every law of Moses as the Church’s present rule.
- [Do Jews Believe in the Old Testament?](https://apologetics.wiki/judaism/do-jews-believe-in-the-old-testament) — Jews receive the Tanakh, twenty-four books in the count Chabad publishes, under the names Torah, Prophets, and Writings. That list is not titled the Old Testament, and it does not include the New Testament.