Vangelo secondo Tommaso, logion 40: tracce di conflitti fra gruppi di seguaci di Gesù

Saying 40 of the Gospel of Thomas contains some lexical peculiarities that invite to investigate its meaning and relationship with the parallel texts: it could contribute to show the self-representation of the group of Jesus' followers that this gospel intended to convey. The symbolic content of the saying (expressed by the metaphor of an 'unsound grapevine') is usually identified in the criticism of 'Pharisees' and Jewish practices, but it could represent the trace of the will to oppose other groups of Jesus' followers. This article analyzes logion 40 relating it to l. 32, to Matt 15:13, John 15:1-8, and other texts (especially from the Hebrew scriptures), and focusing on the occurrences - in Greek and Coptic - of some key terms. It also deals with the issue of the relationship between Th and John, and between the Thomasine and the Johannine groups.