LOGIA. The term “logia” (pl. of the Gr. word λόγιον, G3359) is used in Gr. lit. for the utterances of deities. Such usage is also found in the LXX and occasionally in the NT (Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2; cf. Heb 5:13; 1 Pet 4:11). In the Fathers the term begins to be used for the sayings of Jesus (e.g., Polycarp 7:1) and in the present day is generally restricted to this usage.

However, the usage of the term by Papias as quoted by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. 3:39. 16) has been the subject of extensive discussion. Papias reports that Matthew compiled (συνετάζατο) the λόγια in the Heb. dialect (̔Εβραίδι διαλέκτῳ). It seems that this term as used by Papias included some narrative material in addition to sayings of Jesus proper. Similarly, the content of “Q” (the common material in Matt and Luke) apparently included narrative material and sayings—although it may have been an oral tradition rather than a written one.

The existence and circulation of collections of logia or sayings may be the source of possibly two Agrapha (sayings ascribed to Jesus in the NT, but not found in the gospels)—Acts 20:35 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. Luke may also have used such collections in his research in the preparation of his gospel (1:1-3).

In the last seventy-five years actual collections of sayings dating from the Early Church have been discovered. Near the end of the 19th cent. Drs. B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt began uncovering a vast collection of Gr. papyri near ancient Oxyrhynchus on the Nile in Egypt. One of the first fragments found contained seven sayings of Jesus. This fragment is page 11 of a book and thus seems to be a part of a large collection of sayings. This papyrus (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1) is to be dated not later than about the middle of the 3rd cent. and the collection undoubtedly goes back at least to the 2nd cent. Each saying is introduced by the words, “Jesus says.” In 1903 two more Gr. papyri containing sayings ascribed to Jesus were found (Oxyrhynchus Papyri 654 and 655), also dating from the 3rd cent. Some of the sayings are found in the canonical gospels, others only in the Church Fathers, and others were unknown prior to the discovery.

Included in the phenomenal discovery of Gnostic papyri in 1946 near modern Nag Hammadi (ancient Chenoboskion) were two documents entitled “Gospel of Thomas” and “Gospel of Philip.” These are collections of sayings of Jesus in Coptic. The Gospel of Thomas contains 114 sayings and appears to be a 4th or 5th cent. Coptic VS of a Gr. original of about the middle of the 2nd cent. Strikingly close or substantial parallels to the sayings in the three Oxyrhynchus Papyri are found in the Gospel of Thomas. In comparison with the canonical sayings, the Gospel of Thomas shows some of the heretical tendencies of the Gnostic community where it circulated. The Gospel of Philip, a collection of 127 sayings purported to be revelations imparted by Jesus to a group (Hebs.) including Philip and dated about a.d. 400, is more heretical and esoteric than the Gospel of Thomas.

These discoveries reflect the Early Church’s interest in the logia of Jesus. That the early Christians took the liberty to edit and interpret the sayings of Jesus is already evident in the treatment of the sayings in the canonical gospels—in addition there is the problem of tr. from Aram. to Gr. in some cases. Nevertheless, although the recovery of the ipsissima verba of Jesus (the actual logia of Jesus) is doubtful, the canonical gospels do contain the ipsissima vox of Jesus.