“... This saying has a close parallel in Luke 12.49. [...] It is unclear, however, whether (i) really makes sense, because if Jesus has cast fire on the earth already (unlike in Luke 12.49), then it is not quite coherent to talk of a time ‘until it (the fire) burns’. [...] I have cast fire upon the world. ‘I have cast’ [...] forges a link with the references to casting/throwing [...] in the previous two sayings (8.1, 3; 9.1). Thomas differs from Luke here in the absence of reference to ‘coming’, and in the reference to ‘world’ instead of Luke’s ‘earth’. The reference to the ‘world’ should perhaps not be seen merely as the sphere of human existence (pace Plisch and DeConick above), but rather as the corpse-like system and entity which it is elsewhere in Thomas (cf. GTh 21, 27, 56, 80, 110). As has been noted in connection with Luke 12.49, this saying presupposes an exalted picture of Jesus as one who stands over against the world in judgment, with the authority of a divine judge (in contrast to Elijah, who asks God to send fire). And behold I am guarding it until it burns. This half of the saying differs more markedly from ‘and how I wish it were already kindled’ in Luke 12.49. In Thomas the image is thus of Jesus keeping or preserving the world from being burned up until the right time. ...”