NONCANONICAL SAYINGS OF JESUS

NONCANONICAL SAYINGS OF JESUS:
The Acts of Peter.
Acts of Peter 10:
Those who are with me have not understood me.
The Didache.
Didache 1.6:
But rather also concerning this he has said: Let your alm sweat in your hands until you know to whom to give it.
Barnabas.
Barnabas 7.11b:
Thus, he says, those who wish to see me and take hold of my kingdom must receive me in tribulation and suffering.
Barnabas 12.1:
Likewise again he narrates concerning the cross in another prophet, who says: And when will these things be consummated? The Lord says: When the tree shall lean over and stand up, and when blood shall flow from the tree. You have again a note concerning the cross and the who was to be crucified.
This saying may reflect an Ezekiel apocryphon partially preserved in 4Q385 (translation slightly modified from Michael Owen Wise, Martin G. Abegg, and Edward M. Cook, The Dead Sea scrolls: A New Translation, page 448):
[And] I said: O LORD, when will [th]ese things come to pass? And the LORD said to [me: Until ... and after many] days a tree shall bend, and it shall stand up....*
* My thanks to Andy Harrington for pointing out this connection.
Justin Martyr.
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 35; Syrian Didascalia 6.5:
There shall be schisms and heresies.
Justin Martyr, Dialogue 47:
On this account our Lord Jesus Christ also said: In what things I take you [by surprise], in those things I also will judge.
Compare 1 Corinthians 11.19.
Irenaeus.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.33.3-4:
The blessing thus predicted pertains, without [fear of] contradiction, to the times of the kingdom, when the just, rising from the dead, will reign, when even the creation, renewed and liberated, will produce a multitude of foods of all kinds from the dew of heaven and the fertility of the earth, just as the elders who saw John the disciple of the Lord remembered that they had heard from him how the Lord would teach about those times and would say:
The days will come in which vines will grow, each having ten thousand shoots, and on each shoot ten thousand branches, and on each branch ten thousand twigs, and on each twig ten thousand clusters, and in each cluster ten thousand grapes, and each grape, when pressed, will give twenty-five measures of wine. And, when one of those saints takes hold of a cluster, another cluster will clamor: I am better, take me, bless the Lord through me! Similarly a grain of wheat also will generate ten thousand heads, and each head will have ten thousand grains, and each grain five double pounds of clear and clean flour. And the remaining fruits and seeds and herbiage will follow through in congruence with these, and all the animals using these foods which are taken from the earth will in turn become peaceful and consenting, subject to men with every subjection.
These things Papias too, who was a earwitness of John and companion of Polycarp, and an ancient man, wrote and testified in the fourth of his books. For there are five books written by him. And he adds, saying: But these things are believable by the believers. And, he says, Judas the traitor did not believe and asked: How therefore will such generations be brought to completion by the Lord? The Lord said: Those who come into those [times] will see.
Confer Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 4.60.
Clement of Alexandria.
Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts from Theodotus 2.2:
On this account the savior says: Save yourself and your soul.
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.19:
For he says: Have you seen your brother? You have seen your God.
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.24:
For he says: Ask for the great things, and the little things will be added unto you.
The passive is a periphrasis for the name of God; it is God who will add the little things.
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.28:
With reason, then, the scripture, wishing us to become such kind of dialectics, exhorts: But become approved moneychangers, rejecting the [evil] things, and embracing the good.
Compare the ειδος, or coin-image, in 1 Thessalonians 5.21-22. A τραπεζα (Aramaic shulchan) is a table; a τραπεζιτης (Aramaic shulchani) is a moneychanger.
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 3.15:
And again the Lord says: Let the one who has married not be cast out, and let the one who has not married not marry. He who has confessed that he will not marry according to his decision of eunuchhood, let him remain unmarried.
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 3.12; Miscellanies 4.8 (confer Didascalia 2.3; 1 Peter 4.8):
Yes, indeed, concerning love also he says: Love covers a multitude of sins.
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 5.10:
My mystery is for me and for the sons of my house.
Refer to a similar line from pseudo-Clement.
Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 6.44:
And the Lord said: Go out, those who wish to do so, from your bonds.
Tertullian.
Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 20:
No man can obtain the heavenly kingdom that has not passed through temptation.
Pseudo-Clementines.
Pseudo-Clement, Epitome 1.96:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, said: The good things must come, and blessed is the one, he says, through whom they come.
Pseudo-Clementine Homilies 19.20:
And Peter [said]: We remember our Lord and teacher, how he commanded and said to us: Keep the mysteries for me and for the sons of my house.
Refer to a similar line from Clement of Alexandria.
The Apostolic Church Order.
Apostolic Church Order 26:
Martha said about Mary that she had seen her smiling. Mary said: I never laughed, for he said to you when he taught that the sick would be saved through the strong.
My thanks to Alan Humm for information on this text; I had never heard of it before. It is also called the Apostolic Church Ordinance.
Hippolytus.
Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 4.60:
When therefore the Lord narrated to the disciples that the imminent kingdom of the saints would be glorious and wondrous, Judas, bewildered by these words, said: And who will see these things? But the Lord said: Those who have become worthy will see these things.
Confer Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.33.3-4.
Origen.
Origen, On Matthew 15.14, from the gospel according to the Hebrews:
It is written in a certain gospel, which is called according to the Hebrews, if yet it pleases one to accept it, not as an authority, but as a manifestation of the proposed question: The second of the rich men said unto him: Master, what good thing can I do and live? He said unto him: O man, do that which is in the law and the prophets. He answered him: I have kept them. He said unto him: Go, sell all that you own and distribute it to the poor, and come, follow me.
But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him: How can you say: I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And behold, many of your brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, and nothing at all goes out of it unto them.
And he turned and said unto Simon his disciple, who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to enter in by the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Origen, On Jeremiah, Latin homily 20.3 (confer Didymus, commentary on Psalm 88.8):
He that is near me is near the fire.
He that is far from me is far from the kingdom.
Jeremias translates back into Aramaic to find two four-beat stichoi with rhythm and a preponderance of the letter mem:
Man diqerib 'immi qerib 'im nura.
Man direchiq minni rechiq mimmalkuta.
Origen, On Matthew 13.2:
επεινων και δια τους δειψωντας εδιψων.
And Jesus indeed says: On account of the sick I was sick and on account of the hungry I was hungry and on account of the thirsty I was thirsty.
Origen, On Jeremiah 14.5:
And in the gospel it is written: And wisdom sends out her children.
Didymus (the blind).
Didymus, commentary on Psalm 88.8 (confer Origen, On Jeremiah, Latin homily 20.3):
On this account the savior says: He that is near me is near the fire. But he that is far from me is far from the kingdom.
Eusebius.
Eusebius, Theophany 4.12 (in Syriac, apud Jeremias, and Latin):
Egbe li shappire; shappire hanon dihab li ab debashemayya.
I choose for myself those who please me; they please me whom my father in heaven gives me.
Epiphanius.
Epiphanius, Panarion 66.42:
On this account he says: The one speaking in the prophets, behold, I am here.
The Didascalia.
Didascalia 2.8:
For the scripture says: An unproven man is one who is untempted.
Jerome.
Jerome, On Ephesians 3, commentary on Ephesians 5.4 (from the gospel according to the Hebrews):
Never be content, he said, except when you look upon your brother in love [or in charity].
Jerome, Against Pelagius 3.2:
If your brother sins in word, says he, and makes satisfaction to you, seven times a day receive him. Simon his disciple said to him: Seven times a day? The Lord responded and said to him: Still I say to you, until seventy times seven. For indeed in the prophets, even after they were anointed by the holy spirit, the speech of sin was found.
Augustine.
Augustine, Against Adversaries of the Law and Prophets 2.4.14 (it is now known that this saying comes from Thomas 52):
The apostles asked the Lord: Qui de adventu eius aliquid cecinisse in praeteritum putabantur?
[Loosely:] Has the advent already happened in the past?
And the Lord answered: You have dismissed the living one who is before your eyes and talk idly of the dead.
Macarius.
Macarius, Homilies 12.17:
Finally, the Lord said to them: Why do you wonder at signs? I am giving you a great inheritance which the whole world does not have.
Canonical Rule of the Holy Apostles.
Canonical Rule of the Holy Apostles 3:
In anyone partakes of the body of the Lord and [also] bathes, he will be accursed, just as the Lord said.
Papyri.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840, lines 1-7a, on injustice and suffering in this life.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840, lines 7b-45, the controversy dialogue with Levi.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, lines 11-21a, on being in the midst of the world, from Thomas 28.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655, on raiment, from Thomas 36-37.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, lines 23-30a, on lifting the stone and cleaving the wood, from Thomas 77.
(I include these amongst the agrapha because Jeremias does so. The Coptic gospel of Thomas was as yet undiscovered when Jeremias wrote his book on the agrapha.)
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224, fragment 2 recto, column 2:
[He who today i]s far away tomorrow [close at hand to you will] be.
Manuscript variants.
For these variants please refer to my page of significant textual variants in the canonical tradition.
Theodorus Balsamo.
Aurelio de Santos Otero has the following on page 116 of Los evangיlios apףcrifos (text 26):
[Greek portion only:] ...the evangelical word that says: The scheme of this world is passing.
My thanks to Barry Norby for the information on Theodore Balsamo, who lived in century XII (died circa 1204) in Contantinople. This agraphon looks to me like a case of mistaken attribution; it is a Pauline saying (1 Corinthians 7.31) which Theodore has apparently attributed to the gospel(s).
Old homily.
Old English Homilies and Homiletic Treatises of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, homily XVI:
Be strong in the battle and fight with the ancient serpent, and you will receive the eternal kingdom, says the Lord.
Aurelio de Santos Otero has the following on page 119 of Los evangיlios apףcrifos (text 38):
«Estote fortes in bello et pugnate cum antiquo serpente, et accipietis regnum aeternum», dicit Dominus (Old English Homilies and Homiletic Treatises of the twelfth and thirteenth Centuries. Ed. R. Morris, serie I, p. 151, London 1868. Tambiיn se encuentra en el Brevario Romano, Comm. Apostol., ant. ad Magnificat, II Vםsperas).
Limits
The Agrapha must satisfy three conditions:
they must be Sayings, not discourses;
they must be Sayings of Jesus;
they must not be contained in the canonical Gospels.
(a) Being mere Sayings, and not discourses, the Agrapha do not embrace the lengthy sections ascribed to Jesus in the "Didascalia" and the "Pistis Sophia." These works contain also some brief quotations of alleged words of Jesus, though they may have to be excluded from the Sayings for other reasons. Such seems to be the Saying in "Didasc. Syr." II, 8 (ed. Lagarde, p. 14); "A man is unapproved, if he be untempted."
(b) Being Sayings of Jesus, the Agrapha do not embrace: (1) The Sayings contained in religious romances, such as we find in the apocryphal Gospels, the apocryphal Acts, or the Letter of Christ to Abgar (Eusebius, Church History I.13). (2) Scripture passages ascribed to Jesus by a mere oversight. Thus "Didasc. Apost. Syr." (ed. Lagarde, p. 11, line 12) assigns to the Lord the words of Proverbs 15:1, "Wrath destroyeth even wise men". (3) The expressions attributed to Jesus by the mistake of transcribers. The Epistle of Barnabas, iv, 9, reads: "As the son of God says, Let us resist all iniquity, and hold it in hatred." But this is merely a rendering of a mistake of the Latin scribe who wrote "sicut dicit filius Dei", instead of "sicut decet filios Dei", the true rendering of the Greek òs prépei uìoîs Theoû. (4) The Sayings attributed to Jesus by mere conjecture. Resch has put forth the conjecture that the words of Clem. Alex. Strom. I, 8, 41, "These are they who ply their looms and weave nothing, saith the Scripture", refer to a Saying of Jesus, though there is no solid foundation for this belief.
(c) Coming down to us through channels outside the canonical Gospels, the Agrapha do not comprise: (1) Mere parallel forms, or amplifications, or, again, combinations of Sayings contained in the canonical Gospels. Thus we find a combination of Matthew 6:19; 10:9; Luke 12:33, in Ephr. Syr. Test. (opp. Græce, ed. Assemani, II, 232): "For I heard the Good Teacher in the divine gospels saying to his disciples, Get you nothing on earth." (2) Homiletical paragraphs of Jesus, thoughts given by ancient writers. Thus Hippolytus (Demonstr. adv. Judæos, VII) paraphrases Psalm 68:26: "Whence he saith, Let their temple, Father, be desolate."
Criteria of genuineness
The genuineness of the Agrapha may be inferred partly from external and partly from internal evidence.
(a) External Evidence.—First determine the independent source or sources by which any Saying in question has been preserved, and then see whether the earliest authority for the Saying is of such date and character than it might reasonably have had access to extra-canonical tradition. For Papias and Justin Martyr such access may be admitted, but hardly for a writer of the fourth century. These are extreme cases; the main difficulty is concerned with the intermediate writers.
(b) Internal Evidence.—The next question is, whether the Saying under consideration is consistent with the thought and spirit of Jesus as manifested in the canonical gospels. If a negative conclusion be reached in this investigation, the proof must be completed by finding a fair explanation of the rise of the Saying.
List of authentic agrapha
The sources from which the authentic Agrapha may be gathered are: (a) the New Testament and the New Testament manuscripts; (b) the Apocryphal tradition; (c) the patristic citations; and (d) the so-called "Oxyrhynchus Logia" of Jesus. Agrapha contained in Jewish or Mohammedan sources may be curious, but they are hardly authentic. Since the criticism of the Agrapha is in most cases difficult, and often unsatisfactory, frequent disagreement in the critical results must be expected as a matter of course. The following Agrapha are probably genuine sayings of Jesus.
(a) In the New Testament and the New Testament manuscripts: In Codices D and Phi, and in some versions of Matthew 20:28, "But ye seek from the small to increase, and from the greater to be less." In Codex D of Luke 6:4: "On the same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, he said to him: Man, if thou knowest what thou doest, blessed art thou; but if thou knowest not, thou art accursed and a transgressor of the Law." In Acts 20:35, "Remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said: It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive."
(b) In apocryphal tradition: In the Gospel according to the Hebrews (Jerome, Ezech., xviii, 7): "In the Gospel which the Nazarenes are accustomed to read, that according to the Hebrews, there is put among the greatest crimes he who shall have grieved the spirit of his brother." In the same Gospel (Jerome, Eph., v, 3 sq.): "In the Hebrew Gospel too we read of the Lord saying to the disciples: And never, said he, rejoice, except when you have looked upon your brother in love." In Apostolic Church-Order, 26: "For he said to us before, when he was teaching: That which is weak shall be saved through that which is strong." In "Acta Philippi", 34: "For the Lord said to me: Except ye make the lower into the upper and the left into the right, ye shall not enter into my kingdom."
(c) In patristic citations: Justin Martyr, Dial. 47: "Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ said, In whatsoever things I apprehend you, in those I shall judge you." Clement of Alexandria, Strom. I, 24, 158: "For ask, he says for the great things, and the small shall be added to you." Clement of Alexandria, Strom. I, 28, 177: "Rightly therefore the Scripture also in its desire to make us such dialecticians, exhorts us: Be approved moneychangers, disapproving some things, but holding fast that which is good." Clement of Alexandria, Strom. V, 10, 64: "For not grudgingly, he saith, did the Lord declare in a certain gospel: My mystery is for me and for the sons of my house." Origen, Homil. in Jer., XX, 3: "But the Saviour himself saith: He who is near me is near the fire; he who is far from me, is far from the kingdom."
(d) In the Oxyrhynchus Logia: The first Logion is part of Luke 6:42; of the fourth, only the word "poverty" is left; the eighth, too, is badly mutilated. The text of the other Logia is in a more satisfactory condition. Second Logion: "Jesus saith, Except you fast to the world, you shall in no wise find the kingdom of God." Third Logion: "Jesus saith, I stood in the midst of the world, and in the flesh was I seen of them, and I found all men drunken, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul grieved over the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart, and see not." Fifth Logion: "Jesus saith, Wherever there are two, they are not without God; and wherever there is one alone, I say I am with him. Raise the stone and there thou shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there am I." Sixth Logion: "Jesus saith, A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, neither doth a physician work cures upon them that know him." Seventh Logion: "Jesus saith, A city built upon the top of a hill and stablished can neither fall nor be hid." Eighth Logion: "Jesus saith, Thou hearest with one ear . . ." Resch's contention that seventy-five Agrapha are probably genuine Sayings of Jesus harmonizes with the assumption that all spring from the same source, but does not commend itself to the judgment of other scholars.
GOSPEL FRAGMENTS:
In parentheses after the citation of each passage, I have noted the number assigned that passage by both de Santos and Lagrange. The italicized numerals for de Santos indicate that he has classified the passage in question separately, under the umbrella of the gospel of the Ebionites, on pages 47-53. Lagrange does not ennumerate the Ebionite gospel separately from that according to the Hebrews; his numerals, therefore, are never italicized.
Irenaeus.
Late century II.
From Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.26.2 (de Santos 1; Lagrange 8):
[Ebionaei] solo autem eo quod est secundum Matthaeum evangelio utuntur, et apostolum Paulum recusant, apostatam eum legis dicentes.
[The Ebionites], however, use only that gospel which is according to Matthew, and renounce the apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the law.
From Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.11.7 (de Santos 2):
Ebionaei etenim, eo evangelio quod est secundum Matthaeum solo utentes, ex illo ipso convincuntur, non recte praesumentes de domino.
The Ebionites indeed, using only that gospel which is according to Matthew, are convicted by that alone, not presuming rightly about the Lord.
Clement of Alexandria.
Late century II, early III.
From Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 2.9 (de Santos 3; Lagrange 9):
Η καν τω καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιω, Ο θαυμασας βασιλευσει, γεγραπται, και ο βασιλευσας αναπαυθησεται.
Which also is written in the gospel according to the Hebrews: He who marveled shall reign, and he who reigned shall rest.
From Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 5.14 (de Santos 4; Lagrange 10):
Ισον γαρ τουτοις εκεινα δυναται· Ου παυσεται ο ζητων, εως αν ευρη· ευρων δε, θαμβηθησεται· θαμβηθεις δε, βασιλευσει· βασιλευσας δε, επαναπαυσεται.
For those things can be the same as these: He who seeks shall not cease until he finds, and finding he shall marvel, and having marveled he shall reign, and having reigned he shall rest.
This repeated saying finds a parallel in the apocryphal oracle that Eusebius attributes to the cult of Simon Magus. From Eusebius, History of the Church 2.13.7, writing of his followers:
Τα δε τουτων αυτοις απορρητοτερα, ων φασι τον πρωτον επακουσαντα εκπλαγησεσθαι, και κατα τι παρ αυτοις λογιον εγγραφον θαμβωθησεσθαι, θαμβους ως αληθως και φρενων εκστασεως και μανιας εμπλεα τυγχανει....
And the most unspoken of these [rites] of theirs, of which they say that the one hearing them for the first time will be astonished, and according to a certain written oracle among them will be made to marvel, happen of a truth to be full of marvel and ecstatic thoughts and mania....
Similar sayings may be found in the gospel of Thomas and the traditions of Matthias.
Origen.
Early century III.
From Origen, On John 2.12, commentary on John 1.3 (de Santos 5; Lagrange 11):
Εαν δε προσιηται τις το καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιον, ενθα αυτος ο σωτηρ φησιν· Αρτι ελαβε με η μητηρ μου, το αγιον πνευμα, εν μια των τριχων μου και απηνεγκε με εις το ορος το μεγα Θαβωρ, επαπορησει, πως μητηρ Χριστου το δια του λογου γεγενημενον πνευμα αγιον ειναι δυναται.
But if any should admit the gospel according to the Hebrews, where the savior himself says: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, took me by one of my hairs and carried me to Tabor, the great mountain, he will be confused as to how the holy spirit can be the mother of Christ, born through the word.
Origen goes on to explain that, since whoever does the will of God is the brother or sister or mother of the Lord (Matthew 12.50 = Mark 3.35 = Luke 8.21), it makes sense to call the holy spirit, who of course does the will of God, his mother. The next text from Origen is clearly of the same statement from the Hebrew gospel. Jerome cites this same statement from the Hebrew gospel.
From Origen, On Jeremiah, homily 15.4 (de Santos 6; Lagrange 12):
Ει δε τις παραδεχεται το, Αρτι ελαβε με η μητηρ μου, το αγιον πνευμα, και ανηνεγκε με εις το ορος το μεγα το Ταβωρ, και τα εξης....
And if any accepts the [statement]: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, took me by one of my hairs and carried me to Tabor, the great mountain, and what follows....
From Origen, Latin version of On Matthew 15.14 (de Santos 33; translation taken from Joachim Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus):
Scriptum est in evangelio quodam, quod dicitur secundum Hebraeos, si tamen placet suscipere illud, non ad auctoritatem sed ad manifestationem propositae quaestionis: Dixit, inquit, ad eum alter divitum: Magister, quid bonum faciens vivam? dixit ei: Homo, leges et prophetas fac. respondit ad eum: Feci. dixit ei: Vade vende omnia quae possides et divide pauperibus, en veni, sequere me.
It is written in a certain gospel, which is called according to the Hebrews, if yet it pleases one to accept it, not as an authority, but as a manifestation of the proposed question: The second of the rich men said unto him: Master, what good thing can I do and live? He said unto him: O man, do that which is in the law and the prophets. He answered him: I have kept them. He said unto him: Go, sell all that you own and distribute it to the poor, and come, follow me.
Coepit autem dives scalpere caput suum et non placuit ei. et dixit ad eumdominus: Quomodo dicis: Legem feci et prophetas? quoniam scriptum est in lege: Diliges proximum tuum sicut te ipsum. et ecce, multi fratres tui filii Abrahae amicti sunt stercore, morientes prae fame, et domus tua plena est multis bonis, et non egreditur omnino aliquid ex ea ad eos.
But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him: How can you say: I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And behold, many of your brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, and nothing at all goes out of it unto them.
Et conversus dixit Simoni, discipulo suo sedenti apud se: Simon, fili Ioanne, facilius est camelum intrare per foramen acus quam divitem in regnum caelorum.
And he turned and said unto Simon his disciple, who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to enter in by the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
This text is also known under the appellation pseudo-Origen, as not all are convinced that it belongs to the Alexandrian father.
From Origen, Homily on Luke 1.1:
Ecclesia quator habet evangelia, haeresis plurima, e quibus quoddam scribitur secundum Aegyptios, aliud iuxta duodecim apostolos.* ausus fuit et Basilides scribere evangelium et suo illud nomine titulare.
* Note that the Greek version has only το επιγεγραμμενον των δωδεκα ευαγγελιον (the gospel entitled of the twelve), omitting the apostles.
The church has four gospels, heresy many, from among which a certain one is written according to the Egyptians, another according to the twelve apostles. Even Basilides dared to write a gospel and to entitle it by his own name.
Aurelio de Santos Otero, while not numbering this text with either the Hebrew or the Ebionite gospel extracts, comments on pages 47-49 on the possibility that the gospel according to the twelve is along the same lines as the gospel according to the apostles that Jerome mentions in Against the Pelagians 3.2. He himself thinks that these are two different works, as Origen regards the Hebrew gospel as orthodox but this gospel of the twelve as heterodox. But the titles of all of the Jewish gospels were evidently confused throughout the patristic period, so I do think it likely that this gospel according to the twelve belongs in the category of the Jewish gospels, and may well be the heterodox Ebionite gospel.
Update 08-28-2005: I realize now that it is not the identification of the gospel according to the twelve with the gospel according to the apostles that de Santos is arguing against; it is the identification of either of these with the gospel according to the Hebrews. I mistook his phrase mencionado evangelio on page 47 to refer to the gospel according to the apostles, when in fact he was referring to that of the Hebrews. In other words, I was agreeing with de Santos all along without realizing it. On page 32 he identifies the gospel according to the twelve apostles mentioned by Origen with the Ebionite gospel, an identification that I consider quite likely.
Clementine literature.
Early century III.
Not one of these three pseudo-Clementine quotations is secure as having come from the Ebionite gospel, and Aurelio de Santos Otero includes each with a question mark (?) as a signal of the doubt attached to them.
From the Pseudo-Clementines, Homilies 3.51 (de Santos 8):
Το δε ειπειν αυτον· Ουκ ηλθον καταλυσαι τον νομον, και φαινεσθαι αυτον καταλυοντα, σημαινοντος ην οτι α κατελυσεν ουκ ην του νομου.
And when he said: I did not come to abolish the law, and it appeared that he himself did abolish it, it was a sign that the things which he abolished were not of the law.
From the Pseudo-Clementines, Homilies 11.35 (de Santos 9):
Ου χαριν ο αποστειλας ημας εφη· Πολλοι ελευσονται προς με εν ενδυμασι προβατων, εσωθεν δε εισι λυκοι αρπαγες· απο των καρπων αυτων επιγνωσεσθε αυτους.
By which grace the one who sent us said: Many shall come to me in clothing of sheep, but within are ravenous wolves. From their fruits you shall know them.
From the Pseudo-Clementines, Recognitions 2.29 (de Santos 10):
E contrario vero eos qui in divitiis ac luxuria versabantur lugebat, qui nihil pauperibus largiebantur, arguens eos rationem reddituros quia proximos suos quos diligere sicut seipsos debuerant, ne in egestate quidem positos miserati sunt.
To the contrary, truly, he lamented those who were engaged in riches and luxuries, who handed out nothing to the poor, declaring that they would give back a reason as to those nearby them, to whom they owed it to love as themselves, nor indeed were miserable that they were placed in want.
Cyprian.
Middle of century III.
From Cyprian (or pseudo-Cyprian), On Rebaptism 100.17, writing about a book called the preaching of Paul (de Santos 34):
In quo libro, contra omnes scripturas, et de peccato proprio confitentem invenies Christum, qui solus omnino nihil deliquit et ad accipiendum Ioannis baptisma paene invitum a matre sua Maria esse compulsum, item cum baptizaretur ignem super aquam esse visum, quod in evangelio nullo est scriptum, et post tanta tempora Petrum et Paulum post conlationem evangelii in Hierusalem et mutuam cogitationem et altercationem et rerum agendarum dispositionem, postremo in urbe quasi tunc primum invicem sibi esse cognitos, et quaedam alia huiusmodi absurde ac turpiter conficta, quae omnia in illum librum invenies congesta.
In which book, against all the scriptures, you will find Christ even confessing his own sin, who alone failed in nothing at all, and that he was compelled by his own mother Mary almost unwillingly to accept the baptism of John, that likewise, when he was baptized, a fire was seen over the water, which is written in no gospel, and that after so much time Peter and Paul, after the bringing together of the gospel in Jerusalem and the mutual cogitation and the altercation and disposition of matters to be done, finally [were] in the city [of Rome], as if there first they recognized each other, and certain other things of this nature, absurdly and disgracefully concocted, which you will find all congested in that book.
This passage makes the list for its thematic similarity to Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.2, though surely a different text is in view, since the passage from Jerome has Jesus denying any personal sin.
Eusebius.
Early century IV.
From Eusebius, History of the Church 3.25.5, writing of the disputed or illegitimate scriptures (de Santos 7; Lagrange 15):
Ηδη δ εν τουτοις τινες και το καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιον κατελεξαν, ω μαλιστα Εβραιων οι τον Χριστον παραδεξαμενοι χαιρουσι.
And some indeed catalogue also the gospel according to the Hebrews among these, in which those of the Hebrews who have accepted Christ especially rejoice.
From Eusebius, History of the Church 3.27.4 (de Santos 8; Lagrange 16):
Ουτοι δε του μεν αποστολου πασας τας επιστολας αρνητεας ηγουντο ειναι δειν, αποστατην αποκαλουτες αυτον του νομου, ευαγγελιω δε μονω το καθ Εβραιους λεγομενω χρωμενοι, των λοιπων σμικρον εποιουντο λογον.
And these reckoned that all the epistles of the apostle ought to be denied, calling him an apostate from the law, and, using only the gospel called according to the Hebrews, they make little of the word of the rest.
From Eusebius, History of the Church 3.39.17 (de Santos 9; Lagrange 13):
Κεχρηται δ ο αυτος μαρτυριαις απο της Ιωαννου προτερας επιστολης και απο της Πετρου ομοιως, εκτεθειται δε και αλλην ιστοριαν περι γυναικος επι πολλαις αμαρτιαις διαβληθεισης επι του κυριου, ην το καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιον περιεχει. και ταυτα δ ημιν αναγκαιως προς τοις εκτεθεισιν επιτετηρησθω.
And he himself used testimonies from the first epistle of John and similarly from that of Peter, and set out also another record about a woman who was charged for many sins before the Lord, which the gospel according to the Hebrews has. And let these things also be necessarily observed by us on top of the things that have been set out.
From Eusebius, History of the Church 4.22.8 (de Santos 10; Lagrange 14):
Εκ τε του καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιου και του Συριακου, και ιδιως εκ της Εβραιδος διαλεκτου, τινα τιθησιν [Ηγησιππος], εμφαινων εξ Εβραιων εαυτον πεπιστευκεναι· και αλλα δε ως αν εξ Ιουδαικης αγραφου παραδοσεως μνημονευει· ου μονος δε ουτος, αλλα και Ειρηναιος και ο πας των αρχαιων χορος, παναρετον σοφιαν τας Σολομωνος παροιμιας εκαλουν.
[Hegesippus] sets out something from the gospel according to the Hebrews and from the Syriac, and likewise from the Hebrew dialect, making apparent that he himself had come to faith out of the Hebrews. And other things also he records, as if from the unwritten Jewish tradition. And not only this man, but also Irenaeus and all the chorus of the ancients, called the proverbs the all-virtuous wisdom of Solomon.
Eusebius, History of the Church 5.10.2-3:
Τοσαυτην δ ουν φασιν αυτον εκθυμοτατη διαθεσει προθυμιαν περι τον θειον λογον ενδειξασθαι ως και κηρυκα του κατα Χριστον ευαγγελιου τοις επ ανατολης εθνεσιν αναδειχθηναι, μεχρι και της Ινδων στειλαμενον γης. ησαν γαρ, ησαν εις ετι τοτε πλειους ευαγγελισται του λογου ενθεον ζηλον αποστολικου μιμηματος συνεισφερειν επ αυξησει και οικοδομη του θειου λογου προμηθουμενοι, ων εις γενομενος και ο Πανταινος, και εις Ινδους ελθειν λεγεται, ενθα λογος ευρειν αυτον προφθασαν την αυτου παρουσιαν το κατα Ματθαιον ευαγγελιον παρα τισιν αυτοθι τον Χριστον επεγνωκοσιν, οις Βαρθολομαιον των αποστολων ενα κηρυξαι αυτοις τε Εβραιων γραμμασι την του Ματθαιου καταλειψαι γραφην, ην και σωζεσθαι εις τον δηλουμενον χρονον.
And they say that [Pantaenus], by his persistent disposition, demonstrated such devotion concerning the divine word that he was appointed as a preacher1 of the gospel according to Christ to the nations2 in the east, and was sent even unto the land of the Indians. For indeed there were still yet many evangelists of the word who sought to use their divine zeal, imitating the apostles, for the increase and building up of the divine word, of whom one also was Pantaenus, and it is said that he went to the Indians, where word has it he found that the gospel according to Matthew had preceded him among some there who had known Christ, to whom Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached and left them the writing of Matthew in letters of the Hebrews, which was even saved unto the time mentioned.
1 Or herald.
2Or gentiles.
From Eusebius, Theophany 4.12 (de Santos 11; Lagrange 18):
Επει δε το εις ημας ηκον Εβραικοις χαρακτηρσιν Ευαγγελιον την απειλην ου κατα του αποκρυψαντος επηγεν, αλλα κατα του ασωτως εζηκοτος, τρεις γαρ δουλους περιειχε, τον μεν καταφαγοντα την υπαρξιν του δεσποτου μετα πορνων και αυλητριδων, τον δε πολλαπλασιασαντα την εργασιαν, τον δε κατακρυψαντα το ταλοντον, ειτα τε τον μεν αποδεχθηναι, τον δε μεμφθηναι μονον, τον δε συγκλεισθηναι δεσμωτηριω, εφιστημι, μηποτε κατα τον Ματθαιον μετα την συμπληρωσιν του λογου του κατα του μηδεν εργασαμενου, η εξης επιλεγομενη απειλη ου περι αυτου, αλλα περι του προτερου κατ επαναληψιν λελεκται, του εσθιοντος και πινοντος μετα των μεθυοντων.
But since the gospel written in Hebraic characters which has come to us levels the threat, not against the man who hid the talent, but against him who had lived unsafely (for it had three servants, the one eating up the belongings of his master with harlots and flute-girls, another multiplying it by the work of trade, and the other hiding the talent, then made the one to be accepted, another only blamed, and the other to be closed up in prison), I wonder whether in Matthew, after the end of the word against the one who did not work, the threat that follows was said, not about him, but about the first, by epanalepsis,* the one who ate and drank with the drunkards.
* Epanalepsis is the taking up of a former topic after a latter topic has intervened.
The following excerpt from Eusebius, Theophany 4.12, is not extant in Greek. Both the Syriac transliteration and the Latin translation are from Joachim Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus (de Santos 12-13; Lagrange 17):
Egbe li shappire; shappire hanon dihab li ab debashemayya.
Eligo mihi quae mihi placent; placent mihi quae mihi dat pater meus in caelis.
I choose for myself those who please me; they please me whom my father in heaven gives me.
Cyril of Jerusalem.
Middle of century IV.
From Cyril of Jerusalem (or Pseudo-Cyril), Discourse on Mary Theotokos 12a (de Santos 41). I have only briefly seen the original Coptic of this passage in Budge, Miscellaneous Coptic Texts, and offer it here in the Spanish given by Aurelio de Santos Otero, Los evangélios apócrifos, page 45. We pick up the text at the point at which Cyril has asked a monk from Maioma of Gaza about the false doctrine that he has been teaching, and the monk replies:
Está escrito en [el evangelio] según los Hebreos que, deseando Cristo venir a la tierra para efectuar la redención, el buen padre llamó a una fuerza celestial por nombre Miguel, recomendándole el cuidado de Cristo en esta empresa. Y vino la fuerza al mundo, y se llamaba María, y estuvo siete meses en su seno. Después le dió a luz, y creció en estatura y escogió los apóstoles..., fue crucificado y asumido por el padre.
It is written in [the gospel] according to the Hebrews that, when Christ desired to come to earth to effect redemption, the good father called forth the celestial power, Michael by name, commending the care of Christ to him in this enterprise. And the power came down to the world, and it was called Mary, and he was in her womb for seven months. Afterward she brought him to light, and he grew in stature and chose the apostles..., was crucified and assumed by the father.
Cirilo le dice: ¿En qué lugar de los cuatro evangelios se dice que la santa virgen María, madre de Dios, es una fuerza?
Cyril says to him: In which part of the four gospels is it said that the holy virgin Mary, mother of God, is a force?
El monje responde: En el evangelio de los Hebreos.
The monk responds: In the gospel of the Hebrews.
Entonces, dice Cirilo, ¿son cinco los evangelios? ¿Cuál es el quinto?
Then, says Cyril, are there five gospels? Which is the fifth?
El monje responde: Es el evangelio que fue escrito para los Hebreos.
The monk responds: It is the gospel that was written for the Hebrews.
At the ellipsis (...) above, the translation in The Complete Gospels has:
...who preached him everywhere. He fulfilled the appointed time that was decreed for him. The Jews grew envious of him and came to hate him. They changed the custom of their law, and they rose up against him, and laid a trap, and caught him. They turned him over to the governor, who gave him back to them to crucify.
Didymus (the blind).
Late century IV.
From his commentary on Psalm 34.1 (LXX 33.1):
Τον Ματτηαιον δοκει εν τω κατα Λουκαν Λευιν ονομαζειν, ουκ εστιν δε αυτος, αλλα ο κατασταθεις αντι του Ιουδα ο Μαθθιας και ο Λευις εις διωνυμοι εισιν. εν τω καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιω τουτο φαινεται.
It seems that in the one according to Luke Matthew is named Levi, but it is not the same [person], but rather the Matthias who was installed instead of Judas and Levi are one [person] with a double name. This appears in the gospel according to the Hebrews.
Epiphanius.
Late century IV.
From Epiphanius, Panarion 29.9 (de Santos 14; Lagrange 19):
Εχουσι [οι Ναζωραιοι] δε το κατα Ματθαιον ευαγγελιον πληρεστατον Εβραιστι. παρ αυτοις γαρ σαφως τουτο, καθως εξ αρχης εγραφη Εβραικοις γραμμασιν, ετι σωζεται. ουκ οικα δε ει και τας γενεαλογιας τας απο του Αβρααμ αχρι Χριστου περιειλον.
And [the Nazoraeans] have the gospel according to Matthew very complete in Hebrew. For among them this is clearly still preserved, just as it was written from the beginning in Hebraic letters. But I do not know if it has taken away the genealogies from Abraham to Christ.
Note that this Nazoraean gospel Epiphanius calls very complete (πληρεστατον), with the possible exception of the genealogies. When it comes to the Ebionite gospel in 30.13, however, he calls it not all very complete (ουχ ολω πληρεστατω), which must indicate that the Nazoraean and the Ebionite gospels were two different texts, despite their both being called according to the Hebrews, and despite the fact that Jerome appears to confuse the two. A. de Santos Otero accordingly lists this present passage from chapter 29 with the gospel according to the Hebrews, but all passages from chapter 30 with the gospel of the Ebionites.
From Epiphanius, Panarion 30.3, writing of the Ebionites (de Santos 1; Lagrange 1):
Και δεχονται μεν και αυτοι το κατα Ματθαιον ευαγγελιον. τουτω γαρ και αυτοι, ως και οι κατα Κηρινθον και Μηρινθον, χρωνται μονω. καλουσι δε αυτο κατα Εβραιους, ως τα αληθη εστιν ειπειν οτι Ματθαιος μονος Εβραιστι και Εβραικοις γραμμασιν εν τη καινη διαθηκη εποιησατο την του ευαγγελιου εκθεσιν τε και κηρυγμα.
And they themselves also accept the gospel according to Matthew. For this they use alone, as also those from Cerinthus and Merinthus. But they call it according to the Hebrews, since it is true to say that Matthew alone in the New Testament made the layout and preaching of the gospel in Hebrew, and in Hebraic letters.
From Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13, writing of the Ebionites (de Santos 2-5; Lagrange 2-4):
Εν τω γουν παρ αυτοις ευαγγελιω κατα Ματθαιον ονομαζομενω, ουχ ολω δε πληρεστατω, αλλα νενοθευμενω και ηκρωτηριασμενω, Εβραικον δε τουτο καλουσιν, εμφερεται, οτι Εγενετο τις ανηρ ονοματι Ιησους, και αυτος ως ετων τριακοντα, ος εξελεξατο ημας. και ελθων εις Καφαρναουμ εισηλθεν εις την οικιαν Σιμωνος του επικληθεντος Πετρου, και ανοιξας το στομα αυτου ειπε· Παρερχομενος παρα την λιμνην Τιβεριαδος εξελεξαμην Ιωαννην και Ιακωβον υιους Ζεβεδαιου, και Σιμωνα, και Ανδρεαν, και Θαδδαιον, και Σιμωνα τον Ζηλωτην, και Ιουδαν τον Ισκαριωτην, και σε τον Ματθαιον καθεζομενον επι του τελωνιου εκαλεσα, και ηκολουθησας μοι. υμας ουν βουλομαι ειναι δεκαδυο αποστολους, εις μαρτυριον του Ισραηλ.
In the gospel among them named according to Matthew, but not all very complete, but illegitimized and adulterated, but they call it the Hebraic [gospel], it states: There was a certain man, Jesus by name, and he himself was about thirty years old, who elected us. And having come to Capernaum he went into the house of Simon, nicknamed Peter, and he opened his mouth and said: While passing by the lake of Tiberias I elected John and Jacob, the sons of Zebedee, and Simon, and Andrew, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, and you, Matthew, I called while you were sitting in the toll-booth, and you followed me. I wish, therefore, for you to be twelve apostles as a testimony of Israel.
Και εγενετο Ιωαννης βαπτιζων, και εξηλθον προς αυτον Φαρισαιοι και εβαπτισθησαν, και πασα Ιεροσολυμα. Και ειχεν ο Ιωαννης ενδυμα απο τριχων καμηλου, και ζωνην δερματινην περι την οσφυν αυτου· και το βρωμα αυτου, φησι, μελι αγριον, ου η γευσις ην του μαννα, ως εγκρις εν ελαιω· ινα δηθεν μεταστρεψωσι τον της αληθειας λογον εις ψευδος, και αντι ακριδων ποιησωσιν εγκριδας εν μελιτι.
And John was baptizing, and Pharisees went out to him and were baptized, and all Jerusalem. And John had clothing from the hairs of a camel, and a skin belt around his loin. And his food, it says, was wild honey whose taste was of manna, as cake in oil. So that clearly they exchange the word of truth for a falsehood, and instead of locusts they make it cakes in honey.
Η δε αρχη του παρ αυτοις ευαγγελιου εχει οτι Εγενετο εν ταις ημεραις Ηρωδου του βασιλεως της Ιουδαιας ηλθεν Ιωαννης βαπτιζων βαπτισμα μετανοιας εν τω Ιορδανη ποταμω, ος ελεγετο ειναι εκ γενους Ααρων του ιερεως, παις Ζαχαριου και Ελισαβετ, και εξηρχοντο προς αυτον παντες.
And the beginning of the gospel among them has: It happened in the days of Herod the king of Judea that John came baptizing a baptism of repentance in the Jordan river, who was said to be from the line of Aaron the priest, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, and all were going out to him.
Και μετα το ειπειν πολλα επιφερει οτι, Του λαου βαπτισθεντος, ηλθε και Ιησους και εβαπτισθη υπο του Ιωαννου. και ως ανηλθεν απο του υδατος ηνοιγησαν οι ουρανοι, και ειδε το πνευμα του θεου το αγιον εν ειδει περιστερας κατελθουσης και εισελθουσης εις αυτον. και φωνη εγενετο εκ του ουρανου, λεγουσα· Συ μου ει ο υιος ο αγαθητος· εν σοι ηυδοκησα· και παλιν· Εγω σημερον γεγεννηκα σε. Και ευθυς περιελαμψε τον τοπον φως μεγα, ο ιδων, φησιν, ο Ιωαννης λεγει αυτω· Συ τις ει, κυριε; Και παλιν φωνη εξ ουρανου προς αυτον· Ουτος εστιν ο υιος μου ο αγαπητος, εφ ον ηυδοκησα. και τοτε, φησιν, ο Ιωαννης προσπεσων αυτω ελεγε· Δεομαι σου, κυριε, συ με βαπτισον. ο δε εκωλυεν αυτω, λεγων· Αφες, οτι ουτως εστι πρεπον πληρωθηναι παντα.
And after it says many things it states: When the people were being baptized, Jesus came too and was baptized by John. And as he came up out of the water the heavens opened, and he saw the holy spirit of God in the image of a dove coming down and coming onto him. And there was a voice from heaven saying: You are my beloved son. With you I am pleased. And again: Today I have begotten you. And immediately a great light illuminated the place. When John saw this, it says, he said to him: Who are you, Lord? And again there was a voice from heaven to him: This is my beloved son, with whom I am pleased. And then, it says, John walked to him and said: I request you, Lord, you baptize me. But he prevented him, saying: Allow it, since thus is it proper to fulfill all things.
Compare and contrast this baptismal scene with that in the commentary on Isaiah 11.2 by Jerome, and also with the scene leading up to the baptism in Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.2.
The great light (φως μεγα) illuminating the place would seem to parallel the fire in Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 88.3:
...κατελθοντος του Ιησου επι το υδωρ και πυρ ανηφθη εν τω Ιορδανη....
...when Jesus went down into the water even a fire was lit in the Jordan....
A similar detail also appears to have figured into the Diatessaron that Tatian composed, and is even a textual variant from the Latin tradition. Bruce Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament, pages 35-36, writing of the Diatessaron:
This phenomenon, mentioned by Tatian's teacher, Justin Martyr, and included, according to Epiphanius, in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, is referred to by Ephraem in his Commentary and is preserved in the Pepysian Harmony, as it is also in two Old Latin manuscripts at Matt. iii. 15, Vercellensis (MS. a: 'lumen ingens') and Sangermanensis (MS. g1: 'lumen magnum').
Epiphanius elsewhere makes an explicit connection between the Diatessaron and the Hebrew gospel.
From Epiphanius, Panarion 30.14, writing of the Ebionites:
Παλιν δε αρνουνται ειναι αυτον ανθρωπον, δηθεν απο του λογου ου ειρηκεν ο σωτηρ εν τω αναγγεληναι αυτω οτι, Ιδου, η μητηρ σου και οι αδελφοι σου εξω εστηκασιν, οτι, Τις μου εστι μητηρ και αδελφοι; και εκτεινας την χειρα επι τους μαθητας εφη· Ουτοι εισιν οι αδελφοι μου και η μητηρ και αδελφαι, οι ποιουντες τα θεληματα του πατρος μου.
But again they deny that he was a man, apparently from the word which the savior spoke when it was announced to him: Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, that is: Who is my mother and brothers? And he stretched out his hand over the disciples and said: These who my brothers and mother and sisters, those who are doing the wishes of my father.
From Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16, writing of the Ebionites (de Santos 6; Lagrange 5):
Ου φασκουσι δε εκ θεου πατρος αυτον γεγεννησθαι, αλλα εκτισθαι, ως ενα των αρχαγγελων, μειζονα δε αυτων οντα, αυτον δε κυριευειν και αγγελων και παντων υπο του παντοκρατορος πεποιημενων, και ελθοντα και υφηγησαμενον, ως το παρ αυτοις κατα Εβραιους ευαγγελιον καλουμενον περιεχει, οτι Ηλθον καταλυσαι τας θυσιας, και εαν μη παυσησθε του θυειν, ου παυσεται αφ υμων η οργη.
And they say that he was not engendered from God the father, but created, as one of the archangels, but being greater than they are, and that he is Lord both of angels and of all things made by the creator of all, and that he came also to declare, as the gospel among them called according to the Hebrews has: I came to abolish the sacrifices, and, if you do not cease to sacrifice, the wrath will not cease from you.
From Epiphanius, Panarion 30.22, writings of the Ebionites (de Santos 7; Lagrange 6):
Αυτοι δε αφανισαντες αφ εαυτων την της αληθειας ακολουθιαν ηλλαξαν το ρητον, οπερ εστι πασι φανερον εκ των συνεζευγμενων λεξεων, και εποιησαν τους μαθητας μεν λεγοντας· Που θελεις ετοιμασωμεν σοι το πασχα φαγειν; και αυτον δηθεν λεγοντα· Μη επιθυμια επεθυμησα κρεας τουτο το πασχα φαγειν μεθ υμων;
And they themselves, having removed from themselves the following of the truth, changed the word, which is apparent to all from the words in context, and made the disciples to say: Where do you wish us to prepare the Passover for you to eat? And they made him to clearly say: It is not with desire that I have desired to eat meat, this Passover, with you, is it?
From Epiphanius, Panarion 46.1, writing about Tatian (Lagrange 7):
Λεγεται δε το δια τεσσαρων ευαγγελιον υπ αυτου γεγενησθαι, οπερ κατα Εβραιους τινεσ καλουσιν.
And it is said that the Diatessaron gospel, which some call according to the Hebrews, was made by him.
This connection between the Diatessaron and the gospel of the Hebrews is perhaps surprising, yet at least one ancient author appears to have regarded the Diatessaron as a harmony of five gospels, perhaps including the Hebrew gospel, instead of merely the canonical four. Victor of Capua wrote in the preface of the Diatessaron in codex Fuldensis, edited by Ernst Ranke in 1868, as cited in note 3 of page 28 of Bruce Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament:
Tatianus, vir eruditissimus et orator illius temporis clari, unum ex quattor compaginaverat evangelium, cui titulum diapente composuit.
Tatian, a most erudite man and orator of that renowned time, put together one gospel from four, to which he attached the title Diapente.
While the title Diatessaron means through four, the title Diapente of course means through five. Some scholars, therefore, are tempted to suppose that the fifth was the gospel according to the Hebrews. We have already noted that Ephraem mentioned the fire at the Jordan in his commentary on the Diatessaron.
On pages 28-29 Metzger lists Grotius, Mill, Baumstark, Peters, and Quispel as scholars who think that Tatian used the gospel according to the Hebrews as a fifth source for his gospel harmony. Metzger himself does not appear to agree.
Jerome.
Early century V.
From Jerome, commentary on Psalm 135 (de Santos 22):
In Hebraico evangelio secundum Matthaeum ita habet: Panem nostrum crastinum da nobis hodie, hoc est, panem quem daturus es in regno tuo da nobis hodie.
In the Hebraic gospel according to Matthew it has thus: Our bread for tomorrow give us this day, that is, the bread which you will give in your kingdom give us today.
Jerome cites this same phrase in his commentary on Matthew 6.11.
From Jerome, On Isaiah, preface to book 18 (de Santos 29):
Cum enim apostoli eum putarent spiritum, vel iuxta evangelium quod Hebraeorum lectitant Nazaraei incorporale daemonium, dixit eis: Quid turbati estis, et cogitationes ascendunt in corda vestra? videte manus meas et pedes, quia ipse ego sum. palpate et cernite, quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet sicut me videtis habere. et cum hoc dixisset, ostendit eis manus et pedes.
Since indeed the apostles supposed him a spirit, or according to the gospel which the Nazaraeans read of the Hebrews an incorporeal daemon, he says to them: Why are you troubled, and cogitations ascend in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Handle and discern, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
The actual words of Jesus here are a direct quotation from Luke 24.38-40 in the Latin Vulgate, which of course Jerome himself translated from the Greek. The only words that belong to the gospel of the Nazoraeans would be incorporale daemonium, incorporeal daemon, the latter word being more or less a Latin synonym for spirit.
Jerome elsewhere notes that Ignatius uses this term daemonium incorporale (incorporeal daemon) from the Hebrew gospel.
From Jerome, On Isaiah 4, commentary on Isaiah 11.2 (de Santos 28):
Sed iuxta evangelium quod Hebrao sermone conscriptum legunt Nazaraei: Descendet super eum omnis fons spiritus sancti.... porro in evangelio cuius supra fecimus mentionem haec scripta reperimus: Factum est autem cum ascendisset dominus de aqua descendit fons omnis spiritus sancti, et requievit super eum, et dixit illi: Fili mi, in omnibus prophetis exspectabam te, ut venires et requiescerem in te. tu es enim requies mea. tu es filius meus primogenitus, qui regnas in sempiternum.
But according to the gospel which the Nazaraeans read, written up in Hebrew speech: The whole fount of the holy spirit shall descend over him.... Further on in the gospel of which we made mention above we find these things written: But it happened that, when the Lord ascended from the water, the whole fount of the holy spirit descended and rested over him, and said to him: My son, in all the prophets I was expecting you, that you should come, and I might rest in you. You indeed are my rest. You are my firstborn son, who reigns in eternity.
Compare and contrast this baptismal scene with that in Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13, and also with the scene leading up to the baptism in Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.2. Refer also to Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah.
In his commentary on Matthew 27.51 Jerome tells us that he often makes mention (saepe facimus mentionem) of this gospel. Confer the phrase fecimus mentionem above.
From Jerome, On Ezekiel 6, commentary on Ezekiel 18.7 (de Santos 30):
Et in evangelio quod iuxta Hebraeos Nazaraei legere consueverunt, inter maxima ponitur crimina qui fratris sui spiritum contristaverit.
And in the gospel which the Nazaraeans are accustomed to read, according to the Hebrews, it places among the maximal crimes one who has caused sorrow to the spirit of his brother.
From Jerome, On Micah 2, commentary on Micah 7.6 (de Santos 16):
Sed qui legerit canticum canticorum et sponsum animae dei sermonum intellexerit, credideritque evangelio quod secundum Hebraeos editum nuper transtulimus, in quo ex persona salvatoris dicitur: Modo tulit me mater mea, sanctus spiritus, in uno capillorum meorum, non dubitabit dicere sermonem dei ortum esse de spiritu, et animam, quae sponsa sermonis est, habere socrum sanctum spiritum, qui apud Hebraeos genere dicitur feminino rua (רוח).
But he who reads the Song of Songs and understands the spouse of the soul to be the speech of God, and believes the gospel which we recently translated, that published as according to the Hebrews, in which from the person of the savior it is said: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, bore me by one of my hairs, [such a reader] will not doubt to say that the speech of God springs from the spirit, and that the soul, which is the spouse of the speech, has the holy spirit as a mother-in-law, which among the Hebrews is said by the female gender, rua (רוח).
Origen twice cites this same saying from the Hebrew gospel.
Jerome himself twice refers to this same saying in other commentaries in an abbreviated form. From On Isaiah 11, commentary on Isaiah 40.9:
Sed et in evangelio quod iuxta Hebraeos scriptum Nazaraei lectitant, dominus loquitur: Modo me tulit mater mea, spiritus sanctus.
But also in the gospel which the Nazaraeans read, written according to the Hebrews, the Lord says: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, bore me [away].
From his commentary on Ezekiel 16.13:
In evangelio quoque Hebraeorum, quod lectitant Nazaraei, salvator inducitur loquens: Modo me arripuit mater mea, spiritus sanctus.
In the gospel of the Hebrews also, which the Nazaraeans read, the savior is introduced saying: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, snatched me [away].
From Jerome, On Matthew 1, commentary on Matthew 2.5 (de Santos 20):
In Bethleem Iudaeae: Librariorum hic error est; putamus enim ab evangelista primum editum sicut in ipso Hebraico legimus, Iudae, non Iudaeae.
In Bethlehem of Judea: This is an error of the scribes; we suppose indeed that it was first published from the evangelist as we read in the Hebraic [gospel], of Judah, not of Judea.
A. F. J. Klijn, on page 124 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, lists two parallels to this text. First, Paschasius Radbertus (century IX) writes: Nam in Hebraeo sic habet: Et tu, Bethleem Efrata, parvus es in milibus Iuda (for in the Hebrew is has thus: And you, Bethlehem Ephratha, are small among the thousands of Judah). Second, Sedulius Scotus (century IX) writes: Librariorum error est; putamus enim ab evangelista primum editum sicut in ipso Ebraico legimus, Iudae, non Iudeae (it is an error of the scribes; we suppose indeed that it was first published from the evangelist as we read in the Hebraic, of Judah, not of Judea).
From Jerome, On Matthew 1, commentary on Matthew 6.11 (de Santos 21):
In evangelio quod appellatur secundum Hebraeos, pro supersubstantiali pane reperi mahar (מהר), quod dicitur crastinum, ut sit sensus: Panem nostrum crastinum, id est, futurum da nobis hodie.
In the gospel which is named according to the Hebrews, instead of supersubstantial bread I found mahar (מהר), which means of tomorrow, so that the sense would be: Our bread for tomorrow, that is, the future [bread] give us this day.
Jerome here refers to the same apocryphal phrase that he more fully cites in his commentary on Psalm 135.
From Jerome, On Matthew 2, commentary on Matthew 12.13 (de Santos 23):
In evangelio quo utuntur Nazaraeni et Ebionitae, quod nuper in Graecum de Hebraeo sermone transtulimus, et quod vocatur a plerisque Matthaei authenticum, homo iste qui aridam habet manum caementarius scribitur istius modi vocibus auxilium precans: Caementarius eram, manibus victum quaeritans. precor te, Iesu, ut mihi restituas sanitatem, ne turpiter mendicem cibos.
In the gospel which the Nazaraeans and Ebionites use, which we recently translated from Hebrew speech into Greek, and which is called by many the authentic [gospel] of Matthew, this man who has the dry hand is written to be a mason, praying for help with words of this kind: I was a mason, seeking a livelihood with my hands. I pray, Jesus, that you restore health to me, lest I disgracefully beg food.
A. F. J. Klijn, on pages 88-89 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, lists several parallels to this text, all of which are evidently dependent upon Jerome. First there is a passage from a commentary on Matthew by Rabanus Maurus (century IX):
Notandum quoque quod in evangelio secundum Hebraeos quo utuntur Nazaraeni et Ebionitae, et quod vocatur a plerisque Matthaei authenticum, homo iste qui aridam habet manum caementarius scribitur, istius modi vocibus auxilium precans: Caementarius eram, manibus victum quaeritans. precor te, Iesu, ut mihi restituas sanitatem, ne turpiter mendicem cibos.
It is to be noted that in the gospel according to the Hebrews which the Nazaraeans and Ebionites use, and which is called by many the authentic [gospel] of Matthew, that man who has a dry hand is written to be a mason, praying for help with words of this kind: I was a mason, seeking a livelihood with my hands. I pray, Jesus, that you restore health to me, lest I disgracefully beg food.
There is also Paschasius Radbertus (century IX), who writes: Porro in evangelio quo utuntur Nazareni legitur quod hic cementarius fuerit (further on in the gospel which the Nazarenes use it is read that this man was a mason); and Zacharias Chrysopolitani (century XII), who writes: Aeger iste dicitur fuisse caementarius, quaeritans victum manibus (that sick man is said to have been a mason, seeking a livelihood with his hands).
For more about the translation that Jerome made of the Hebrew gospel see also On Famous Men 2 and On Famous Men 16.
It is worth pointing out that Jerome assumes that the Nazoraeans and the Ebionites are using the same gospel, while Epiphanius distinguishes between the two.
From Jerome, On Matthew 4, commentary on Matthew 23.35 (de Santos 24):
In evangelio quo utuntur Nazaraeni, pro filio Barachiae, filium Ioiadae reperimus scriptum.
In the gospel which the Nazaraeans use, instead of the son of Berechiah, we find the son of Jehoiada.
Confer Matthew 23.35; Zechariah 1.1; 2 Chronicles 24.20-22. The Hebrew gospel thus solves a longstanding difficulty (the confusion between Zechariah the classical prophet and the Zechariah who was stoned in the temple).
A. F. J. Klijn, on pages 90-91 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, lists two parallels to this text. First, Paschasius Radbertus (century IX) writes: Tamen beatissimus Hieronymus sicut in commentario eius legitur hunc Zachariam filium Ioiade sacerdotis fuisse affirmat (but the most blessed Jerome affirms, just as it is read in his commentary, that this Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada the priest). Second, Peter Comestor (century XII) has: Et est filii Barachiae, id est, benedicti domini; in evangelio Nazaraeorum legitur Ioiadae (and it is of the son of Berechiah, that is, blessed of the Lord; in the gospel of the Nazaraeans Jehoiada is read).
From Jerome, On Matthew 4, commentary on Matthew 27.16 (de Santos 25):
Iste [Barabbas] in evangelio quod scribitur iuxta Hebraeos filius magistri eorum interpretatur qui propter seditionem et homicidium fuerat condemnatus.
This man [Barabbas] is interpreted in the gospel which is written according to the Hebrews as the son of their master, who was condemned on account of sedition and homicide.
A. F. J. Klijn, on page 92 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, lists two parallels to this text. First, Paschasius Radbertus (century IX) writes: Barrabas autem filius magistri eorum interpretatur (Barabbas, however, is interpreted as son of their master). Second, Zacharias Chrysopolitani (century XII) has: ...quia Barrabas in evangelio Hebraico filius magistri eorum interpretatur (...because Barabbas is interpreted in the Hebraic gospel as son of their master).
From Jerome, On Matthew 4, commentary on Matthew 27.51 (de Santos 26):
In evangelio cuius saepe facimus mentionem superliminare templi infinitae magnitudinis fractum esse atque divisum legimus.
In the gospel of which we often make mention we read that a lintel of the temple of infinite magnitude was broken and divided.
See the epistle to Hedibia and the History of the Passion, folio 65 recto, for other instances of this same incident.
In his commentary on Isaiah 11.2 Jerome notes that he has already made mention (fecimus mentionem) of this gospel. Confer the phrase saepe facimus mentionem above.
From Jerome, On Ephesians 3, commentary on Ephesians 5.4 (de Santos 15):
Ut in Hebraico quoque evangelio legimus, dominus ad discipulos loquentem: Nunquam, inquit, laeti sitis, nisi cum fratrem vestrum videritis in charitate.
As we read also in the Hebraic gospel, the Lord, speaking to the disciples, says: Never be content except when you look upon your brother in charity.
From Jerome, On Famous Men 2 (de Santos 17):
Evangelium quoque quod appellatur secundum Hebraeos, et a me nuper in Graecum Latinumque sermonem translatum est, quo et Origenes saepe utitur, post resurrectionem salvatoris refert: Dominus autem cum dedisset sindonem servo sacerdotis, ivit ad Iacobum et apparuit ei. iuraverat enim Iacobus se non comesturum panem ab illa hora quia biberat calicem domini donec videret eum resurgentem a dormientibus.
Also the gospel which is named according to the Hebrews, and which was recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which also Origen often used, refers after the resurrection of the savior: But the Lord, when he had given the shroud to the servant of the priest, went to James and appeared to him. James indeed had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour when he had drunk the chalice of the Lord until he saw him risen from among those who sleep.
Rursusque post paululum: Afferte, ait dominus, mensam et panem. statimque additur: Tulit panem et benedixit, ac fregit, et dedit Iacobo iusto, et dixit ei: Frater mi, comede panem tuum, quia resurrexit filius hominis a dormientibus.
And again after a little bit: Bear forth, said the Lord, a table and bread. And immediately is added: He bore bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to James the just, and said to him: My brother, eat your bread, because the son of man has resurrected from among those who sleep.
A resurrection appearance to James is, of course, assumed in 1 Corinthians 15.7.
Pseudo-Abdias, Apostolic Histories 6.1 (century VI), furnishes a parallel:
Quorum minor natu Iacobus Christo salvatore in primis semper dilectus tanto rursus desiderio in magistrum flagrabat ut crucifixo eo cibum capere noluerit, priusquam a mortuis resurgentem videret, quod meminerit sibi et fratribus a Christo agente in vivis fuisse praedictum. quare ei primum omnium ut et Mariae Magdalenae et Petro apparere voluit ut discipulum in fide confirmaret et ne diutinum ieiunium toleraret, favo mellis oblato ad comedendum insuper Iacobum invitavit.
Of those James the lesser by birth was always first beloved by Christ the savior and in turn burned with such desire for the master that after he was crucified he wished not to take food until he saw him rising from the dead, which he and his brothers remembered was predicted while he was active among the living. Therefore, he wished first of all to appear to him and to both Mary Magdalene and Peter to confirm the disciple in faith and not to allow him to suffer from fasting any longer, and he offered him a honeycomb and invited James to eat.
Gregory of Tours, Book of Ten Histories 1.22 (century VI), offers another parallel:
Fertur Iacobus apostolus, cum domino iam mortuum vidisset in cruce, detestasse atque iurasse numquam se comisurum panem nisi dominum cerneret resurgentem. tertia denum die rediens dominus, spoliato Tartaro cum triumpho, Iacobo se ostendens ait: Surge, Iacobe, comede, quia iam a mortuis resurrexi. hic est Iacobus iustus, quem fratrem domini nuncupant, pro eo quod Ioseph fuerit filius ex alia uxore progenitus.
It is said that James the apostle, when he had seen the Lord already dead on the cross, cursed and sword never to eat bread unless he should discern the Lord rising. When on the third day the Lord returned, having despoiled Tartarus with his triumph, he showed himself to James and said: Rise, James; eat, because I have already resurrected from the dead. This is James the just, whom they call the brother of the Lord, since he was the son of Joseph born from another wife.
Another parallel is to be found in a collection from the epistles of Paul by Sedulius Scotus, 1 Corinthians 15.7 (century X):
Deinde Iacobo, Alphaei filio, qui se testatus est a coena domini non cemesurum panem usquequo videret Christum resurgentem, sicut in evangelio secundum Hebraeos legimus.
Next, James the son of Alphaeus, who testified that he would not eat bread from the table of the Lord until he saw Christ rising, just as we read in the gospel according to the Hebrews.
Finally, we have yet another parallel in Jacobus a Voragine, Legenda Aurea 67 (century XIII):
In parasceue autem, mortuo domino, sicut dicit Iosephus et Hieronymus in libro de viris illustribus, Iacobus votum vovit se non comesurum donec videret dominum a mortuis surrexisse. in ipsa autem die resurrectionis, cum usque ad diem illam Iacobus non gustasset cibum, eidem dominus apparuit ac eis qui cum eo erant; dixit: Ponite mensam et panem. deinde panem accipiens benedixit et dedit Iacobo iusto, dicens: Surge, frater mi; comede, quia filius hominis a mortuis resurrexit.
On the preparation [Friday], however, when the Lord died, just as Josephus and Jerome say in a book of illustrious men, James took an oath not to eat until he saw the Lord rise from the dead. On that same day of the resurrection, however, since right up until that day James had not enjoyed food, the Lord appeared to him and to those who were with him; he said: Put up a table and bread. Next he accepted bread and blessed it and gave it to James the just, saying: Rise, my brother; eat, because the son of man has risen from the dead.
Confer the similar passage from the Irish reference Bible.
For more about the translation that Jerome made of the Hebrew gospel see his commentary on Matthew 12.13 and On Famous Men 16.
From Jerome, On Famous Men 3 (de Santos 18):
Matthaeus, qui et Levi, ex publicano apostolus, primus in Iudaea propter eos qui ex circumcisione crediderant evangelium Christi Hebraicis litteris composuit; quod quis postea in Graecum transtulerit non satis certum est. porro ipsum Hebraicum habetur usque hodie in Caesariensi bibliotheca quam Pamphilus martyr studiosissime confecit. mihi quoque a Nazaraeis, qui in Beroea urbe Syriae hoc volumine utuntur, describendi facultas fuit; in quo animadvertendum quo ubicumque evangelista, sive ex persona sua sive ex domini salvatoris, veteris scripturae testimoniis abutitur, non sequatur septuagint translatorum auctoritatem, sed Hebraicum. e quibus illa duo sunt: Ex Aegypto vocavi filium meum, et: Quoniam Nazaraeus vocabitur.
Matthew, who is also Levi, the ex-publican apostle, first composed in Hebraic letters the gospel of Christ in Judea on account of those who had believed from among the circumcision; who afterward translated it into Greek is not sufficiently certain. Furthermore, this Hebraic [text] is held even until today in the Caesarean library which Pamphilus the martyr studiously put together. There was an opportunity for me from the Nazaraeans to copy this volume, which is used in Beroea, a city of Syria. In which [gospel] it must be noted that, wherever the evangelist, whether from his own person or from the Lord and savior, makes use of testimonies of the old scriptures, he does not follow the authority of the seventy translators, but the Hebrew. From which things two are: From Egypt did I call my son, and: For he shall be called a Nazarene.
These two Matthean references are 2.15 and 2.23, respectively. Jerome elsewhere reaffirms that the first draft of the gospel of Matthew was written in Hebrew. From the Prologue of the Four Gospels:
Primus omnium Matthaeus est, publicanus cognomento Levi, qui evangelium in Iudaea Hebreo sermone edidit, ob eorum vel maxime causam qui in Iesum crediderunt ex Iudaeis, et nequaquam legis umbra succendente evangelii vertitatem servabat.
First of all is Matthew, a publican with the cognomen of Levi, who published a gospel in Judea in the Hebrew speech, especially on account of those who had believed in Jesus from among the Jews, and with the shadow of the law in no way succeeding he served the truth of the gospel.
That Matthew wrote in Hebrew (or possibly Aramaic) is the patristic testimony of all who ever touch upon the topic of the original language of the first gospel, probably from as far back as late century I. Eusebius, History of the Church 3.39.116, citing Papias, Exegesis of the Oracles of the Lord, probably citing the elder John:
Ταυτα μεν ουν ιστορηται τω Παπια περι του Μαρκου· περι δε του Ματθαιου ταυτ ειρηται· Ματθαιος μεν ουν Εβραιδι διαλεκτω τα λογια συνεταξατο, ηρμηνευσεν δ αυτα ως ην δυνατος εκαστος.
These things therefore are recorded by Papias about Mark. But about Matthew he says these: Matthew therefore in the Hebrew dialect ordered together the oracles, and each one interpreted them as he was able.
Irenaeus, late century II, Against Heresies 3.1.1, Greek from Eusebius, History of the Church 5.8.2:
Ο μεν δη Ματθαιος εν τοις Εβραιοις τη ιδια αυτων διαλεκτω και γραφην εξηνεγκεν ευαγγελιου του Πετρου και του Παυλου εν Ρωμη ευαγγελιζομενων και θεμελιουντων την εκκλησιαν.
Ita Mattheus in Hebraeis ipsorum lingua scripturam edidit evangelii cum Petrus et Paulus Romae evangelizarent et fundarent ecclesiam.
Indeed Matthew, among the Hebrews in their own dialect, also bore forth a writing of the gospel, Peter and Paul evangelizing in Rome and founding the church.
Origen, early century III, concurs. From the Commentary on Matthew, as cited in Eusebius, History of the Church 6.25.4:
Ως εν παραδοσει μαθων περι των τεσσαρων ευαγγελιων, α και μονα αναντιρρητα εστιν εν τη υπο τον ουρανον εκκλησια του θεου, οτι πρωτον μεν γεγραπται το κατα τον ποτε τελωνην, υστερον δε αποστολον Ιησου Χριστου Ματθαιον, εκδεδωκοτα αυτο τοις απο Ιουδαισμου πιστευσασιν, γραμμασιν Εβραικοις συντεταγμενον.
As learned in tradition concerning the four gospels, which even alone are not spoken against in the church of God under heaven, that the first written that according to the one who was once a publican, but later an apostle of Jesus Christ, Matthew, who published it for those from Judaism who had believed, ordered together in Hebraic letters.
From Jerome, On Famous Men 16, writing of Ignatius (de Santos 19):
...et proprie ad Polycarpum, commendans illi Antiochensem ecclesiam, in qua et de evangelio quod nupe a me translatum est super persona Christi ponit testimonium dicens: Ego vero et post resurrectionem in carne eum vidi, et credo quai sit. et, quando venit ad Petrum et ad eos qui cum Petro erant, dixit eis: Ecce, palpate me, et videte quia non sum daemonium incorporale. et statim tetigerunt eum et crediderunt.
...and properly to Polycarp, commending the Antiochene church to him, in which he put testimony also of the gospel which was recently translated by me about the person of Christ, saying: I also truly saw him in the flesh after the resurrection, and believe that he is. And, when he came to Peter and to those who were with Peter, he said to them: Behold, handle me and see that I am not an incorporeal daemon. And immediately they touched him and believed.
The words daemonium incorporale (incorporeal daemon) in this text belong, according to Jerome elsewhere, to the gospel according to the Hebrews. Jerome, in other words, claims to have recently translated the gospel from the Hebrew (into both Greek and Latin).
Jerome is evidently quoting Ignatius from memory, however. First of all, it is not in the Ignatian epistle to Polycarp but rather in that to the Smyrnaeans (of which Polycarp was bishop) that this text is found. Second, Jerome misquotes Ignatius somewhat. In 3.1 Ignatius says that he knows (οιδα) that Jesus was in the flesh even after his resurrection, while Jerome quotes him as saying that he saw (vidi) Jesus in the flesh after his resurrection, a very different concept indeed!
Nevertheless, Jerome is correct about the Ignatian wording of what Jesus tells his disciples in Smyrnaeans 3.2:
Λαβετε, ψηλαφησατε με και ιδετε οτι ουκ ειμι δαιμονιον ασωματον.
Take, feel me and see that I am not an incorporeal daemon.
If it is true that Ignatius was influenced by one of these Jewish gospels, then it stands to reason that at least one of them predated Ignatius in circa 110.
Confer the teaching of Peter, according to Origen, On First Things 1, preface 8:
Si vero quis velit nobis proferre ex illo libello qui Petri doctrina appellatur, ubi salvator videtur ad discipulos dicere: Non sum daemonium incorporeum, primo respondendum est ei quoniam liber ipse inter libros ecclesiasticos non habetur, et ostendendum quia neque Petri est ipsa scriptura neque alterius cuiusdam qui spiritu dei fuerit inspiratus.
If someone truly wishes to recite to us from that little book which is called the teaching of Peter, where the savior is seen to say to the disciples: I am not an incorporeal daemon, it must first be responded to that person that this book is not held among the ecclesiastical books, and [then] demonstrated that it was written neither by Peter nor by any other one who was inspired by the spirit of God.
Perhaps comparably, Theodoretus calls the gospel that the Nazoraeans use the gospel of Peter.
From Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.2 (de Santos 31-32):
In evangelio iuxta Hebraeos, quod Chaldaico quidem Syroque sermone sed Hebraicis litteris scriptum est, quod utuntur usque hodie Nazareni, secundum apostolos, sive ut plerique autumant iuxta Matthaeum, quod et in Caesariensi habetur bibliotheca, narrat historia: Ecce, mater domini et fratres eius dicebant ei: Joannes baptista baptizat in remissionem peccatorum; eamus et baptizemur ab eo. dixit autem eis: Quid peccavi, ut vadam et baptizer ab eo? nisi forte hoc ipsum quod dixi ignorantia est.
In the gospel according to the Hebrews, which indeed is written in Chaldean and Syrian speech, but with Hebraic letters, which the Nazarenes use until this day, according to the apostles, or as most term it according to Matthew, which is also held in the Caesarean library, it narrates the story: Behold, the mother of the Lord and his brothers were saying to him: John the baptist is baptizing for the remission of sins. Let us also be baptized by him. But he said to them: How have I sinned, that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless perchance this that I have just said is ignorance.
This scene from the Hebrew gospel is supposed to either lead up to the baptism of Jesus or deny that it happened at all. Note the difference between Jerome in this passage and Cyprian, On Rebaptism 100.17, in which Jesus actually confesses his sins. Also see the baptismal scenes in Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13 and the commentary of Jerome on Isaiah 11.2. As to calling this gospel according to the apostles, confer Origen, Homily on Luke 1.1. Jerome continues:
Et in eodem volumine: Si peccaverit, inquit, frater tuus in verbo, et satis tibi fecerit, septies in die suscipe eum. dixit illi Simon discipulus eius: Septies in die? respondit dominus et dixit ei: Etiam ego dico tibi, usque septuagies septies. etenim in prophetis quoque, postquam uncti sunt spiritu sancto, inventus est sermo peccati.
And in the same volume he says: If your brother sins in word, and makes satisfaction to you, seven times a day receive him. Simon his disciple said to him: Seven times a day? The Lord responded and said to him: Still I say to you, until seventy times seven. For indeed in the prophets, even after they were anointed by the holy spirit, the speech of sin was found.
This same text is found in a marginal gloss at Matthew 18.22 in some manuscripts, as having come from the Judaic gospel. There is reason to believe, then, that this Judaic gospel is the same as that to which Jerome so often refers.
From the epistle of Jerome to Damasus, epistle 20:
Denique Matthaeus, qui evangelium Hebraeo sermone conscripsit, ita posuit: Osanna barrama, id est: Osanna in excelsis.
At last Matthew, who wrote the gospel in Hebrew speech, puts it thus: Hosanna barrama, that is: Hosanna in the highest.
A. F. J. Klijn, on page 120 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, offers a parallel to this text from Paschasius Radbertus (century IX), who writes: Secundum quod Matheus, qui hoc evangelium hebreo sermone scripsit, hoc verbum in fine proposuit, osanna rama, quod est secundo dicere, salus in excelsis (therefore Matthew, who wrote this gospel in Hebrew speech, put this word at the end, osanna rama, which is to say a second time, salvation in the highest).
From the epistle of Jerome to Hedibia, epistle 120 (de Santos 27):
In evangelio autem quod Hebraicis litteris scriptum est legimus, non velum templi scissum, sed superliminare templi mirae magnitudinis corruisse.
But in the gospel which is written with Hebraic letters we read, not that the veil of the temple was rent, but that the lintel of the temple, of marvelous magnitude, fell.
A. F. J. Klijn, on page 94 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, lists parallels to this text. First, Christian of Stavelot (century IX) writes: Refert Iosephus superliminare quod infinitum magnitudinis erat fractum esse atque divisum, etiam angelicas virtutes tunc in ipso tempore clamasse: Transeamus ex his sedibus (Josephus says that a lintel of infinite magnitude was broken and divided, and also that angelic forces then at that time exclaimed: Let us go out from these places). Second, Peter Comestor (century XII) has: Nam et in evangelio Nazareorum superliminare templi infinitae magnitudinis fractum esse legitur auditasque voces in aere: Transeamu{u}s ex his sedibus (for in the gospel of the Nazarenes it is read that a lintel of the temple of infinite magnitude was broken and voices were heard in the air: Let us go out from these places).
A reference to the voices heard in the temple is also found in the epistle of Jerome to Marcella (epistle 46):
Et postquam velum templi scissum est, et circumdata ab exercitu Jerusalem, et dominico cruore violata, tunc ab ea etiam angelorum praesidia et Christi gratiam recessisse; denique etiam Josephum, qui vernaculus scriptor est Iudaeorum, asserere illo tempore quo crucifixus est dominus ex adytis templi virtutum coelestium erupisse voces, dicentium: Transmigremus ex his sedibus.
And after the veil of the temple has been rent, and Jerusalem has been surrounded by an army, and it has been stained by the dominical blood, then its guardian angels and the grace of Christ have receded from it; finally, Josephus, who is himself a Jewish writer, asserts that at the time at which the Lord was crucified there erupted from the temple voices of heavenly powers, saying: Let us depart hence.
Refer to the commentary on Matthew 27.51, History of the Passion, folio 65 recto, and Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah, for other instances of this same incident.
The timing of the Josephan reference is off by almost four decades.
Philip of Side.
Century V.
From Philip Sidetes, writing of the ancients (de Santos 38; Lagrange 24):
Το δε καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιον και το λεγομενον Πετρου και Θωμα τελειως απεβαλλον, αιρετικων ταυτα συγγραμματα λεγοντες.
But they completely cast out the gospel according to the Hebrews and that called of Peter and of Thomas, saying that these were the writings of heretics.
Theodoretus.
Century V.
From Theodoretus, Compendium of Heretical Fables 2.1-2, writing of the Nazoraeans (de Santos 35-37; Lagrange 21-23):
Μονον δε το καθ Εβραιους ευαγγελιον δεχονται, τον δε αποστολον αποστατην καλουσι.
But they accept only the gospel according to the Hebrews, and the apostle they call apostate.
Ευαγγελιω δε τω κατα Ματθαιον κεχρηνται μονω.
But they use only the gospel according to Matthew.
Οι δε Ναζωραιοι Ιουδαιοι εισι, τον Χριστον τιμωντες ως ανθρωπον δικαιον, και τω καλουμενω κατα Πετρον ευαγγελιω κεχρημενοι.
But the Nazoraeans are Jews, honoring Christ as a just man, and using the gospel called according to Peter.
It is difficult to credit this last statement. No one else claims that the Nazoraeans used the gospel according to Peter, and in fact Theodoretus himself (in the first excerpt above) says that the Nazoraeans accepted only the gospel according to the Hebrews, or that of Matthew (in the second excerpt).
Irish reference Bible.
Circa 800.
From the Irish reference Bible:
De eo testatur euangelium eius secundum Ebreos et a me nuper in Graecum et Latinum translatum, quod et Ori{g}enes uti{tur} post resurrectionem domini refert: Dominus cum dedisset sindonem servo sacerdoti ibit ad Iacobum et apparuit ei. iuraverit enim Iacobus se non commessurum panem ab illa hora qua biberet calicem dominus donec videret eius resurrectionem a mortuis. inde dominus post benedixit panem et fregit et dedit Iacobo, dicens ei: Frater mi, comede panem tuum, quia surrexit filius hominis.
About this his gospel according to the Hebrews testifies, and it has been translated by me into Greek and Latin, which also Origen used when it says after the resurrection of the Lord: The Lord when he had given a shroud to the servant of the priest went to James and appeared to him. For James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which the Lord drank the cup until he saw his resurrection from the dead. Then after this the Lord blessed the bread and broke it and gave it to James, saying to him: My brother, eat your bread, because the son of man has arisen.
Confer Jerome, On Famous Men 2.
Sedulius Scotus.
Century IX.
The English translation of this text is provided by E. P. Sanders in appendix V of his landmark book, The Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition, page 302. Sanders in turn credits Hennecke-Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, volume 1, page 151. From the Commentary on Matthew, some slight modifications made to the translation:
Ita nanque refert evangelium quod secundum Ebraos praetitulatur:
For thus the gospel which is entitled according to the Hebrews reports:
Intuitus Ioseph oculis vidit turbam viatorum comitantium venientium ad speluncam et dixit: Surgam et procedam foras inobviam eis. cum autem processisset, dixit ad Simonem Ioseph: Sic mihi videnture isti qui veniunt augures esse. ecce enim omni momento respiciunt in caelum et inter se disputant. sed et peregrini videntur esse, quoniam et habitus eorum differt ab habitu nostro. nam vestis eorum amplissima est, et color fuscus est eorum densius, et pilea habent in capitibus suis et molles mihi videntur vestes eorum et in pedibus eorum sunt saraballae. et ecce steterunt et intendunt in me, et ecce iterum coeperunt huc venientes ambulare.
When Joseph looked out with his eyes, he saw a crowd of pilgrims who were coming in company to the cave, and he said: I will arise and go out to meet them. And, when Joseph went out, he said to Simon: It seems to me as if those coming were soothsayers, for lo, every moment they look up to heaven and confer with one another. But they seem also to be strangers, for their appearance differs from ours; for their dress is very rich and their complexion quite dark; they have caps on their heads and their garments seem to me to be silky, and they have breeches on their legs. And lo, they have halted and are looking at me, and lo, they have again set themselves in motion and are coming here.
Quibus verbis liquide ostenditur non tres tantum viros sed turbam viatorum venisse ad dominum, quamvis iuxta quosdam eiusdem turbae praecipui magistri certis nominibus Melchus, Caspar, Phadizarda nuncupentur.
From these words it is clear that not merely three men but a crowd of pilgrims came to the Lord, even if according to some the foremost leaders of this crowd were named with the definite names Melchus, Caspar, and Phadizarda.
A. F. J. Klijn, on page 126 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, offers a parallel to this text from Maelbrigte (year 1138), who writes: Legitur in evangelio secundum Ebreos quod venit Ioseph foras ex diversorio ante quam intrarent domum et, admirans eos, dixit Semeon filium suum quod perigrini essent cognoscens ab habitu (it is read in the gospel according to the Hebrews that Joseph came outside from the inn before they entered the house and, admiring them, said [to] Simeon his son that they were pilgrims, knowing this from their attire).
Haimo of Auxerre.
Century IX.
From Haimo, commentary II, On Isaiah 53.12, writing of the words of Jesus on the cross: Father, forgive them (de Santos 40):
Sicut enim in evangelio Nazarenorum habetur, ad hanc vocem domini multa milia Iudaeorum adstantium circa crucem crediderunt.
As it has it in the gospel of the Nazarenes, at this voice of the Lord many thousands of Jews standing around the cross came to faith.
Compare this report to one from the epistle of Jerome to Hedibia, epistle 120...:
In tantum autem amavit Hierusalem dominus ut fleret eam et plangeret et pendens in cruce loqueretur: Pater, ignosce eis, quod enim faciunt nesciunt. itaque impetravit quod petierat, multaque statim de Iudaeis milia crediderunt, et usque ad quadragesimum secundum annum datum est tempus paenitentiae.
But by so much did the Lord love Jerusalem that he wept for it and beat his chest, and while hanging on the cross he said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And thus he obtained what he had requested, and many thousands from the Jews came to faith, and a time of penitence was given up until the forty-second year.
...and to the History of the Passion, folio 55 recto. Refer also to Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah.
The Historical Investigation of the Gospel According to Luke.
Century IX.
From the Historical Investigation of the Gospel According to Luke, folio 56 recto, on Luke 10.13:
Bezaida, in qua sanavit paraliticum cata Iohannem. in his civitatibus multae virtutes facte sunt, quae evangelium secundum Hebraos quinquaginta ter virtutes in his factas enumerat.
Bethsaida, in which he healed the paralytic according to John. In these cities many miracles were done, which the gospel according to the Hebrews ennumerates as fifty-three three miracles done in them.
Nicephorus.
Century IX.
From the stichometry of the Chronology of Nicephorus (de Santos 39; Lagrange 20):
Ευαγγελιον κατα Εβραιους, στιχοι ͵βςʹ.
The gospel according to the Hebrews, 2200 lines.
Codex Vaticanus Reginae Latinus 49.
From the royal codex Vaticanus Latinus 49, century IX:
Item isti VIII dies pascae in quo resur{rexit} Christus filius dei significant VIII dies post remi{ssionem} pascae in quo iudicabitur totum semen Adae, ut nuntiatur in evangelio Ebreorum, et ideo putant sapientes diem iudicii in tempore pascae, eo quod in illo die resur{rexit} Christus ut in illo iterum resurgant sancti.
Likewise these eight days of Passover in which Christ the son of God resurrected signify eight days after the remission of Passover in which the entire seed of Adam will be judged, as is announced in the gospel of the Hebrews, and therefore wise men suppose that the day of judgment is at the time of the Passover, since on that day Christ resurrected so that on that same day the saints might rise up again.
Marginal glosses.
The marginal notes of certain ancient manuscripts of the canonical gospel of Matthew give the reading at that point of the narrative in what is called the Judaic (Ιουδαικον) gospel. Aurelio de Santos Otero writes in a note on page 46 of Los evangélios apócrifos:
Se encuentran aסadidas como variantes a algunos códices cursivos griegos de San Mateo.... Se suponen ser obra de un recensor perteneciente al patriarcado de Antioquía entre 370 y 500.
These are found added on as variants in certain cursive Greek codices of Saint Matthew.... It is supposed that they are the work of an editor connected to the patriarchate of Antioch between 370 and 500.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 4.5, miniscule 566 (de Santos 42):
Το Ιουδαικον ουκ εχει εις την αγιαν πολιν, αλλα εν Ιερουσαλημ.
The Judaic [gospel] does not have: ...into the holy city, but [rather]: ...in Jerusalem.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 5.22, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 46):
Το εικη εν τισιν αντιγραφοις ου κειται, ουδε εν τω Ιουδαικω.
The [word] vainly does not stand in certain copies, nor in the Judaic [gospel].
Marginal gloss at Matthew 7.5, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 47):
Το Ιουδαικον ενταυθα ουτως εχει· Εαν ητε εν τω κολπω μου, και το θελημα του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις μη ποιητε, εκ του κολπου μου απορριψω υμας.
Here the Judaic [gospel] has thus: If you are in my bosom, and you do not do the will of my father in the heavens, I shall throw you away from my bosom.
Helmut Koester, on page 357 of Ancient Christian Gospels, cites this variant, but has τοις ουρανοις instead of ουρανοις and αρριψω instead of απορριψω. He cites Vielhauer, Jewish-Christian Gospels, in Hennecke-Schneemelcher-Wilson, NT Apocrypha, 1.136, 139-146, in note 2 on that same page. The term αρριψω in Koester appears to be a typo. I can find no such verb in my lexicon. As for the definite article before ουρανοις, I do not know for certain which version represents the exact wording of miniscule 1424, though I think my money would be on that in de Santos.
Update 08-11-2005: I now notice that Kurt Aland, Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum, page 93, number 68, agrees with de Santos on both readings.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 10.16, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 48):
Το Ιουδαικον· Υπερ οφεις.
The Judaic [gospel has]: Beyond serpents.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 11.12, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 49):
Το Ιουδαικον· Διαρπαζεται, εχει.
The Judaic [gospel has]: Snatched as plunder.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 11.25, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 50):
Το Ιουδαικον· Ευχαριστω σοι.
The Judaic [gospel has]: I give you thanks.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 12.40, miniscule 899 (de Santos 51):
Το Ιουδαικον ουκ εχει· Τρεις η[μερας και τρεις νυκτας].
The Judaic [gospel] does not have: Three d[ays and three nights].
Marginal gloss at Matthew 15.5, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 52):
Το Ιουδαικον· Κορβαν ο υμεις ωφεληθησεσθε εξ ημων.
The Judaic [gospel has]: The corban which you will be owed from us.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 16.2, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 53):
Τα σεσημειωμενα δια του αστερισκου εν ετεροις ουκ εμφερεται, ουτε εν τω Ιουδαικω.
The things marked with an asterisk are not stated in the others, nor in the Judaic [gospel].
Marginal gloss at Matthew 16.17, miniscules 566 and 1424 (de Santos 43):
[Βαριωνα]: Το Ιουδαικον· Υιε Ιωαννου.
[Instead of Barjona] the Judaic [gospel has]: Son of John.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 18.22, miniscules 566 and 899 (de Santos 44):
Το Ιουδαικον εξης εχει μετα το εβδομηκοντακις επτα· Και γαρ εν τοις προφηταις μετα το χρισθηναι αυτους εν πνευματι αγιω, ευρισκεται εν αυτοις λογος αμαρτιας.
The Judaic [gospel] has after the seventy times seven: For even in the prophets, after their anointing in the holy spirit, the word of sin in them is found.
Jerome is aware of this same reading from the gospel according to the Hebrews in Against the Pelagians 3.2.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 26.74, miniscules 4, 273, 566, 899, and 1424 (de Santos 45):
Το Ιουδαικον· Και ηρνησατο και ωμοσεν και κατηρασατο.
The Judaic [gospel has]: And he denied and swore and cursed.
Marginal gloss at Matthew 27.65, miniscule 1424 (de Santos 54):
Το Ιουδαικον· Και παρεδωκεν αυτοις ανδρας ενοπλους, ινα καθεζωνται κατ εναντιον του σπηλαιου και τηρωσιν αυτον ημερας και νυκτας.
The Judaic [gospel has]: And he delivered to them armed men, in order to be seated right before the cave and keep it day and night.
Hugo of Saint Cher.
Century XIII.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah:
A voce clamantis, id est, propter vocem multitudinis angelorum clamantium laudes deo vel clamantium: Transeamus ab his sedibus imminente eversione Romanorum, ut legitur in evangelio Nazaraeorum.
With a voice exclaiming, that is, on account of the voice of a multitude of angels exclaiming praises to God or exclaiming: Let us go out from these places, since the destruction by the Romans is imminent, as it is read in the gospel of the Nazaraeans.
Refer to the parallels to Jerome to Hedibia, epistle 120, for other instances of this incident.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah redux:
In evangelio Nazaraeorum, quod Hebraice scriptum est, ita habetur: Factum est cum ascendisset dominus de aqua descendit fons omnis spiritus et requievit super eum et dixit ei: Expectabam te, fili, in omnibus prophetis, ut venires et requiescerem in te. tu enim es requies mea. tu es filius meus primogenitus, qui regnas in sempiternum.
In the gospel of the Nazaraeans, which was written in Hebraic, it is held thus: But it happened that, when the Lord ascended from the water, the whole fount of the holy spirit descended and rested over him, and said to him: My son, in all the prophets I was expecting you, that you should come, and I might rest in you. You indeed are my rest. You are my firstborn son, who reigns in eternity.
Confer Jerome, On Isaiah 4, commentary on Isaiah 11.2.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah redux, writing of the words from the cross, father, forgive them:
Ad hanc vocem secundum evangelium Nazaraeorum multa milia Iudaeorum astantium circa crucem crediderunt.
At this voice according to the gospel of the Nazaraeans many thousands of the Jews standing around the cross came to faith.
Refer also to Haimo, commentary II, On Isaiah 53.12, and the History of the Passion, folio 55 recto.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Gospel according to Matthew:
In evangelio Nazaraeorum legitur, ut dicit Chrys{ostemus}, quod Ioseph Mariam videre facie ad faciem non poterat, quoniam spiritus sanctus eam a conceptione penitus impleverat, ita quod non cognoscebat eam propter splendorem vultus eius.
In the gospel of the Nazaraeans it is read, as Chrysostom says, that Joseph could not look at Mary face to face, since the holy spirit had filled her deeply from the conception, so that he did not recognize her on account of the splendor of her face.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Gospel according to Matthew redux:
Dicitur in evangelio Nazaraeorum quod duo qui fuerunt mortui ante circiter annos quadraginta, boni et sancti viri, venerant in templum post resurrectionem domini et non loquentes petentes Pergamenum.
It is said in the gospel of the Nazaraeans that two men who had died about forty years beforehand, good and holy men, came into the temple after the resurrection of the Lord and without speaking wanted to go to Pergamum.
A. F. J. Klijn notes on page 139 of Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition:
In Descensus Christi ad Inferos, the second part of the Gospel of Nicodemus which in some manuscripts bears the title "Gospel of the Nazoraeans," it is said in c. XII (XXVIII): Et duos testes quos Iesus a mortuis resuscitavit vidimus, qui multa mirabilia quae fecit Iesus in mortuis annuntiaverunt nobis....*
It is not said here that they went to Pergamum.
* I would translate: And we saw two witnesses whom Jesus had resuscitated from the dead, who announced to us many marvels which Jesus had done amongst the dead.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Gospel according to John:
Legitur autem in evangelio Nazaraeorum quod tunc fuit captus Ioseph et positus in carcerem; unde primo apparuit ei dominus post resurrectionem in carcere. Nicodemus vero fugit in villam Gamalielis.
It is read, however, in the gospel of the Nazaraeans that Joseph was then captured and put into prison; there the Lord appeared to him first after the resurrection in the prison. Nicodemus truly fled into the village of Gamaliel.
And in his commentary on Matthew we find the following parallel:
Dicitur in evangelio Nazaraeorum quod Iudaei istum Ioseph in carcere posuerunt, alligantes eum ad columnam, eo quod ita honorifice sepelisset eum, et quod prius post resurrectionem apparuit ei in carcere quae Mariae Magdalenae et liberavit eum de carcere.
It is said in the gospel of the Nazaraeans that the Jews put this Joseph into prison, binding him to a column, because he had interred him so honorably, and that after the resurrection he appeared to him in prison before Mary Magdalene and liberated him from prison.
From Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Epistles of Paul (1 Corinthians 15):
Similiter primo apparuit B. Mariae Magdalenae inter mulieres secundum ordinem apparitionum in evangelio, quod dico quia legitur in evangelio Nazaraeorum quod primo apparuit B. virgini.
Likewise he appeared first to Mary Magdalene amongst the women according to the order of appearances in the gospel, which I say because it is read in the gospel of the Nazaraeans that he appeared first to the virgin.
Petrus de Riga.
In a copy of the Bible known as the Aurora of Petrus de Riga, century XIII, one of the marginal notes says regarding the temple incident:
In libris evangeliorum quibus utuntur Nazareni legitur quod radii prodierunt ex oculis eius, quibus territi fugabantur.
In the books of the gospels that the Nazarenes use it is read that rays issued from his eyes, by which terrified they were put to flight.
Confer Jerome, commentary on Matthew 21.15:
Igneum enim quiddam atque sidereum radiabat ex oculis eius, et divinitatis maiestas lucebat in facie.
For a certain fiery and starry [light] radiated from his eyes, and the majesty of divinity shone in his face.
The History of the Passion of the Lord.
Century XIV.
Extant in a codex of the fourteenth century. Note that evangelium is sometimes spelled ewangelium, a peculiarity that I have in my usual way corrected below as e[v]angelium.
From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 25 verso, concerning the footwashing for the disciples:
Et sicut dicitur in evangelio Nazareorum, singulorum pedes osculatus fuit.
And, just as it is said in the gospel of the Nazaraeans, he had kissed the feet of each.
From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 32 recto, concerning the agony in Gethsemane:
Apparuit autem ei angelus de celo confortans eum. qualiter autem angelus Christum in agonia sue oracionis confortaverit dicitur in evangelio Nazareorum.
But there appeared to him an angel from heaven comforting him. But the angel comforted Christ in his agony of prayer, as it is said in the gospel of the Nazaraeans.
From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 35 recto, concerning Peter and John in the court of the high priest:
In evangelio Nazareorum ponitur causa unde Iohannes notus fuerit pontifici. quia cum fuerit filius pauperis piscatoris Zebedei, sepe portaverat pisces ad curias pontificum Anne et Cayphe.
In the gospel of the Nazaraeans the reason is given for John having been known to the priest. It was because when he was the son of the poor fisherman Zebedee he often ported fishes to the curias of the priests Annas and Caiaphas.
From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 44 recto, concerning the scourging of the Lord:
Legitur in e[v]angelio Nazareorum quod ludei appreciaverunt quattuor milites ad flagellandum dominum tam dure usque ad effusionem sanguinis de toto corpore. eosdem eciam milites appreciaverunt quod ipsum crucifix[ere]nt sicut dicitur Io{hannes} 19.
It is read in the gospel of the Nazaraeans that the gladiators appropriated four soldiers to scourge the Lord hard enough to [cause] an effusion of blood from his entire body. They appropriated those same soldiers still to crucify him just as it is said in Jo{hn} 19.
From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 55 recto, concerning the words of forgiveness from the cross:
Pater ignosce eis, non enim sciunt quid faciunt. et nota quod in e[v]angelio Nazareorum legitur quod ad virtuosam istam Christi oracionem VIII milia conversi sunt postea ad fidem. scilicet tria milia in die pentecostes.
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And note that in the gospel of the Nazaraeans it is read that at this virtuous prayer of Christ eight thousand were afterward converted to the faith. There were to be sure three thousand on the day of Pentecost.
See also Haimo, commentary II, On Isaiah 53.12, and Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah.
From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 65 recto, concerning the signs at the death of the Lord:
Item in e[v]angelio Nazareorum legitur superliminare templi infinite magnitudinis in morte Christi scissum. idem dicit Iosephus et addit quod audite sunt voces horribiles in aere dicentes: Transeamus ab hiis sedibus.
Likewise in the gospel of the Nazaraeans it is read that a lintel of the temple of infinite magnitude was broken at the death of Christ. Josephus says the same thing and adds that horrible voices were heard in the air saying: Let us leave these regions.
Jerome in his commentary on Matthew 27.51 and also his epistle to Hedibia remarks upon the same feature of this gospel. Refer also to Hugo of Saint Cher, On the Book of Isaiah.
The book of Uí Máine.
From the book of Uí Máine in the Royal Irish Academy (refer to Klijn, page 141):
Inn-aidchi geini Críst cain seacht n-inganta dég domain
is áibind indister dùibh 'san [s]oiscéla nEabhroibh.
The night of the birth of Christ the fair there were seventeen miracles of the world.
Delightfully are they related to you in the gospel of the Hebrews.
This same poem from the Yellow Book of Lacan in Trinity College, Dublin (refer again to Klijn, page 141):
An n-aidchi geni Crist chain
Secht n-inganta déc demain
Is aibind innister daib
Isan t-soiscel iar n-Ebraib.
Leabhar Breac.
From the Leabhar Breac (refer to Klijn, pages 145-146):
Ructha imorro focetoir o'n t-shlaníccid na hech-si for cúla di-a tigernaib, amal demnigter is-in soscela iar n-ébraidib.
Haec autem animalia a salvatore retro ducta sunt dominis suis, ut in evangelio secundum Ebraeos legitur.
These animals, however, were led back by the savior to their owners, as it is read in the gospel according to the Hebrews.
An Aramaic proverb.
Aurelio de Santos Otero, on page 53, throws in the following Aramaic saying on the authority of L. Wallace, The Textual History of an Aramaic Proverb (Traces of the Ebionean Gospel), Journal of Biblical Literature 60 (1941), pages 403-415. Wallace contends that this proverb bears a trace of the Ebionite gospel (de Santos 11):
אהא חמרא וכטש לשרגא׃
Vino el asno y rompió la lámpara.
The ass came and broke the lamp.
I myself have no idea whether it is plausible to attribute this saying to any of the Jewish gospels. I provide it here merely for the sake of completeness.

Fragments from the Goodnews according to the Hebrews
The Gospel according to the Hebrews is a lost apocryphal Gospel once used by the ancient Nazarenes which exists today only in about fifty quotations scattered throughout the writings of the ancient “Church Fathers”, however a reconstruction of the book in English has been created by James Scott Trimm, and is used by many modern Nazarenes today. To learn more see:
The Gospel according to the Hebrews.
Irenaeus
Irenaeus Against Heresies, i.26.2. But the Ebionites use only that Gospel which is according to Matthew, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the Law.
Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis i. 9. 45). Even (or also, in the Gospel according to the Hebrews is written the saying, ‘he that wondereth shall reign, and he that reigneth shall rest’.
id. (Strom.) v.14.96. For those words have the same force as these: He shall not cease from seeking until he find, and having found, he will be amazed, and having been amazed will reign, and having reigned will rest.
Origen
Origen on John, ii. 12. And if any accept the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Saviour himself saith, ‘Even now did my mother the Holy Spirit take me by one of mine hairs, and carried me away unto the great mountain Thabor’, he will be perplexed, &c. . . .
On Jeremiah, homily xv.4. And if anyone receive that saying, ‘Even now my mother the Holy Spirit took me and carried me up unto the great mountain Thabor’, and the rest. . . .
Pseudo-Origin
It is written in a certain Gospel which is called according to the Hebrews (if at elast any one care to accept it, not as authoritative, but to throw light on the question before us):
The second of the rich men (it saith) said unto him: Master, what good thing can I do and live? He said unto him: O man, fulfil (do) the law and the prophets.
He answered him: I have kept them. He said unto him: Go, sell al that thou ownest, and distribute it unto the poor, and come, follow me. But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him: How sayest though: I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: Though shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and lo, many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying for hunger, and thine house is full of many good things, and nought at all goeth out of it unto them.
And he turned and said unto Simon his disciple who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Joanna, it is easier for a camel to enter in by a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Eusebius
Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. iii.39.17, speaking of the early writer Papias, says: He has also set forth (or expounded) another story, about a woman accused of many sins before the Lord, which the Gospel according to the Hebrews also contains.
It is the obvious, and general, view that this story was that of the woman taken in adultery, which, as is well known, forms no part of the true text of St. John’s Gospel, though it is inserted by most manuscripts at the beginning of the eighth chapter. A few manuscripts place it in St. Luke’s Gospel. The description suggests that Papias’s story, with its mention of many sins, differed from ours in detail.
id. iv.22.8. Hegesippus made use in his Memoirs of the Gospel according to the Hebrews.
id. iii.25.5 (in his list of antilegomena, writings whose canonicity was disputed): And among them some have placed the Gospel according to the Hebrews which is the especial delight of those of the Hebrews who have accepted Christ.
iii.27.4. (The Ebionites repudiated Paul) and used only the Gospel according to the Hebrews, making but slight account of the others.
Theophany, iv.12 (preserved in Syriac). As we have found somewhere in the Gospel which the Jews have in the Hebrew tongue, where it is said: I choose for myself them that are good (or well pleasing): the good are they whome my Father which in heaven giveth (or hath given) me.
ibid. (A passage preserved in Greek also.) But since the Gospel written in Hebrew characters which has reached our hands turns the threat not against the man who hid the talent, but against him who had lived riotously (for it told of three servants, one who desereved his master’s substance with harlots and flute-girls, another who multiplied it by trading, and another who hid the talent; and made the one to be accepted, another only rebuked, and another to be shut up in prison), the question occurs to me whether in Matthew, after the conclusion of the speech against the man who did nothing, the threat that follows may refer, not to him, but by epanalepsis (i.e. taking up a former subject again) be said of the first, who ate and drank with the drunken.
Epiphanius
They [The Nazarenes] have the Gospel according to Matthew quite complete, in Hebrew: for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written in Hebrew letters. I do not know if they have even removed the genealogy from Abraham to Christ.
((Epiphanius, Panarion 29:9:4)
In the Gospel that is in general use among them [the Ebionites] which is called “according to Matthew”, which however is not whole and complete but forged and mutilated – they call it the Hebrews Gospel-it is reported:
There appeared a certain man named Jesus of about thirty years of age, who chose us. And when he came to Capernaum, he entered into the house of Simon whose surname is Peter, and opened his mouth and said: “As I passed the Lake of Tiberias, I chose John and James the sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew and Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the Iscariot, and you, Matthew, I called as you sat at the receipt of custom, and you followed me. You, therefore, I will to be twelve apostles for a testimony unto Israel.” (Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.2-3)
And:
It came to pass that John was baptzing; and there went out to him Pharisees and were baptized, and all of Jerusalem. And John had a garment of camel`s hair and a leather girdle about his loins, and his food, as it is said, was wild honey, the taste if which was that of manna, as a cake dipped in oil. Thus they were resolved to pervert the truth into a lie and put a cake in the place of locusts.
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.4-5)
And the beginning of their Gospel runs:
It came to pass in the days of Herod the king of Judaea, when Caiaphas was high priest, that there came one, John by name, and baptized with the baptism of repentance in the river Jordan. It was said of him that he was of the lineage of Aaron the priest, a son of Zacharias and Elisabeth : and all went out to him.
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.6)
And after much has been recorded it proceeds:
When the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. And as he came up from the water, the heavens was opened and he saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended and entered into him. And a voice sounded from Heaven that said:
“You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased. ”
And again: ” I have this day begotten you”.
And immediately a great light shone round about the place.
When John saw this, it is said, he said unto him :
“Who are you, Lord?”
And again a voice from Heaven rang out to him:
“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
And then, it is said, John fell down before him and said:
“I beseech you, Lord, baptize me.”
But he prevented him and said:
“Suffer it; for thus it is fitting that everything should be fulfilled.”
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.7-8)
Moreover, they deny that he was a man, evidently on the ground of the word which the Saviour spoke when it was reported to him:
“Behold, your mother and your brethren stand without.” namely:
“Who is my mother and who are my brethren?”
And he stretched his hand towards his disciples and said:
“These are my brethren and mother and sisters, who do the will of my Father.”
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.14.5)
They say that Christ was not begotten of God the Father, but created as one of the archangels … that he rules over the angels and all the creatures of the Almighty, and that he came and declared, as their Gospel, which is called Gospel according to Matthew, or Gospel According to the Hebrews, reports:
“I am come to do away with sacrfices, and if you cease not sacrificing,
the wrath of God will not cease from you.”
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16,4-5)
But they abandon the proper sequence of the words and pervert the saying, as is plain to all from the readings attached, and have let the disciples say:
“Where will you have us prepare the passover?”
And him to answer to that:
“Do I desire with desire at this Passover to eat flesh with you?”
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.22.4)
Jerome
“Matthew, who is also Levi, and from a tax collector came to be
an emissary first of all evangelists composed a Gospel of
Messiah in Judea in the Hebrew language and letters, for the
benefit of those of the circumcision who had believed, who
translated it into Greek is not sufficiently ascertained.
Furthermore, the Hebrew itself is preserved to this day in the
library at Caesarea, which the martyr Pamphilus so diligently
collected. I also was allowed by the Nazarenes who use this
volume in the Syrian city of Borea to copy it. In which is to be
remarked that, wherever the evangelist… makes use of the
testimonies of the Old Scripture, he does not follow the
authority of the seventy translators [the Greek Septuagint], but
that of the Hebrew. To these belong the two “Out of Egypt have
I called my son” and “For he shall be called a Nazaraean.”
(Of illustrious Men 3)
In the Gospel according to the Hebrews,
which is written in the Chaldee and Syrian language,
but in Hebrew letters, and is used by the Nazarenes
to this day (I mean the Gospel according the Apostles,
or, as is generally maintained, the Gospel according to
Matthew, a copy of which is in the library at Caesarea,
We find:
Behold, the mother of our Lord
and His brothers said to him,
John the Baptist baptizes for the remission of sins;
let us go and be baptized by him.
But He said to them, what sin have
I committed that I should go and be baptized by him?
Unless perchance, the very words which I have said
Is [a sin of] ignorance.
(Jerome; Against Pelagius 3:2)
In the Gospel according to the Hebrews,
which is written in the Chaldee and Syrian language,
but in Hebrew letters, and is used by the Nazarenes
to this day (I mean the Gospel according the Apostles,
or, as is generally maintained, the Gospel according to
Matthew, a copy of which is in the library at Caesarea,)
We find: …
“If your brother sin against you in word,
and make amends to you,
receive him seven times in a day.”
Simon, His disciple, said to Him,
“Seven times in a day?” The Lord
answered and said to him, “I say
unto you until seventy times seven.”
Even the prophets, after they were
anointed with the Holy Spirit,
were guilty of a word of sin.”
(Jerome; Against Pelagius 3, 2)
According to the Gospel written in the Hebrew speech,
which the Nazarenes read, the whole fount of the
Holy Spirit shall descend upon him… Further in the
Gospel which we have just mentioned we find
the following written:
When the Lord ascended from the water,
the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended
and rested upon him, and said to him, “My Son,
in all the prophets I was waiting for you,
that you might come, and that I might rest in you.
For you are my rest; and you are my firstborn son,
who reigns forever.
(Jerome; Commentary on Is. 11:2)
And in the Gospel according to the Hebrews,
which the Nazarenes are accustomed to read,
one of the greatest sins is
“To grieve the spirit of one’s brother”,
(Jerome; Commentary on Ezek. 18:7)
As also we read in the Hebrew Gospel
that the Lord spoke to his disciples:
“And never,” he said, “be joyful
except when you look on your brother
with love.”
(Jerome on Eph. 5:4)
Also the gospel called according to the Hebrews, recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which Origen often uses, says after the resurrection of the Savior:
Now the Lord, when he had given the cloth to the servant of the priest, went to Ya’akov and appeared to him.
(for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drank the Lord’s cup until he should see him risen from among them that sleep). A little further on the Lord says,
Bring a table and bread.
And immediately it is added,
He took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to Ya’akov HaTzadik
and said to him, My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of Man is risen from among them that sleep.”
(Jerome; On Illustrious Men, 2)
In the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews
Instead of “essential to existence” I found “mahar” (rxm)
which means “of tomorrow”, so that the sense is:
“Our bread of tomorrow (that is of the future)
give us this day.
(Jerome; on Mt. 6:11)
In the Hebrew Gospel according to Mathew
It is thus: “Our bread of tomorrow (that is of the future)
give us this day.”
That is, “The bread which you will give us in the Kingdom
give us this day”.
(Jerome; On Ps. 135)
Matthew, who wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew speech,
Put it thus: “Osanna barrama,” i.e. Osanna in the highest.
(Jerome; Letter to Damascus 20)
In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use
which I have lately translated into Greek from the Hebrew
and which is called by many people the original of Matthew,
this man who has the withered hand is described as a mason,
who prays for help in such words as these: “I was a mason
seeking a livelihood with my hands: I pray you Yeshua,
to restore me my health, that I may not beg meanly for food.”
(Jerome; On. Mt. 12:13)
Bethlehem of Judea. This is a mistake of the scribes: for I think it was originally expressed by the Evangelist as we read in the Hebrew
(On Mat. 2:6)
In the Gospel which the Nazarenes use,
instead of “son of Barachias”
we have found written “son of Joiada.”
(Jerome; Commentary on Matthew 23:35)
Barabbas… is interpreted in the so-called
Gospel according to the Hebrews as
“son of their teacher”
(Jerome; On. Mt. 27:16)
But in the Gospel which is written in Hebrew letters
we read not that the veil of the Temple was rent,
but that the lintel of the Temple of wonderous size
collapsed.
(Jerome; Letter 120 to Hedibia and in his Commentary on Mt. 27:51)
Also the Gospel called according to the Hebrews,
recently translated by me into Greek and Latin,…
Of the Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp. In it he also inserts
a testimony about the person of Messiah, from the Gospel
which was recently translated by me; his words are:
But I both saw him in the flesh after the resurrection,
and believe that he is in the flesh:
and when he came to Peter, and those who were with Peter,
he said to them, “Lo, feel me and see that I am not a
bodiless spirit”. And forthwith they touched him and believed.
(Jerome; Of Illustrious Men 2, 16 and Comm. on Isa. Preface to Book 18)
The early second century “Church Father” Ignatius in his letter to the Smynaeans, quotes this story from the Goodnews according to the Hebrews (he never names his source, but Jerome does) while rebutting the false doctrine of Docetism:
He was also truly crucified… And he suffered truly
as he also truly raised up himself: And not, as some
unbelievers say, that he only seemed to suffer,
they themselves only seeming to be [believers]….
But I know that even after his resurrection he
was in the flesh; and I believed that he is still so.
And when he came to those who were with Peter,
he said to them, “Take, handle me, and see that I
am not a bodiless demon.” And straightway they
felt and believed; being convinced both by his flesh
and spirit.
For this cause they despised death, and were found
to be above it. But after his resurrection he did
eat and drink with them, as he was flesh; although
as to his Spirit he was united to the Father.
(Smyraneans 3:1-2 (1:9-12 in some editions))
You Jerome (above) had wrongly placed the quotation in Ignatious’s letter to Polycarp, but it actually appears in his letter to the Smyraneans. According to Eusebious’s Ecclesiastical History 3:36, it also appeared in a lost book known as the Doctrine of Peter.
Didymous the Blind
It seems that Matthew is named Levi in the Gospel according to Luke. But they are not the same, but Matthias who replaced Judas and Levi are the same with a double name, this appears from the Gospel according to the Hebrews.
(Didymous the Blind; Comm. On Psalms K-R, 198)
From the Middle Ages
As it is said in the Gospel of the Nazarenes:
At this word of the Lord many thousands of Jews
who were standing around the cross became believers.
(Haimo of Auxerre; Commentary on Isaiah 53:2)
In the Gospel books which the Nazarenes use we read:
Rays went forth from his eyes,
by which they were frightened and fled.
(A Marginal note in a versified 8th century Bible manuscript known as the Aurora of Peter Riga)
This is likely the source for a similar comment made by the fourth century “Church Father” Jerome who elsewhere frequently quotes from the Goodnews according to the Hebrews gives the following citation without giving a source:
For a certain fiery and starry light radiated
from his eyes and the majesty of the Godhead
gleamed in his face.
(Jerome; Commentary on Matthew 21:12)
Fragments from the Middle Ages
These eight days of Passover, at which Messiah the son of God rose again, signify eight days after the recurrence of the Passover, at which the seed of Adam will be judged, as is proclaimed in the Gospel of the Hebrews; and for this reason the learned believe that the day of judgment will be at Passover, because on that day Messiah rose again, that on that day also the saints should rise again.
(cited in Cateches celtique of the Breton Vaticanus Reginus, lat. 49; Studi e Testi 59, 1933, p.58)
For thus the Gospel which is entitled According to the Hebrews
reports:
When Joseph looked out with his eyes, he saw a crowd of pilgrims
Who were coming in company to the cave, and he said:
I will arise and go out to meet them. And when Joseph went out,
he said to Simon, “It seems to me as if those coming were
soothsayers, for lo, every moment they look up to heaven
and confer with one another. But they seem to be strangers,
for their appearance differs from ours; for their dress is very rich
and their complexion quite dark; they have caps on their heads
and their garments seem to be silky, and they have breeches
on their legs. And they have halted and are looking at me,
and lo, they have halted and are looking at me,
and lo, they have again set themselves in motion and are coming here.
From these words it is clear that not merely three men, but a crowd
of pilgrims came to the Lord, even if according to some the foremost
leaders of this crowd were named with the definite names Melchus,
Casper and Phadizarda.
(Sedulius Scotus, Commentary on Matthew; MSS: Berlin, Phill. 1660,
9th century; fol. 17v; Vienna 740, 9th century, fol. 15 r.v.; cited by
Bischoff in Sacris Erudiri VI, 1954, 203f.)
According to a citation from the Gospel according to the Hebrews found in an 8th to 9th century commentary on Matthew the woman’s name was “Mariosa” (Comm. On Mt. 9:20; MS: Wurzburg, M.p.th. fol. 61, 8th-9th Century; cited by Bischoff in Sacris Erudiri VI, 1954, 252)
“a man” by name Malchus [Melekh] and he was a mason.
(Commentary on Matthew 12:10; MS: Wurzburg, M.p.th. fol. 61,
8th-9th Century; cited by Bischoff in Sacris Erudiri VI, 1954, 252)
“the queen”, namely Meroe, “of the South” that is Ethiopia.
(Commentary on Matthew 12:42; MS: Wurzburg, M. p. th. Fol. 61,
8th-9th Century; cited by Bischoff in Sacris Erudiri VI, 1954, 252)
“the daughter”, that is the synagogue, whose name is Mariossa.
(Historical Commentary on Luke 8:42; MS: Clem. 6235
fol. 55v, cited by Bischoff op.cit., 262)
In these cities (namely Chorazin and Bethsaidsa)
Many wonders have been wrought, as their number
The Gospel according to the Hebrews gives 53.
(Historical Commentary on Luke 10:13; MS: Clem. 6235
fol. 55v, cited by Bischoff op.cit., 262)
“the queen of the south” whose name is Meruae.
(Historical Commentary on Luke 11:31; MS: Clem. 6235 fol. 57v, cited by Bischoff op.cit., 262)
[And he wiped their feet] And as it is said
in the Gospel of the Nazarenes: “He kissed the feet
of each of them.”
(Historia passionis Domini; MS: Theolog.
Sammelhandschrift 14th-15th Century, Foll. 25v)
And how the angel strengthened Messiah in his struggle
in prayer, as is told in the Gospel of the Nazarenes.
And the same is also adduced by Anselm in his lamentation:
Be constant, Lord, for now comes the time in which through
your passion mankind sold in Adam will be ransomed.
(Historia passionis Domini; MS: Tholog. Sammelhandschrift
14th-15th Century, Fol. 32r)
In the Gospel of the Nazarenes the reason is given
why John was known to the high priest. As he was
the son of the poor fisherman Zebedee, he had often
brought fish to the palace of the high priests Annas
and Caiaphas. And John went out to the damsel
that kept the door and secured from her permission
for his companion Peter, who stood weeping loudly
before the door, to come in.
(Historia passionis Domini; MS: Theolog.
Sammelhandschrift 14th-15th Century, Foll. 35r)
We read in the Gospel of the Nazarenes that the Judeans
bribed four soldiers to scourge the Lord so severely
that the blood might flow from every part of his body.
They had also bribed the same soldiers to the end
that they crucified him as it is said in John 19…
(Historia passionis Domini; MS: Theolog.
Sammelhandschrift 14th-15th Century, Foll. 44r)
[Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do]
Note that in the Gospel of the Nazarenes we have to read that
at this virtuous discourse of Messiah eight thousand were later
converted to the faith; namely three thousand on the day of
Pentecost as stated in the Acts of the Apostles 2 [2:41],
and subsequently five thousand about whom we are informed
in the Acts of the Apostles 10 [really 4:4?]
(Historia passionis Domini; MS: Tholog. Sammelhandschrift
14th-15th Century, Fol. 55r)
Also in the Gospel of the Nazarenes we read that at the time of Messiah’s death the lintel of the Temple, of immense size, had split (Josephus says the same and adds that overhead awful voices were heard which said: “Let us depart from this abode).
(Historia passionis Domini; MS: Theolog. Sammelhandschrift 14th-15th Century, foll. 65r)
Cyril of Jerusalem
(This is probably from a heretical version of the book)
In Budge’s Miscellaneous Coptic Texts is a Discourse on Mary by Cyril of Jerusalem. Cyril (Pseudo-Cyril) relates that he had to send for a monk of Maioma of Gaza who was teaching false doctrine. Called on for an account of his belief the monk (p. 637, Eng. trans.) said: It is written in the Gospel to the Hebrews that when Christ wished to come upon the earth to men, the good Father called a mighty power in the heavens which was called Michael, and committed Christ to the care thereof. And the power came down into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months. Afterwards she gave birth to him, and he increased in stature, and he chose the apostles, . . . ‘was crucified, and taken up by the Father’. Cyril asked: Where in the Four Gospels is it said that the holy Virgin Mary the mother of god is a force? The monk said: In the Gospel to the Hebrews. Then, said Cyril, there are five Gospels? Where is the fifth? The monk said: It is the Gospel that was written to the Hebrews. (Cyril convinced him of his error and burned the books. No more is told of the Gospel, which, whatever it may have been, was certainly not the book we have been dealing with, but a writing of pronouncedly heretical (Docetic?) views. The last sentence of themonk’s account of Christ, which I did not quote in full just now, is perhaps worth recording.) ‘After they had raised him up on the cross, the Father took him up into heaven unto himself.’ This, with its omissin of all mention of the resurrection, might be construed as heretical: on the other hand, it may be merely a case of extreme compression of the narrative.

The Gospel of the Hebrews is known from quotations by Cyril of Jerusalem (Discourse on Mary Theotokos 12a), Origen (Commentary on John 2.12.87), Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis 2.9.45.5, 5.14.96.3), and Jerome (Commentary on Isaiah 4, Commentary on Ephesians 3, Commentary on Ezekiel 6, De viris illustribus 2). These are the only passages that are quoted in Cameron's The Other Gospels. pp. 85-86, which follows the translation made by Philipp Vielhauer and George Ogg in New Testament Apocrypha.
The following selection is excerpted from Montague Rhode James in The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1924), pp. 1-8. There are two things to be noted. First, Cameron believes that the Gospel of the Hebrews may have been independent from the canonical gospels. Thus, most of the references adduced by M.R. James, aside from the ones mentioned above, would be assigned by Cameron to another Jewish-Christian Gospel, most likely the Gospel of the Nazoreans. Second, the "Oxyrhynchus Sayings" are now known to come from the Gospel of Thomas.

The Gospel According to the Hebrews
This is on a different level from all the other books we have to deal with. It was a divergent yet not heretical form of our Gospel according to St. Matthew. Even to sketch the controversies which have raged about it is impracticable here. What may be regarded as established is that it existed in either Hebrew or Aramaic, and was used by a Jewish Christian sect who were known as Nazaraeans (Nazarenes), and that it resembled our Matthew closely enough to have been regarded as the original Hebrew of that Gospel. I believe few, if any, would now contend that it was that original. It is generally, and I believe rightly, looked upon as a secondary document. What was the extent of the additions to or omissions from Matthew we do not know: but two considerations must be mentioned bearing on this: (1) The Stichometry of Nicephorus assigns it 2,200 lines, 300 less than Matthew. This figure, if correct, means that a good deal was left out. (2) If the Oxyrhynchus Sayings (see post) are really, as competent schoalrs think, extracts from it, we must suppose a large quantity of additional matter: for we have but two rather brief fragments of that collection of sayings, and eight out of thirteen sayings are either not represented in the canonical text, or differ widely therefrom.
Jerome, who is our chief source of knowledge about this Gospel, says that he had made a Greek and a Latin version of it. The statement is wholly rejected by some, and by others thought to be an exaggeration. It is very difficult to accept it as it stands. Perhaps, as Lagrange suggests, the truth may be that Jerome took notes of the text in Greek and Latin. Schmidtke, it should be added, has tried to show that all Jerome's quotations are borrowed from an earlier writer, Apollonaris; but there is no positive evidence for this.
If the Oxyrhynchus Sayings do come from Hebrews, they seem to imply the existence of a Greek version before Jerome's time. This is also implied by the entry in the Stichometry.
I will translate the fragments as they appear in the most recent study on the subject, that of the Rev. Pere Lagrange in the Revue Biblique, 1922.
He begins by giving the fragments quoted by Epiphanius from what is properly called the Gospel of the Ebionites. Then he gives those of our Gospel, arranging them in the chronological order of the writers and the works in which they are found. This entails some little repetition, but is otherwise historically interesting, and sound.
Irenaeus Against Heresies, i.26.2. But the Ebionites use only that Gospel which is according to Matthew, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the Law.
iii.11.7. For the Ebionites, who use only that Gospel which is according to Matthew, are convicted out of that very book as not holding right views about the Lord.
The Ebionites mentioned here are a more primitive sect than those of whom Epiphanius speaks. See below.
Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis i. 9. 45). Even (or also, in the Gospel according to the Hebrews is written the saying, 'he that wondereth shall reign, and he that reigneth shall rest'.
id. (Strom.) v.14.96. For those words have the same force as these: He shall not cease from seeking until he find, and having found, he will be amazed, and having been amazed will reign, and having reigned will rest.
This is identical with one of the Sayings from Oxyrhynchus: see below.
Origen on John, ii. 12. And if any accept the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Saviour himself saith, 'Even now did my mother the Holy Spirit take me by one of mine hairs, and carried me away unto the great mountain Thabor', he will be perplexed, &c. . . .
On Jeremiah, homily xv.4. And if anyone receive that saying, 'Even now my mother the Holy Spirit took me and carried me up unto the great mountain Thabor', and the rest. . . .
The description of the Holy Spirit as 'my mother' is due to the fact that the Hebrew word for spirit is of the feminine gender. The saying, it is generally thought, refers to the Temptation.
Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. iii.39.17, speaking of the early writer Papias, says: He has also set forth (or expounded) another story, about a woman accused of many sins before the Lord, which the Gospel according to the Hebrews also contains.
It is the obvious, and general, view that this story was that of the woman taken in adultery, which, as is well known, forms no part of the true text of St. John's Gospel, though it is inserted by most manuscripts at the beginning of the eighth chapter. A few manuscripts place it in St. Luke's Gospel. The description suggests that Papias's story, with its mention of many sins, differed from ours in detail.
id. iv.22.8. Hegesippus made use in his Memoirs of the Gospel according to the Hebrews.
id. iii.25.5 (in his list of antilegomena, writings whose canonicity was disputed): And among them some have placed the Gospel according to the Hebrews which is the especial delight of those of the Hebrews who have accepted Christ.
iii.27.4. (The Ebionites repudiated Paul) and used only the Gospel according to the Hebrews, making but slight account of the others.
Theophany, iv.12 (preserved in Syriac). As we have found somewhere in the Gospel which the Jews have in the Hebrew tongue, where it is said: I choose for myself them that are good (or well pleasing): the good are they whome my Father which in heaven giveth (or hath given) me.
ibid. (A passage preserved in Greek also.) But since the Gospel written in Hebrew characters which has reached our hands turns the threat not against the man who hid the talent, but against him who had lived riotously (for it told of three servants, one who desereved his master's substance with harlots and flute-girls, another who multiplied it by trading, and another who hid the talent; and made the one to be accepted, another only rebuked, and another to be shut up in prison), the question occurs to me whether in Matthew, after the conclusion of the speech against the man who did nothing, the threat that follows may refer, not to him, but by epanalepsis (i.e. taking up a former subject again) be said of the first, who ate and drank with the drunken.
Epiphanius, Heresy xxix.9.4 (Nazoraeans). They have the Gospel according to Matthew quite complete, in Hebrew: for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written in Hebrew letters. I do not know if they have even removed the genealogy from Abraham to Christ.
Their Gospel was 'quite complete' as distinguished from the Ebionite-Gospel, which was mutilated.
Stichometry of Nicephorus (of uncertain date, but much older than the ninth-century chronicle to which it is attached).
Antilegomena of the New Testament:
Apocalpyse of John, Apocalpyse of Peter, Epistle of Barnabas, and
Gospel accrding to the Hebrews, 2,200 lines (300 lines less than the canonical Matthew).
Jerome. He is our principal authority in this matter.
On Ephesians, v. 4. As also we read in the Hebrew Gospel: 'And never, saith he, by ye joyful, save when ye behold your brother with love.'
On Micah vii.6. (The quotation about the Holy Spirit given above under Origen. Jerome quotes it again several times, not always in full.
Of illustrious men, 2 (on James the Lord's brother).
Also the Gospel according to the Hebrews, lately translated by me into Greek and Latin speech, which Origen often uses, tells, after the resurrection of the Saviour: 'Now the Lord, when he had given the linen cloth unto the servant of the priest, went unto James and appeared to him (for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour wherein he had drunk the Lord's cup until he should see him risen again from among them that sleep)', and again after a little, 'Bring ye, saith the Lord, a table and bread', and immediately it is added, 'He took bread and blessed and brake and gave it unto James the Just and said unto him: My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of Man is risen from among them that sleep'.
This is a famous passage. One interesting clause is apt to escape notice, about the giving of the shroad to the servent of the (high) priest, which implies that priests must have been apprised of the resurrection as soon as the apostles. Was the servant of the priest Malchus? Presumably the servant was at the sepulchre: if so, it was being guarded by the Jews as well as the Roman soldiers (as in the Gospel of Peter).
ibid. 3. Further, the Hebrew itself (or original) is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea which was collected with such care by the martyr Pamphilus. I also had an opportunity of copying it afforded me by the Nazarenes who use the book, at Beroea, a city of Syria.
This Boroea is Aleppo. In later years Jerome ceased to regard the Hebrew Gospel as the original Matthew.
ibid. 16. Of the Epistle of Ignatius 'to Polycarp' (really to Smyrna). In it he also inserts a testimony about the person of Christ, from the Gospel which was lately translated by me; his words are: But I both saw him (this is wrongly quoted) in the flesh after the resurrection, and believe that he is in the flesh: and when he came to Peter and those who were with Peter, he said to them: Lo, feel me and see that I am not a bodiless spirit (demon). And forthwith they touched him and believed.
Ignatius, to the Smyrnaeans, iii., 1, really says: For I know, and I believe that he is in the flesh even after his resurrection.
Another citation of these words of Christ is given by Origen as from the Doctrine of Peter: see p. 18.
On Matt. ii. Bethlehem of Judaea. This is a mistake of the scribes: for I think it was originally expressed by the Evangelist as we read in the Hebrew, 'of Judah', not Judaea.
On Matt vi.11 (the Lord's Prayer).
In the Gospel according to the Hebrews for 'super-substantial' bread I found mahar, which means 'of the morrow', so that the sense is: Our bread of the morrow, that is, of the future, give us this day.
The word supersubstantial is meant to render literally the difficult word epiousios which we translate 'daily'.
On Ps. cxxxv. In the Hebrew Gospel according to Matthew it is thus: Our bread of the morrow give us this day; that is, 'the bread which thou wilt give us in thy kingdom, give us this day'.
On Matt. xii. 13. In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use (which I have lately translated into Greek from the Hebrew, and which is called by many (or most) people the original of Matthew), this man who had the withered hand is described as a mason, who prays for help in such words as this: 'I was a mason seeking a livelihood with my hands: I pray thee, Jesus, to restore me mine health, that I may not beg meanly for my food.'
The mention of the Ebionites here is gratuitous. Jerome nowhere speaks of them as using the Gospel, and everything goes to show that, in his time, they did not.
Letter to Damascus (20) on Matt. xxi. 9. Matthew, who wrote his gospel in the Hebrew speech, put it thus: Osanna barrama, i.e., Osanna in the highest.
On Matt. xxiii. 35. In the Gospel which the Nazarenes use, for 'son of Barachias' I find 'of Joiada' written.
This reading avoids an historical difficulty, and is doubtless secondary.
On Matt. xxvii. 16. This Barabbas, in the Gospel entitled (wrtten) according to the Hebrews, is interpreted 'son of their master' (teacher).
By 'interpreted, says Lagrange, it is not meant that the Gospel translated the name, but that it used a form of it which suggested the meaning - Bar-abban.
On Matt. xxvii.51. In the Gospel I so often mention we read that a lintel of the temple of immense size was broken and divided.
Letter to Hedibia (ep. 120) 8. But in the Gospel that is written in Hebrew letters we read, not that the veil of the temple was rent, but that the lintel of the temple of wondrous size fell.
This was probably a change made under the influence of Isa. vi. 4, 'the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried'.
On Isa. xi.2. (The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him) not partially as in the case of other holy men: but, according to the Gospel written in the Hebrew speech, which the Nazarenes read, 'There shall descend upon him the whole fount of the Holy Spirit'. . . .In the Gospel I mentioned above, I find this written: And it came to pass when the Lord was come up out of the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon him, and said unto him: My son, in all the prophets was I waiting for thee that thou shouldst come, and I might rest in thee. For thou art my rest, and thou art my first begotten son, that reignest for ever.
On Isa. xi. 9, My mother the Holy Spirit.
On Isa., preface to bk. xviii. For when the Apostles thought him to be a spirit, or, in the words of the Gospel which is of the Hebrews, which the Nazarenes are wont to read, 'a bodiless demon', he said to them (Luke xxiv. 38).
On Ezek. xvi.13. My mother, the Holy Spirit.
On Ezek. xviii.7. And in the Gospel according to the Hebrews which the Nazarenes are accustomed to read, it is placed among the greatest sins 'if a man have grieved the spirit of his brother'.
Dialogue against Pelagius, iii.2. In the Gospel according to the Hebrews which is indeed in the Chaldaean and Syrian speech but is written in Hebrew letters, which the Nazarenes use to this day, called 'according to the apostles', or, as most term it, 'according to Matthew', which also is to be seen in the library of Caesarea, the story tells: Behold, the motehr of the Lord and his brethren said unto him: John Baptist baptizeth unto the remission of sins; let us go and be baptized of him. But he said unto them: Wherein (what) have I sinned, that I should go and be baptized of him? unless peradventure this very thing that I have said is a sin of ignorance.
ibid. And in the same book: If thy brother (saith he) have sinned by a word and made thee amends, seven times in a day receive thou him. Simon his disciple said unto him: Seven times in a day? The Lord answered and said unto him: Yea, I say unto thee, unto seventy times seven times. For in the prophets also, after they were anointed by the Holy Spirit, the word of sin was found.
'Word of sin' is Hebraistic for 'somewhat of sin': similarly 'sinned by a word' means 'sinned in anything'.
Latin version of Origen on Matthew (now called Pseudo-Origen).
It is written in a certain Gospel which is called according to the Hebrews (if at elast any one care to accept it, not as authoritative, but to throw light on the question before us):
The second of the rich men (it saith) said unto him: Master, what good thing can I do and live? He said unto him: O man, fulfil (do) the law and the prophets.
He answered him: I have kept them. He said unto him: Go, sell al that thou ownest, and distribute it unto the poor, and come, follow me. But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him: How sayest though: I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: Though shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and lo, many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying for hunger, and thine house is full of many good things, and nought at all goeth out of it unto them.
And he turned and said unto Simon his disciple who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Joanna, it is easier for a camel to enter in by a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It is probable that this extract was found by the translator of Origen's comentary in some work of Jerome. It seems to be agreed that it was not in Origen's own commentary.
Some manuscripts of the Gospels have marginal notes recording readings of 'the Jewish' Gospel, by which our Gospel is evidently meant. Some of these were published by Tischendorf, others more recently by Schmidtke. According to the latter these notes were originally made between 370 and 500 by some one who did his work at Jerusalem.
Matt. iv. 5. The Jewish copy has not 'unto the holy city' but 'in Jerusalem'.
Matt. v. 22. The word 'without cause' is not inserted in some copies, nor in the Jewish.
Matt. vii. 5. The Jewish has here: If ye be in my bosom and do not the will of my Father which is in heaven, out of my bosom will I scast you away.
(The 'Second Epistle of Clement', iv. 5, has: The Lord said: If ye be with me gathered together in my bosom and do not my commandments, I will cast you away and say unto you: Depart from me; I know you not whence ye are, ye workers of wickedness.)
Matt. x. 16. The Jewish has '(wise) more than serpents' instead of 'as serpents'.
Matt. xi. 12. (The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.) The Jewish has: 'is ravished (or plundered).'
Matt. xi. 25. (I thank thee (lit. confess unto thee), O Father.) The Jewish: 'I give thee thanks.'
Matt. xii. 40b. The Jewish has not: three days and three nights (in the heart of the earth).
Matt. xv. 5. The Jewish: Corban by which ye shall be profited by us.
Probably it is meant that the verse ran: But ye say to your father and mother: Corban, &c.
Matt. xvi. 2, 3. Omitted by 'the Jewish' (as by many extant manuscripts).
Matt. xvi. 17. The Jewish: (Simon) son of John.
Matt. xviii. 22. The Jewish has, immediately after the seventy times seven: For in the prophets, after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, there was found in them a word (matter) of sin.
This shows the identity of 'the Jewish' with Jerome's gospel.
Matt. xxvi. 74. The Jewish: and he denied and swore and cursed.
Matt. xxvii. 65. The Jewish: And he delivered unto them armed men, that they might sit over against the cave and keep it day and night.
A commentary on Isaiah (liii.12) by Haimo of Auxerre (c. 850) has this apropos of the word 'Father forgive them':
For, as is contained in the Gospel of the Nazarenes, at this word of the Lord many thousands of Jews that stood round about the Cross believed.
A marginal note (thirteenth century) on a copy of the versified Bible called the Aurora (by Petrus de Riga), in a manuscript at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (one of a number of remarkable notes) is:
At the cleansing of the Temple:
In the books of the Gospels which the Nazarenes use it is read that rays issued from his eyes whereby they were terrified and put to flight.
Jerome on Matt. xxi. 12 says that the people whom Jesus drove out did not resist him: 'For a certain fiery and starry light shone (radiated) from his eyes and the majesty of the Godhead gleamed in his face.'
When I published the note, I took it that it was a reminiscence of Jerome's words: ray and radiate occur in both. But Dr. Zahn was of opinion that it might really represent something in the old Gospel: so I include it, though with hesitation.
One other mention of this Gospel has to be added.
In Budge's Miscellaneous Coptic Texts is a Discourse on Mary by Cyril of Jerusalem. Cyril (Pseudo-Cyril) relates that he had to send for a monk of Maioma of Gaza who was teaching false doctrine. Called on for an account of his belief the monk (p. 637, Eng. trans.) said: It is written in the Gospel to the Hebrews that when Christ wished to come upon the earth to men, the good Father called a mighty power in the heavens which was called Michael, and committed Christ to the care thereof. And the power came down into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months. Afterwards she gave birth to him, and he increased in stature, and he chose the apostles, . . . 'was crucified, and taken up by the Father'. Cyril asked: Where in the Four Gospels is it said that the holy Virgin Mary the mother of god is a force? The monk said: In the Gospel to the Hebrews. Then, said Cyril, there are five Gospels? Where is the fifth? The monk said: It is the Gospel that was written to the Hebrews. (Cyril convinced him of his error and burned the books. No more is told of the Gospel, which, whatever it may have been, was certainly not the book we have been dealing with, but a writing of pronouncedly heretical (Docetic?) views. The last sentence of themonk's account of Christ, which I did not quote in full just now, is perhaps worth recording.) 'After they had raised him up on the cross, the Father took him up into heaven unto himself.' This, with its omissin of all mention of the resurrection, might be construed as heretical: on the other hand, it may be merely a case of extreme compression of the narrative.

The following selection is excerpted from Ron Cameron in The Other Gospels: Non-Canonical Gospel Texts (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1982), pp. 85-86. Philipp Vielhauer and George Ogg made the original translation in New Testament Apocrypha.

It is written in the Gospel of the Hebrews:
When Christ wished to come upon the earth to men, the good Father summoned a mighty power in heaven, which was called Michael, and entrusted Christ to the care thereof. And the power came into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months.
(Cyril of Jerusalem, Discourse on Mary Theotokos 12a)
According to the Gospel written in the Hebrew speech, which the Nazaraeans read, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit shall descend upon him. . . Further in the Gospel which we have just mentioned we find the following written:
And it came to pass when the Lord was come up out of the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended upon him and rested on him and said to him: My son, in all the prophets was I waiting for thee that thou shouldest come and I might rest in thee. For thou art my rest; thou art my first-begotten Son that reignest for ever.
(Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 4 [on Isaiah 11:2])
And if any accept the Gospel of the Hebrews - here the Savior says:
Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away on to the great mountain Tabor.
(Origen, Commentary on John 2.12.87 [on John 1:3])
As also it stands written in the Gospel of the Hebrews:
He that marvels shall reign, and he that has reigned shall rest.
(Clement, Stromateis 2.9.45.5)
To those words (from Plato, Timaeus 90) this is equivalent:
He that seeks will not rest until he finds; and he that has found shall marvel; and he that has marvelled shall reign; and he that has reigned shall rest.
(Ibid., 5.14.96.3)
As we have read in the Hebrew Gospel, the Lord says to his disciples:
And never be ye joyful, save when ye behold your brother with love.
(Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians 3 [on Ephesians 5:4])
In the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which the Nazaraeans are wont to read, there is counted among the most grievous offences:
He that has grieved the spirit of his brother.
(Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 6 [on Ezekiel 18:7])
The Gospel called according to the Hebrews which was recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which Origen frequently uses, records after the resurrection of the Savior:
And when the Lord had given the linen cloth to the servant of the priest, he went to James and appeared to him. For James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the cup of the Lord until he should see him risen from among them that sleep. And shortly thereafter the Lord said: Bring a table and bread! And immediately it added: he took the bread, blessed it and brake it and gave it to James the Just and said to him: My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of man is risen from among them that sleep.
(Jerome, De viris inlustribus 2)
The Gospel of the Hebrews
Extracts and Commentary
Taken from Gospel Parallels,
Ed. Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr.
ISBN 0-8407-5150-8
And
The Other Bible
Ed. Willis Barnstone
ISBN 0-06-250030-904143784
The Gospel of the Nazaraeans ("observers") in Hebrew is believed to have been the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew and the source for the present gospel (which was composed in Greek). There are reliable witnesses that this gospel was both used and circulated among the earliest followers of Yahshua in the diaspora. Some believe it originated in Egypt, and that the latest possible date it might have been written was during the first half of the second century; however, there are other opinions that it was composed in the middle of the first century, when "Jesus" traditions were first being produced and collected. An earlier date is more likely than a later one. Jerome, Eusebius, and Hegesippus (the latter two not quoting it) make mention of it as do Origen, Clement (both Alexandrians). It is believed to have been known to Papias who died about 130 C.E. and may have quoted it in his lost "Exegesis of the Sayings of the Lord" (which is now "lost"). It is significant to note that Nicephorus, when drawing up his list of canonical and apocryphal books, stated that the Gospel of the Hebrews contained only 2200 lines, 300 fewer than Matthew. It has been suggested that these three hundred lines are the birth narratives of the first and second chapters of our canonical Matthew.
The following are the only known extractions from it. Care should be exercised to separate the actual quotations of the extractions from the interpretative remarks made by the church writers. I have placed any corresponding New Covenant verses (taken from the KJV) before each extract. All material underlined, bold-faced, and italicized contains my own emphasis.
Matthew 3:13: "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him."
To Matt. 3:13: cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews, (in Jerome, Against Pelagius III.2)--The mother of the Lord and his brothers said to him, "John the Baptist baptizes for the forgiveness of sins; let us go and be baptized by him." But he said to them, "In what way have I sinned that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless, perhaps, what I have just said is a sin of ignorance."
Commentary:
Within the Torah are different categories of sin; a sin of ignorance is a mis-stepping, or a "side-slip", meaning that in order to learn from one's mistakes he often side-steps to the left or right hand through ignorance, but once he has realized his mistake he then again attempts to step back on the "way" or "path" of righteousness. In the New Covenant this type of sin is often referred to as a "trespass".
Matthew 3:16-17: "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God [Elohim] descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
(From Gospel Parallels)
To Matt. 3:16-17 cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews, (in Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 11:2)--When the Lord ascended from the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon him, and said to him, "My son, in all the prophets I was waiting for you, that you might come, and that I might rest in you. For you are my rest; and you are my firstborn son, who reigns forever."
(From The Other Bible)
(Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 4 [on Isaiah 11:2])
According to the Gospel written in the Hebrew speech, which the Nazaraeans read, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit shall descend upon him....Further in the Gospel which we have just mentioned we find the following written: "And it came to pass when the Lord was come up out of the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended upon him and rested on him and said to him: My son, in all the prophets was I waiting for you that you should come and I might rest in you. For you are my rest; you are my firstbegotten Son that reigns forever.
Commentary:
The earliest followers of Yahshua believed that Yahshua was empowered by the Holy Spirit at his immersion, not at his birth (thus they did not include the later birth narratives in their gospel). The important point in using the word "rest" above is that it refers to the Jewish belief that the Messiah's name will be called "Menachem", or "rest". You will also notice that while our present Matthew does not include the idea of the "firstborn" son (implying that there will be others), they use also the second phrase as quoted in Psalm 2:7 as well: "this day have I begotten thee". You will note that John 1:14 is translated as the "only begotten", but the word "only" there is an addition to the text. It should read "the begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He (the Father) hath declared." The word "begotten" here implies only that he was in the Father's bosom before the creation of the world. In the Hebrew, as used in Zechariah 12:10, the word for "only" is yachid meaning "beloved" and implying the "firstborn" son, and as the book of Hebrews states, that Yahvah would use Yahshua, His Firstborn, for "bringing many sons to glory" [Hebrews 2:10] as an "elder brother". Please note that this gospel was written first in Hebrew by the testimony of several of the "church fathers".
Matthew 4:8: "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them."
(From Gospel Parallels)
To Matt. 4:8 cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews (in Origen, Commentary on John 2:12 and Homily on Jeremiah 15:4)--And if any accept the Gospel of the Hebrews, here the Savior says: "Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs, and carry me to the great Mount Tabor." Jerome also records these words in Latin in his commentaries on Micah 7:6, Isaiah 40:9ff., and Ezekiel 16:13.
(From The Other Bible)
(Origen, Commentary on John 2.12.87 [on John 1:3]):
And if any accept the Gospel of the Hebrews -- here the Savior says: Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away on to the great mountain Tabor.
Commentary:
Within Judaism, the Shekinah (or "visible" cloud of the Presence) is a feminine word, thought to be Yahvah's feminine aspect; therefore, they called the Spirit the "mother". You will note, likewise, that the Renewed City of Jerusalem that "descends from heaven" is also referred to as female, as the "mother" of us all. Jewish studies have shown that this Heavenly Jerusalem is a "palace of overcomers" (the Overcomer's Palace), and is called by the ancient Jewish kabbalists Binah ("Understanding"), a house with "many rooms" (in the New Covenant it is translated "many mansions"). The verse above follows the motif in the book of Ezekiel where it is stated: "And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem" [Ezekiel 8:3], i.e. to a "holy mountain". Tabor (meaning "mound"; Strong's has broken" or "fragile") was a "very high mountain" located as a landmark within the territories of Issachar and Zebulon, overlooking the Plain of Esdraelon (Greek for Jezreel); and is where Barak gathered his ten thousand men in Deborah's campaign. This is why some believe that "Har Megiddo" or "Armageddon" will be the gathering place of the final battle of the age. While it is entirely possible that this mountain is the one referred to in the book of Revelation, we must realize also that the word "megiddo" means "gathering place" and could mean any "gathering place". Isaiah refers to the Mount of the Congregation (or the Mountain in Jerusalem) as the Har Moed, the Mountain of Appointment, or "meeting"; and since all Scripture states the "Day of Yahvah" will occur in Jerusalem, we must also consider that Tabor is a "symbolic" term used because of its historical significance as a "gathering place". Note: Origen, an Alexandrian, both quoted from and used the Gospel of the Hebrews. The reason he says "if any accept it" is because many of his colleagues in the west did not.
Matthew 5:23: "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee..."
(From Gospel Parallels)
To Matt. 5:23 cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews (in Jerome Commentary on Ezekiel 18:7): And in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which the Nazaraeans are accustomed to read, one of the greatest sins is "To grieve the spirit of one's brother." And, Jerome on Ephesians 5:4 writes: As also we read in the Hebrew Gospel that the Lord spoke to his disciples: "And never," he said, "be joyful except when you look on your brother with love."
(From The Other Bible)
(Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians 3 [on Ephesians 5:4]):
As we have read in the Hebrew Gospel the Lord says to his disciples
: And never be you joyful, save when you behold your brother with love.
(From The Other Bible)
(Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 6 [on Ezekiel 18:7]):
In the Gospel according to the Hebrews which the Nazaraeans are wont to read
there is counted among the most grievous offenses: He that has grieved the spirit of his brother.
Commentary:
The saying in Matthew 5:23-24 appears to confirm the saying in the Gospel of the Hebrews. Even Jerome seems to agree with the saying in this Gospel about "brotherly love".
Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you..."
(From Gospel Parallels)
To Matt. 7:7 cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews (in Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies V.14.96); also cf. Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 654, Logion 1: "He who seeks will not give up until he finds; and having found, he will marvel; and having marveled, he will reign; and having reigned, he will rest."
(From The Other Bible)
(Clement, Stromateis 2.9.45.5)
As also it stands written in the Gospel of the Hebrews: He that marvels shall reign, and he that has reigned shall rest.
Commentary:
I have explained this in other early gospel commentaries. When we seek ardently, we shall find, and when we find, we shall be in awe, and having come to an understanding, we shall be in the "house of understanding", reigning as priests and rulers with Yahshua, our Chief, and that will be our rest.
Matthew 11:29: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
(From Gospel Parallels)
To Matt. 11:29 cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews (in Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies II.9.45)--He who has marveled shall reign, and he who has reigned shall rest. He who seeks will not give up until he finds; and having found, he will marvel; and having marveled, he will reign, and having reigned he will rest, Ibid. V.14.96.
(From The Other Bible)
(Clement, Stromateis 5.14.96.3)
To those words (from Plato, Timaeus 90) this is equivalent: He that seeks will not rest until he finds; and he that has found shall marvel; and he that has marveled shall reign; and he that has reigned shall rest.
Commentary:
Apparently, the editors of these books have chosen to use this verse to identify these sayings (although the previous verse defines it better), the similarity that I find here is the concept of learning from Yahshua to understand and, thus receiving rest.
Luke 24:50-53: "And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen."
(From Gospel Parallels)
Luke 24:50-53 cf. Gospel according to the Hebrews (in Jerome, On Illustrious Men, 2)--Also the gospel called according to the Hebrews, recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which Origen often uses, says, after the resurrection of the Savior: "Now the Lord, when he had given the linen cloth to the servant of the priest, went to James and appeared to him (for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the Lord's cup until he should see him risen from among them that sleep)." And a little further on the Lord says, "Bring a table and bread." And immediately it is added, "He took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to James the Just and said to him, "My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of man is risen from among them that sleep.'"
(From The Other Bible)
(Jerome, De viris inlustribus 2):
The Gospel called according to the Hebrews which was recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which Origen frequently uses, records after the resurrection of the Savior: And when the Lord had given the linen cloth to the servant of the priest, he went to James and appeared to him. For James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the cup of the Lord until he should see him risen from among them that sleep. And shortly thereafter the Lord said: Bring a table and bread! And immediately it is added: he took the bread, blessed it and brake it and gave it to James the Just and said to him: My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of man is risen from among them that sleep.
Commentary:
This verses from the KJV above really have little to do with the resurrection narrative in the Gospel of the Hebrews concerning James (Yacov or Jacob). There was a tradition among the early apostles that James, having been present at the Passover meal, did not believe his brother would be raised from the dead, but that Yahshua visited him first after his resurrection. The present gospels seem to evidence the fact that James nor his brothers were followers of Yahshua prior to the execution and resurrection and actually believed that he might be "mad" (see Mark 3:21; Luke 8:19-20; Matthew 12:46-50; John 7:1-9, especially verse 5). At the Feast of Weeks, however, Judas the brother of James, is at least listed among the group of believers (see Acts 1:14). Jude, in his own epistle, claims verifies that he is the same "brother of James" [Jude 1]. Shaul (Paul) in 1 Corinthians 15:7 would seem to provide the evidence that Yahshua did, in fact, visit James after the resurrection but after Cephas and the twelve, then more than five hundred "brethren" who were still alive at the time of Shaul's writing: "After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles". During the beginning of Yahshua's ministry James did not believe Yahshua was the Messiah; however, there was some great catalyst that changed his mind, for he became the leader of the Nazaraean community in Jerusalem and produced our present epistle of James (written before 61 C.E. -- 42 C.E., or earlier, being the most likely date of the writing -- when he was stoned by the Sanhedrin under the authority of Ananus, the son or grandson of Annas who had been responsible for bringing Yahshua to trial; see Josephus, Antiquities 20.9.200) where he makes mention of Yahshua as the Messiah only twice; in verse 1: "James, a servant of Elohim and of the Lord Jesus Christ [Master Yahshua haMashiach], to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting" (he was writing to the "diaspora"); and in James 2:1: "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ [Master Yahshua haMashiach], (the Lord) of glory, with respect of persons." (The words "the Lord" are not in the manuscript). James, as the leader of the Jerusalem Jewish believers in Yahshua, was apparently a Nazaraean (or Nazir) and "high priest" (Mary was of the lineage of Aaron) and entitled to enter the "Holy of Holies" for which we also have evidence. Eusebius quotes Hegesippus, who states: "This apostle was consecrated from his mother's womb. He drank neither wine nor fermented liquors, and abstained from anima food. A razor never came upon his head, he never anointed with oil, and never used a bath. He alone was allowed to enter the sanctuary. He never word woollen, but linen garments [i.e. as the priests did]...And indeed, on account of his exceeding great piety, he was called the Just, and Oblias (or Zaddick and Ozleam) which signifies justice and protection of the people. Some of the seven sects [of Judaism], therefore, of the people, mentioned by me above in my Commentaries, asked him what was the door to Jesus? And he answered, 'that he was the Saviour.'. From which, some believed that Jesus is the Christ..." [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chapter XXIII]. Likewise, he was said to have worn the "crown" or "sacradotal plate" of the high priest. This has also been interpreted to have been the "ephod"; however, the "plate" was the golden "crown" upon which the letters YHVH were inscribed and placed on the "turban" on top of the forehead.
Other references mentioning the Gospel of the Hebrews:
(Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter XXIV):
"...yet of all the disciples, Matthew and John are the only ones that have left us recorded comments, and even they, tradition says, undertook it from necessity. Matthew also having first proclaimed the gospel in Hebrew, when on the point of going also to other nations, committed it to writing in his native tongue, and thus supplied the want of his presence to them, by his writings.
(Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter XXV) in compiling the "canon":
But there are also some who number among these [genuine books], the gospel according to the Hebrews, with which those of the Hebrews that have received Christ are particularly delighted. These may be said to be all concerning which there is any dispute.
(From The Other Bible)
(Cyril of Jerusalem, Discourse on Mary Theotokos 12a):
It is written in the Gospel of the Hebrews: When Christ wished to come upon the earth to men, the good Father summoned a mighty power in Heaven, which was called Michael, and entrusted Christ to the care thereof. And the power came into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months.
Commentary:
This is obviously a heretical and distorted interpretation of the words in the Hebrew gospel to convince the "church" that Mary is the "Mother of God" and a perpetual virgin. This appears to be an interpretation evidencing the Eastern influence on the "church" at the Council of Ephesus (431 C.E.) where she was proclaimed Theotokos, "God-bearer" and "perpetual virgin". "Virgin birth stories (e.g., Hera, Rhea, Silvia, Brigid [also Venus, Aphrodite, among others]) were circulated in other cultures, as were tales of mothers mourning lost and deceased children (e.g., Demeter and Persephone; Isis and Horus [also the story of Tammuz, etc.]. Iconographically, just as Mary was often portrayed holding or nursing the infant Jesus, so too was the Egyptian goddess Isis depicted suckling her infant son, Horus. Even as Mary was called Queen of Heaven and sometimes depicted surrounded by the zodiac and other symbols, so too were the deities Isis, Magna Mater, and Artemis. Such parallels show that Mary's cult had roots in the cults of the female deities of the Greco-Roman pantheon, cults ultimately eradicated by Christianity" [Bruce Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, Oxford Companion to the Bible, p. 500]. The "Jesus Movement" was utilized by Constantine for cult assimilation of the Greco-Roman world into a "one-world government". He succeeded. The "love-feasts" on the eight day ("Sun-day") commemorating the "Last Supper" (or Pesach) of Yahshua became separated and ritualized in the "church" as the Eucharist, and a heirarchy of governmental "priests" became the harbingers of the Scriptures and the canonizing of the New Covenant, initiating the "Dark Ages" when it was illegal for any common individual to have copies. It was about this time that the "Cult of the Saints" was also spawned. There can be little doubt that the above reflects a perversion of the original Hebrew gospel.

The Gospel of the Nazoreans
The following selection is excerpted from Ron Cameron's The Other Gospels: Non-Canonical Gospel Texts (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1982), pp. 99-102. Philipp Vielhauer and George Ogg of New Testament Apocrypha originally made the translation.

To these (citations in which Matthew follows not the Septuagint but the Hebrew original text) belong the two: "Out of Egypt have I called my son" and "For he shall be called a Nazaraean."
(Jerome, De viris inlustribus 3)
Behold, the moter of the Lord and his brethren said to him: John the Baptist baptizes unto the remission of sins, let us go and be baptized by him. But he said to them: Wherein have I sinned that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless what I have said is ignorance (a sin of ignorance).
(Jerome, Adversus Pelagianos 3.2)
The Jewish Gospel has not "into the holy city" but "to Jerusalem."
(Variant to Matthew 4:5 in the "Zion Gospel" Edition)
The phrase "without a cause" is lacking in some witnesses and in the Jewish Gospel.
(Variant to Matthew 5:22, ibid.)
In the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews instead of "essential to existence" I found "mahar," which means "of tomorrow, so that the sense is: "Our bread of tomorrow" - that is, of the future - "give us this day."
(Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 1 [on Matthew 6:11])
The Jewish Gospel reads here as follows: "If ye be in my bosom and do not the will of my Father in heaven, I will cast you out of my bosom."
(Variant to Matthew 7:5 - or better to Matthew 7:21-23 - in the "Zion Gospel" Edition)
The Jewish Gospel: (wise) more than serpents.
(Variant to Matthew 10:16, ibid.)
The Jewish Gospel has: (the kingdom of heaven) is plundered.
(Variant to Matthew 11:12, ibid.)
The Jewish Gospel has: I thank thee.
(Variant to Matthew 11:25, ibid.)
In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and the Ebionites use, which we have recently translated out of Hebrew into Greek, and which is called by most people the authentic (Gospel) of Matthew, the man who had the withered hand is described as a mason who pleaded for help in the following words: "I was a mason and earned (my) livelihood with (my) hands; I beseech thee, Jesus, to restore me to my health that I may not with ignominy have to beg for my bread."
(Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 2 [on Matthew 12:13])
The Jewish Gospel does not have: three d(ays and nights).
(Variant to Matthew 12:40 in the "Zion Gospel" Edition)
The Jewish Gospel: corban is what you should obtain from us.
(Variant to Matthew 15:5, ibid.)
What is marked with an asterisk (i.e., Matthew 16:2-3) is not found in other manuscripts, also it is not found in the Jewish Gospel.
(Variant to Matthew 16:2-3, ibid.)
The Jewish Gospel: son of John.
(Variant to Matthew 16:17, ibid.)
He (Jesus) said: If thy brother has sinned with a word and has made three reparations, receive him seven times in a day. Simon his disciple said to him: Seven times in a day? The Lord answered and said to him: Yea, I say unto thee, until seventy times seven times. For in the prophets also after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, the ord of sin (sinful discourse?) was found.
(Jerome, Adversus Pelagianos 3.2)
The Jewish Gospel has after "seventy times seven times": For in the prophets also, after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, the ord of sin (sinful discourse?) was found.
(Variant to Matthew 18:22 in the "Zion Gospel" Edition)
The other of the two rich men said to him: Master, what good thing must I do that I may live? He said to him: Man, fulfil the law and the prophets. He answered him: That have I done. He said to him: Go and sell all that thou possessest and distribute it among the poor, and then come and follow me. But hte rich man then began to scratch his head and it (the saying) pleased him not. And the Lord said to him: How canst though say, I have fulfilled the law and the prophets? For it stands written in the law: Love thy neighbor as thyself; and behold, many of the brethren, sons of Abraham, are begrimed with dirt and die of hunger - and thy house is full of many good things and nothing at all comes forth from it to them! And he turned and said to Simon, his disciple, who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Jona, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Origen, Commentary on Matthew 15.14 [on Matthew 19:16-30])
In the Gospel which the Nazarenes use, instead of "son of Barachias" we have found written "son of Joiada."
(Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 4 [on Matthew 23:35])
But since the Gospel (written) in Hebrew characters which has come into our hands enters the threat not against the man who had hid (the talent), but against him who had lived dissolutely - for he (the master) had three servants: one who squandered his master's substance with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied the gain, and one who hid the talent; and accordingly one was accepted (with joy), another merely rebuked, and another cast into prison - I wonder whether in Matthew the threat which is uttered after the word against the man who did nothing may not refer to him, but by epanalepsis to the first who had feasted and drunk with the drunken.
(Eusebius, Theophania 22 [on Matthew 25:14-15])
The Jewish Gospel: And he denied and swore and damned himself.
(Variant to Matthew 26:74 in the "Zion Gospel" Edition)
Barabbas. . . is interpreted in the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews as "son of their teacher."
(Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 4 [on Matthew 27:16])
But in the Gospel which is written in Hebrew characters we read not that the veil of the temple was rent, but that the lintel of the temple of wondrous size collapsed.
(Jerome, Epistula ad Hedybiam 120.8)
The Jewish Gospel: And he delivered to them armed men that they might sit over against the cave and guard it day and night.
(Variant to Matthew 27:65 in the "Zion Gospel" Edition)
He (Christ) himself taught the reason for the separations of souls that take place in houses, as we have found somewhere in the Gospel that is spread abroad among the Jews in the Hebrew tongue, in which it is said: "I choose for myself the most worthy: the most worthy are those whom my Father in heaven has given me."
(Eusebius, Theophania 4.12 [on Matthew 10:34-36])
Gospel of the Nazaraeans
[Extracted from Gospel Parallels
Ed. Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr.;
ISBN 0-8407-5150-8]
The following is a listing of all known fragments of the Hebrew Gospel called the Gospel of the Nazaraeans. I was unable to locate on the internet a copy of it; thus, I am providing it from extracts taken from a book in my library. Those items that I have emphasized are in boldface with italics and underlined; all others are by the editor of the above book. I have placed the Scripture (as in the KJV) to which the fragment refers above the fragment and, in places, written a brief commentary. There can be no doubt that the original "Matthew" was written in the Hebrew language, that Jerome and Eusebius, both, had copies of it and that the two together translated it into the Latin and Greek languages. Eusebius apparently translated it into the Greek, while Jerome translated it into the Latin and incorporated it (in his own words, even changing some of them) into the Latin Vulgate from which the English versions (including KJV) are now derived. In the Scriptures, the words in italics are added to the text by the translators (as poetic license, and to make complete sense of the Scripture). Everything that is underlined is my own emphasis. It is clear that the original gospel was that attributed to Matthew, which some of the earliest scholars say was being recorded even while Yahshua (Jesus) was ministering. It is also obvious since there is historical evidence that it was the first Hebrew gospel that Mark and Luke were derived from it. Luke makes this admission in his first paragraph: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things [thus there were many others who were gathering information to write in a "book" also] which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us [Luke took his account from many other "books"], which from the beginning were eyewitnesses [Luke's admission that he was not an "eyewitness" but received this information from others], and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also [Luke wanted to write about this, too], having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus [obviously Luke's patron], that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed."
Luke's second treatise to Theophilus, originally appended to the first was the book of Acts, a continuation of his explanation to his patron, yet the "church fathers" canonized it separately from the first book of Luke. If one reads Luke and then Acts, he might have a more complete understanding of what Luke has been saying, for the one naturally and logically follows the other. The book of John should not have been placed fourth in order. Luke states in Acts 1:1-2, making this clear: "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilius, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost [Spirit] had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen".
Another thing to keep in mind as you read this study is that the early church fathers regarded anything the Hebrew wrote as "heresies" and called many of the Jews "gnostics"; however, it is quite clear from the writings of Shaul (Paul), from Yahshua himself, and from the apostolic letters (called the "general epistles", the ones written in Hebrew and were disputed by the church fathers) that "gnosticism" was a prevalent religious concept in both Judaism and the Primitive Congregation of Yahshua. These "gnostics" (any first century Jew writing in the Hebrew language about the concept of "good and evil") were considered heretical. The reason for this is that the latter "church" (from 70 C.E. onward) was steeped in Babylonian mysticism due to so many of its members being former pagans who promulgated the "savior god" or the "man-god" of the Babylonian and Egyptian pantheons.
It is also clear that the earliest list of books written about Yahshua was recorded by Marcion (who was sharply criticized and called a "heretic"). There were many other lists that were developed prior to the canonization of the "New Covenant", the books on which were generally circulated among the earliest messianic believers in Yahshua. For instance, the Gospel of Peter, criticized and labeled today as "gnostic" was read regularly in the earliest assemblies.
Jerome, who even changed some of the words of Yahshua in his Latin Vulgate, was quite smug in his own interpretations. Here are a few quotes from Testament by John Romer.
"Jerome was yet a man of whom it has been said that he was canonized not for his qualities of saintliness, but for the services he rendered the Roman church. Hot-tempered, outspoken, passionately devoted to his work and his friends, Jerome is certainly one of the most extraordinary figures in church history. And doubtless, it is due to his special temperament that his Latin Bible has come to be regarded by many people almost as if it were the unmediated word of God himself" [p. 234].
"For Augustine had written to tell him that the Christian congregation of a nearby town, Tripoli, rioted when Jerome's new translation of the Book of Jonah had been read at the Sunday service! So indignant had they become that some of the members had gone into the Jewish quarter of the town to ask Hebrew readers their opinion of the true meaning of the words of the text. At that time Jerome had been meeting Jewish scholars for some twenty years and surely knew exactly where the truth of the matter lay. What Jerome had done was to replace the traditional reading of the Hebrew word qiqqayon, changing it from the Latin cucurbita meaning a gourd, to hedera meaning ivy, and this had brought into question a favourite image of the artists of his day, the gourd bower of Paradise" [p. 236].
As to the "gourd bower" referred to, it was a pagan motif well-known among the pagan religions of the world. "The Christian artists have teken these images of Paradise directly from the pagan world...so one of the pagan fish is a sea monster, the whale that swallows Jonah the biblical prophet, while in another part of the scene, in suspended time, another fish spews him out. Even the putti [Egyptian motif] fishing traditionally in these Egyptian-style scenes seem to have been turned into Christians - into fishers of men. Appearing once again, Jonah sits serenely in his Paradise under a bower of gourds." The image, however, actually shows the "ivy" of Jerome [p. 235].
"It was the new translation of Job which in 403 had brought on the riot in Tripoli. In his letter Augustine wondered whether or not Jerome should have translated those texts. Though they were probably quite incorrect in their older versions - Augustine says that he himself could not judge as he had little Greek and no Hebrew - they had served the faithful well enough. Less sensitive critics simply questioned Jerome's right to tamper with the sacred words at all, especially with the traditional translations of the words of Jesus, some of which he had changed considerably" [p. 240].
Jerome, in his arrogance, makes this statement: "Why not, he asks, go back to the original Greek and correct the mistakes introduced by inaccurate translators and the blundering alterations of confident but ignorant critics and, further, all that has been inserted or changed by copyists more asleep than awake? [p. 240]" He assumes that the Greek is error-ridden. Of the fact that he changed the original Hebrew there can be no doubt, for he, by his own admission, translated that original Hebrew gospel into a more "suitable" gospel for the "church". Eusebius, likewise, makes this admission. The evidence is found in the gospel fragments below.
Matthew 2:15: "And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son."
To Matt. 2:15 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans, (in Jerome, On Illustrious Men 3)--"Out of Egypt have I called my son" and "For he shall be called a Nazaraean." Cf. Also margin of codex 1424 -- This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son . . ."
Commentary:
The original text of "Matthew" (whose name was appended to the present gospel) had "for he shall be called a Nazaraean"; Jerome left this out when translating, but makes mention of it later in his own works.
Matthew 4:5: "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple..."
To Matt. 4:5 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has not to the holy city, but to Jerusalem.
Commentary:
The acknowledgment that there was a Jewish Gospel written prior to the Greek versions is clear. Naturally, the name of the most important city in the world would be stated. The phrase "the holy city", depending on who is reading the text, might refer to the Samaritan "holy city" (where the Samaritans were known to have built a copy of the Jewish Temple).
Matthew 6:11: "Give us this day our daily bread."
To Matt. 6:11 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 6:11)--In the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews, for "bread essential to existence" I found "mahar," which means "of tomorrow"; so the sense is: our bread for tomorrow, that is, of the future, give us this day.
Commentary:
Note Jerome's admission of the Hebraic gospel. I believe the original gospel verse is correct, since Yahshua was preaching the coming "Kingdom of God".
Matthew 7:5: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
To Matt. 7:5 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel reads here: "If you be in my bosom and do not the will of my Father who is in heaven, I will cast you away from my bosom."
Commentary:
You will note that this is an addition to the text we presently have that was, apparently, deleted from Jerome's version.
Matthew 10:16: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
To Matt. 10:16 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans -- The Jewish Gospel: [wise] more than serpents.
Commentary:
The sense of "wise" here appears to be caution, not cunning.
Matthew 11:12: "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
To Matt. 11:12 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has: [the kingdom of heaven] is plundered.
Commentary:
The words have been changed, thus damaging the original sense of the phrase. What is being said here appears to be that the death of John the Immerser was a great blow to the testimony for the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 11:25: "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."
To Matt. 11:25 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has: I am grateful to thee.
Commentary:
Even though the words have been altered, the context is the same.
Matthew 12:10: "And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? That they might accuse him."
To Matt. 12:10 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 12:13)--In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and the Ebionites use, which we have recently translated from Hebrew to Greek, and which most people call the authentic [Gospel] of Matthew, the man who had the withered hand is described as a mason who begged for help in the following words: "I was a mason, earning a living with my hands; I beg you, Jesus, restore my health to me, so that I need not beg for my food in shame."
Commentary:
Here is the admission by Jerome that "most people" call the original Hebrew gospel (that the Nazarenes and Ebionites - sects of messianism - use the authentic (original) gospel. He also tells us here that he translated it from Hebrew to Greek (thus the additions, deletions, etc. that we now have in our New Covenant).
Matthew 12:40: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
To Matt. 12:40b cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel does not have: three days and three nights.
Commentary:
The alteration of this verse is quite significant, for it alters what Yahshua said. He, apparently, had said that the only sign given to the people would be the "sign of Jonah" -- that is, Jonah was sent to declare YHVH's judgment against the people of Nineveh if they did not repent. Likewise, Yahshua was sent to declare YHVH's judgment against the people of Israel, yet they would not repent. Thus, the verse probably read: "For as Jonas was in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth". Of course, Yahshua was comparing himself and his situation to Jonah's in every sense. The "heart of the earth" and the "whale's belly" were known to have represented "Leviathan", or figuratively, the "grave" and "death", because it is also associated with the word "yam", the "sea", or the "abyss". The Encyclopedia of Jewish Symbols states: "these sea-monsters have many names: "Tannim" (dragon); "rahav" (expanse) and "yam" (se", but the most common name is Leviathan, known in Jewish legend as the King of the Sea" [p. 96]. In the book of Revelation, Leviathan is called Abaddon, the King of "destruction" (or corruption), who comes up from the abyss or "Sea"; Abaddon is the "beast of the sea", that "old serpent" whose abode is an "expanse" (the grave).
Matthew 15:5: "But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me..."
To Matt. 15:5 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has: Corban is what you should gain from us.
Commentary:
Corban (or korban) is the gift of a child to his parents in their old age, sort of like a pension, by which they are provided for when they are no longer able to work or care for themselves.
Matthew 16:2-4: "He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye said, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" ...A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
To Matt. 16:2 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: What is marked with an asterisk [i.e., from "When it is evening" to the end of v. 3] is not found in other manuscripts, and is not found in the Jewish Gospel.
Commentary:
In other words, what we have here is an addition to the text, one that Jerome apparently wanted to elaborate on with another chance to call the Jews "hypocrites". In reply to the question posed to Yahshua, he simply stated that they would receive no sign except the sign of Jonah.
Matthew 16:17: "And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jo-na: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
To Matt. 16:17 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has: "son of John" [for "Bar-Jona"].
Commentary:
This is telling us that Simon (Peter) is the son of Yohanan (John), not Jonah or Yonah.
Matthew 18:21-22: "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
Luke 17:3-4: "Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
To Matt. 18:21-22 (Luke 17:3-4) cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Jerome, Against Pelagius, III.2)--He says, "If your brother has sinned by a word, and repented, receive him seven times a day." Simon, his disciple, said to him, "Seven times a day?" The Lord answered, "Yes, I tell you, as much as seventy times seven times! For in the prophets also, after they were anointed by the Holy Spirit, a word of sin [sinful speech?] was found."
Commentary:
Sinning by a "word" simply implies that any man might sin in his speech; thus, if he realizes his error and turns from it (i.e. learns from his mistake), then he should be received by his brothers as many times as is necessary. This is called "regeneration", a honing process by which one learns the path to YHVH.
Matthew 18:22: "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
To Matt. 18:22 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has, immediately after "seventy times seven": For in the prophets also, after they were anointed by the Holy Spirit, a word of sin [sinful speech?] was found in them.
Commentary:
Even the prophets were not free of sin even though they were the "oracles" of Elohim.
Matthew 19:16-24: "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you , That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
To Matt. 19:16-24 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Origen, Commentary on Matt. 15:14 in the Latin version) The second of the rich men said to him, "Teacher, what good thing can I do and live?" He said to him "Sir, fulfil the law and the prophets." He answered, "I have." Jesus said, "Go, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor; and come, follow me." But the rich man began to scratch his head, for it did not please him. And the Lord said to him, "How can you say, I have fulfilled the law and the prophets, when it is writtten in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself; and lo, many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are covered with filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, none of which goes out to them?" And he turned and said to Simon, his disciple, who was sitting by him, "Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."
Commentary:
This verse is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Since the Gospel of the Nazaraeans was written first in Hebrew, Mark and Luke had to have taken their own renditions from it. Mark, although purportedly written first, follows the Hebrew original here. See the following:
Mark 10:18: "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God."
Luke 18:19: "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that is, God."
To Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19 cf. Gospel of the Naassenes [perhaps a reference to the Gospel of the Nazaraeans] (in Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, V.7.26)--"Why do you call me good? One there is who is good -- my Father who is in heaven -- who makes his sun to rise on the just and on the unjust, and sense rain on the pure and on sinners." (Cf. Also Matt. 5:45).
Commentary:
Special mention must be made of this verse. It is found in all three gospels. Here, Yahshua is making a plain and clear statement: that he is not God and refuses to be called "good", that there is only one God, his Father - Yahvah! Since it is in the Hebrew gospel, the original, we must conclude that Mark and Luke both copied it specifically from that source in the Hebrew that was the original of what has known to have become the book of "Matthew".
Matthew 20:22: "But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able."
To Matt. 20:22 cf. Gospel of the Naassenes [believed to be a gloss for Nazaraeans] (in Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, V.8.11)--"But" he says, "even if you drink the cup which I drink, you will not be able to enter where I go."
Commentary:
Yahshua is telling the disciples that even though they might die with him, they would not yet sit at the Father's right hand; that event is for a future time, after Yahshua has "prepared" a place for them.
Matthew 21:12: "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves..."
To Matt. 21:12 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans, quoted in a marginal note of a thirteenth century manuscript [thus if this is true, and there are other sources that also seem to have had access to the Hebrew gospel at that time, then this Hebrew Gospel was available even in the 13th century] of the Aurora by Peter of Riga -- In the Gospel books which the Nazarenes use it is written: From his eyes went forth rays which terrified them and put them to flight.
Commentary:
First of all, the word "temple" here does not refer to the interior of the Temple, but to the "heiron" or precincts of the Temple. These precinct buildings were both on the hill of Ophel, on the Bridge of the Red Heifer, and on the Mount of Olives where the family of Hanan (Annas) had a dove aviary and sold doves to pilgrims (who gathered on the Mount of Olives at festivals to await the opening of the doors of the Temple at midnight). This area was referred to as Beth Pagi in the Talmud. Beth Pagi, however, was both within and without the Sabbath Limit. Where the boundary of Bethphage left off, the boundary of Beth Hini (or Bethany) began. The combined area was called Beth Pagi. The elders would have to go to the area outside the Sabbath Limit in order to judge a rebellious elder, or to add to the City Limits of Jerusalem. Thus there were moneychangers, vendors of all sorts, and the dove aviary of Annas (the Vice President of the Sanhedrin who was called the Ab bet din, or Father of the Court) before whom Yahshua would have been taken for the accusatory process (by Jewish law). This is why Yahshua was first taken to Annas, who either would have written (legally it could have been oral) the charges against him. His office (and home) would have been in the area of Beth Pagi on the Mount of Olives. There is overwhelming evidence of this fact. The second high priest (literally called the High Priest) was the "President" of the Beth Din. The real power, however, lay in the hands of the "Father of the Court", Annas (Hanan), who was called by Josephus the "ancientest of the priests", and the patriarch of an assimilated family: Boethus, Kimchit, Hanan, and Phiabi (Fabus), who operated the government of Israel from the time of King Herod until the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The Talmud and Tosefta speak of these families as "serpents"; therefore, it is no wonder that John the Immerser and Yahshua referred to them in those terms (vipers, serpents, etc.). These families were intermarried with the "Herodians" who were, in fact, instrumental to them as "spies". For more complete information on this family, see A Book of Evidence at http://members.tripod.com/~nkuehl/index.html -- in particular, "The Night of Watching" and "The Jewish Trial".
Matthew 23:27: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."
To Matt. 23:27 cf. Gospel of the Naassenes [again, probably a reference to Nazaraeans] (in Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, V.8.23)--"You are whitewashed tombs filled within with dead men's bones," that is, there is not within you the living man.
Commentary:
There were a multitude of tombs around Jerusalem. During festival periods, they were whitened so that the public might not touch them and become defiled, which would prevent them from "eating the passover" (in particular), or entering the Temple grounds. This was probably, however, a reference to the "Tombs of the Prophets", believed to have been built during the first century to memorialize the "prophets". These are the same prophets that Yashua refers to as having been killed by the ancestors of the people who built them.
Matthew 23:35: "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zach-a-ri-as son of Bar-a-chi-as, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."
To Matt. 23:35 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 23:35)--In the gospel which the Nazarenes use, for "son of Barachiah" we find written, "son of Jehoiada." Cf. Also -- And Zechariah the son of Jehoiada said, "For he was of two names" -- Peter of Laodicea Commentary on Matthew 23:35 ed. Heinrici V.267.
Commentary:
Jehoiada was the father of Zechariah the prophet, a high priest [2 Chronicles 24:20]. There can be no doubt that Jerome replaced this name with "Barachiah", for it was clearly in the Hebrew original as Jehoiada.
Matthew 25:22: He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them."
To Matt. 25:22ff. Cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Eusebius, Theophany on Matt. 25:14f.)--But the Gospel [written] in Hebrew letters which has reached our hands [Eusebius, by his own admission, claims that there was a gospel written in the Hebrew] turns the threat not against the man who had hid [the talent], but against him who had lived dissolutely--for it told of three servants: one who wasted his master's possessions with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied his gains, and one who hid the talent; and accordingly, one was accepted, one was only rebuked, and one was shut up in prison.
Commentary:
A different version of the same parable.
Matthew 26:74: Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew."
To Matt. 26:74 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans: The Jewish Gospel has: And he denied, and he swore [i.e., took an oath], and he cursed.
Commentary:
This is interesting, for here we understand clearly that Peter not only cursed [bitterly cursed, or execrated Yahshua], but he also denied knowing him, and most importantly, he "took an oath" that he did not know him. Taking an "oath" or sheba [seven] is the most serious self-condemnation that he committed. This is literally a swearing of truth between Yahvah and man. It is like standing before Yahvah and denying adamantly knowing Yahshua. Yahvah is the Elohim of the Oath, thus of Complete and Perfect Truth. No wonder he cried bitterly. He knew he had lied to Yahvah.
Matthew 27:16: "And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas."
To Matt. 27:16 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 27:16)--In the Gospel according to the Hebrews Barabbas is interpreted as "son of their master (teacher?)." He had been condemned because of insurrection and murder.
Commentary:
This makes complete sense. Barabbas, means literally "son of the father" (or in the philosophical sense "teacher" or "master"). He was probably a leader of the Zealot faction who were then attempting to do away with Roman administration in Jerusalem. He might well have been associated with Judas the Galilean, the head of the Zealot movement.
Luke 23:34: "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."
To Luke 23:34 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Haimo of Auxerre, Commentary on Isaiah 53:12)--As it is said in the Gospel of the Nazarenes: At this word of the Lord, many thousands of Jews standing around the cross, believed.
Commentary:
Just prior to a Jewish execution, the accused is asked to confess (not his crime, but his sin) so that he might be forgiven by Yahvah and be allowed to enter the World Without End. The Mishnah is quite clear about this: "[When] he was ten cubits from the place of stoning (beth haseqilah or execution site, which was on the Mount of Olives at Beth Pagi) they say to him, "Confess," for it is usual for those about to be put to death to confess. For whoever confesses has a share in the world to come" [Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6:2]. The reason given for this is that Joshua asked Achan to confess his transgression before the congregation put him to death. Yahshua did not confess as they wanted him to; instead, he prayed that the Father (Yahvah) might forgive them for their sin. The second thing about this Scripture in the Hebrew that we must note is that the word "cross" did not exist during the first century in the Hebrew language. Therefore, the Jews who wrote that original Hebrew gospel would not have used the Greek word "stauros" - stake or pole - but the word 'ets - "tree" (it is always translated in the apostles, and Peter, in particular, as xulon -- living tree, or "green tree"). The Jewish people had to adapt another word in order to come up with the modern Hebrew word tslav for "cross".
Matthew 27:51: "And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent..."
To Matt. 27:51 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans (in Jerome, Letter 120 to Hedibia and Commentary on Matthew 27:51): In the Gospel that is written in Hebrew letters we read, not that the curtain of the temple was torn, but that the astonishingly large lintel of the temple collapsed.
Commentary:
Again, here is a notation by Jerome that this gospel was written in Hebrew. The "lintel" to which Jerome is here referring was not a lintel over the Sanctuary House of the Temple. It was the lintel over the inner Nicanor Gate, and it was this lintel (held in place by a 60-foot high wall around the Sanctuary) from which hung the first veil. The Holy Place of the Temple was inside the Sanctuary area, not exclusively in the House. It was restricted to all Israelites (per Josephus) by this 60-foot high wall; thus, no one might be able to see into the Court of the Priests nor the altar area. The wall carving at Dura Europa of the Temple clearly shows this Nicanor Gate with its veil hanging in place, and behind we see the smoke from the altar and the blue veil hanging over the Holy of Holies.
The Nicanor was the "Great Gate" of the Temple referred to in Mishnah, Middot 4:2. "A golden vine was standing at the entrance of the sanctuary, trained over the posts. Whoever gave a leaf or a berry or a cluster brings it and hangs it on it. Said R. Eleazar bar Sadoq, 'There was an incident, and three hundred priests were appointed [to clear it since it was too heavy'" [Mishnah, Middot 3:8]. The "Great Gate" was seventy-five feet in height, and its doors were sixty feet high. It would have taken this "Great Gate" in order to hold up the great stone lintel holding the veil at the entrance of the Sanctuary. (Note, the Sanctuary is the complete interior courtyard of the priests, including the building of the House of Yahvah. It includes the Court of Priests, the Altar, the Porch and Steps and the House, as well as the priestly offices on either side of the building and its underground offices).
Matthew 27:65: "Pilate said unto them, Ye [i.e. the Sanhedrin of the Temple have their own police force or "watch"] have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can."
To Matt. 27:65 cf. Gospel of the Nazaraeans, as recorded in a marginal note of some mss: The Jewish Gospel has: And he delivered armed men to them, that they might sit opposite the cave and guard it day and night.
Commentary:
Note something here: there were never Roman centurians who guarded the Tomb of Yahshua -- there were only Temple police guards present at the tomb. Thus this is the reason they reported to Caiaphas the events of that morning. Roman guards would never have fallen asleep on the job, lest they be put to death; neither would they have reported to Caiaphas who would have had no control over them.

The Gospel of the Ebionites is known only by the quotations from Epiphanius in these passages of his Panarion: 30.13.1-8, 30.14.5, 30.16.4-5, and 30.22.4.
The following selection is excerpted from Montague Rhode James in The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1924), pp. 8-10.

All our knowledge of this is derived from Epiphanius, and he uses very confusing language about it (as about many other things). The passages are as follows:
And they (the Ebionites) receive the Gospel according to Matthew. For this they too, like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, use to the exclusion of others. And they call it according to the Hebrews, as the truth is, that Matthew alone of New Testament writers made his exposition and preaching of the Gospel in Hebrew and in Hebrew letters.
Epiphanius goes on to say that he had heard of Hebrew versions of John and Acts kept privately in the treasuries (Geniza?) at Tiberias, and continues:
In the Gospel they have, called according to Matthew, but not wholly complete, but falsified and mutilated (they call it the Hebrew Gospel), it is contained that 'There was a certain man named Jesus, and he was about thirty years old, who chose us. And coming unto Capernaum he entered into the house of Simon who was surnamed Peter, and opened his mouth and said: As I passed by the lake of Tiberias, I chose John and James the sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew and <Philip and Bartholomew, James the son of Alphaeus and Thomas> Thaddaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the Iscariot: and thee, Matthew, as thou satest as the receipt of custom I called, and thou followedst me. You therefore I will to be twelve apostles for a testimony unto (of) Israel.
And:
John was baptizing, and there went out unto him Pharisees and were baptized, and all Jerusalem. And John had raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat (it saith) was wild honey, whereof the taste is the taste of manna, as a cake dipped in oil. That, forsooth, they may pervert the word of truth into a lie and for locusts put a cake dipped in honey (sic).
These Ebionites were vegetarians and objected to the idea of eating locusts. A locust in Greek is akris, and the word they used for cake is enkris, so the change is slight. We shall meet with this tendency again.
And the beginning of their Gospel says that: It came to pass in the days of Herod the king of Judaea <when Caiaphas was high priest> that there came <a certain man> John <by name>, baptizing with the baptism of repentance in the river Jordan, who was said to be of the lineage of Aaron the priest, child of Zecharias and Elisabeth, and all went out unto him.
The borrowing from St. Luke is very evident here. He goes on:
And after a good deal more it continues that:
After the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John; and as he came up from the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Holy Ghost in the likeness of a dove that descended and entered into him: and a voice from heaven saying: Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased: and again: This day have I begotten thee. And straightway there shone about the place a great light. Which when John saw (it saith) he saith unto him: Who art thou, Lord? and again there was a voice from heaven saying unto him: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And then (it saith) John fell down before him and said: I beseech thee, Lord, baptize thou me. But he prevented him saying: Suffer it (or let it go): for thus it behoveth that all things should be fulfilled.
And on this account they say that Jesus was begotten of the seed of a man, and was chosen; and so by the choice of God he was called the Son of God from the Christ that came into him from above in the likeness of a dove. And they deny that he was begotten of God the Father, but say that he was created as one of the archangels, yet greater, and that he is Lord of the angels and of all things made by the Almighty, and that he came and taught, as the Gospel (so called) current among them contains, that, 'I came to destroy the sacrifices, and if ye cease not from sacrificing, the wrath of God will not cease from you'.
(With reference to the Passover and the evasion of the idea that Jesus partook of flesh:)
They have changed the saying, as is plain to all from the combination of phrases, and have made the disciples say: Where wilt thou that we make ready for thee to eat the Passover? and him, forsooth, say Have I desired with desire to eat this flesh of the Passover with you?
These fragments show clearly that the Gospel was designed to support a particular set of views. They enable us also to distinguish it from the Gospel according to the Hebrews, for, among other things, the accounts of the Baptism in the two are quite different. Epiphanius is only confusing the issue when he talks of it as the Hebrew Gospel - or rather, the Ebionites may be guilty of the confusion, for he attributes the name to them.
The Gospel according to the Twelve, or 'of the Twelve', mentioned by Origen (Ambrose and Jerome) is identified by Zahn with the Ebionite Gospel. He makes a good case for the identification. If the two are not identical, it can only be said that we know nothing of the Gospel according to the Twelve.
Revillout, indeed, claims the title for certain Coptic fragments of narratives of the Passion which are described in their propery place in this collection: but no one has been found to follow his lead.

The Gospel of the Ebionites
In the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis,
In the Gospel that is in general use among them which is called "according to Matthew",
which however is not whole and complete but forged and mutilated - they call it the
Hebrews Gospel-it is reported:
There appeared a certain man named Jesus of about thirty years of age, who chose us.
And when he came to Capernaum, he entered into the house of Simon whose surname
is Peter, and opened his mouth and said: "As I passed the Lake of Tiberias, I chose John
and James the sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew and Thaddeus and Simon the
Zealot and Judas the Iscariot, and you, Matthew, I called as you sat at the receipt of
custom, and you followed me. You, therefore, I will to be twelve apostles for a testimony
unto Israel." (Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.2-3)
And:
It came to pass that John was baptzing; and there went out to him Pharisees and were
baptized, and all of Jerusalem.
And John had a garment of camel`s hair and a leather girdle about his loins, and
his food, as it is said, was wild honey, the taste if which was that of manna, as a cake
dipped in oil.
Thus they were resolved to pervert the truth into a lie and put a cake in the place of locusts.
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.4-5)
And the beginning of their Gospel runs:
It came to pass in the days of Herod the king of Judaea, when Caiaphas was high priest,
that there came one, John by name, and baptized with the baptism of repentance in
the river Jordan. It was said of him that he was of the lineage of Aaron the priest, a
son of Zacharias and Elisabeth : and all went out to him.
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.6)
And after much has been recorded it proceeds:
When the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John.
And as he came up from the water, the heavens was opened and he saw the
Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended and entered into him.
And a voice sounded from Heaven that said:
"You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased. "
And again: " I have this day begotten you".
And immediately a great light shone round about the place.
When John saw this, it is said, he said unto him :
"Who are you, Lord?"
And again a voice from Heaven rang out to him:
"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
And then, it is said, John fell down before him and said:
"I beseech you, Lord, baptize me."
But he prevented him and said:
"Suffer it; for thus it is fitting that everything should be fulfilled."
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.13.7-8)
Moreover, they deny that he was a man, evidently on the ground of the
word which the Saviour spoke when it was reported to him:

"Behold, your mother and your brethren stand without." namely:
"Who is my mother and who are my brethren?"
And he stretched his hand towards his disciples and said:
"These are my brethren and mother and sisters, who do the will of my Father."
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.14.5)
They say that Christ was not begotten of God the Father, but created as one of
the archangels ... that he rules over the angels and all the creatures of the
Almighty, and that he came and declared, as their Gospel, which is called
Gospel according to Matthew, or Gospel According to the Hebrews?,
reports:
"I am come to do away with sacrfices, and if you cease not sacrificing,
the wrath of God will not cease from you."
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16,4-5)
But they abandon the proper sequence of the words and pervert the saying,
as is plain to all from the readings attached, and have let the disciples say:
"Where will you have us prepare the passover?"
And him to answer to that:
"Do I desire with desire at this Passover to eat flesh with you?"
(Epiphanius, Panarion 30.22.4)

OXYRHYNCHUS 840
Recto
(01) "[. . .] earlier, before doing wrong, he slyly reasons everything out,
(02) but be careful that you do not also somehow
(03) suffer the same things as them. For not
(04) only among the living do
(05) the evil-doers of humanity receive retribution, but [a]lso
(06) they will undergo punishment and mu[c]h
(07) torture." And taking them along,
(08) he went into the place of purification itself and
(09) wandered about in the temple. And c[o]ming toward them,
(10) a certain high priest of the Pharisees - Le[vi]
(11) was his name - joined them and s[aid]
(12) to the savior, "Who permitted you to tram[ple]
(13) this place of purification and to see [the]se
(14) holy vessels, although you have not ba[th]e[d] n[o]r
(15) have the f[eet] of your disciples
(16) been [wa]shed? But after having def[iled] it,
(17) you trample this a[rea] of the temple which
(18) [i]s clean, which nobody e[lse except for]
(19) a person who has bathed and chan[ged his]
(20) [clot]hes tramples on. Nor does he dare to lo[ok upon these]
(21) holy vessels." And s[tanding nearby, the savior]
(22) wit[h his] disciple[s replied],
Verso
(23) "Then, being here in the temple, are you
(24) clean?" He said to him, "I am clean.
(25) For I bathed in the pool of David and
(26) after going down by one set of stairs, by another
(27) I came back [u]p. And I put on white clothes
(28) and they were clean and then I came
(29) and looked upon these holy
(30) vessels." Re[ply]ing to him, the savior
(31) said, "Woe to blind people who do not
(32) s[e]e! You bathed in those gushing
(33) w[a]ter[s] in which dogs and pigs have been
(34) ca[st] night and day. And wash[i]ng yourselves,
(35) you scrubbed the outer layer of skin which
(36) also prostitutes and th[e] flute-girls
(37) ano[int a]nd bathe and scrub
(38) [and p]ut make up on to become the desi[re]
(39) of [t]he men. But from within th[ey]
(40) [are fill]ed with scorpions and
(41) [all unr]ighteousness. But I and
(42) [my disciples], whom you say have not
(43) wa[shed], we [have wa]shed in waters of li[fe]
(44) [eternal co]ming from [the]
(45) [God of heaven. B]ut woe to [th]ose [. . .]
Oxyrhynchus 1224 consists of two small papyrus fragments from the late 3rd or early 4th century. It contains six passages, each about a sentence. Two of the longer ones are parallel to Mark 2:17 and Luke 9:50, but the differences in phrasing show they are textually independent of the canonical Gospels. A precise date for composition is unknown; 50 is possible, though a date of around 150 C.E. is more widely accepted by scholars.

Letter of Clement of Alexandria on Secret Mark
Translated by Morton Smith.

From the letters of the most holy Clement, the author of the Stromateis. To Theodore.
You did well in silencing the unspeakable teachings of the Carpocrations. For these are the "wandering stars" referred to in the prophecy, who wander from the narrow road of the commandments into a boundless abyss of the carnal and bodily sins. For, priding themselves in knowledge, as they say, "of the deep things of Satan", they do not know that they are casting themselves away into "the nether world of the darkness" of falsity, and boasting that they are free, they have become slaves of servile desires. Such men are to be opposed in all ways and altogether. For, even if they should say something true, one who loves the truth should not, even so, agree with them. For not all true things are the truth, nor should that truth which merely seems true according to human opinions be preferred to the true truth, that according to the faith.
Now of the things they keep saying about the divinely inspired Gospel according to Mark, some are altogether falsifications, and others, even if they do contain some true elements, nevertheless are not reported truly. For the true things, being mixed with inventions, are falsified, so that, as the saying goes, even the salt loses its savor.
As for Mark, then, during Peter's stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord's doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, he prepared matters, neither grudgingly nor incautiously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in 1, verso Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.
But since the foul demons are always devising destruction for the race of men, Carpocrates, instructed by them and using deceitful arts, so enslaved a certain presbyter of the church in Alexandria that he got from him a copy of the secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture is drawn off the teaching of the Carpocratians.
To them, therefore, as I said above, one must never give way; nor, when they put forward their falsifications, should one concede that the secret Gospel is by Mark, but should even deny it on oath. For, "Not all true things are to be said to all men". For this reason the Wisdom of God, through Solomon, advises, "Answer the fool from his folly", teaching that the light of the truth should be hidden from those who are mentally blind. Again it says, "From him who has not shall be taken away", and "Let the fool walk in darkness". But we are "children of Light", having been illuminated by "the dayspring" of the spirit of the Lord "from on high", and "Where the Spirit of the Lord is", it says, "there is liberty", for "All things are pure to the pure".
To you, therefore, I shall not hesitate to answer the questions you have asked, refuting the falsifications by the very words of the Gospel. For example, after "And they were in the road going up to Jerusalem" and what follows, until "After three days he shall arise", the secret Gospel brings the following material word for word:
"And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near, Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightaway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb, they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do, and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan."
After these words follows the text, "And James and John come to him", and all that section. But "naked man with naked man," and the other things about which you wrote, are not found.
And after the words, "And he comes into Jericho," the secret Gospel adds only, "And the sister of the youth whom Jesus loved and his mother and Salome were there, and Jesus did not receive them." But the many other things about which you wrote both seem to be, and are, falsifications.
Now the true explanation, and that which accords with the true philosophy ...

Secret Mark
To Theodore.
You did well in silencing the unspeakable teachings of the Carpocrations. For these are "wandering stars" referred to in the prophecy, who wander from the narrow road of the commandments into a boundless abyss of the carnal and bodily sins. For, priding themselves in knowledge, as they say, "of the deep things of Satan, they do not know that they are casting themselves away into "the netherworld of the darkness" of falseness, and boasting that they are free, they have become slaves of servile desires. Such men are to be opposed in all ways and alltogether. For, even if they should say something true, one who loves the truth should not, even so, agree with them. For not all true things are the truth, nor should that truth which merely seems true according to human opinions be prefered to the true truth, that according to the faith.
Now of the things they keep saying about the divinely inspired Gospel according to Mark, some are altogether falsifications, and others, even if they do contain some true elements, nevertheless are not reported truely. For the true things being mixed with inventions, are falsified , so that, as the saying goes, even the salt loses its savor.
As for Mark, then, during Peter`s stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord`s doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former books the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue , lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, he prepared matters, neither grudgingly nor incautionously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in 1, verso Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initated into the great mysteries.
But since the foul demons are always devising destruction for the race of men, Carpocrates, instructed by them and using deceitful arts, so enslaved a certain presbyter of the church in Alexandria that he got from him a copy of the secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture is withdrawn off the teaching of the Carpocratians.
To them, therefore, as I said above, one must never give way ; nor, when they put forward their falsifications, should one concede that the secret Gospel is by Mark, but should even deny it on oath. For, "For not all true things are to be said to all men". For this reason the Wisdom of God, through Solomon, advises, "Answer the fool with his folly," , teaching that the light of the truth should be hidden from those who are mentally blind. Again it says, "From him who has not shall be taken away" and "Let the fool walk in darkness". But we are "children of Light" having been illuminated by "the dayspring" of the spirit of the Lord "from on high", and "Where the Spirit of the Lord is" , it says, "there is liberty", for "All things are pure to the pure".
To you, therefore, I shall not hesitate to answer the questions you have asked, refuting the falsifications by the very words of the Gospel. For example, after "And they were in the road going up to Jerusalem" and what follows, until "After three days he shall arise", the secret Gospel brings the following material word for word:
"And they came into Bethany and a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she knelt down before Jesus and said to him, "Son of David, have mercy on me". But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus got angry with them and went off with her into the garden where the tomb was. Right away there was a loud cry from inside the tomb. Then Jesus rolled away the stone from in front of the tomb. He went in where the youth was and stretched forth his hand and raised him up. The youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beg him to be with him. They they left the tomb and went to the young man's house, for he was rich. Six days later, Jesus gave him instructions of what to do and in the evening the youth came to him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth over his naked body. He remained with him that night, for Jesus thaught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. And when Jesus woke up, he returned to the other side of the Jordan."
And these words follow the text, "And James and John come to him" and all that section. But "naked man with naked man" and the other things about which you wrote, are not found.
And after the words,"And he comes into Jericho," the secret Gospel adds only, "And the sister of the young man whom Jesus loved was there, along with his mother and Salome, but Jesus did not receive them." But many other things about which you wrote both seem to be and are falsifications.

Gospel of the Egyptians
The following selection is excerpted from Montague Rhode James in The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1924), pp. 10-12.

Origen, in his first Homily on Luke, speaks of those who 'took in hand' or 'attempted' to write gospels (as Luke says in his prologue). These, he says, came to the task rashly, without the needful gifts of grace, unlike Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke himself. Such were those who composed the Gospel entitled 'of the Twelve'.
Apart from this there are but few mentions of the book. A series of passages from Clement of Alexandria is our chief source of knowledge. They are as follows:
Clem. Alex. Strom. iii. 9. 64.
Whence it is with reason that after the Word had told about the End, Salome saith: Until when shall men continue to die? (Now, the Scripture speaks of man in two senses, the one that is seen, and the soul: and again, of him that is in a state of salvation, and him that is not: and sin is called the death of the soul) and it is advisedly that the Lord makes an answer: So long as women bear children.
66. And why do not they who walk by anything rather than the true rule of the Gospel go on to quote the rest of that which was said to Salome: for when she had said, 'I have done well, then, in not bearing children?' (as if childbearing were not the right thing to accept) the Lord answers and says: Every plant eat thou, but that which hath bitterness eat not.
iii. 13. 92. When Salome inquired when the things concerning which she asked should be known, the Lord said: When ye have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female. In the first place, then, we have not this saying in the four Gospels that have been delivered to us, but in that according to the Egyptians.
(The so-called Second Epistle of Clement has this, in a slightly different form, c. xii. 2: For the Lord himself being asked by some one when his kingdom should come, said: When the two shall be one, and the outside (that which is without) as the inside (that which is within), and themale with the female neither male nor female.)
There are allusions to the saying in the Apocryphal Acts, see pp. 335, 429, 450.
iii. 6. 45. The Lord said to Salome when she inquired: How long shall death prevail? 'As long as ye women bera children', not because life is an ill, and the creation evil: but as showing the sequence of nature: for in all cases birth is followed by decay.
Excerpts from Theodotus, 67. And when the Saviour says to Salome that there shall be death as long as women bear children, he did not say it as abusing birth, for that is necessary for the salvation of believers.
Strom. iii. 9. 63. But those who set themselves against God's creation because of continence, which has a fair-sounding name, quote also those words which were spoken to Salome, of which I made mention before. They are contained, I think (or I take it) in the Gospel according to the Egyptians. For they say that 'the Savior himself said: I came to destroy the works of the female'. By female he means lust: by works, birth and decay.
Hippolytus against Heresies, v. 7. (The Naassenes) say that the soul is very hard to find and to perceive; for it does not continue in the same fashion or shape or in one emotion so that one can either describe it or comprehend its essence. And they have these various changes of the soul, set forth in the Gospel entitled according to the Egyptians.
Epiphanius, Heresy lxii. 2 (Sabellians). Their whole deceit (error) and the strength of it they draw from some apocryphal books, especially from what is called the Egyptian Gospel, to which some have given that name. For in it many suchlike things are recorded (or attributed) as from the person of the Saviour, said in a corner, purporting that he showed his disciples that the same person was Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
All this goes to show that this Gospel was a secondary work with a distinct doctrinal tendency. It resembles later Gnostic books such as the Pistis Sophia in assigning an important role in the dialogues with Christ to the female disciples.

The Traditions of Matthias
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.9.45.4
But the begining of this is to marvel at things, as Plato says in the Theatetus and as Matthias says in the Traditions when he urges, "Marvel at what is present," laying this down as the first step toward the knowledge of things beyond.
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 3.4.26.3
They say that Matthias also taught this: "To fight with the flesh and misuse it, without yielding to it through undisciplined pleasure, so to increase the soul through faith and knowledge."
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 4.6.35.2
So Zaccheus whom they call Matthias, the chief tax collector, when he had heard that the Lord had esteemed him highly enough to be with him, said, "Behold, half of my present possessions I give as alms, and Lord, if I ever extorted money from anyone in any way, I return it fourfold."
At this the savior said, "When the son of man came today, he found that which was lost."
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 7.13.82.1
They say that Matthias the apostle in the Traditions says at every opportunity, "If the neighbor of an elect person sins, the elect person sins. For if he had led himself as the word dictates, the neighbor would have been in awe of his life so that he did not sin."

The following translation is made by D.C. Parker, D.G.K. Taylor, and M.S. Goodacre (Studies in the Early Text of the Gospels and Acts, p. 201).

01 of [Zebed]ee and Salome a[nd] the women
02 [amongst] those who followed him from
03 [Galil]ee to see the cr(ucified one). Now, it was
04 [the day] of Preparation, Sabbath was dawn-
05 [ing.] Now as it was becoming evening on the Prep-
06 [aration,] that is the day before the Sabbath, there app-
07 [roached] a man, a member of the council [be-
08 [ing,] from Erinmathaia, a city of
09 [Jud]ea, named Jo[seph], a good, right-
10 [eous man,] being a disciple of Je(sus), but hid-
11 [de]n for fear of the
12 [Jew]s, and he was expecting
13 [the] k[ingdom] of Go(d). This one was not
14 [consent]ing to the c[ounsel]

Egerton Gospel
The Unknown Gospel Egerton Papyrus 2 + Cologne Papyrus 255 Fragment 1: Verso (?)
. . . ? And Jesus said] unto the lawyers, [? Punish] every wrongdoer and transgessor, and not me; . . . . . And turning to the rulers of the people he spake this saying, Search the scriptures, in which ye think that ye have life; these are they which bear witness of me. Think not that I came to accuse you to my Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. And when they said, We know well that God spake unto Moses, but as for thee, we know not whence thou art, Jesus answered and said unto them, Now is your unbelief accused . . .
Fragment 1: Recto (?)
. . . . ? they gave counsel to] the multitude to [? carry the] stones together and stone him. And the rulers sought to lay their hands on him that they might take him and [? hand him over] to the multitude; and they could not take him, because the hour of his betrayal was not yet come. But he himself, even the Lord, going out through the midst of them, departed from them. And behold, there cometh unto him a leper and saith, Master Jesus, journeying with lepers and eating with them in the inn I myself also became a leper. If therefore thou wilt, I am made clean. The Lord then said unto him, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him. [And the Lord said unto him], Go [and shew thyself] unto the [priests . . .
Fragment 2: Recto (?)
. . . coming unto him began to tempt him with a question, saying, Master Jesus, we know that thou art come from God, for the things which thou doest testify above all the prophets. Tell us therefore: Is it lawful [? to render] unto kings that which pertaineth unto their rule? [Shall we render unto them], or not? But Jesus, knowing their thought, being moved with indignation, said unto them, Why call ye me with your mouth Master, when ye hear not what I say? Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, [teaching as their doctrines the] precepts [of men] . . .
Fragment 2: Verso (?)
. . . shut up . . . in . . . place . . . its weight unweighed? And when they were perplexed at his strange question, Jesus, as he walked, stood still on the edge of the river Jordan, and stretching forth his right hand he . . . and sprinkled it upon the . . . And then . . . water that had been sprinkled . . . before them and sent forth fruit . . . Translation reprinted from: H.I. Bell and T.C. Skeat, Fragments of an Unknown Gospel and Other Early Christian Papyri (London: Oxford University Press, 1935).

Egerton Gospel
Fragment 1 Verso
[...] And Jesus said to the lawyers: "Punish every wrongdoer and transgressor, and not me. [...]* he does, how does he do it?"
And turning to the rulers of the people he said this word: "Search the scriptures, in which you think you have life. These are they, which testify about me. Do not suppose that I have come to accuse you to my father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, in whom you have hoped."
And they said: "We know that God spoke to Moses,but as for you, we do not know, where you are from."
Jesus answered and said to them: "Now is accused your disbelief in those who have been commended by him. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me. For about me he wrote to your fathers [...]"
------
* Possible reconstructions:
"Judge the deeds, how he does, what he does."
"Because an outlaw does not know, how he does, what he does."
"Because it's unexplained, how he does, what he does."
"And see, how he does, what he does."
"Who is condemning, how he does, what he does."
Fragment 1 Recto
[...] and taking up stones together to stone him. And the rulers laid their hands upon him to seize him and hand him over to the crowd. And they could not take him because the hour of his arrest had not yet come. But the Lord himself, escaping from their hands, withdrew from them.
And behold, a leper coming to him, says: "Teacher Jesus, while traveling with lepers and eating together with them in the inn, I myself also became a leper.* If therefore you will, I am clean."
And the Lord said to him: "I will, be clean."
And immediately the leprosy left him. And Jesus said to him: "Go show yourself to the priests and offer concerning the cleansing as Moses commanded and sin no more [...]"
------------
* (Schmidt:) You look for the lepers and were eating with publicans. Have mercy, I am like them.
The original reconstruction is factually impossible (traveling with lepers), therefore this new one.
Fragment 2 Recto
Coming to him, they tested him in an exacting way, saying: "Teacher Jesus, we know that you have come from God, for what you do testifies beyond all the prophets. Therefore tell us, is it lawful to pay to kings the things which benefit their rule? Shall we pay them or not?"
But Jesus, perceiving their purpose and becoming indignant said to them: "Why do you call me teacher with your mouth, not doing what I say? Well did Isaiah* prophesy concerning you, saying: 'This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men...'"
----
* Jes 29:13 (NRS): The Lord said:
"Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote, ..."
Fragment 2 Verso
(unfortunately this fragment is in such a bad state, that it cannot be sufficiently reconstructed. What follows is first the text which can be reconstructed pretty sure and then some more speculative restaurations.)
"(...) shut up (...) has been subjected uncertainly (...) its weight unweighted?"
And when they where perplexed at the strange question, Jesus, as he walked, stood on the lip of the Jordan river, stretching out his right hand, filled it with (...) and sowed upon the (...). And the (...) water (...) the (...). And (...) before them, he brought forth fruit (...) much (...) for joy (...)
(Dodd:) "When a husbandman has enclosed a small seed in a secret place, so that it is invisibly buried, how does its abundance become immeasurable?"
And when they where perplexed at the strange question, Jesus, as he walked, stood still upon the verge of the River Jordan, and stretching out his right hand, he filled it with water and sprinkled it upon the shore. And thereupon the sprinkled water made the ground moist, and it was wateredbefore them and brought forth fruit...
(Schmidt:) "Why is the seed enclosed in the ground, the abundance buried? Hidden for a short time, it will be immeasurable."
And when they where perplexed at the strange question, Jesus, as he walked, stood on the banks of the River Jordan, and stretching out his right hand, he filled it with seed and sowed it upon the ground. And thereupon he poured sufficient water over it. And looking at the ground before them, the fruit appeared...
(Cerfaux:) "(...) enclosed like me, buried, uncertain, and making possible immeasurable abundance?"
And when they where perplexed at the strange question, Jesus, as he walked, stood on the banks of the River Jordan, and stretching out his right hand, he took a fig-tree and planted it in the river. And on the water, the roots spread out and fruit appeared...
(Lietzmann:) And when they where perplexed at the strange question, Jesus, as he walked, stood on the banks of the River Jordan, and stretching out his right hand, he filled it with water and sowed on the ground. And the sprinkled waterpurified(?) the ground. (...) and coming out before them, the fruit appeared.
(Lagrange:) And when they where perplexed at the strange question, Jesus walked at the banks of the River Jordan, and stretching out his right hand, he filled it with sand and sowed seed on the sand. And then he poured running waterover it. And it run to seed and coming out before them, the fruit appeared.

Though the fragment cannot be reconstructed sufficiently, the meaning can be found:
A small seed in the ground is hidden and invisible. How does its abundance become immeasurable?
(By growing and bringing fruit.)
To clarify this, Jesus performs a miracle: He walks up to the river Jordan and with the water he gives rise to a spontaneous ripening of fruit. (much, for joy!)

 

Possible parallel from Ezekiel 17:5-8:
17:5 Then he took a seed from the land, placed it in fertile soil; a plant by abundant waters, he set it like a willow twig. 6 It sprouted and became a vine spreading out, but low; its branches turned toward him, its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine; it brought forth branches, put forth foliage. [...] 8 it was transplanted to good soil by abundant waters, so that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840
The following translation is based on the reconstructed Greek text printed in Henry Sweet Barclay's "Two New Gospel Fragments" from Hans Lietzmann's Kleine Texte fr Vorlesungen und bungen. Information about the manuscript was gathered from Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt's Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel.
". . . earlier, before doing wrong, he slyly reasons everything out. Be careful that you do not end up suffering the same fate as them. For the evil-doers of humanity receive retribution not only among the living, but they will also undergo punishment and much torture later."
Taking them along, he went into the place of purification itself and wandered around in the temple. Then a certain high priest of the Pharisees named Levi came toward them and said to the savior, "Who permitted you to wander in this place of purification and to see these holy vessels, even though you have not bathed and the feet of your disciples have not been washed? And now that you have defiled it, you walk around in this pure area of the temple where only a person who has bathed and changed his clothes can walk, and even such a person does not dare to look upon these holy vessels."
Standing nearby with his disciples, the savior replied, "Since you are here in the temple too, are you clean?"
The Pharisee said to him, "I am clean. For I bathed in the pool of David. I went down into the pool by one set of stairs and came back out by another. Then I put on white clothes and they were clean. And then I came and looked at these holy vessels."
Replying to him, the savior said, "Woe to blind people who do not see! You have washed in the gushing waters that dogs and pigs are thrown into day and night. And when you washed yourself, you scrubbed the outer layer of skin, the layer of skin that prostitutes and flute-girls anoint and wash and scrub when they put on make up to become the desire of the men. But inside they are filled with scorpions and all unrighteousness. But my disciples and I, whom you say have not washed, we have washed in waters of eternal life that come from the God of heaven. But woe to those . . . "

Verso
(01) "[. . .] earlier, before doing wrong, he slyly reasons everything out,
(02) but be careful that you do not also somehow
(03) suffer the same things as them. For not
(04) only among the living do
(05) the evil-doers of humanity receive retribution, but [a]lso
(06) they will undergo punishment and mu[c]h
(07) torture." And taking them along,
(08) he went into the place of purification itself and
(09) wandered about in the temple. And c[o]ming toward them,
(10) a certain high priest of the Pharisees - Le[vi]
(11) was his name - joined them and s[aid]
(12) to the savior, "Who permitted you to tram[ple]
(13) this place of purification and to see [the]se
(14) holy vessels, although you have not ba[th]e[d] n[o]r
(15) have the f[eet] of your disciples
(16) been [wa]shed? But after having def[iled] it,
(17) you trample this a[rea] of the temple which
(18) [i]s clean, which nobody e[lse except for]
(19) a person who has bathed and chan[ged his]
(20) [clot]hes tramples on. Nor does he dare to lo[ok upon these]
(21) holy vessels." And s[tanding nearby, the savior]
(22) wit[h his] disciple[s replied],
Recto
(23) "Then, being here in the temple, are you
(24) clean?" He said to him, "I am clean.
(25) For I bathed in the pool of David and
(26) after going down by one set of stairs, by another
(27) I came back [u]p. And I put on white clothes
(28) and they were clean and then I came
(29) and looked upon these holy
(30) vessels." Re[ply]ing to him, the savior
(31) said, "Woe to blind people who do not
(32) s[e]e! You bathed in those gushing
(33) w[a]ter[s] in which dogs and pigs have been
(34) ca[st] night and day. And wash[i]ng yourselves,
(35) you scrubbed the outer layer of skin which
(36) also prostitutes and th[e] flute-girls
(37) ano[int a]nd bathe and scrub
(38) [and p]ut make up on to become the desi[re]
(39) of [t]he men. But from within th[ey]
(40) [are fill]ed with scorpions and
(41) [all unr]ighteousness. But I and
(42) [my disciples], whom you say have not
(43) wa[shed], we [have wa]shed in waters of li[fe]
(44) [eternal co]ming from [the]
(45) [God of heaven. B]ut woe to [th]ose [. . .]

Gospel of Mary
Chapter 4
(Pages 1 to 6 of the manuscript, containing chapters 1 - 3, are lost. The extant text starts on page 7...)
. . . Will matter then be destroyed or not?
22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.
23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone.
24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?
26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.
27) That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.
28) Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you.
29) He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.
30) Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.
31) That is why I said to you, Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged be encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature.
32) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
33) When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all,saying, Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves.
34) Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.
35) Follow after Him!
36) Those who seek Him will find Him.
37) Go then and preach the gospel of the Kingdom.
38) Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.
39) When He said this He departed.

Chapter 5
1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?
2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you.
3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men.
4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.
5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman.
6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.
7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.
8) And she began to speak to them these words: I, she said, I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision. He answered and said to me,
9) Blessed are you that you did not waver at the sight of Me. For where the mind is there is the treasure.
10) I said to Him, Lord, how does he who sees the vision see it, through the soul or through the spirit?
11) The Savior answered and said, He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind that is between the two that is what sees the vision and it is [...]
(pages 11 - 14 are missing from the manuscript)

Chapter 8:
. . . it.
10) And desire said, I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do you lie since you belong to me?
11) The soul answered and said, I saw you. You did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment and you did not know me.
12) When it said this, it (the soul) went away rejoicing greatly.
13) Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance.
14) The power questioned the soul, saying, Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!
15) And the soul said, Why do you judge me, although I have not judged?
16) I was bound, though I have not bound.
17) I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being dissolved, both the earthly things and the heavenly.
18) When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms.
19) The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.
20) They asked the soul, Whence do you come slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
21) The soul answered and said, What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome,
22) and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died.
23) In a aeon I was released from a world, and in a Type from a type, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient.
24) From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence.

Chapter 9
1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her.
2) But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.
3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.
4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?
5) Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?
6) Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered.
7) Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.
8) But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.
9) That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said.
10) And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

The Gospel According to Mary
Gospel of Mary
Note: Square brackets in the translation indicate that a gap exists in the manuscript where writing once existed; the text within the brackets has been restored by scholars.
Pages 1-6 are missing.
"… Will m[a]tter then be utterly [destr]oyed or not?"
The Savior replied, "Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other. They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is dissolved into what belongs to its nature. Anyone with two ears able to hear should listen!"
Then Peter said to him, "You have been explaining every topic to us; tell us one other thing. What is the sin of the world?"
The Savior replied, "There is no such thing as sin; rather you yourselves are what produces sin when you act in accordance with the nature of adultery, which is called 'sin.' For this reason, the Good came among you, pursuing (the good) which belongs to every nature. It will set it within its root."
Then he continued. He said, "This is why you get si[c]k and die: because [you love] what de[c]ei[ve]s [you]. [Anyone who] thinks should consider (these matters)!
"[Ma]tter gav[e bi]rth to a passion which has no Image because it derives from what is contrary to nature. A disturbing confusion then occurred in the whole body. That is why I told you, 'Become content at heart, while also remaining discontent and disobedient; indeed become contented and agreeable (only) in the presence of that other Image of nature.' Anyone with two ears capable of hearing should listen!"
When the Blessed One had said these things, he greeted them all. "Peace be with you!" he said. "Acquire my peace within yourselves!
"Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' For the child of true Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who search for it will find it.
"Go then, preac[h] the good news about the Realm. [Do] not lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it."
After he had said these things, he departed from them.
But they were distressed and wept greatly. "How are we going to go out to the rest of the world to announce the good news about the Realm of the child of true Humanity?" they said. "If they did not spare him, how will they spare us?"
Then Mary stood up. She greeted them all, addressing her brothers and sisters, "Do not weep and be distressed nor let your hearts be irresolute. For his grace will be with you all and will shelter you. Rather we should praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us true Human beings."
When Mary had said these things, she turned their heart [to]ward the Good, and they began to deba[t]e about the wor[d]s of [the Savior].
Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than all other women. Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember, the things which you know that we don't because we haven't heard them."
Mary responded, "I will teach you about what is hidden from you." And she began to speak these words to them.
She said, "I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, 'Lord, I saw you today in a vision.'
He answered me, 'How wonderful you are for not wavering at seeing me! For where the mind is, there is the treasure.'
I said to him, 'So now, Lord, does a person who sees a vision see it <with> the soul <or> with the spirit?'
The Savior answered, 'A person does not see with the soul or with the spirit. 'Rather the mind, which exists between these two, sees the vision an[d] that is w[hat … ]'
(Pages 11-14 are missing.)
" '… it.'
"And Desire said, 'I did not see you go down, yet now I see you go up. So why do you lie since you belong to me?'
"The soul answered, 'I saw you. You did not see me nor did you know me. You (mis)took the garment (I wore) for my (true) self. And you did not recognize me.'
"After it had said these things, it left rejoicing greatly.
"Again, it came to the third Power, which is called 'Ignorance.' [It] examined the soul closely, saying, 'Where are you going? You are bound by wickedness. Indeed you are bound! Do not judge!'
"And the soul said, 'Why do you judge me, since I have not passed judgement? I have been bound, but I have not bound (anything). They did not recognize me, but I have recognized that the universe is to be dissolved, both the things of earth and those of heaven.'
"When the soul had brought the third Power to naught, it went upward and saw the fourth Power. It had seven forms. The first form is darkness; the second is desire; the third is ignorance; the fourth is zeal for death; the fifth is the realm of the flesh; the sixth is the foolish wisdom of the flesh; the seventh is the wisdom of the wrathful person. These are the seven Powers of Wrath.
"They interrogated the soul, 'Where are you coming from, human-killer, and where are you going, space-conqueror?'
"The soul replied, saying, 'What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been destroyed, and my desire has been brought to an end, and ignorance has died. In a [wor]ld, I was set loose from a world [an]d in a type, from a type which is above, and (from) the chain of forgetfulness which exists in time. From this hour on, for the time of the due season of the aeon, I will receive rest i[n] silence.' "
After Mary had said these things, she was silent, since it was up to this point that the Savior had spoken to her.
Andrew responded, addressing the brothers and sisters, "Say what you will about the things she has said, but I do not believe that the S[a]vior said these things, f[or] indeed these teachings are strange ideas."
Peter responded, bringing up similar concerns. He questioned them about the Savior: "Did he, then, speak with a woman in private without our knowing about it? Are we to turn around and listen to her? Did he choose her over us?"
Then [M]ary wept and said to Peter, "My brother Peter, what are you imagining? Do you think that I have thought up these things by myself in my heart or that I am telling lies about the Savior?"
Levi answered, speaking to Peter, "Peter, you have always been a wrathful person. Now I see you contending against the woman like the Adversaries. For if the Savior made her worthy, who are you then for your part to reject her? Assuredly the Savior's knowledge of her is completely reliable. That is why he loved her more than us.
"Rather we should be ashamed. We should clothe ourselves with the perfect Human, acquire it for ourselves as he commanded us, and announce the good news, not laying down any other rule or law that differs from what the Savior said."
After [he had said these] things, they started going out [to] teach and to preach.
[The Gos]pel according to Mary

The Preaching of Peter
The following selection is excerpted from Montague Rhode James in The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1924), pp. 16-19.

Again our principal source of knowledge is Clement of Alexandria, who makes a series of quotations from it.
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i. 29. 182. And in the Preaching of Peter you may find the Lord called 'Law and Word'.
Twice again he quotes this phrase.
vi. 5. 39. But that the most approved of the Greeks do not know God by direct knowledge, but indirectly, Peter says in his Preaching: Know ye then that there is one God who made the beginning of all things and hath power over their end; and: The invisible who seeth all things, uncontainable, who containeth all, having need of nought, of whom all things stand in need and for whose sake they exist, incomprehensible, perpetual, incorruptible, uncreated, who made all things by the word of his power. . . .that is, the Son.[1]
Then he goes on: This God worship ye, not after the manner of the Greeks. . . showing that we and the good (approved) Greeks worship the same God, though not according to perfect knowledge for they had not learned the tradition of the Son. 'Do not', he says, 'worship' - he does not say 'the god whom the Greeks worship', but 'not after the manner of the Greeks': he would change the method of worship of God, not proclaim another God. What, then, is meant by 'not after the manner of the Greeks'? Peter himself will explain, for he continues: Carried away by ignorance and not knowing God as we do, according ot the perfect knowledge, but shaping those things over which he gave them power, for their use, even wood and stones, brass and iron, gold and silver (forgetting) their material and proper use, they set up things subservient to their existence and worship them; and what things God hath given them for food, the fowls of the air and the creatures that swim in the sea and creep upon the earth, wild beasts and fourfooted cattle of the field, weasels too and mice, cats and dogs and apes; yea, their own eatables do they sacrifice as offerings to eatable gods, and offering dead things to the dead as to gods, they show ingratitude to God, by these practices denying that he exists. . . He will continue again in this fashion: Neither worship ye him as do the Jews, for they, who suppose that they alone know God, do not know him, serving angels and archangels, the month and the moon: and if no moon be seen, they do not celebrate what is called the first sabbath, nor keep the new moon, nor the days of unleavened bread, nor the feast (of tabernacles?), nor the great day (of atonement).
Then he adds the finale (colophon) of what is required: So then do ye, learning in a holy and righteous sort that which we deliver unto you, observe it, worshipping God through Christ in a new way. For we have found in the Scriptures, how the Lord saith: Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as the covenant with your fathers in mount Horeb. He hath made a new one with us: for the ways of the Greeks and Jews are old, but we are they that worship him in a new way in a third generation (or race), even Christians.[2]
Shortly after his he cites Paul 'in addition to the Preaching of Peter' as referring to the Sibyl and Hystaspes. The passage is given below as a possible fragment of the Acts of Paul.
After his quotation from Paul, Clement continues:
Therefore Peter says that the Lord said to the apostles: If then any of Israel will repent, to believe in God through my name, his sins shall be forgiven him: (and) after twelve years go ye out into the world, lest any say: We did not hear.
In the next chapter (vi. 6) he has:
For example, in the Preaching of Peter the Lord says: I chose out you twelve, judging you to be disciples worthy of me, whom the Lord willed, and thinking you faithful apostles; sending you unto the world to preach the Gospel to men throughout the world, that they should know that there is one God; to declare by faith in me [the Christ] what shall be, that they that have heard and believed may be saved, and that they which have not believed may hear and bear witness, not having any defence so as to say 'We did not hear'.
After a few lines:
And to all reasonable souls it hath been said above: Whatsoever things any of you did in ignorance, not knowing God clearly, all his sins shall be forgiven him.
vi. 15. 128. Peter in the Preaching, speaking of the apostles, says: But we having opened the books of the prophets which we had, found, sometimes expressed by parables, sometimes by riddles, and sometimes directly (authentically) and in so many words naming Jesus Christ, both his coming and his death and the cross and all the other torments which the Jews inflicted on him, and his resurrection and assumption into the heavens before Jerusalem was founded (MS. judged), even all this things as they had been written, what he must suffer and what shall be after him. When, therefore, we took knowledge of these things, we believed in God through that which had been written of him.
And a little after he adds that the prophecies came by Divine providence, in these terms: For we know that God commanded them in very deed, and without the Scripture we say nothing.
The character of the heathen worship, with its mention of weasels, cats, &c., and the fact that our authorities are all Alexandrine, point to the Egyptian origin and currency of the Preaching. We see also that it was an orthodox book. Origen even faces the possibility of its being genuine in whole or in part. The earliest of the Greek apologists for Christianity whose work we have, Aristides, takes a very similar line to the Preaching, and is thought to have used it.
A Syriac Preaching of Simon Cephas in the city of Rome (to be found in Cureton's Syriac Documents) has nothing in common with our book. Its gist is, briefly, this: A great assembly gathers to hear Peter. He speaks to them of the life and death of Jesus, and the call of the apostles, exhorts them to shun idolatry: reverts to the signs at the crucifixion, and the report of Pilate to Caesar and the senate, and warns them against Simon Magus. We then have the incident of the dead mean raised by Peter after Simon had failed. Peter's episcopate of twenty-five years, his martyrdom and that of Paul, Nero's death, and a famine which ensued after many years, are shortly told.
In the Clementine Recognitions, &c., a great deal is said about books of Preachings of Peter: but these are to a great extent imaginary, and, if ever they existed, must have belonged to the same peculiar school of thought as the rest of that literature.
There are certain other fragments of a 'Teaching of Peter' which may be another name for the Preaching. Opinion is divided. Probably the first, from Origen, is from the Preaching. The others are of a different complexion.
Origen on First Principles i, prologue 8. But if any would produce to us from that book which is called The Doctrine of Peter, the passage where the Saviour is represented as saying (lit. seems to say) to the disciples: I am not a bodiless spirit (demon): he must be answered in the first place that that book is not reckoned among the books of the church: (and then) it must be shown that the writing is neither by Peter nor by any one else who was inspired by the spirit of God.
The quotation agrees with one from the gospel according to the Hebrews. See p. 4.
Gregory of Nazianzus, ep. 16. 'A soul in trouble is near unto God', saith Peter somewhere - a marvellous utterance.
(John of Damascus), Sacred Parallels, A. 12:
Of Peter: Wretched that I am, I remembered not that God seeth the mind and observeth the voice of the soul. Allying myself with sin, I said unto myself: God is merciful, and will bear with thee: and because I was not immediately smitten, I ceased not, but rather despised pardon, and exhausted the long-suffering of God.
ibid. From the Teaching of Peter: Rich is he that hath mercy on many, and he that, imitating God, giveth of that he hath. For God hath given all things unto all, of his own creatures. Understand then, ye rich, that ye ought to minister, for ye have received more than ye yourselves need. Learn that others lack the things ye have in superfluity. Be ashamed to keep things that belong to others. Imitate the fairness (equality) of God, and no man will be poor.
Oecumenius on James, v. 16. And that happens to us which blessed Peter says: One building and one pulling down! they gain nought but their labour.

[1] In vi. 7. 58 he repeats a clause of this:
For there is in very deed one God, who made the beginning of all things: meaning his first begotten Son; thus Peter writes, understanding rightly the words: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
The words In the beginning were interpreted as meaning 'By the son'.
[2] Origen on John, xiii. 17, has part of the above passages:
It is too much to set forth now the quotations of Heracleon taken from the book entitled The Preaching of Peter and dwell on them, inquiring about the book whether genuine or spurious or compounded of both elements: so we willingly postpone that, and only note that according to him (Heracleon) Peter taught that we must not worship as do the Greeks, receiving the things of matter, and serving stocks and stones: nor worship God as do the Jews, since they, who suppose that they alone know God, are ignorant of him, and serve angels and the month and the moon.

AGRAPHA
ag'-ra-fa (agrapha).
\1. The Term and Its History:
The word agraphos of which agrapha is the neuter plural is met with in classical Greek and in Greek papyri in its primary sense of "unwritten," "unrecorded." In early Christian literature, especially in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, it was used of oral tradition; and in this sense it was revived by Koerner in a Leipzig Program issued in 1776 under the title De sermonibus Christi agraphois. For some time it was restricted to sayings of Christ not recorded in the Gospels and believed to have reached the sources in which they are found by means of oral tradition. As however graphe, the noun with which agrapha is connected, can have not only the general meaning "writing," but the special meaning "Scripture," the, adjective could signify not only "oral" but also uncanonical or "non-canonical"; and it was employed by Resch in the latter sense in the 1st edition of his great work on the subject which appeared in German in 1889 under the title, Agrapha:
Extra-canonical Gospel Fragments. The term was now also extended so as to include narratives as well as sayings. In the second edition (also in German) it is further widened so as to embrace all extra-canonical sayings or passages connected with the Bible. The new title runs: Agrapha Extra-canonical Fragments of Scripture; and the volume contains a first collection of Old Testament agrapha. The term is still however used most frequently of non-canonical sayings ascribed to Jesus, and to the consideration of these this article will mainly be devoted.
\2. Extent of Material:
Of the 361 agrapha and apocrypha given by Resch about 160 are directly ascribed to Christ. About 30 others can be added from Christian and Jewish sources and about 80 sayings found in Muhammadan literature (Expository Times, V, 59, 107, 177, 503, 561, etc.). The last-mentioned group, although not entirely without interest, may largely be disregarded as it is highly improbable that it represents early tradition. The others come from a variety of sources:
the New Testament outside of the Gospels, Gospel manuscripts and VSS, Apocryphal Gospels and an early collection of sayings of Jesus, liturgical texts, patristic and medieval literature and the Talmud.
\3. Sayings to Be Excluded:
Many of these sayings have no claim to be regarded as independent agrapha. At least five classes come under this category.
(1) Some are mere parallels or variants, for instance:
"Pray and be not weary," which is evidently connected with Luke 18:1; and the saying in the Talmud:
"I, the Gospel, did not come to take away from the law of Moses but to add to the law of Moses have I come" (Shab 116b) which is clearly a variant of Matthew 5:17.
(2) Some sayings are made up of two or more canonical texts. "I chose you before the world was," for example, is a combination of John 15:19 and Ephesians 1:4; and "Abide in my love and I will give you eternal life" of John 8:31 and John 10:28.
(3) Misquotation or loose quotation accounts for a number of alleged agrapha. "Sodom is justified more than thou" seems to be really from Ezekiel 16:53 and its context. "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath" is of apostolic not evangelic origin (Ephesians 4:26). "Anger destroys even the prudent" comes from Septuagint of Proverbs 15:1.
(4) Some sayings must be rejected because they cannot be traced to an early source, for instance, the fine saying:
"Be brave in war, and fight with the old serpent, and ye shall receive eternal life," which is first met with in a text of the 12th century
(5) Several sayings are suspicious by reason of their source or their character. The reference to "my mother the Holy Spirit," in one of them, has no warrant in the acknowledged teaching of Christ and comes from a source of uncertain value, the Gospel according to the Hebrews. Pantheistic sayings such as "I am thou and thou art I, and wherever thou art I am"; "You are I and I am you"; and perhaps the famous saying:
"Raise the stone and thou wilt find me; cleave the wood and there am I," as well as the sayings reported by Epiphanius from the Gospel of the Ebionites seem to breathe an atmosphere different from that of the canonical Gospels.
\4. Sayings in New Testament:
When all the sayings belonging to these five classes, and a few others of liturgical origin, have been deducted there remain about thirty-five which are worthy of mention and in some cases of careful consideration. Some are dealt with in the article \LOGIA\ (which see). The others, which are given here, are numbered consecutively to facilitate reference. The best authenticated are of course those found in the New Testament outside of the Gospels. These are
(1) the great saying cited by Paul at Miletus:
"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35);
(2) the words used in the institution of the Eucharist preserved only in 1 Corinthians 11:24;
(3) the promise of the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 1:5; 11:16); and
(4) the answer to the question:
"Dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:7 f). Less certain are
(5) the description of the Second Advent, said to be "by the word of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:15); and
(6) the promise of the crown of life to them that love God (James 1:12).
\5. Sayings in Manuscripts and Versions:
Of considerable interest are some additions, in manuscripts of the Gospels and versions One of the most remarkable
(7) is the comment of Jesus on a man's working on the Sabbath day inserted after Luke 6:4 in Codex Bezae (D) and the Freer manuscript recently discovered in Egypt:
"If thou knowest what thou doest, O man, blessed art thou, but if thou knowest not, thou art accursed and a transgressor of the law." Another
(8) also found in D and in several other authorities is appended to Matthew 20:28:
"But ye seek ye from little to increase and from greater to be less." In the Curetonian Syriac the latter clause runs: "and not from greater to be less." The new saying is noteworthy but obscure. A third passage
(9) of less value but still of interest is an insertion in the longer ending of Mark, between 16:14 and 16:15, which was referred to by Jerome as present in codices in his day but has now been met with in Greek for the first time in the above-mentioned Freer MS. (For facsimile see American Journal of Archaeology, 1908.) In reply to a complaint of the disciples about the opposition of Satan and their request:
"Therefore reveal thy righteousness even now," Jesus is reported to have said: "The limit of the years of the authority of Satan is fulfilled, but other dreadful things are approaching, and in behalf of those who had sinned was I delivered unto death in order that they might return to the truth and might sin no longer, that they might inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness in heaven." This alleged utterance of the risen Lord is most probably of secondary character (compare Gregory, Das Freer Logion; Swete, Two New Gospel Fragments).
\6. Sayings from the Fathers, etc.:
Apocryphal and patristic literature supplies some notable sayings. The first place must be given
(10) to the great saying which in its shortest form consists of only three words:
"Be ("become," "show yourselves to be") approved money-changers." Resch (Agrapha2, number 87) gives 69 references, at least 19 of which date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, although they represent only a few authorities, all Egyptian. The saying seems to have circulated widely in the early church and may be genuine. Other early sayings of interest or value, from these sources, must be given without comment.
(11) "The heavenly Father willeth the repentance of the sinner rather than his punishment" (Justin Martyr).
(12) "That which is weak shall be saved by that which is strong" (circa 300 AD).
(13) "Come out from bonds ye who will" (Clement of Alexandria).
(14) "Be thou saved and thy soul" (Theodotus in id).
(15) "Blessed are they who mourn for the perdition of unbelievers" (Didaskalia).
(16) "He who is near me is near the fire; he who is far from me is far from the kingdom" (Origen).
(17) "He who has not been tempted has not been approved" (Didaskalia, etc.).
(18) He who makes sad a brother's spirit is one of the greatest of criminals" (Ev Heb).
(19) "Never be glad except when ye have seen your brother in love" (same place).
(20) "Let not him who seeks cease .... until he find, and when he finds he shall be astonished; astonished he shall reach the kingdom, and when he has reached the kingdom he shall rest" (Clement of Alexandria and Logia of Oxyrhynchus).
(21) In a fragment of a Gospel found by Grenfell and Hunt at Oxyrhynchus (O Papyri number 655) is the following non-canonical passage in a canonical context:
"He Himself will give you clothing. His disciples say unto Him: When wilt thou be manifest to us and when shall we see thee? He saith: When ye shall be stripped and not be ashamed." The saying or apocryphon exhibits considerable likeness to a saying cited by Clement of Alexandria from the Gospel according to the Egyptians, but the difference is great enough to make original identity doubtful. Another fragment found by the same explorers on the same site (O Papyri number 840) preserves two agrapha or apocrypha which though clearly secondary are very curious. The first
(22) is the concluding portion of a saying about the punishment of evil-doers:
"Before a man does wrong he makes all manner of subtle excuses. But give heed lest you also suffer the same things as they for the evil-doers among men receive not their due among the living (Greek zois) only but also await punishment and much torment." Professor Swete (Two New Gospel Fragments), accents zoois as the plural of zoon and thus finds a contrast between the fate of animals and that of human beings. The second saying
(23) is a rather lengthy reply to the complaint of a Pharisaic stickler for outward purity. The most interesting part of it as edited by Swete runs as follows:
"Woe to you blind who see not.... But I and my disciples who thou sayest have not been dipped have dipped in the waters of eternal life which come down from God out of heaven." All these texts from Oxyrhynchus probably date from the 2nd century. Other Egypt sources, the so-called Coptic Apocryphal Gospels (Texts and Studies Camb. IV, 2, 1896), contain several sayings which are of interest as coming from the same religious environment. The following three are the most remarkable.
(24) "Repent, for it is better that a man find a cup of water in the age that is coming than all the riches of this world" (130).
(25) "Better is a single footstep in My Father's house than all the wealth of this world" (130 f).
(26) "Now therefore have faith in the love of My Father; for faith is the end of all things" (176). As in the case of the Logia these sayings are found in association with canonical sayings and parallels. Since the Logan may well have numbered scores, if not hundreds, it is at least possible that these Coptic sayings may have been taken from the missing portions of this collection, or a recension of it, and therefore they are not unworthy of notice as conceivably early agrapha. To these sayings of Christian derivation may be added
(27) one Muhammadan saying, that inscribed in Arabic on the chief gateway of the city Futteypore Sikri built by Akbar:
"The world is but a bridge, over which you must pass, but must not linger to build your dwelling" (In the Himalayas by Miss Gordon Cumming, cited by Griffenhoofe, The Unwritten Sayings of Christ, 128).
\7. Result:
Although the number of agrapha purporting to be sayings of Jesus which have been collected by scholars seems at first sight imposing, those which have anything like a strong claim to acceptance on the ground of early and reliable source and internal character are disappointingly few. Of those given above numbers 1-4, 7, 8, 10 which have mostly early attestation clearly take precedence of the rest. Numbers 11-20 are early enough and good enough to merit respectful consideration. Still the proportion of genuine, or possibly genuine, material is very small. Ropes is probably not far from the truth when he remarks that "the writers of the Synoptic Gospels did their work so well that only stray bits here and there, and these but of small value, were left for the gleaners." On the other hand it is not necessary to follow Wellhausen in rejecting the agrapha in toto. Recent discoveries have shown that they are the remains of a considerable body of extra-canonical sayings which circulated more or less in Christian circles, especially in Egypt, in the early centuries, and the possible presence in what we possess of a sentence or two actually spoken by Jesus fully justifies research.
\8. Other Agrapha:
The second edition of the work of Resch includes 17 agrapha from manuscripts of Ac and 1 Joh most of which are from Codex Bezae (D), 31 apostolic apocrypha, and 66 agrapha and apocrypha connected with the Old Testament. 19 of the latter are largely taken from pseudepigrapha, a pseudo-Ezekiel for instance These agrapha some of which are really textual variants are of inferior interest and value.
LOGIA, THE
log'-i-a, (Logia):
1. The Word "Logia" and Its History:
The word logion, which is a diminutive of logos, was regularly used of Divine utterances. There are examples in the classics, the Septuagint, the writings of Josephus and Philo and in four passages in the New Testament (Acts 7:38; Romans 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; 1 Peter 4:11) where it is uniformly rendered both in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "oracles." It is not, therefore, surprising that early Christian writers, who thought of Christ as Divine, applied this term to His sayings also. We find this use, according to the usual interpretation, in the title of the lost work of Papias as preserved by Eusebius, Logion kuriakon exegesis, "Exposition of the Lord's Logia" (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 39), in that writer's obscure reference to a Hebrew or Aramaic writing by the apostle Matthew (same place) , and in Polycarp's Epistle (section symbol 7), "the logia of the Lord." The modern use of the word is twofold:
(a) as the name of the document referred to by Papins which may or may not be the Q of recent inquirers;
(b) as the name of recently discovered sayings ascribed to Jesus. For the former compare GOSPELS.
The latter is theme of this article.
2. The Discovery of the Logia:
About 9 1/2 miles from the railway station of Beni Mazar, 121 miles from Cairo, a place now called Behnesa marks the site of an ancient city named by the Greeks Oxyrhynchus, from the name of a sacred fish, the modern binni, which had long been known as a great Christian center in early times and was therefore selected by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt for exploration in behalf of the Egyptian Exploration Fund. They began work on the ruins of the town, January 11, 1897, and on the following day discovered a papyrus leaf inscribed with a number of sayings introduced by the formula legei Iesous, "saith Jesus," some of which were at once seen to be quite new. When excavation was resumed in February, 1903, a second fragment was discovered, which must have belonged to the same or a similar collection, as the formula "saith Jesus" is employed in exactly the same way, and the sayings exhibit the same mixed character. The first of these two fragments was named by the discoverers logia, but the short preface to the second fragment suggests that the word used in the original title may have been logoi, which is found in Acts 20:35 as the title perhaps of a collection of sayings of Jesus used by the apostle Paul. It is convenient, however, to retain logia, at any rate for the present. Other remains of early Christian texts have been found on the same site (compare AGRAPHA) but none of precisely the same character.
3. Description of the Texts:
The first fragment, found and published in 1897, afterward referred to as A, is a leaf from a papyrus book measuring in its present state 5 3/4 X 3 3/4 inches and having 42 lines on the two pages. As it is broken at the bottom it is impossible, in the absence of another leaf, to ascertain or even conjecture how much has been lost. At the top right-hand corner of one page are the letters iota, alpha, used as numerals, that is 11, and it has been suggested that this, with other characteristics, marks the page as the first of the two. The uncial writing is assigned to the 3rd century, perhaps to the early part of it. The text is fairly complete except at the end of the third logion, for the five following lines, and at the bottom. The second fragment, henceforth referred to as B, found in 1903 and published in 1904, has also 42 lines, or rather parts of lines, but on only one page or column, the Christian text being written on the back of a roll the recto of which contained a survey list. The characters of this, too, are uncial, and the date, like that of A, seems to be also the 3rd century, but perhaps a little later. B is unfortunately very defective, the bit of papyrus being broken vertically throughout, so that several letters are lost at the end of each line, and also horizontally for parts of several lines at the bottom.
4. Logia with Canonical Parallels:
Seven of these sayings, or logia, inclusive of the preface of B, have or contain canonical parallels, namely:
(1) A1, which coincides with the usual text of Luke 6:42;
(2) A5a (according to the editio princeps, 6a), which comes very close to Luke 4:24;
(3) A6 (or 7), a variant of Matthew 5:14;
(4) the saying contained in the preface of B which resembles John 8:52;
(5) B2, ll. 7, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," which reminds us of Luke 17:21;
(6) B3, ll. 4, "Many that are first shall be last; and the last first," which corresponds to Mark 10:31; compare Matthew 19:30; Luke 13:30;
(7) B4, ll. 2-5, "That which is hidden from thee shall be revealed to thee:
for there is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest," which is like Mark 4:22 (compare Matthew 10:26; Luke 12:2).
These parallels or partial parallels--for some of them exhibit interesting variations--are, with one exception, of synoptic character.
5. New Sayings:
The other seven or eight logia, although not without possible echoes of the canonical Gospels in thought and diction, are all non-canonical and with one exception new.
Three of them, namely B2 and 3 (apart from the canonical sayings given above) and 5, may be set aside as too uncertain to be of any value. What is preserved of the first ("Who are they that draw you (MS, us) to the kingdom?" etc.) is indeed very tempting, but the restoration of the lost matter is too precarious for any suggestion to be more than an ingenious conjecture. This is seen by comparing the restoration of this logion by the discoverers, Dr. Swete and Dr. C. Taylor, with that proposed by Delssmann (Licht vom Osten1, 329). While the English scholars take helko in the sense of "draw," the German takes it in the sense which it has in the New Testament, "drag," with the result of utter divergence as to the meaning and even the subject of the logion. The logia which remain are undeniably of great interest, although the significance of at least one is exceedingly obscure. The number of the sayings is not certain. Dr. Taylor has shown that in A2 f "and" may couple two distinct utterances brought together by the compiler. If this suggestion is adopted, and if the words after A3 in the editio princeps are regarded as belonging to it and not as the remains of a separate logion, we get the following eight sayings:
(1) "Except ye fast to the world (or "from the world"), ye shall in no wise find the kingdom of God" (A2a);
(2) "Except ye keep the sabbath (Taylor "sabbatize the sabbath"), ye shall not see the Father" (A2b);
(3) "I stood in the midst of the world, and in flesh was I seen of them, and I found all men drunken, and none found I athirst among them" (A3a);
(4) "My soul grieveth over the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and see not their wretchedness and their poverty" (the last clause restored by conjecture) (A3b);
(5) "Wherever there are two they are not without God, and where there is one alone I say I am with him (after Blass). Raise the stone and (there) thou shalt find me:
cleave the wood (Taylor, "the tree") and there am I" (A4);
(6) "A physician does not work cures on them that know him" (A5b);
(7) "Thou hearest with one ear but the other thou hast closed" (largely conjectural but almost certain) (A6);
(8) "(There is nothing) buried which shall not be raised" (or "known") (B4, 1,5).
6. Origin and Character of the Logia:
Attempts have been made to trace the collection represented by these fragments (assuming that they belong to the same work) to some lost gospel--the Gospel according to the Egyptians (Harnack, Van Manen), the Gospel of the Ebionites or the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles (Zahn), or the Gospel according to the Hebrews (Batiffol), but without decisive result. That there is a connection of some kind with the last-mentioned apocryphal work is evident from the fact that B1 ("Jesus saith, Let not him who seeks .... cease until he find Him; and having found Him, let him be amazed; and being amazed he shall reign, and reigning shall rest") is ascribed by Clement of Alexandria to this writing, but that cannot have been the only source. It was probably one of a number drawn on by the compiler. The latter, so far as B is concerned, represents the sayings as spoken by Jesus to ".... and Thomas." In whatever way the gap is supplied--whether by "Philip," or "Judas" or "the other disciples"--one of the Twelve known as Thomas is clearly referred to as the medium or one of the media of transmission. It is possible that the short preface in which this statement is made belongs not to the whole collection but to a part of it. The whole work may, as Swete suggests (Expository Times, XV, 494), have been entitled "Words of Jesus to the Twelve," and this may have been the portion addressed to Thomas. The other fragment, A, might belong to a section associated with the name of another apostle. In any case the Logia must have formed part of a collection of considerable extent, as we know of material for 24 pages or columns of about 21 or 22 lines each. So far as can be judged the writing was not a gospel in the ordinary sense of that term, but a collection of sayings perhaps bearing considerable resemblance as to the form to the Logia of Matthew mentioned by Papias.
The remains of B5, however, show that a saying might be prefaced with introductory matter. Perhaps a short narrative was sometimes appended. The relation to the canonical Gospels cannot be determined with present evidence. The sayings preserved generally exhibit the synoptic type, perhaps more specifically the Lukan type, but Johannine echoes, that is, possible traces of the thought and diction represented in the Fourth Gospel, are not absent (compare A, logia 2, and preface to B). It seems not improbable that the compiler had our four Gospels before him, but nothing can be proved. There is no distinct sign of heretical influence. The much-debated saying about the wood and the stone (A4b) undoubtedly lends itself to pantheistic teaching, but can be otherwise understood.
Under these circumstances the date of the compilation cannot at present be fixed except in a very general way. If our papyri which represent two copies were written, as the discoverers think, in the 3rd century, that fact and the indubitably archaic character of the sayings make it all but certain that the text as arranged is not later than the 2nd century. To what part of the century it is to be assigned is at present undiscoverable. Sanday inclines to about 120 AD, the finders suggest about 140 AD as the terminus ad quem, Zahn dates 160-70 AD, and Dr. Taylor 150-200 AD. Further research may solve these problems, but, with the resources now available, all that can be said is that we have in the Logia of Oxyrhynchus a few glimpses of an early collection of sayings ascribed to Jesus which circulated in Egypt in the 3rd century of great interest and possibly of considerable value, but of completely unknown origin.