The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament.

“It is written in a certain Gospel that is called “according to the Hebrews (if in any event anyone is inclined to accept it, not as an authority, but to shed some light on the question we have posed) that another rich man asked [Jesus], “Master, what good thing must I do to have life?” He replied to him, “O man, you should keep the law and the prophets.” He responded, “I have already done that.” Jesus said to him, “Go, sell all that you have and distribute the proceeds to the poor; then come, follow me.” But the rich man began to scratch his head, for he was not pleased. And the Lord said to 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.” But look, many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are clothed in excrement and dying of hunger while your house is filled with many good things, not one of which goes forth to these others.” He turned and said to his disciple Simon, sitting beside him, “Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (quoted as belonging to the Gospel of the Nazareans)

The Gospel of the Nazareans

Jewish Christians of the early church widely agreed that the Gospel of Matthew was preferred to the other Gospels because the Gospel of Matthew stresses the importance of keeping the Jewish law – and emphasizes the “Jewishness” of Jesus. One group of Jewish Christians known as the Nazareans produced their own version of Matthew – known as the Gospel of the Nazareans – published sometime near the end of the first century and the beginning of the second. It was written in the language of Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the Jews living in Palestine.

The contents of the Gospel of the Nazareans, at least of the parts we know of today, reveal the Jewish-Christian concerns of the day – for example there are no birth narratives because many Jewish Christians did not believe in the virgin birth. Eventually the “Gospel of the Nazareans” fell into disfavor with the Christian community at large. The Jewish emphases of the Gospel was seen as suspicious by many early Christians – and few Christians of later centuries could not read Aramaic.

The history of the development of the canon is as interesting as is the reading of the different variants of “scriptures” that existed at the time of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Knowing they existed, and reading their variants, helps us in understanding the teachings of Jesus that much more.

Pastor Dave

The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament.

The Canon of the Third Synod of Carthage

“It was also determined that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of divine Scriptures. The Canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, ³ two books of Paraleipomena, ⁴ Job, the Psalter, five books of Solomon, ⁵ the books of the twelve prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Daniel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, ⁶ two books of the Maccabees. Of the New Testament: four books of the Gospels, one book of the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, one epistle of the same [writer] to the Hebrews, two Epistles of the Apostle Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, one book of the Apocalypse of John. Let this be made known also to our brother and fellow-priest Boniface, or to other bishops of those parts, for the purpose of confirming that Canon. because we have received from our fathers that those books must be read in the Church. Let it also be allowed that the Passions of Martyrs be read when their festivals are kept.”

The New Testament canon was never ratified by an “ecumenical” council. An “Ecumenical Council” is a meeting of bishops from around the Christian World – a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. But there were several smaller councils who judged which books should be accepted as canonical Scripture. As I said in an earlier devotion, it took almost 400 years and the influence of St. Augustine of Hippo, at the Synod of Hippo for the list of 27 books of the New Testament to be widely accepted. However, no records of the proceedings of this Synod exist. But the proceedings of the Third Synod of Carthage, held four years later, summarize what had happened at the earlier meeting. And yet even these decisions were not held universally binding – and there are still disagreements on what books should be included in the bible. The Catholic canon includes books they call “Apocryphal” – the Lutheran canon does not include those books. Should, or should they not be included in the New Testament canon? I don’t think it really matters – if we all read those books as part of our yearly “scripture” reading – we will all be better for it.

Pastor Dave