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

The Gospel of Peter

 “But Joseph, the friend of Pilate and of the Lord, had been standing there; and knowing they were about to crucify him, he came before Pilate and requested the body of the Lord for burial. [4] And Pilate, having sent to Herod, requested his body. [5] And Herod said: ‘Brother Pilate, even if no one had requested him, we would have buried him, since indeed Sabbath is dawning. For in the Law it has been written: The sun is not to set on one put to death.’

And he gave him over to the people before the first day of their feast of the Unleavened Bread. [6] But having taken the Lord, running, they were pushing him and saying, ‘Let us drag along the Son of God now that we have power over him.’ [7] And they clothed him with purple and sat him on a chair of judgment, saying: ‘Judge justly, King of Israel.’ [8] And a certain one of them, having brought a thorny crown, put it on the head of the Lord. [9] And others who were standing there were spitting in his face, and others slapped his cheeks. Others were jabbing him with a reed; and some scourged him, saying, ‘With such honor let us honor the Son of God.’

[10] And they brought two wrongdoers and crucified the Lord in the middle of them. But he was silent as having no pain. [11] And when they had set the cross upright, they inscribed that THIS IS THE KING OF ISRAEL. [12] And having put his garments before him, they divided them up and threw as a gamble for them. [13] But a certain one of those wrongdoers reviled them, saying: ‘We have been made suffer thus because of the wrong that we have done; but this one, having become Savior of men, what injustice had he done to you?’ [14] And having become irritated at him, they ordered that there be no leg-breaking, so that he might die tormented.”

The Gospel of Peter is a Pseudepigraphal work that claims to be written by Peter — but in fact strays from the accepted understanding the church teaches about Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Peter contains 60 verses and deals with events surrounding the end of Jesus’ life. The original is thought to have been written c. AD 150, although the earliest surviving manuscript dates from the 8th or 9th century.

The first mention of the Gospel of Peter was made by Bishop Serapion of Antioch (c. AD 200) in a letter titled “Concerning what is known as the Gospel of Peter.” In this letter Serapion advised church leaders not to read the so-called Gospel to their congregations because of its Docetic content. He also condemned the Gospel of Peter as a forgery.

What is Docetism? One form of Docetism (Marcionism) maintained that Christ was so divine he could not have been human. He only appeared to be made of flesh and blood, and his body was nothing more than a “hologram”. Other groups held that, while Jesus was a man in the flesh, Christ was a separate entity who entered Jesus’ body in the form of a dove at His baptism, empowering Him to perform miracles. The “Christ entity” then abandoned Jesus on the cross. Docetism was unequivocally rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and is regarded as heretical by Catholics and Protestants alike. Docetism largely died out during the first millennium.

The Gospel of Peter says that on the cross Jesus cried out, “My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me,” rather than “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). In the account of the crucifixion, the Gospel of Peter carefully avoids saying that Jesus died, asserting instead that He “was taken up.” This idea of escaping actual death is mirrored in the Qur’an, Sura 4:157–158: “But Allah took him up unto Himself.” The Gospel of Peter suggests that Christ was “taken up” to the Divine Presence at the moment His divine power left His bodily shell, which had only been a temporary residence. This teaching, together with the claim that Jesus “remained silent, as though he felt no pain” on the cross, highlights the error of Docetism.

 Heresies such as the teachings of the Doetists were deemed damaging and dangerous by the early church for their digressions from the teachings of the full humanity and full divinity of Christ. It would take another 100 + years to work out the dual nature of Christ, but not without abandoning teachings that detracted from the church’s early understanding of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for the sins of all people.

Again, these writings are interesting and of great value – as long as we maintain a clear understanding of the true nature of Christ.

Pastor Dave

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

Papyrus Egerton 2: The Unknown 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] . . .

The Egerton Gospel refers to a collection of three fragments of a gospel codex previously unknown, found in Egypt and sold to the British Museum in 1934; the physical fragments are now dated to the very end of the 2nd century CE. Together they comprise one of the oldest surviving witnesses to any gospel, or any codex. The British Museum published the text in 1935. It is also called the Unknown Gospel very simply because there are no ancient sources that makes reference to it – and it was entirely unknown before its publication. It is also known as the Egerton Collection because it is part of the Egerton Collection in the British Library. A fourth fragment of the same manuscript has since been identified in the papyrus collection of the University of Cologne.

The text consists of four pericopes, the first of which seem to be similar to the character of the Gospel of John; the second and third of which seem to be parallels to all three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. The main importance of these manuscripts (or the bits of manuscripts we currently have) is clearly the early dating of the manuscripts – from the middle of the second century. The oldest complete codices of the New Testament gospels is dated to the fourth century. The oldest bits of manuscripts of the synoptics dates to the later part of the second century. Why is this important? You see, the closer we get to having actual manuscripts that date to the life and time of Jesus and his disciples, the closer we might be to actual original writings – writings that would not have possibly been altered due to mistakes or preferences.

There is a lot of territory that has not yet been open to archeological exploration throughout the areas where Jesus taught, walked, and lived. Many more manuscripts remain in boxes in warehouses throughout Europe, Egypt and Israel. Every decade there is a discovery that rocks the world of biblical scholars. And one day, we may just find such a manuscript – a first generation Gospel.

Pastor Dave