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

The Epistle of the Apostles

“The book which Jesus Christ revealed unto his disciples: and how that Jesus Christ revealed the book for the company (college) of the apostles, the disciples of Jesus Christ, even the book which is for all men. Simon and Cerinthus, the false apostles, concerning whom it is written that no man shall cleave unto them, for there is in them deceit wherewith they bring men to destruction. (The book hath been written) that ye may be not flinch nor be troubled, and depart not from the word of the Gospel which ye have heard. Like as we heard it, we keep it in remembrance and have written it for the whole world. We commend you our sons and our daughters in joy <in the grace of God (?)> in the name of God the Father the Lord of the world, and of Jesus Christ. Let grace be multiplied upon you.

2 We, John, Thomas, Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Batholomew, Matthew, Nathanael, Judas Zelotes, and Cephas, write unto the churches of the east and the west, of the north and the south, the declaring and imparting unto you that which concerneth our Lord Jesus Christ: we do write according as we have seen and heard and touched him, after that he was risen from the dead: and how that he revealed unto us things mighty and wonderful and true.

3 This know we: that our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ is God the Son of God, who was sent of God the Lord of the whole world, the maker and creator of it, who is named by all names, and high above all powers, Lord of lords, King of kings, Ruler of rulers, the heavenly one, that sitteth above the cherubim and seraphim at the right hand of the throne of the Father: who by his word made the heavens, and formed the earth and that which is in it, and set bounds to the sea that it should not pass: the deeps also and fountains, that they should spring forth and flow over the earth: the day and the night, the sun and the moon, did he establish, and the stars in the heaven: that did separate the light from the darkness: that called forth hell, and in the twinkling of an eye ordained the rain of the winter, the snow (cloud), the hail, and the ice, and the days in their several seasons: that maketh the earth to quake and again establisheth it: that created man in his own image, after his likeness, and by the fathers of old and the prophets is it declared (or, and spake in parables with the fathers of old and the prophets in verity), of whom the apostles preached, and whom the disciples did touch. In God, the Lord, the Son of God, do we believe, that he is the word become flesh: that of Mary the holy virgin he took a body, begotten of the Holy Ghost, not of the will (lust) of the flesh, but by the will of God: that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem and made manifest, and grew up and came to ripe age, when also we beheld it.

The Epistle of the Apostles is not an epistle – it is a gospel. It might start out as a letter, but the details of the book contains a conversation between Jesus and his eleven disciples after the resurrection. This kind of “gospel” which includes a post-resurrection dialogue between Jesus and his followers was quite popular among Gnostic Christians. This kind of dialogue allowed Gnostics to indicate that Jesus provided secret teachings to his disciples that were different from his public teachings delivered during his ministry. However, scholars have labeled this text “anti-gnostic”. In this account, the fleshly nature of Jesus’ body is emphasized, including the reality of his incarnation, death, resurrection and the importance of his follower’s fleshly existence in this world.

Speaking as the risen Lord, Jesus instructs his disciples on creedal formulas, dogma, and catechetical points. Hence, this is a reiteration of “orthodoxy.” He does this through visions and dialogue. It is not based on sayings material, but on biblical narrative. There are about sixty questions in fifty-one chapters. It is, by far, the longest epistle.

The Epistle of the Apostles was not known until a Coptic version of this text was discovered near the end of the 19^th century. It was most likely written in Greek during the end of the second century. What I think is important to highlight is the fact that this text was unknown through the middle ages and well into the modern age. It makes us stop and think about how many other documents there might yet be located in caves or jars or boxes in museums just waiting to be discovered. While many of these are Gnostic or other kinds of writings, there may well be another gospel that might shed additional information about the life and teachings of Jesus.

Pastor Dave