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

“It came to pass in the days of Herod, King of Judaea under the high priest Caiaphas, that John came and baptized with the baptism of repentance in the river Jordan; he is said to be from the tribe of Aaron and a son of Zacharias the priest and of Elizabeth and all went out to him. (13.6) And it came to pass when John baptized, that the Pharisees came to him and were baptized, and all Jerusalem also. He had a garment of camels’ hair, and a leather girdle about his loins. And his meat was wild honey, which tasted like manna, formed like cakes of oil. (13.4) The people having been baptized, Jesus came also, and was baptized by John. And as he came out of the water the heavens opened, and he saw the Holy Spirit descending under the form of a dove, and entering into him. And a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Thou art my beloved Son, and in thee am I well pleased’. And again: ‘This day have I begotten thee’. And suddenly shone a great light in that place. And John seeing him, said, ‘Who art thou, Lord’? Then a voice was heard from heaven: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. Thereat John fell at his feet and said: ‘I pray thee, Lord, baptize me’. But he would not, saying ‘Suffer it, for so it behoveth that all should be accomplished’. (13.7)

“There was a man named Jesus, and he was about thirty years old; he has chosen us. And He came into Capernaum and entered into the house of Simon, surnamed Peter, and He opened His mouth and said, ‘As I walked by the Sea of Tiberias, I chose John and James, the sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew and Thaddaeus and Simon Zelotes, and Judas Iscariot; thee also, Matthew, when thou wast sitting at the receipt of custom, did I call and thou didst follow me. According to my intention ye shall be twelve apostles for a testimony unto Israel‘.” (13.2b–3) (quoted from the Gospel of the Ebionites)

The Gospel of the Ebionites

The Ebionites were a group of Jewish Christians located in the Mediterranean region from the second to the fourth centuries. The Ebionites were a movement that regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his divinity, his virgin birth, and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish law and rites.

One of their sacred books has been known through antiquity as the Gospel of the Ebionites. The original contents of this book has been lost completely. But what is known comes from quotes in other writings including seven brief quotations in a publication known as the Panarion, by Epiphanius of Salamis. He unfortunately misidentified it as the “Hebrew” gospel, believing it to be a truncated and modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. So, even though we do not have the entire Gospel, it gives us a good idea of that the entire document must have looked like. If you notice, during the baptism of Jesus, the different canonical gospels give varying accounts of what the voice from heaven says to Jesus. Here in the Gospel of the Ebionites, the voices are harmonized where the voice speaks three times, combining the sayings of the other Gospels.  

Some of the concerns of the Ebionites comes forward in their Gospel – for example, their reference to the diet of John the Baptist, where instead of eating locusts and wild honey, he eats cakes cooked in oil that tasted like manna, and wild honey.

It makes sense to us that the early church, and the early followers of Jesus would have developed their own writings including sayings of Jesus. It appears that the Ebionites most likely had copies of Matthew, Mark and Luke – since there are allusions to all three. Still, reading this Gospel helps us gain some knowledge of their concerns, their thoughts, and their faith. It begs the question: if we were to write a Gospel about Jesus today, what would we include that might help people in the future date our writing?

Pastor Dave

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