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The Gospel of the Hebrews, probably similar to the Gospel of Matthew, is a lost harmonic gospel that is preserved in the works of the Church Fathers. Possibly the most important ancient scholar was Eusebius. He was born in Palestine about 225 years after the crucifixion, later becoming Bishop of Caesarea. Many believe he is the greatest historian of the Christian faith, on a par with Josephus. He is best known for his Church History in which he chronicles the important events from the birth of Christ to his era.
At the time of Eusebius, there was no Bible, as we know it. However, there existed numerous Christian writings that recorded the life of Jesus. This corpus of literature had come into being during the 200 or so years after Christ. Eusebius catalogued these writings in his Church History.
It is because of this catalogue that we know of those early works (many of which were lost).
His catalogue consisted of three sections:
1) Spurious Works These were writings that the Church unanimously rejected as heretical. Eusebius lists them as follows:
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Peter
The Gospel of Matthias
The Acts of Andrew
The Acts of John
2) The Homologumena or Accepted Books These works were accepted as authentic. Eventually they would be included in what we call the Holy Bible. Eusebius lists them as follows:
The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Luke
The Acts of the Apostles
The Gospel of John
The First Letter of John
The First Letter of Peter
The Letters of Paul
3) The Controversial Works or Disputed books At the time of Eusebius there were many works that were controversial. Although accepted by many, some Early Church leaders voiced concerns and rejected them.
The Teachings of the Apostles
The Letter of James
The Letter of Jude
The Second Letter of Peter
The Second and Third Letter of John
The Letter of Barnabas
The Acts of Paul
The Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse of John
The Gospel of the Hebrews (3565 C.E.)
A. From Kerygma to Gospel
In 37 C.E., a small group of Hebrews in and about Jerusalem started to proclaim that a young man named Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Jewish Messiah. They said that the Romans had executed Jesus, and God had raised him from the dead.
They were a fanatical group, sharing the Gospel, breaking bread together and worshipping in the Temple.
In the year 62 C.E., the Roman position of Procurator became vacant. During this period of instability, the Jewish leadership murdered the groups leader, James the Just.
In the late sixties, the Romans destroyed the Temple. The Hebrews, both Jew and Christian, were driven away.
However, Gentile Christianity had been flourishing due to the work of a missionary named Paul.
While Peter and Paul were laying the foundations of the Church in Rome, a man from a Hebrew Christian community in Syria decided he also would bring the Good News to the people of other nations.
As he had been one of the original members of this sect, he decided to leave behind a written account to compensate the community for the lack of his presence. According to the Church Fathers, the name of this apostle was Matthew, and his account was a primitive work in Hebrew script.
Although circulated among Hebrew Christians, this Gospel of the Hebrews had little practical value in the Gentile Church, for even among learned Gentile Christians few were fluent in this Syriac dialect using Hebrew letters.
B. The Hebrew Text
According to the Church Fathers, the Gospel of the Hebrews or the Hebrew Gospel was authoritative and apostolic in nature.
Papius and Irenaeus tell us that the Apostle Matthew wrote it in Hebrew letters.
Eusebius adds that the reason Matthew wrote the Hebrew Gospel was that he was about to leave the Christian community he established, and therefore put together an account of the life of Jesus for the people he left behind in their own dialect (Aramaic).
Epiphanius confirms the aforementioned, and goes on to say that Matthew alone of the New Testament writers composed a Gospel in Hebrew script that was called the Gospel of the Hebrews.
Some modern scholars contested this, arguing that Matthew also wrote the Canonical Matthean Gospel in Hebrew script. However, Higher Criticism has proven that the Canonical Matthean Gospel as recorded in the Bible was composed in Greek many years after the time of Matthew by an unknown redactor.
St. Jerome is most helpful in understanding the origins of the Gospel of the Hebrews. According to Jerome, the Gospel of the Hebrews was written in the Syriac language (Aramaic) but used Hebrew letters. Most people of Jeromes day called it Authentic Matthew, as the Apostle of Jesus who was the tax collector composed it. The Hebrew original was preserved at the library in Caesarea, but copies existed in the Nazarene community in Beroea, Syria, as well as in the Ebionite community. The Nazarenes gave Jerome a copy that he translated into Greek.
Jerome believed the Gospel of the Hebrews was authoritative and wrote about it extensively, thus preserving an otherwise lost Gospel.
*See appendix 1
The Gospel of Mark (40 70 CE)
Eusebius, in his catalogue of ancient church writings, puts the Gospel of Mark in his Homologoumena or accepted category. Both modern and ancient Biblical scholars agree that it was the earliest Canonical account of the life of Jesus Christ. It is a primitive, primary source, incorporated into both the Canonical Matthean Gospel as well as Luke-Acts.
Scholars agree that the Gospel of Mark was not written by any of the Apostles, but by some insignificant figure in the early church. Notwithstanding its shortcomings, it was probably included in the Canon because the Early Church Fathers believed it was a reliable account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Eusebius, in his Church History records that the writer of this Gospel was a man named Mark who was Peters interpreter. It was believed that his accounts of Jesus were historically accurate, but that there was some chronological distortion. It is further agreed that this Gospel was originally composed in Koine Greek, near Rome.
The Canonical Matthean Gospel (70-100 CE)
For quite a while after the time of Jesus, only two Gospels were in existence, and circulated throughout the early Church. One was the Gospel of the Hebrews written by the Apostle Matthew (called Authentic Matthew) and the other was the Gospel of Mark, which Peters interpreter was believed to have written.
The Gospel of the Hebrews was written in the Syriac dialect using Hebrew letters. It was a primitive Jewish work that did not recognize Gentile Christians. As the Church evolved away from its Jewish roots, this work was weighed, measured and found wanting.
The Gospel of Mark was also sadly lacking. The stories of Jesus were out of order and the authors Greek was substandard.
A redactor(s) was asked to compose a complete and orderly account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. This work was based on the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of Mark.
This new Canonical Matthean work was called the Gospel of Matthew because of its heavy reliance on the Gospel of the Hebrews written by Matthew.
Having the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Canonical Matthean Gospel both called the Gospel of Matthew has caused much confusion that has persisted to modern times.
Yet Biblical scholars have shown that, above all reasonable doubt, Matthew did not write the Canonical Matthean Gospel, nor was it written in Hebrew, nor was it one of the early Gospels.
This lines up with what Epiphanius wrote when he recorded that the Gospel of the Hebrews written by Matthew was the only Gospel to be written in Hebrew.
Appendix 1
Jerome
"Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered.
I have also had the opportunity of having the volume described to me by the Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of Syria, who use it. In this it is to be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or in the person of our Lord the Saviour, quotes the testimony of the Old Testament he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint but the Hebrew. Wherefore these two forms exist: 'Out of Egypt have I called my son,' and 'for he shall be called a Nazarene.' "
Jerome took a lively interest in this book. More than once he mentions that he made translations of it into Greek and Latin. Unfortunately, even these translations have been lost.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 considered that the Hebrews probably was the slightly modified Aramaic original of the Gospel of Matthew, written in Hebrew characters.
Ironically, we know just how long the lost Gospel of the Hebrews was: 2200 lines, just 300 lines shorter than canonical Matthew. The figure comes from the Stichometry of Nicephorus, appended by Nicephorus, the 9th century Patriarch of Jerusalem, to his Chronography. The Stichometry lists scriptural books, in three categories, each with the count of its stichoi (lines). Nicephorus lists the canon and the apocrypha, and a secondary list of books that are the antilegomena "disputed": The Revelation of John. the Revelation of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas and this Gospel of the Hebrews.
Though modern commentators generally aver that its original title is unknown, Epiphanius is perfectly clear about what it was: "the Gospel that is in general use among them which is called "according to Matthew", which . . . they call it the Hebrews Gospel."
Of the lost text Epiphanius records in another place in his Panarion:
"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."
Again Epiphanius records:
"They say ... 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 sacrifices, and if you cease not sacrificing, the wrath of God will not cease from you." (Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16,4-5)
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The Gospel of the Hebrews, probably identical to the Gospel of the Ebionites, is a lost harmonic gospel that is only preserved in a few quotations in the Panarion of Epiphanius, a church writer who lived at the end of the 4th century C.E.. The work was earlier than that, however: Irenaeus attested to a Matthew already used by Ebionites late in the 2nd century.
Other mainstream Christian writers knew this text. Cyril of Jerusalem quoted from it. Eusebius mentions that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was known to Hegesippus (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IV.xxii.8). Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis, II.ix.45) and Origen used it, according to Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, ii:
"Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered. I have also had the opportunity of having the volume described to me by the Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of Syria, who use it. In this it is to be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or in the person of our Lord the Saviour, quotes the testimony of the Old Testament he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint but the Hebrew. Wherefore these two forms exist: 'Out of Egypt have I called my son,' and 'for he shall be called a Nazarene.' "
Jerome took a lively interest in this book. More than once he mentions that he made translations of it into Greek and Latin. Unfortunately, even these translations have been lost.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 considered that the Hebrews probably was the slightly modified Aramaic original of the Gospel of Matthew, written in Hebrew characters.
Some modern scholars take a quite different view. They read from the extant fragments quoted by Epiphanius that much of the text was a harmony, composed in Greek, of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (and, probably, the Gospel of Mark as well). (rationale for this reading needs to be presented)
Ironically, we know just how long the lost Gospel of the Hebrews was: 2200 lines, just 300 lines shorter than canonical Matthew. The figure comes from the Stichometry of Nicephorus, appended by Nicephorus, the 9th century Patriarch of Jerusalem, to his Chronography. The Stichometry lists scriptural books, in three categories, each with the count of its stichoi (lines). Nicephorus lists the canon and the apocrypha, and a secondary list of books that are the antilegomena "disputed": The Revelation of John. the Revelation of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas and this Gospel of the Hebrews.
Though modern commentators generally aver that its original title is unknown, Epiphanius is perfectly clear about what it was: "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."
Of the lost text Epiphanius records in another place in his Panarion:
"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."
Leaving aside for the moment any modern title, what was Epiphanius reading? A variant gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew letters that had been used by the followers of Cerinthus. (Merinthus is a mere duplicative invention with no historical reality.) This Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew was apparently not identical to the canonical manuscript tradition, any variant from which would have appeared to Epiphanius "forged and mutilated." A skeptic might mildly interpret Epiphanius' phrase as meaning simply "with unauthorized variants and not containing certain passages considered canonical."
Again Epiphanius records:
"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 sacrifices, and if you cease not sacrificing, the wrath of God will not cease from you." (Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16,4-5)
The alternate designation customary today, Gospel of the Ebionites, is based on the fact that this was the only gospel apparently used by the Ebionites, a group of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians who were prominent in Syria and Palestine during 2nd and 3rd centuries.
The Gospel of the Ebionites omitted the infancy narratives. The gospel presented both John the Baptist and Jesus as vegetarians, and Jesus says that he has come to abolish sacrifices. Ron Cameron says, "Together with the sayings about the passover, this intimates a polemic against the Jewish Temple." This indicates that the Gospel of the Ebionites, like the Gospel of Matthew, addresses the issue of "Jewish identity after the destruction of the Temple." The solution offered to this problem is "to believe in Jesus, the true interpreter of the Law." Cameron suggests that the Gospel of the Ebionites was written in the mid-second century in Syria or Palestine.
Is this Gospel of the Ebionites identical with the Gospel according to the Hebrews? Montague Rhode James, in The Apocryphal New Testament 1924 , pp. 8-10, found that this gospel in its fragmentary quotes was "intended 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."
Which views? "Most importantly, the Ebionites believed in an "adoptionist" Christologythat Jesus was fully human, but was chosen as the son of God at his baptism. However, Epiphanius also states that they believed Jesus to have been "created like one of the archangels." The gospel also makes vegetarians of Jesus and John the Baptist by modifying Luke 22:15, and changing the Baptist's diet from locusts (Greek=akris) to cake (egkris)." (Geoff Trowbridge, The 'Whole' Bible.)
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