THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE HEBREWS

These first five paragraphs are excerpts from
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:


The Gospel According to the Hebrews was a work of early Christian literature, already known by the mid 2nd century AD, to which reference is frequently made by the “Church Fathers” during the first five centuries of the Christian era, and of which some twenty or more fragments, have been preserved by quotations in their writings.


The book itself has completely disappeared. All that survives to us from the 'Gospel of the Hebrews' are the quotations, made by Clement, Origen, Jerome, and Cyril of Jerusalem. Jerome took a lively interest in this book, an Aramaic copy of which he found in the famous library at Caesarea in Palestine. More than once he tells us (and with great pride) that he made translations of it into Greek and Latin. These translations, which would have made the Gospel of the Hebrews readily available to the Western church, have also not survived.

It has, however, been the subject of many critical surmises and discussions in the course of the last century. Recent discussions have thrown considerable light upon the problems connected with this Gospel, and a large literature has grown up around it.

The original language of the gospel suggests that it was drawn up for Hebrew and Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians in Palestine and Syria.

The time and place of origin are disputed, but since Clement used it in the last quarter of the 2nd century, it is certainly dated before the middle of that century. Alexandrian Egypt is most often indicated as its place of origin by the fact that its principal witnesses are the Alexandrians Clement and Origen and by the conception of Jesus as the Son of the Holy Spirit, which is documented for Egypt by the Coptic Epistle of James.


The following information on The Gospel of the Hebrews has been extracted from research by Peter Kirby:

Unlike other Jewish-Christian gospels, the Gospel of the Hebrews shows no dependence upon the Gospel of Matthew. The story of the first resurrection appearance to James the Just suggests that the Jewish-Christian community that produced this document claimed James as their founder. It is reasonable to assume that the remainder of the gospel is synoptic in flavor. The Gospel of the Hebrews seems to be independent of the New Testament in the quoted portions; unfortunately, since the gospel is not extant, it is difficult to know whether unquoted portions of the Gospel of the Hebrews might show signs of dependence.

Cameron makes these observations on dating and provenance: "The earliest possible date of the composition of the Gospel of the Hebrews would be in the middle of the first century, when Jesus traditions were first being produced and collected as part of the wisdom tradition. The latest possible date would be in the middle of the second century, shortly before the first reference to this gospel by Hegesippus and the quotations of it by Clement and Origen. Based on the parallels in the morphology of the tradition, an earlier date of composition is more likely than a later one. Internal evidence and external attestation indicate that Egypt was its place of origin."

On Jeremiah, homily xv.4. … 'Even now my mother the Holy Spirit took me and carried me up unto the great mountain Thabor' ….

On Isa. xi.2. (The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him) not partially as in the case of other holy men: but, according to the Gospel written in the Hebrew speech, which the Nazarenes read, 'There shall descend upon him the whole fount of the Holy Spirit'. . . .In the Gospel I mentioned above, I find this written: And it came to pass when the Lord was come up out of the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon him, and said unto him: My son, in all the prophets was I waiting for thee that thou shouldst come, and I might rest in thee. For thou art my rest, and thou art my first begotten son, that reignest for ever.

On Isa. xi. 9, My mother the Holy Spirit.

[Here it appears that the Gospel of the Hebrews asserted that Jesus’ mother was the Holy Spirit and his father was God. In this case, the trinity would be god the father, god the mother, and god the son. --Perman Wilson (P.W.)]

It is written in a certain Gospel which is called according to the Hebrews:

The second of the rich men (it saith) said unto him: Master, what good thing can I do and live? He said unto him: O man, fulfill (do) the law and the prophets.

[Note that this is a distinct contradiction to what Paul taught—that one is saved: by faith, not by doing what the Jewish law requires. --P. W.]

...who preached him everywhere. He fulfilled the appointed time that was decreed for him. The Jews grew envious of him and came to hate him. They changed the custom of their law, and they rose up against him, and laid a trap, and caught him. They turned him over to the governor, who gave him back to them to crucify.

[In this Gospel, it seems to imply that the Jews (rather than the Romans) crucified Jesus. --P. W.]

In Budge's Miscellaneous Coptic Texts is a Discourse on Mary by Cyril of Jerusalem. Cyril (Pseudo-Cyril) relates that he had to send for a monk of Maioma of Gaza who was teaching false doctrine. Called on for an account of his belief the monk (p. 637, Eng. trans.) said:

It is written in the Gospel to the Hebrews that when Christ wished to come upon the earth to men, the good Father called a mighty power in the heavens which was called Michael, and committed Christ to the care thereof. And the power came down into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months. Afterwards she gave birth to him, and he increased in stature, and he chose the apostles, . . . 'was crucified, and taken up by the Father'. Cyril asked: Where in the Four Gospels is it said that the holy Virgin Mary the mother of god is a force? The monk said: In the Gospel to the Hebrews.

Then, said Cyril, there are five Gospels? Where is the fifth? The monk said: It is the Gospel that was written to the Hebrews. (Cyril convinced him of his error and burned the books. No more is told of the Gospel, which, whatever it may have been, was certainly not the book we have been dealing with, but a writing of pronouncedly heretical (Docetic?) views.

[Docetism, as defined by The American Heritage College Dictionary, is an opinion that Jesus had no human body and only appeared to have died on the cross. In the previous paragraph, the monk said, "...power came down into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months...." he is referring to what was written in the Gospel to the Hebrews. It is apparent from the previous paragraph that the book was burned because the story of Jesus' birth did not agree with the Gospel According to Mark (as did the Gospels According to Matthew and Luke). However, because the writer (or writers) of the Gospel According to Mark is anonymous (meaning: unknown), it may be that the one (or the ones) who wrote Mark were the same one (or ones) who demanded the burning of all other gospels that in any way disagreed with "Mark." --P. W.]