Lost scriptures: books that did not make it into the New Testament (4 page)

clear to everyone who considers the comhis hand to his disciples he said, “These bination of the words. For they have the

are my brothers and mother and sisters—

disciples say, “Where do you want us to

those who do the will of my Father.”

make preparations for you to eat the Pass

(Epiphanius,
Panarion
, 30, 14, 5)

over lamb?” And they indicate that he

responded, “I have no desire to eat the

They do not allege that he was born

7

meat of this Passover lamb with you.”

from God the Father, but that he

(Epiphanius,
Panarion
, 30, 22, 4)

The Gospel According

to the Hebrews

The Gospel according to the Hebrews is quoted by a number of church fathers connected with the city of Alexandria, Egypt—Clement, Origen, Didymus the Blind, and Jerome (who studied with Didymus in Alexandria); for this reason, scholars assume that it was used, and possibly written, there, probably during the first half of the second century. Regrettably, the book no longer survives intact, but only in the scattered references to it in these other authors’ writings. Its name probably derives from the circumstance that it was used principally by Jewish-Christians in that large and thriving metropolis—i.e., it was called this by outsiders of that community, not by those who actually used it.

The Gospel according to the Hebrews was written in Greek and narrated important events of Jesus’ life, including his baptism, temptation, and resurrection. It appears, however, that these stories were not simply taken over and modified from the Gospels that came to be included in the New Testament. They were instead alternative forms of these traditions that had been passed along orally until the unknown author of this Gospel heard them and wrote them down.

The Jewish emphases of the Gospel are evident in a several of the surviving quotations, such as fragment 5, which presupposes the importance of James, the brother of Jesus, the head of the Jewish-Christian community in Jerusalem after Jesus’ death. Yet some of the sayings of the Gospel have a Gnostic tone to them (see fragment 1, which is quite similar to Coptic Gospel of Thomas 2).1 It may be, then, that this particular Jewish-Christian community was more sympathetic than others to the prominent Gnostic teachers in Alexandria in the second century. In any event, the Gospel evidently contained a number of Jesus’ ethical teachings (fragments 4 and 7). And some of its accounts were highly legendary—including the post1On Gnosticism, see Ehrman,
Lost
Christianities,
113–34.

Translation by Bart D. Ehrman, based on the Greek, Latin, and Syriac texts in A. F. J.

Klijin,
Jewish-Christian
Gospel
Tradition
(VC Supp 17; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992) 47–115.

15

16

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

resurrection appearance of Jesus to James, who had sworn at the Last Supper (in a story found in this Gospel, but not cited by any other authority) not to eat until he should see Jesus raised from the dead (fragment 5).

The following are the quotations of the Gospel that survive in our ancient sources.

1 As it is also written in the Gospel James. For James had taken a vow not to according to the Hebrews, “The

eat bread from the time he drank the cup

one who is amazed will rule, and the one

of the Lord until he should see him raised

who rules will find rest.” (Clement of

from among those who sleep.” And soon

Alexandria,
Miscellanies
, 2, 9, 45)

after this it says, “The Lord said, ‘Bring

a table and bread.’ ” And immediately it

If anyone accepts the Gospel ac2

continues, “He took the bread and

cording to the Hebrews, there the

blessed it, broke it, gave it to James the

Savior himself says, “Just now my

Just, and said to him, ‘My brother, eat

mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by one

your bread. For the Son of Man is risen

of my hairs and carried me up to the

from among those who sleep.’ ” (Jerome,

great mountain, Tabor.” (Origen,
Com-

Illustrious
Men
, 2)

mentary
on
John
, 2, 12)

It is stated in the Gospel written in

6

It may appear that Matthew is

3

Hebrew, which the Nazareans read:

named Levi in the Gospel of Luke.

“The entire fountain of the Holy Spirit

But in fact that is not so; it is Matthias,

will descend on him. For the Lord is the

the one who replaced Judas, who is the

Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord

same as Levi, known by two names. This

is, there is liberty.” Later in that Gospel

is found in the Gospel according the Hethat we have mentioned we find the folbrews. (Didymus the Blind,
Commentary
lowing written: “It came to pass that

on
the
Psalms
, 184, 9–10)

when the Lord came up from the water,

the entire fountain of the Holy Spirit de

As we read in the Hebrew Gospel,

4

scended and rested on him; and it said to

the Lord said to his disciples: “You

him, ‘My Son, in all the prophets I have

should never rejoice except when you

been expecting you to come, that I might

look upon your brother in love.” (Jerome,

rest on you. For you are my rest, you are

Commentary
on
Ephesians
, 5:4)

my firstborn Son, who rules forever.’ ”

(Jerome,
Commentary
on
Isaiah
11:1–3) The Gospel that is called “accord5 ing to the Hebrews,” which I have And in the Gospel according to the

7

recently translated into both Greek and

Hebrews, which the Nazareans are

Latin, a Gospel that Origen frequently

accustomed to read, the following is deused, records the following after the Sav-scribed as among the worst offenses: that

ior’s resurrection: “But when the Lord

someone should make the spirit of his

had given the linen cloth to the servant

brother sad. (Jerome,
Commentary
on

of the priest, he went and appeared to

Ezekiel
, 18:7)

The Gospel of

the Egyptians

The Gospel of the Egyptians is another Gospel that has been lost since the early centuries of Christianity. The only access we have to it is in the quotations of an early church father, the late second-century Clement of Alexandria, who at one point identifies one of his non-canonical quotations of the words of Jesus as having come from this book (fragment 5). Most of Clement’s quotations of the Gospel involve conversations between Jesus and a woman named Salome, mentioned in the New Testament as one of the women who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb (Mark 15:40; 16:1).

Eventually Salome became a prominent figure in some circles of Christianity, including those that produced this Gospel according to the Egyptians, where her questions and comments lead to important sayings of Jesus. These sayings embody ascetic concerns, in which the desires of the flesh and sexual activity are condemned as being opposed to the will of God. In particular, the Gospel appears originally to have condemned the practices of marriage and procreation. In a number of instances Clement himself interprets these sayings; it is sometimes difficult to know, however, whether Clement’s interpretations represent the views of the Gospel’s anonymous author, or are instead Clement’s own attempts to make sense of the Gospel in light of his own views.

At least one of the sayings stresses a Gnostic notion that the revelation of God will be complete when people trample on the “shameful garment”

(� the human body?) and all things are restored to their ultimate unity—including male and female, which will no longer be differentiated but made one (fragment 5). Similar notions can be found in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, also used in Egypt (see Gospel of Thomas 22, 37, 114).

Some scholars maintain that the Gospel was named “according to the Egyptians” to differentiate it from another Gospel used in Egypt, the Gospel

“according to the Hebrews”—the latter in use among Jewish-Christians and the former, therefore, among Gentile Christians. Others find it more likely Translation by Bart D. Ehrman based on the Greek text found in Egbert Schlarb and Dieter Lu¨ hrmann,
Fragmente
apocryph
gewordener
Evangelien
in
griechischer
und
lateinischer
Sprache
(Marburg: N. G. Elwert, 2000) 29–31.

17

18

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

that the book was first given its name by those living outside of Egypt, to identify it as a book in common use there.

Since the Gospel is well-known to Clement and, evidently, his community, it may have been composed already by the first part of the second century.

When Salome asked, “How long

1

desires continue to be active. (Clement of

will death prevail?” the Lord re

Alexandria,
Miscellanies
, 3, 64, 1)

plied, “For as long as you women bear

children.” But he did not say this because

Why do those who adhere to everylife is evil or creation wicked; instead he 4 thing except the gospel rule of truth

was teaching the natural succession of

not cite the following words spoken to

things; for everything degenerates after

Salome? For when she said, “Then I have

coming into being. (Clement of Alexandone well not to bear children” (supposdria,
Miscellanies
, 3, 45, 3) ing that it was not suitable to give birth),

the Lord responded, “Eat every herb, but

2 Those who oppose God’s creation not the one that is bitter.” (Clement of because of self-control—which at

Alexandria,
Miscellanies
, 3, 66, 1–2)

least sounds good—quote the words spoken to Salome, the first of which we have already mentioned, found, I think, in the

5 This is why Cassian indicates that

when Salome asked when the

Gospel according to the Egyptians. For

things she had asked about would bethey claim that the Savior himself said, come known, the Lord replied: “When

“I have come to destroy the works of the

you trample on the shameful garment and

female.” By “the female” he meant desire

when the two become one and the male

and by “works” he meant birth and dewith the female is neither male nor fegeneration. (Clement of Alexandria,
Mis-

male.” The first thing to note, then, is that

cellanies
, 3, 63, 1)

we do not find this saying in the four

Gospels handed down to us, but in the

When the Word made a reasonable

3

Gospel according to the Egyptians.

disclosure concerning the consum

(Clement of Alexandria,
Miscellanies
, 3,

mation of all things, Salome asked, “How

92, 2–93, 1)

long will people continue to die?” Now

Scripture refers to people in two ways,

And when the Savior said to Sa6

as having a visible part and the soul, that

lome, “Death will last as long as

is, the part that is saved and the part that

women give birth,” he was not denigratis not. And sin is called the death of the ing birth—since it is, after all, necessary

soul. For this reason, the Lord replied

for the salvation of those who believe.

shrewdly, “For as long as women bear

(Clement of Alexandria,
Excerpts
from

children”—that is to say, for as long as

Theodotus
67, 2)

The Coptic Gospel

of Thomas

The Coptic Gospel of Thomas was one of the most sensational archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century.1 The document was unknown except by name before 1945, when peasants digging for fertilizer near the village of Nag Hammadi, Egypt accidentally uncovered a jar containing thirteen leather-bound manuscripts buried sometime in the late fourth century. When the manuscripts came to the attention of scholars of antiquity, their significance was almost immediately recognized: they contained fifty-two tractates, principally of “heretical” writings of Gnostic Christians.2

Although originally composed in Greek, the writings were in Coptic (ancient Egyptian) translation. Many of them had been previously known by title only. Today these writings are known as the “Nag Hammadi Library.”3

None of the fifty-two tractates has attracted more attention than the Gospel of Thomas. For this is a collection of Jesus’ sayings that claims to have been written by Didymus Judas Thomas. According to some early Christian legends, Thomas was Jesus’ twin brother.

The book records 114 “secret teachings” of Jesus. It includes no other material: no miracles, no passion narrative, no stories of any kind. What ultimately mattered for the author of Thomas was not Jesus’ death and resurrection, which he does not narrate or discuss, but the mysterious teachings that he delivered. Indeed, the Gospel begins by stating that anyone who learns the interpretation of these words will have eternal life (saying 1).