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EGYPTIANS, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE

An apocryphal gnostic Gospel probably created in Egypt in the mid-2nd century c.e. Although frequently referred to by the church fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, all that remains of the work are a few allusions and paraphrases. Those references reveal that this treatise was a study of Jesus’ teachings that support gnostic beliefs generally and several doctrines particularly: the Naasene idea that the soul is variable in form, nature, and disposition (Hippolytus Ref. 5.7); the Sabellian idea that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one and the same (Epiphanius Adv. haer. 62.2.4; cf. Excerpta ex Theodoto 67); and, most prominently, the Encratite emphasis on celibacy, the rejection of marriage, and the eradication of the differences between male and female (by baptism) in order to restore the believer to Adam’s state before the creation of Eve. A female, Salome, is prominent in this latter doctrine, but only as a setup for Jesus to enunciate Encratite doctrine. For example, she asks how long death will prevail, and Christ tells her that it will last as long as women give birth (Clement Misc. 3.6.45; 3.9.64; 3.13.92). This Gospel is not the same as the Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians, which is part of the Nag Hammadi literature.

Bibliography. R. Cameron, The Other Gospels (Philadelphia, 1982), 49-52, 186; J. K. Elliott, “The Gospel of the Egyptians,” in The Apocryphal New Testament, rev. ed. (Oxford, 1993), 16-19.

Richard A. Spencer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EGYPTIANS, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)