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HEBREWS, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE

A Jewish-Christian apocryphal Gospel, written in Egypt ca. 150 c.e. It was known and used by Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215), Origen (ca. 185-254), and Didymus the Blind (ca. 313-398), all of whom were Egyptian writers. Eusebius (ca. 260-340) also knew the Gospel and mentions it alongside the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew and an Aramaic Gospel. Since he assigns no language to this Gospel but does to the others, it is assumed that the Gospel acording to the Hebrews was written in Greek. Jerome (ca. 342-420) claims to have translated it from Hebrew into Greek and Latin, but he is sometimes mistaken about this Gospel, on occasion believing that it, the Aramaic Gospel, and the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew are one and the same.

The contents of the Gospel according to the Hebrews are not fully known. According to the Stichometry of Nicephorus (ca. 758-829), it contained 2200 lines, only 300 short of the Gospel of Matthew. Extant quotations of or allusions to it are found in Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-386), Didymus the Blind, and Jerome. From them we can infer that the Gospel acording to the Hebrews covered the preexistence of Christ, his baptism, the temptations, the Last Supper, the Passion, a resurrection appearance to James the Just (cf. 1 Cor. 15:7), and three isolated sayings. None of the extant references suggests the Gospel’s dependence on the canonical Gospels.

Bibliography. R. Cameron, ed., The Other Gospels (Philadelphia, 1982); J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, rev. ed. (Oxford, 1993), 9-10; A. F. J. Klijn, Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition. Vigiliae christianae Sup 17 (Leiden, 1992).

George Howard

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HEBREWS, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)