Hebrew gospel fragments The Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of the Nazarenes, and the Gospel of the Ebionites that survive only as quotations in Jerome, Clement, Origen, and Epiphanius.
Jerome uses “Gospel according to the Hebrews,” “Hebrew Gospel,” and “the gospel the Nazarenes use” for overlapping material. Epiphanius calls the Ebionite text a Hebrew gospel and a mutilated Matthew. The usual division, following Philipp Vielhauer, is three works: a Greek Gospel of the Hebrews known to Clement and Origen, an Aramaic Gospel of the Nazarenes known mainly from Jerome, and a Greek Gospel of the Ebionites known only from Epiphanius. Some fragments could be reassigned. The wording below follows the public-domain quotations in Jerome, Clement, Origen, Epiphanius, and Eusebius.
Gospel of the Hebrews
Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 2.9.45 and 5.14.96:
He that seeks will not rest until he finds; and he that has found shall wonder; and he that has wondered shall reign; and he that has reigned shall rest.
A shorter form in the same work is: “He that wonders shall reign, and he that reigns shall rest.” The longer form also appears as saying 2 of the Gospel of Thomas.
Origen, Commentary on John 2.12, also quoted by Jerome on Micah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel:
Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me just now by one of my hairs and carry me off to the great mountain Tabor.
Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 11:2. He says this is from the gospel written in Hebrew which the Nazarenes read. It is usually filed with the Hebrews gospel because of the Spirit material:
And it came to pass, when the Lord had come up out of the water, that the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon him and said to him: My son, in all the prophets I was waiting for you, that you should come and I might rest in you. For you are my rest; you are my firstborn Son, who reigns forever.
Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians 5:4:
And never be joyful, except when you look upon your brother in love.
Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 18:7:
He is numbered among the greatest wrongdoers who has grieved the spirit of his brother.
Jerome, On Famous Men 2. He says the gospel called according to the Hebrews, which he had translated, places this after the resurrection:
The Lord, after he had given the linen cloth to the servant of the priest, went to James and appeared to him. For James had sworn that he would not eat bread from the hour in which he had drunk the cup of the Lord until he saw him rising from those who sleep. A little later the Lord said, “Bring a table and bread.” He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to James the Just, and said to him, “My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of Man has risen from those who sleep.”
A Coptic discourse attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem quotes a longer narrative under this gospel’s name: the Father commits Christ to a power called Michael, the power descends and is called Mary, the child is in the womb seven months, and after the crucifixion the Father takes him into heaven. That witness is late, and it is not counted among the second- and third-century quotations.
Gospel of the Nazarenes
These are mostly Matthew read in a Semitic form, with small expansions. Jerome is the main source. The medieval “Zion Gospel” margins add short variants and are less secure.
Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.2, on the baptism:
The mother of the Lord and his brothers said to him, “John the Baptist baptizes for the remission of sins. Let us go and be baptized by him.” He said to them, “What sin have I done, that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless this that I have just said is a sin of ignorance.”
Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 6:11:
For “daily bread” the Hebrew gospel has mahar, “of tomorrow,” so that the sense is, “Our bread of tomorrow give us today.”
Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 12:13. He says this is the gospel used by Nazarenes and Ebionites, which most people call the authentic Matthew:
The man with the withered hand was a mason, and he pleaded, “I was a mason and earned my living with my hands. I beg you, Jesus, restore my health, so that I do not have to beg my bread in shame.”
Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.2, on forgiveness:
If your brother has sinned in word and made amends to you three times, receive him seven times in a day. Simon his disciple said, “Seven times in a day?” The Lord answered, “Yes, I tell you, up to seventy times seven. For in the prophets also, after they had been anointed with the Holy Spirit, sinful speech was found.”
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 15.14, usually placed here. A second rich man is added to Matthew 19:
The other of the two rich men said to him, “Master, what good thing must I do to live?” He said, “Man, fulfill the law and the prophets.” He answered, “I have done that.” He said, “Go, sell all that you possess and give it to the poor, and come follow me.” The rich man began to scratch his head, and the saying did not please him. The Lord said, “How can you say, I have fulfilled the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law, Love your neighbor as yourself; and see, many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are covered with dirt and dying of hunger, and your house is full of good things, and nothing at all goes out of it to them.” And he turned to Simon his disciple and said, “Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Eusebius, Theophany 4.22, on the parable of the talents. The Hebrew gospel, he says, aims the punishment at a different servant:
There were three servants: one who wasted his master’s goods with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied the gain, and one who hid the talent. One was received with joy, one was only rebuked, and one was put in prison.
Eusebius, Theophany 4.12:
I choose for myself the most worthy. The most worthy are those whom my Father in heaven has given me.
Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 23:35: “son of Jehoiada” stands where Matthew has “son of Barachiah.”
Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 27:16: Barabbas is interpreted as “son of their teacher.”
Jerome, Letter 120.8, to Hedibia:
In the gospel written in Hebrew characters we read not that the veil of the temple was torn, but that the lintel of the temple, of enormous size, fell.
Shorter variants reported from the Jewish gospel or the Zion Gospel margins: “to Jerusalem” instead of “into the holy city” at Matthew 4:5; “without cause” absent from Matthew 5:22; “wise more than serpents” at Matthew 10:16; “is plundered” at Matthew 11:12; “I thank you” at Matthew 11:25; “three days and nights” absent at Matthew 12:40; “corban is what you should obtain from us” at Matthew 15:5; the weather signs of Matthew 16:2–3 absent; “son of John” at Matthew 16:17; at the denial, “he denied and swore and cursed himself”; at the tomb, armed men set to watch the cave day and night.
Gospel of the Ebionites
All seven quotations are from Epiphanius, Panarion 30, written about 377. He says the Ebionites use a gospel they call according to Matthew, incomplete and altered, and also call it Hebrew. The text he quotes is Greek, and it combines Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Epiphanius is a hostile reporter, and he may have compressed or shaped what he quotes.
Panarion 30.13.6, opening:
It came to pass in the days of Herod king of Judea, when Caiaphas was high priest, that John came and baptized with a baptism of repentance in the river Jordan. He was said to be of the family of Aaron, the son of Zacharias the priest and of Elizabeth, and all went out to him.
Panarion 30.13.4, John’s food. Locusts are removed:
John had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt about his waist. His food was wild honey, which tasted like manna, formed like cakes in oil.
Panarion 30.13.7–8, the baptism:
After the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. As he came up from the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending and entering into him. A voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased,” and again, “Today I have begotten you.” At once a great light shone around the place. John, seeing him, said, “Who are you, Lord?” A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” John fell before him and said, “I ask you, Lord, baptize me.” He refused and said, “Let it be, for in this way it is fitting that everything be fulfilled.”
Panarion 30.13.2–3, told in the first person as Matthew:
There was a man named Jesus, about thirty years old, who chose us. He came to Capernaum and entered the house of Simon called Peter, and opened his mouth and said, “As I passed by the lake of Tiberias, I chose John and James the sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew and Thaddaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot; and you, Matthew, I called as you sat at the tax office, and you followed me. I wish you to be twelve apostles, for a testimony to Israel.”
Panarion 30.14.5. Epiphanius says they use this against a normal human birth:
When it was reported, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,” he said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward the disciples and said, “These, who do the will of my Father, are my brothers and mother and sisters.”
Panarion 30.16.5:
I have come to abolish the sacrifices, and if you do not stop sacrificing, the wrath will not turn away from you.
Panarion 30.22.4, at the Passover:
The disciples said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “I have no desire to eat the flesh of this Passover lamb with you.”
The lines that are not already in the four gospels are the Spirit-as-mother saying, the fountain of the Spirit at the baptism, the James appearance, the two short sayings on the brother, the seek-find-rest saying if it is not already entered from Thomas, the mason’s plea, the second rich man, the lintel of the temple, John’s honey instead of locusts, “Today I have begotten you” at the baptism, and the two sentences against sacrifices and the Passover lamb. The last two carry the Ebionite rejection of temple sacrifice and should stay marked as from that gospel, not folded into the Passover scene as if Luke had written them.