The Gospel of the Nazareans

Jewish Christians in the early centuries of the church were widely thought to have preferred the Gospel of Matthew to all others, since it is Matthew that stresses the importance of keeping the Jewish Law down to every jot and tittle (5:17–20) and that emphasizes, more than any other, the Jewishness of Jesus.1 According to a number of ancient sources, one group of Jewish Christians, sometimes known as the Nazareans, produced their own version of Matthew, translated into Aramaic, the language of Jesus and of Jews living in Palestine.2 This version would have been produced sometime near the end of the ﬁrst century or the beginning of the second. Eventually this “Gospel of the Nazareans” fell into disfavor with the Christian community at large, both because few Christians in later centuries could read Aramaic and because the Gospel’s Jewish emphases were considered suspicious. As a result, the Gospel came to be lost. Now we know of it only through quotations of its text by church fathers like Jerome, and by references to it in the margins of several Greek manuscripts of the Gospel according to Matthew. These quotations reveal clearly the Jewish-Christian concerns of the Gospel and show that the Gospel contained stories of Jesus’ baptism, public ministry, death, and resurrection. It evidently did not include, however, the ﬁrst two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, which record the events surrounding Jesus’ miraculous birth. For according to many Jewish Christians, Jesus was not born of a virgin, but was a natural human being who was specially chosen to be the messiah because God considered him to be more righteous than anyone else. Today scholars debate whether the church fathers were right in thinking that the Gospel of the Nazareans was an Aramaic version of Matthew; it may have instead been an original composition, in Aramaic, based on oral traditions about Jesus that were in wide circulation and available both to this author and the author of Matthew.

1 See Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford, 2003), chap. 7. 2See Ehrman, Lost Christianities, 99–103.

Translation by Bart D. Ehrman, based on the Greek, Latin, and Syriac texts in A. F. J. Klijn, Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition (VCSupp 17; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992) 47–115.

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

The following are the fragments of the Gospel quoted in our surviving sources.

It is written in a certain Gospel that is called “according to the Hebrews” (if in any event anyone is inclined to accept it, not as an authority, but to shed some light on the question we have posed) that another rich man asked [Jesus], “Master, what good thing must I do to have life?” He replied to him, “O man, you should keep the law and the prophets.” He responded, “I have already done that.” Jesus said to him, “Go, sell all that you have and distribute the proceeds to the poor; then come, follow me.” But the rich man began to scratch his head, for he was not pleased. And the Lord said to him, “How can you say, ‘I have kept the law and the prophets?’ For it is written in the law, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But look, many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are clothed in excrement and dying of hunger while your house is ﬁlled with many good things, not one of which goes forth to these others.” He turned and said to his disciple Simon, sitting beside him, “Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Origen, Commentary on Matthew, 15, 14)

[Cf. Matt. 25:14–30] For the Gospel that has come down to us in Hebrew letters makes the threat not against the one who hid the (master’s) money but against the one who engaged in riotous living. For [the master] had three slaves, one who used up his fortune with whores and ﬂute-players, one who invested the money and increased its value, and one who hid it. The ﬁrst was welcomed with open arms, the second was blamed, and only the third was

locked up in prison. (Eusebius, Theophania, 4, 22)

But [the Lord] taught about the reason for the division of the souls in the houses, as we have found somewhere in the Gospel used by the Jews and written in Hebrew, where he says “I will choose for myself those who are good— those given to me by my Father in heaven.” (Eusebius, Theophania 4, 12)

In the Gospel that is called “according to the Hebrews,” for the words, “bread to sustain our lives” I found the word “mahar,” which means “[bread] for tomorrow.” (Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, 6, 11)

In the Gospel that the Nazareans and Ebionites use, which I recently translated from Hebrew into Greek, and which most people consider the authentic version of Matthew, the man with a withered hand is described as a mason, who sought for help in words like these: “I was a mason who made a living with my hands; I beseech you, Jesus, restore my health so I do not have to beg for food shamefully.” (Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, 12, 13)

In the Gospel the Nazareans use, we ﬁnd “son of Johoiada” instead of “son of Barachia.” (Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 23, 35)

The name of that one (i.e., Barabbas) is interpreted to mean “son of their master” in the Gospel written according to the Hebrews. (Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 27, 16)

In the Gospel we have often referred to, we read that “the enormous lintel of the temple was broken and

THE GOSPEL OF THE NAZAREANS

split apart.” (Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 27, 51)

• On Matthew 7:5. In this place the Jewish Gospel reads: “Even if you are resting on my breast but do not do the will of my Father in heaven, I will cast you away from my breast.” (MS 1424) • On Matthew 10:16. The Jewish Gospel says, “more than serpents.” (MS 1424) • On Matthew 11:12. The Jewish Gospel reads, “plunders.” (MS 1424) • On Matthew 11:25. The Jewish Gospel says, “I give you thanks.” (MS 1424) • On Matthew 12:40. The Jewish Gospel does not read, “Three days and three nights.” (MS 899) • On Matthew 15:5. The Jewish Gospel says, “That which you would have had as a beneﬁt from us is now an offering [to the Temple?].” (MS 1424) • On Matthew 16:2–3. The passages marked with an asterisk are not set forth in other copies, nor in the Jewish Gospel. (MS 1424) • On Matthew 16:17. The Jewish Gospel says, “son of John.” (MS 566) • On Matthew 18:22. After the words “seventy times seven” the Jewish Gospel reads: “For even among the prophets, after they were anointed by the Holy Spirit, a word of sin was found.” (MSS 566, 899) • On Matthew 26:74. The Jewish Gospel says, “And he made a denial, and swore, and cursed.” (MSS 4, 273, 899, 1414) • On Matthew 27:65. The Jewish Gospel says, “And he gave them armed men to sit opposite the cave, to keep watch over it day and night.” (MS 1424)

In the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which was actually written in the Chaldean or Syriac language but with Hebrew letters, which the Nazareans still use today and which is the Gospel according to the Apostles, or, as most believe, according to Matthew—a Gospel that can also be found in the library of Caesarea—the following story is found: “Behold, the mother of the Lord and his brothers were saying to him, ‘John the Baptist is baptizing for the remission of sins. Let us go and be baptized by him.’ But he replied to them, ‘What sin have I committed that I should go to be baptized by him? Unless possibly what I just said was spoken in ignorance.’ ” (Jerome, Against the Pelagians, 3, 2)

And in the same volume the following is found: “[Jesus] said, ‘If your brother sins by speaking a word against you, but then makes it up to you, you should accept him seven times a day.’ His disciple Simon said to him, ‘Seven times in a day?’ The Lord responded, ‘Yes indeed, I tell you—even up to seventy times seven! For even among the prophets, after they were anointed by the Holy Spirit, a word of sin was found.’ ” (Jerome, Against the Pelagians, 3, 2)

Variant Readings Noted in New Testament Manuscripts • On Matthew 4:5. The Jewish Gospel does not have, “into the holy city,” but “in Jerusalem.” (MS 566) • On Matthew 5:22. The words “without cause” are not present in some copies, nor in the Jewish Gospel. (MS 1424)