Papyrus Egerton 2: The Unknown Gospel

The fragmentary manuscript known as Papyrus Egerton 2 contains a noncanonical Gospel that is never referred to in any ancient source and that was, as a consequence, completely unknown until its publication in 1935.1 The fragments were discovered among a collection of papyri purchased by the British Museum. They had come from Egypt and are usually dated to around 150 ce. The “Unknown Gospel” narrated in these papyri, however, must have been older than the manuscript fragments that contain it. While some scholars have argued that the Gospel was written before the canonical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, most have concluded that it was produced somewhat later, during the ﬁrst half of the second century. Since the Unknown Gospel is preserved only in fragments, it is impossible to judge its original length and contents. The surviving remains preserve four separate stories: (1) an account of Jesus’ controversy with Jewish leaders that is similar to the stories found in John 5:39–47 and 10:31–39; (2) a healing of a leper, reminiscent of Matt 8:1–4; Mark 1:40–45; Luke 5:12– 16; and Luke 17:11–14; (3) a controversy over paying tribute to Caesar, comparable to Matt 22:15–22; Mark 12:13–17; and Luke 20:20–26; and (4) a fragmentary account of a miracle of Jesus on the bank of the Jordan River, possibly performed to illustrate his parable about the miraculous growth of seeds. This ﬁnal story has no parallel in the canonical Gospels. Scholars continue to debate whether the author of this Gospel (a) used the four canonical Gospels as literary sources for his accounts, (b) quoted from memory stories that he knew from the canonical Gospels (changing them in the process), or (c) acquired his stories not from the canonical Gospels, but from the oral traditions of Jesus in wide circulation in the ﬁrst and second centuries. 1

See Ehrman, Lost Christianities, 49–50.

Translation by Bart D. Ehrman based on the Greek text found in Egbert Schlarb and Dieter Lührmann, Fragmente apocryph gewordener Evangelien in griechischer und lateinischer Sprache (Marburg: N. G. Elwert, 2000) 147–53, but I have followed the sequence of the fragments given in H. Idris Bell and T. C. Skeat, Fragments of an Unknown Gospel and Other Early Christian Papyri (London: British Museum, 1935).

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

ing: Be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And Jesus said to him, “Go, show yourself to the priests and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded; and sin no more. . . .”

[And Jesus said]2 to the lawyers: “[Punish] every wrong-doer and [transgressor], but not me. [For that one does not consider] how he does what he does.” Then he turned to the rulers of the people and spoke this word: “Search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have life. They are the ones that testify concerning me. Do not think that I came to accuse you to my Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have hoped.” They replied, “We know full well that God spoke to Moses. But we do not know where you have come from.” Jesus answered them, “Now what stands accused is your failure to believe his testimonies. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me. For that one wrote to your fathers concerning me. . . .”

. . . to the crowd . . . stones together so that they might stone him. And the rulers were trying to lay their hands on him, that they might arrest him and deliver him over to the crowd. And they were unable to arrest him because the hour for him to be delivered over had not yet come. But the Lord himself went out through their midst and left them. And behold, a leper approached him and said, “Teacher Jesus, while I was traveling with some lepers and eating with them at the inn, I myself contracted leprosy. If, then, you are willing, I will be made clean.” Then the Lord said to him, I am will-

. . . [they came] to him and began rigorously testing him, saying, “Teacher Jesus, we know that you have come from God. For the things you do give a testimony that is beyond all the prophets. And so, tell us: is it right to pay the kings the things that relate to their rule? Shall we pay them or not?” But when Jesus understood their thought he became incensed and said to them, “Why do you call me teacher with your mouth, when you do not listen to what I say? Well did Isaiah prophecy about you, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far removed from me. In vain do they worship me, commandments. . . . ’ ”3

“ . . . hidden away in a secret place . . . placed underneath in secret . . . its weight beyond measure.” . . . And while they were puzzling over his strange question, Jesus walked and stood on the banks of the Jordan river; he reached out his right hand, and ﬁlled it. . . . And he sowed it on the . . . And then . . . water . . . and . . . before their eyes; and it brought forth fruit . . . many . . . for joy . . .

Less certain restorations of the text are enclosed in square brackets. 3Isa. 29:13.