References to the Gospel of the Hebrews

• Papias wrote around 125 AD
• The original text by Papias is lost and only survives as quotes in other author's works

Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius (written around 324 AD).

[C]oncerning Matthew he [Papias] writes as follows: 'So then Matthew wrote the oracles in the Hebrew language, and every one interpreted them as he was able.

ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἱστόρηται τῷ Παπίᾳ περὶ τοῦ Μάρκου· περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ματθαῖου ταῦτ’ εἴρηται· Ματθαῖος μὲν οὖν Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ τὰ λόγια συνετάξατο, ἡρμήνευσεν δ’ αὐτὰ ὡς ἧν δυνατὸς ἕκαστος.

Ecclesiastical History 3.39.17 by Eusebius

The same writer [Papias] has used testimonies from the First Epistle of John and likewise from Peter, and he has also set forth another account about a woman who was accused before the Lord of many sins, which is found in the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

• Ignatius (~35 AD-  ~107 AD)

Letter to the Smyrnaeans. 3.1-2

For I know and believe that he was in the flesh even after the resurrection. And when he [Jesus] came to those with Peter he said to them, 'Take, touch me and see that I am not a disembodied ghost.' And immediately they touched him and believed.

• Iraneus (~130 AD - ~200 AD)

in his book Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses) written in ~180 AD

(The Ebionites) use only the Gospel according to Matthew, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the law.

Solo autem eo quod est secundum Matthaeum evangelio utuntur (Ebionaei) et apostolum Paulum recusant apostatam eum legis dicentes.

as quoted in Eusebius, Eccesiastical History

Matthew also published among the Hebrews a written gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching and founding the church in Rome.

• Pantaenus (~190 AD)

as quoted in Eusebius, Eccesiastical History 5.10.3

One of these was Pantaenus, and it is said that he went to the Indians, and the tradition is that he found there that among some of those there who had known Christ the Gospel according to Matthew had preceded his coming; for Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them and had left them the writing of Matthew in Hebrew letters, which was preserved until the time mentioned" (trans. K. Lake, Loeb).

• Clement of Alexandria (~150 - 215 AD)

Stromata 2.9.45

And in the Gospel according to the Hebrews it is written, 'The one who wonders will reign, and reigning he will rest.'

Stromata 5.14.96

Equal to these words [from the Timaeus immediately preceding] are the following: 'The one who seeks will not cease until he finds; and having found he will be amazed, and being amazed he will reign, and reigning he will rest.

Stromata 7.13.1

They say in the traditions that Matthew the apostle constantly said that 'if the neighbor of an elect man sin, the elect man has sinned. For had he conducted himself as the Word prescribes, his neighbor also would have been filled with such reverence for the life he led as not to sin'" (trans. ANF 2).

• Hegesippus (late 2nd Century)

as quoted in Eusebius, Eccesiastical History 4.22.8

[Hegesippus made extracts] from the Gospel according to the Hebrews and from the Syriac, and especially from the Hebrew language

• Hippolytus (~170 - ~236 AD)

De Duodecim Apostolis (On the Twelve Apostles)

Matthew, having written the Gospel in Hebrew, published it in a tax collector but later became an apostle of Jesus Christ, having published it for believers from Judaism, composed in Hebrew script.

• Origen (~185 - ~254 AD)

as quoted in Eusebius, Eccesiastical History 6.25.4

[The first Gospel] was written by Matthew, who once had been a tax collector but later became an apostle of Jesus Christ, having published it for believers from Judaism, composed in Hebrew script.

Homilies on Jeremiah 15.4

If anyone receives the [word], 'Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me and bore me to great Mount Tabor,' etc., he can see his mother.

Commentary on John 2.12

Whoever accepts the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Savior himself says, 'Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by a lock of hair and lifted me up to great Mount Tabor,' raises a new question how the Holy Spirit coming through the Word is able to be the mother of Christ."

Commentaries on the Gospel according to Matthew 15.14

It is written in that Gospel, which is called ‘According to the Hebrews’ (if it pleases one to receive it, not as an authority, but as an example of the proposed question): ‘Another rich man,’ it says, ‘inquired, ‘Master, what good must I do to live?’ He said to him, ‘Man, do the law and prophets.’ He responded to him, ‘I have done (so).’ He said to him, ‘Go, sell all you possess and distribute it among the poor, and come, follow me.’ The rich man began to scratch his head in displeasure. The Lord said to him, ‘How can you say, ‘I have done the law and prophets,’ since it is written in the law: Love your neighbor as yourself; and behold, your many brothers, who are sons of Abraham, are covered in dung, dying from hunger, while your house is filled with many good things, and not one of the good things goes out to them.’ And [Jesus] turned to Simon, his disciple sitting with him, ‘Simon, son of John, 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.

Scriptum est in evangelio quodam, quod dicitur secundum Hebraeos (sit tamen plac et suscipere illud, non ad auctoritatem, sed ad manifestationem propositae quaestionis): Dixit, "inquit ad eum alter divitum: magister, quid bonum faciens vivam? dixit ei: homo, legem et prophetas fac. respondit ad eum: feci. dixit ei: vade, vende omnia quae possides et divide pauperibus, et veni, sequere me. coepit autem dives scalpere caput suum, et non placuit ei. et dixit ad eum Dominus, “Quomodo dicis ‘legem feci et prophetas’? quoniam scriptum est in lege: diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum, et ecce multi fraters tui filii Abahae amicti sunt stercore, morientes prae fame, etdomus tua plena est multis bonis, et non egreditur omnino aliquid ex ea ad eos. et conversus dixit Simoni discipulo suo sedenti apud se: Simon, fili Jonae, facilius est camelum intrare per foramen acus quam divitem in regnum coelorum.

Princ. Praefatio 8

But if any would produce to us from that book which is called ‘The Doctrine of Peter,’ the passage where the Savior is represented as saying to the disciples: 'I am not a bodiless demon,' he must be answered in the first place that that book is not reckoned among the books of the church, for we can show that it was not composed by Peter or by any other person inspired by the Spirit of God.

Si vero qui velit nobis proferre ex illo libello, qui Petri Doctrina appellatur, ubi salvator videtur ad discipulos dicere: Non sum daemonium incorporeum, primo respondendum est ei quoniam liber ipse inter libros ecclesiasticos non habetur, et ostendendum quia neque Petrus est ipsa scriptura neque alterius cuiusquam, qui spiritu dei fuerit inspiratus.

Background and Biography

Excerpts

Eccesiastical History  (~324 AD). 3.24.6

Matthew had first preached to Hebrews, and when he was on the point of going to others he transmitted in writing in his native language the Gospel according to himself, and thus supplied by writing the lack of his own presence to those from whom he was sent (trans. K. Lake, Loeb).

Eccesiastical History  (~324 AD) 3.25.5

Some have also counted the Gospel according to the Hebrews in which those of the Hebrews who have accepted Christ take a special pleasure" (trans. K. Lake, Loeb)

Eccesiastical History  (~324 AD) 3.27.4

[The Ebionites] thought that the letters of the Apostle [Paul] ought to be wholly rejected and called him an apostate from the law. They used only the Gospel called according to the Hebrews and made little account of the remaining (Gospels?).

Eccesiastical History  (~324 AD) 3.36.11

He [Ignatius] also wrote to the Smyrnaeans quoting words from I know not what source and discoursing thus about Christ: 'For I know and believe that he was in the flesh even after the Resurrection. And when he came to those with Peter he said to them: "Take, handle me and see that I am not a phantom without a body." And they immediately touched him and believed'" (trans. K. Lake, Loeb)

Theophania 4.12 (Extant only in Syriac)

The cause therefore of the divisions of souls that take place in houses Christ himself taught, as we have found in a place in the Gospel existing among the Jews in the Hebrew language, in which it is said: "I will choose for myself the best which my Father in heaven has given me (cited from A. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius, 7; and J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 11).

Theophania 4.22

For the Gospel that has come to us in Hebrew characters does not bring condemnation on the man who hid [the money], but on the man who lived dissolutely. For he had three servants: the one who squandered the wealth of the master with prostitutes and flute-players; the one who greatly increased the principal sum; and the one who hid the talent. One of them was praised; another was merely rebuked; the other was locked up in prison. As for the last condemnation of the servant who earned nothing, I wonder if Matthew repeated it not with him in mind but rather with reference to the servant who caroused with the drunks.

Background and Biography

Excerpts

Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron (written in Syraic but only preserved in Latin)

Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, and it was then translated into Greek.

Matthaeus hebraice scripsit id (i.e., evangelium), et deinde translatum est in graecum.

• Didymus (the Blind) of Alexandria (~310 - ~398 AD)

Commentary on the Psalms 34.1

There are many such name changes. Matthew appears in the [Gospel] According to Luke under the name of Levi. He is not the same person, but rather the Matthew who was appointed [apostle] in place of Judas; he and Levi are the same person under two different names. This is made apparent in the Hebrew Gospel.

Comm. Eccl. 4.223.6-13

We report in certain gospels: they say a woman was condemned by the Jews for a sin and was sent to be stoned in the place where it was the custom for such things to be done. They say the Savior, seeing her and beholding that they were ready to stone her, said to those who were about to stone her: 'Let the one who has not sinned take a stone and smite her. Whoever knows himself to be free from sin, take a stone and hurl it at her.' And no one dared. Smitten by the knowledge of their own shortcomings in various matters, they no longer had the nerve to stone her.

Pap. 1224

When the scribes and Pharisees and priests saw [Jesus] they were indignant because he was reclining in the midst of sinners. But when Jesus heard this, he said, "It is not the well who need a physician. . . .

• Epiphanius (~315 - ~403 AD)

Panarion 29.9.4

[the Nazoreans] have the Gospel according to Matthew complete in Hebrew. For it is still distinctly preserved among them, as it was originally written, in Hebrew script.

Panarion 30.3.7

They [the Cerinthians, Merinthians, and Ebionites who used only the Gospel of Matthew] call it, however, According to the Hebrews, which it truly is, for only Matthew put the exposition and proclamation of the Gospel in the Hebrew and in Hebrew script in the New Testament.

Panarion 30.6.9

But also the Gospel of Matthew, which is Hebrew in character.

Panarion 30.13.2-3

In what they (i.e., the Ebionites) then call the Gospel according to Matthew, which however is not complete but forged and mutilated — they call it the Hebrew Gospel — it is reported: 'There appeared a certain man by the name of Jesus, about thirty years of age, who chose us. And having come to Capernaum, he entered the house of Simon who was called Peter, and having opened his mouth, said, "As I passed beside 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 the Iscariot, and you, Matthew, I called while you were sitting at the tax table, and you followed me. You therefore I desire to be twelve apostles for a witness to Israel.

Panarion 30.13.4-6

And John came baptizing, and Pharisees went out to him, and they and all Jerusalem were baptized. And John had clothing made of camel hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food, it is said, was wild honey, the taste of which was that of manna, as a cake dipped in oil. Thus they were resolved to pervert the word of truth to a lie, and they replace grasshoppers with a honey cake. The beginning of their Gospel has this, 'In the days when Herod was king of Judaea [when Caiaphas was high priest], [a certain] John [by name] came baptizing a baptism of repentance in the Jordan River. John, it was said, was of the line of Aaron the priest, a child of Zechariah and Elisabeth, and all were going out to him.'

Panarion 30.13.7-8

After many things had been said, it continues, "When the people had been baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. And as he arose from the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Holy Spirit of God in the form of a dove descending and entering into him. And a voice came from heaven, saying, 'You are my beloved Son, in you I am pleased'; and again, 'Today I have begotten you.' And immediately a great light shone on the place. When John saw it, it is recorded that he said to [Jesus], 'Who are you, Lord?' And again a voice from heaven came to him, 'This is my beloved Son, on whom my pleasure rests.' And then, it is reported, John fell before him saying, 'I beg you, Lord, to baptize me.' But he prevented it, saying, 'Let it be, for in this way it is necessary for all things to be fulfilled.

Panarion 30.14.3

For having removed the genealogies of Matthew, they begin, as I said earlier, by saying that "It came to pass in the days of Herod king of Judaea, when Caiaphas was chief priest, a certain man named John came baptizing a baptism of repentance in the Jordan River," etc.

Panarion 30.14.5

Again, they deny that [Jesus] was a true man, surely from the word spoken by the Savior when it was announced to him, 'Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside.' The Savior's word was, 'Who is my mother and who are my brothers?' And having stretched out his hand to the disciples, he said, 'These are my brothers and my mother, those who are doing the desires of my Father.'" Pan. 30.16.4-5 (see pp. 73-74) But they claim that [Jesus] was not begotten from God the Father, but rather that he was created as one of the archangels, although greater than them. He rules over both angels and all things made by the Almighty, and he came and instructed, as their so-called Gospel relates, "I came to abolish the sacrifices, and unless you cease from sacrificing, the wrath [of God] will not cease from you.

Panarion 30.22.4

[The Ebionites] changed the saying . . . and made the disciples to say, "Where do you wish for us to prepare the Passover feast for you?" And look what they make the Lord say, "I have not desired to eat meat in this Passover with you."

Panarion 46.1.2

It is said that from [Tatian] comes the Diatessaron, which certain call the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

Panarion 51.5.3

Now this is the same Matthew who writes the gospel in Hebrew script and preaches.

• John Chrysostom (~347 - ~ 407 AD)

Homilies on Matthew 1.3

And of Matthew it is said, when Jews who believed approached him and asked him to reduce his spoken words into writing for them, he brought forth the Gospel in the Hebrew language.

Background and Biography

Excerpts

Epist. 19, Dam. ad Hieron.

Which the [Gospel] of the Hebrews reads: Hosanna to the Son of David.

Quid se habeat apud Hebraeos (Osanna filio David).

Epist. 20, ad Dam.

Further, Matthew, who wrote a Gospel in the Hebrew language, put it thus: ‘osianna barrama,’ which means, ‘Hosanna in the highest,’ for when our Savior was born deliverance reached from heaven ‘on high,’ and peace reigned not only on earth but also in heaven.

Denique Matheus, qui evangelium Hebraeo sermone conscripsit, ita posuit: “osianna barrama,” id est “osanna in excelsis,” quod salvatore nascente salus in caelum usque, id est etiam ad excelsa, pervenerit pace facta non solum in terra, sed et in caelo.

Comm. Eph 5.4

And also in the Hebrew Gospel we read of the Lord speaking to his disciples, ‘Never be joyous unless you observe charity with your brother.’).

Ut in Hebraico quoque evangelio legimus dominum ad discipulos loquentem: “Et numquam,” inquit, “laeti sitis, nisi cum fratrem vestrum videritis in caritate.

Vir. ill. 2

The Gospel also entitled ‘according to the Hebrews’ which I lately translated into Greek and Latin, and which Origen often quotes, contains the following narrative after the Resurrection: ‘Now the Lord, when he had given the cloth to the servant of the priest, went to James and appeared to him.’ For James had taken an oath that he would not eat bread from that hour on which he had drunk the cup of the Lord till he saw him risen from the dead. Again a little later the Lord said, ‘Bring a table and bread,’ and forthwith it is added: ‘He took bread and blessed and broke it and gave to James the Just and said to him, “My brother, eat your bread, for the Son of Man is risen from those who sleep.”’”2 (according to the translation in J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 9-10).

Evangelium quoque quod appellatur secundum Hebraeos et a me nuper in Graecum sermonem Latinumque translatum est, quo et Origenes saepe utitur, post resurrectionem Salvatoris refert: “Dominus autem cum dedisset sindonem servo sacerdotis, ivit ad Iacobum et apparuit ei,” iuraverat enim Iacobus se non comesurum panem ab illa hora qua biberat calicem Domini, donec videret eum resurgentem a dormien tibus rursusque post paululum, “Adferte, ait Dominus, mensam et panem,” statimque additur; “Tulit panem et benedixit et fregit et dedit Iacobo Iusto et dixit et: ‘Frater mi, comede paem tuum, quia resurrexit Filius hominis a dormientibus.

Vir. ill. 3

“Matthew, also known as Levi, a tax-collector who became an apostle, was the first in Judea to compose a Gospel of Christ in Hebrew letters and words, on whose account those of the circumcision believed, although it is not certain who later translated the Gospel into Greek. Indeed, the Hebrew itself was diligently brought out by Pamphilus the Martyr and is still to this day in the library of Caesarea. I have actually had opportunity to have the volume described to me by people who use it, the Nazarenes of Beroea, a city in Syria. It should be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether by his own person or by the Lord our Savior, quotes testimonies from the Old Testament he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint, but rather the Hebrew, from which these two forms exist: ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son,’ and ‘For he shall be called a Nazarene.

Matthaeus qui et Levi, ex publicano apostolus, primus in Iudaea, propter eos qui ex circumcisione crediderunt, Evangelium Christi Hebraeis litteris verbisque composuit, quod quis postea in Graecum transtulerit, non satis certum est. Porro ipsum Hebraicum habetur usque hodie in Caesariensi bibliotheca, quam Pamphilus martyr studiosissime confecit. Mihi quoque a Nazaraeis qui in Beroea, urbe Syriae, hoc volumine utuntur, describendi facultas fuit. In quo animadvertendum quo ubicumque evangelista, sive ex persona sua sive ex Domini Salvatoris veteris scripturae testimoniis abutitur, non sequatur Septuaginta translatorum auctoritatem, sed Hebraicam. E quibus illa duo sunt: “Ex Aegypto vocavi Filium meum,” et “Quoniam Nazaraeus vocabitur.”².

Footnotes

2 According to the translation in J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 9-10. Jerome’s original Latin reads: Evangelium quoque quod appellatur secundum Hebraeos et a me nuper in Graecum sermonem Latinumque translatum est, quo et Origenes saepe utitur, post resurrectionem Salvatoris refert: “Dominus autem cum dedisset sindonem servo sacerdotis, ivit ad Iacobum et apparuit ei,” iuraverat enim Iacobus se non comesurum panem ab illa hora qua biberat calicem Domini, donec videret eum resurgentem a dormientibus rursusque post paululum, “Adferte, ait Dominus, mensam et panem,” statimque additur; “Tulit panem et benedixit et fregit et dedit Iacobo Iusto et dixit et: ‘Frater mi, comede paem tuum, quia resurrexit Filius hominis a dormientibus’” (Vir. ill. 2). J. B. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians (reprint Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 274, emends the text to “qua biberat calicem Dominus,” i.e., “on which the Lord has drunk the cup.” Lightfoot explains the resurrection appearance to James as follows: “It is characteristic of a Judaic writer whose aim it would be to glorify the head of the church at all hazards, that an appearance, which seems in reality to have been vouchsafed to his James to win him over from his unbelief, should be represented as a reward for his devotion.” For a positive assessment of “the cup” as a metaphor of death, see R. Handmann, Das Hebräer-Evangelium, 79-82.

Vir. ill. 16

Ignatius. .. wrote. . .to the Smyrnaeansandseparatelyto Polycarp . .. in which he bore witness also to the Gospel which I have recently translated, in respect of the person of Christ stating: I indeed saw him in the flesh after the resurrection and I believe that it was he and when he came to Peter and those who were with Peter, he said to them: Behold, touch me and see how I am not a demon without a body, and straightway they touched him and believed” (trans. A. F. J. Klijn, Jewish Christian Gospel Tradition, 122).

Ignatius . . . scripsit . . . ad Smyrnaeos et proprie ad Polycarpum . . . in qua et de evangelio, quod nuper a me translatum est, super persona Christi ponit testimonium dicens: Ego vero et post resurrectionem in carne eum vidi etcredo,qui sit;et quandovenitadPetrum et adeosqui cum Petro errant, dixit eis: Ecce palpate me et videte, quia non sum daemonium incorporale. Et statim tetigerunt eum et crediderunt.

Vir. ill. 36.2

And there he [Pantaenus] found that Bartholomew of the twelve apostles had preached the coming of the Lord Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew, written in Hebrew letters, he brought back with him on his return to Alexandria” (trans. T. P. Halton, The Fathers of the Church, 59).

Ubi repperit Bartholomeum de duodecim apostolis adventum Domini Jesu iuxta Matthaei Evangelium praedicasse, quod Hebraicis litteris scriptum, revertens Alexandriam secum detulit.

Commentary on Matthew Praefatio

The first evangelist was Matthew, a tax-collector, surnamed Levi, who edited a Gospel in Judea in the Hebrew language chiefly for the sake of Jews who believed in Jesus but were serving in vain the shadow of the law after the true Gospel had come.

Primus omnium Mattheus est publicanus cognomento Levi, qui evangelium in Judaea hebreo sermone edidit, ob eorum vel maxime causam qui in Iesum crediderant ex Iudaeis et nequaquam legis umbra succedente evangelii veritatem servabant.

Commentary on Matthew 2.5

This is an error of the copyists; for we think the first edition of the evangelist [Matthew] read, as the Hebrew itself reads, ‘Judah,’ not ‘Judaea.’ .. . For that reason,however, Judah is written,because there is also another Bethlehem in Galilee. . . . Again, in the same testimony found in the prophet Micah, it reads thus: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah.

Librariorum hic error est; putamus enim ab evangelista primum editum, sicut in ipso Hebraico legimus “Iudae” non “Iudaeae” .. .Iudae autem idcirco scribitur, quia est et alia Bethleem in Galilaea. . . . Denique et in ipso testimonio, quod de Michaeae prophetia sumptum est, ita habetur: Et tu Bethleem terra Juda.

Commentary on Matthew 6.11

In the Gospel called ‘According to the Hebrews,’ he writes, ‘I found mahar with reference to the supernatural bread, which means ‘tomorrow.’

In evangelio quod appellatur secundum Hebraeos pro supersubstantiali pane reperi mahar, quod dicitur crastinum.

Commentary on Matthew 12.13

In the Gospel used by the Nazarenes and Ebionites, which we recently translated into Greek from the Hebrew language — and which many call the authentic Matthew — the man having a withered hand was a mason who begged for help in the words, ‘I was a mason who worked with my hands for a living; I beg you, Jesus, restore me to health so that I may not have to shamefully beg for food.

In evangelio, quo utuntur Nazareni et Hebionitae, quod nuper in Graecum de Hebraeo sermone transtulimus et quod vocatur a plerisque Mathei authenticum, homo iste, qui aridam habet manum, caementarius scribitur, istiusmodi vocibus auxilium precans: “Caementarius eram, manibus victum quaeritans, precor te, Jesu, ut mihi restituas sanitatem ne turpiter mendicem cibos.

Commentary on Matthew 23.35

In the Gospel that is used by the Nazarenes, we find ‘son of Johoiada’ in place of ‘son of Barachias.

In evangelio quo utuntur Nazaraeni pro filio Barachiae “filium Joiadae” reperimus scriptum.

Commentary on Matthew 27.16

He [Barabbas] signifies ‘the son of their teacher’ in the Gospel that is written ‘According to the Hebrews,’ because he had been condemned for sedition and murder.

Iste in evangelio quod scribitur iuxta Hebraeos filius magistri eorum interpretatur qui propter seditionem et homicidium fuerat condemnatus.

Commentary on Matthew 27.51

In the Gospel we often mention we read that the immense temple lintel fell and broke to pieces.

In evangelio cuius saepe facimus mentionem superliminare templi infinitae magnitudinis fractum esse atque divisum legimus.

Tract. Ps. 135

In the Hebrew Gospel according to Matthew it has this: ‘Give us today our bread for tomorrow’; that is, the bread that will be given to us in your kingdom, give us today.

In Hebraico evangelio secundum Matthaeum ita habet: Panem nostrum crastinum da nobis hodie, hoc est panem quem daturus es nobis in regno tuo, da nobis hodie.

Commentary on Isaiah Praefatio 18

For since the apostles supposed him to be a spirit or, according to the Gospel which is of the  Hebrews and is read by the Nazoraeans, a demon without a body, he said to them . . .” (trans. A. F. J. Klijn, Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition, 122).

Cum enim apostoli eum putarent spiritum vel iuxta evangelium, quod Hebraeorum lectitant Nazaraei “incorporale daemonium,” dixit eis . . .

Commentary on Isaiah 11.1-3

But according to the Gospel that is written in the Hebrew language, the Nazarenes read: ‘the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit will descend on him.’ ...Further,in theGospel that we mentioned above,we find these words written: ‘It happened that when the Lord came up out of the water, the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit descended on him, and rested on him, and said to him, ‘My Son, in all the prophets I awaited you, that you might come and that I might rest in you. For you are my rest, you are my first-born Son, who reigns eternally.

Sed iuxta evangelium quod Hebraeo sermone conscriptum legunt Nazaraei: “Descendet super eum omnis fons Spiritus sancti.” . . . Porro in evangelio, cuius supra fecimus mentionem, haec scripta reperimus: “Factum est autem cum ascendisset Dominus de aqua, descendit fons omnis Spiritus sancti, et requievit super eum, et dixit illi: ‘Fili mi, in omnibus prophetis exspectabam te, ut venires, et requiescerem in te. Tu es enim requies mea, tu es filius meus primogenitus, qui regnas in sempiternum.

Commentary on Isaiah 40.9

But in the Gospel written according to the Hebrews the Nazarenes read, the Lord says, ‘My mother, the Holy Spirit, once took me.

Sed et in Evangelio quod iuxta Hebraeos scriptum Nazaraei lectitant, Dominus loquitur: “Modo me tulit mater mea, Sanctus Spiritus.

Commentary on Ezekiel 16.13

Also in the Gospel of the Hebrews that is read by the Nazaraeans, the Savior is introduced saying, ‘Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, seized me. . . .

In evangelio quoque quod Hebraeorum lectitant Nazaraei, Salvator inducitur loquens: Modo me arripuit Mater mea, Spiritus sanctus. . . .

Commentary on Ezekiel 18.7

In the Gospel according to the Hebrews that is common to the Nazarenes, among the greatest of wrongs is ‘to grieve the spirit of one’s brother.

Et in evangelio quod iuxta Hebraeos Nazaraei legere consuerunt, inter maxima ponitur crimina: “qui fratris sui spiritum contristaverit.

Commentary on Micah 7.5-7

But whoever makes the Song of Songs the spouse of his soul will come to know the word of God and believe the Gospel, the Hebrew edition of which we recently translated (in which it is said of the person of the Savior, ‘My mother, the Holy Spirit, once took me by a lock of hair’).

Sed qui legerit Canticum canticorum, et sponsum animae, Dei sermonem intellexerit, credideritque Evangelio, quod secundum Hebraeos editum nuper transtulimus, in quo ex persona Salvatoris dicitur: “Modo tulit me mater mea, Sanctus Spiritus in uno capillorum meorum.

Praefatio in Quattuor Evangeliorum

I will now speak of the New Testament, which was undoubtedly composed in Greek, with the exception of the Apostle Matthew, who was the first in Judea to produce a Gospel of Christ in Hebrew letters. We must confess that as we have it in our language it is marked by discrepancies, and now that the stream is distributed into different channels we must go back to the fountainhead.

De novo nunc loquor Testamento: quod Graecum esse non dubium est, excepto apostolo Matthaeo, qui primus in Judaea Evangelium Christi Hebraicis litteris edidit. Hoc certe cum in nostro sermone discordat, et diversos rivulorum tramites ducit: uno de fonte quaerendum est.

Epist. 120.8.2, ad Hedy.

“In the Gospel, however, which is composed in Hebrew, we read not that the temple curtain was torn but that the lintel of wondrous size of the temple fell.

In evangelio autem, quod Hebraicis litteris scriptum est, legimus non velum templi scissum, sed superliminare templi mirae magnitudinis conruisse.

Against the Pleagians 3.2

In the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is written in the Chaldean and Syrian language, but in Hebrew characters, and which is used to this day by the Nazarenes — [the Gospel] according to the Apostles, or as many allege, [the Gospel] according to Matthew — which also is found in the library in Caesarea. And behold, the mother of the Lord and his brothers were saying to h im, ‘John the Baptist baptizes for the remission of sins; let us go and be baptized with him.’ He [Jesus] said to them, ‘What sin have I committed that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless in saying this I am in ignorance.’3 And in the same volume, he [Jesus] said: ‘If your brother would sin in word and would make restitution to you seven times in one day, receive him.’ His disciple Simon said to him, ‘Seven times in one day?’ The Lord responded and said to him, ‘Even, I say to you, as many as seventy times seven. For even in the prophets this word about sin was found after they were anointed by the Holy Spirit.’” 3. This statement could also perhaps be translated: “Unless perhaps I said something in ignorance.”

In Euangelio iuxta Hebraeos, quod Chaldaico quidem Syroque sermone, sed Hebraicis litteris scriptum est, quo utuntur usque hodie Nazareni, secundum apostolos, sive, ut plerique autumant, iuxta Matthaeum, quod et in Caesariensi habetur bibliotheca. Et ecce mater Domini et fratres eius dicebant ei: “Iohannes Baptista baptizat in remissionem peccatorum; eamus et baptizemur dixi, ignorantia est.” Et in eodem volumine: “Si peccaverit,” inquit, “frater tuus in verbo et satis tibi fecerit, septies in die suscipe eum.” Dixit illi Simon discipulus eius: “Septies in die?” Respondit Dominus, et dixit ei: “Etiam, ego dico tibi, usque septuagies septies. Etenim in Prophetis quoque, postquam uncti sunt Spiritu sancto, inventus est sermo peccati.

Background and Biography

Excerpts

Haer. Fab. Comp. 2.1

[The Ebionites] alone accept the Gospel according to the Hebrews, and regard the Apostle [Paul] as apostate.

• Marius Mercator (early 5th century)

De Haeresi et Libris Hestorii 4.2 (PL 48.1127-28)

The followers of Ebion receive only the Gospel according to the Hebrews, they call the Apostle (Paul) an apostate . . .they make use of the Gospel according to Matthew alone.

Solum hi [the Ebionites] Evangelium secundum Hebraeos recipient, Apostolum vero apostatam vocant . . . Evangelio autem secundum Matthaeium solo utuntur.

• Philip Sidetes (early 5th century) wrote a 36 volume work titled Christian History which only survives in fragmentary form

quote from C. de Boor, Neue Fragmente des Papias, Hegesippus und Pierius: in bisher unbekannten Excerpten aus der Kirchengeschichte des Philippus Sidetes, in Die Abfassungszeit der Schriften Tertullians, ed. E. Noeldechen (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1888) (see p. 39)

The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel attributed to Peter and Thomas were wholly repudiated (by the ancients), who asserted that they were jointly written by heretics.

Islamic Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari (ca. 846 AD) 1.3

Khadija then accompanied [Muhammed] to her cousin Waraqa ibn Naufal ibn Asad ibn {abdul {Uzza, who, during the Pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write.

Background

Excerpts

Talmud Shabbat 116a-b (1st Century according to Edwards)

Edwards, J. R. (2009). The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition, Eerdmans Publishing Company.