The Gospel of the Ebionites is one of the Jewish-Christian Gospels, sharing an affinity with the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazoraeans. Jerome names it as being the same as the Gospel of the Hebrews and states that most ancient Biblical scholars called it "Matthaei Authenticum" (or the true Gospel of Matthew). [1] It survives only as fragments in quotations, and so it is difficult to tell if it is an independent text, or whether it is in fact simply a slight variation on the others. It was used by the Ebionite community during the time of the early church.
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Ebionite Community
At the beginning of the Christian era, Jewish Christian communities flourished throughout the Holy Land. The Ebionites were thought to be an offshoot of the Nazarenes. Their center was located east of the Jordan river near where John the Baptist had preached.
The origin of the name Ebionite (or Ebionaean)[2] is debated. Tertullian, Irenaeus, Hippolytus of Rome, Epiphanius, and Jerome ascribed the movement to a heretic named Ebion or Hebion.[3] Others claim the name Ebionite means "poor one" and is not derived from a person, but rather the Beatitude from Matthew 5:3. While some note they rejected material wealth, Eusebius and Origen both claimed the Ebionites' appellation was a term of derision indicating a poverty in intellect, rather than material possessions.[4] Conflict grew between them and other Christians when the Ebionites failed to embrace the Church doctrines of chastity or celibacy as well as the concept of the Virgin birth. They believed Jesus was begotten of God at his baptism.
Conflict also grew over the issue of the Mosaic law which the Ebionites believed remained in full force. They believed that by fulfilling the law, they are able to become Christs.[5] They are said to have rejected Paul's teachings and used only one Gospel, the Gospel of the Ebionites. [6] They also have John the Baptist and Jesus being vegetarians, and rendering him in the adoptionist form. Many of these differences are found in subtle variants of Greek words, such as a meal of egkris (cake), rather than akris (locusts) as in the Synoptic Gospels
Epiphanius, whose writing is the main source for finding fragments of the Gospel of the Ebionites, emphasises that the Nazoraeans were considered part of the Christian orthodoxy, whereas the Ebionites were considered heretics, and so there may have been theological and doctrinal differences between the two gospels, possibly over the Virgin Birth which the Ebionites rejected.[7]
Epiphanius considered the Ebionite text to have been mutilated due to textual differences, the lack of a genealogy and nativity story in the Gospel of Matthew - which may indicate that the Ebionites cut it, but may also be a testimony to an earlier, nativity free, version of Matthew, on which the Ebionite Gospel is based.
Matthaei Authenticum
The Ebionites are said to have used the Gospel of the Hebrews written by the Apostle Matthew. Epiphanius stated that the Ebionites accepted only Matthew's Gospel and they used it alone. They called it the Gospel of the Hebrews, for only Matthew expounded and declared the gospel in Hebrew using Hebrew letters. [8]
Irenaeus and Eusebius also confirmed that the Ebionites used only the Gospel of the Hebrews written by Matthew. [9]
Because of differences in Jesus' baptism account, some modern Biblical scholars have argued that the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites were two different gospels. However, since only the Gospel of the Hebrews appears in Early Christian catalogues and because Jerome links the Ebionites with the Nazarenes in their use of the Gospel of the Hebrews, this contention is rendered doubtful. [10]
Finally, Legrange has argued that Matthew's Gospel of the Hebrews, used by the Ebionite community was actually "Aram M". [11] For further discussion of Aram M see the Two-source hypothesis and the Four Document Hypothesis.
References
- ^ Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 2
- ^ Hippolytus Refutation of All Heresies 7.22.
- ^ Tertullian The Prescription Against Heretics 33, On the Flesh of Christ 14.18.; Irenaeus Against Heretics 5.1.3.; Hippolytus of Rome Refutation of All Heresies 7.23. - Heresy of Theodotus; and Epiphanius Heresies 30.
- ^ Eusebius Church History 3.27.; Origen Origen de Principiis 4.22.
- ^ Hippolytus Refutation of All Heresies 7.22.
- ^ F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston (editors), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1990 p.438
- ^ Peter Kirby. Gospel of the Ebionites. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/gospelebionites.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Epiphanius, Panarion 30
- ^ F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston (editors), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1990 p.438
- ^ F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston (editors), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1990 p.439
- ^ JA Fitzmyer, RE Brown, (ed.), Jerome Biblical Commentary, Vol. II. The New Testament, ., Prentice-Hall, 1968, p. 65.
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