Which Gospels were not included in the Bible?

Answer 1

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The decision not to include most of the gospels in the New Testament can best be understood by understanding the background of those gospels that were included. Ian Wilson (Jesus: The Evidence) says that it can come as quite a shock to discover that no-one can even be sure who wrote the gospels. He says that despite the versions printed in our Bibles long having borne the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, these names are mere attributions, and even as such are rather less reliable than attributions given to unsigned works of art. We can never know who wrote the gospels now known as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, just as we can never know who wrote the many other gospels attributed to other disciples, to the Truth and so on. The mainstream Church simply made its choice in the fourth century, based on which of the gospels it was using, and which best reflected the doctrines of the Church.

Some of the gospels not found in The Bible include:

• Gospel of Peter

• Gospel of Thomas

• Gospel of Philip

• Gospel of Judas Iscariot

• Gospels of Bartholomew

  (there were two Gospels of Bartholomew)

• Gospels of Barnabas

  (there were two Gospels of Barnabas, but the second and much later Gospel was really a Muslim gospel)

• Gospel of Truth

• Gospel of the Egyptians

• Gospel of Mary Magdalene