The Gospel of the Hebrews is an ancient Christian gospel that is no longer extant. It is known only from fragments quoted or summarized by various early Church Fathers such as Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Jerome, and others. Based on these fragments, scholars believe the Gospel of the Hebrews was composed in the mid-2nd century and was used by Jewish Christians, possibly the Ebionites. This gospel is distinct from the canonical Gospel of Matthew, but they may share some common sources.
Some key features of the Gospel of the Hebrews noted by the Church Fathers include:
- It was written in Aramaic or Hebrew rather than Greek.
- It had some similarities with the Gospel of Matthew but also some notable differences.
- It seemed to emphasize the authority of James the Just, the brother of Jesus.
- It contained some Jewish-Christian theology, for instance referring to the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ mother.
- It lacked an infancy narrative and opened with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
- It contained an expanded account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.
- It narrated the appearance of the risen Christ to James the Just rather than to all the apostles.
While the fragments are few, the Gospel of the Hebrews appears to have contained teachings and traditions independent from the four canonical gospels. If more of this text had survived, it would provide invaluable information about the diversity of early Christianity. Even based on what little is known, the Gospel of the Hebrews gives insight into how some Jewish Christians told the story of Jesus and interpreted his meaning for their community.
Fragments and Quotes from the Gospel of the Hebrews
Here are some of the key fragments and quotes from the Gospel of the Hebrews as preserved in the writings of the Church Fathers:
“Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away onto the great mountain Tabor.” (Origen)
This remarkable quote depicts the Holy Spirit as speaking in the first person and identifies her as the mother of Jesus. It illustrates the feminine personification of the Spirit found in some early Christian texts.
“My mother, the Holy Spirit, took me just now by one of my hairs and carried me off to the great Mount Tabor.” (Jerome)
Jerome quotes the same passage on the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ mother, which indicates this was an authentic part of the Gospel of the Hebrews.
“The Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove came down and entered into him. A voice also came down from heaven saying, ‘You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased.'” (Jerome)
This passage on Jesus’ baptism matches the wording in the canonical Gospels. It illustrates both the similarities to Matthew, and a divergence from Luke’s account of the Spirit’s descent at baptism.
“And it came to pass when the Lord came up from the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended upon him and rested on him saying, ‘My Son, in all the prophets I was waiting for you that you should come and I might rest in you. For you are my rest. You are my Son, my firstborn who reigns forever.'” (Jerome)
This expansion on Jesus’ baptism provides a vividly adoptionist perspective – the Spirit descending on the human Jesus and declaring him to be the Son and redeemer figure.
“If your brother sins in word and makes amends to you, receive him seven times in a day.” (Jerome)
This saying about forgiving a repentant brother seven times resembles Luke 17:4 but has the number seven rather than seventeen. It illustrates minor variations found in the Gospel of the Hebrews.
“He that wonders shall reign, and he that reigns shall rest.” (Clement of Alexandria)
This saying of Jesus appears to be unique to the Gospel of the Hebrews. Some interpret it as elevating those who humbly seek greater understanding.
“Never be joyful except when you look upon your brother in love.” (Jerome)
This positive saying about fraternal love is also unique and shows an emphasis on community formation among early Jewish Christians.
“The second rich man said to him, ‘Master, what good thing can I do and live?’ He said to him, ‘Man, fulfill the law and the prophets.’ He answered him, ‘I have kept them.’ He said to him, ‘Go, sell all you have and distribute to the poor; and come, follow me.’ But the rich man began to scratch his head, for it did not please him. And the Lord said to him, ‘How can you say, I have kept the law and the prophets, when it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, and look, many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are covered with filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, none of which goes out to them?'” (Eusebius)
This substantial expansion on Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler emphasizes care for the poor and needy as an essential application of the command to love one’s neighbor.
“The Gospel entitled ‘According to the Hebrews,’ which I have recently translated, records after the resurrection of the Saviour: ‘Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by one of my hairs and carried me to the great Mount Tabor.'” (Jerome)
This statement by Jerome indicates he personally translated the Gospel of the Hebrews from Hebrew/Aramaic into Latin and confirms the identification of the Spirit as Jesus’ mother.
Possible Authorship and Date
The Gospel of the Hebrews was likely composed sometime in the mid-2nd century AD. The location of composition is uncertain, with plausible proposals including Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. The text was certainly in circulation by the early 3rd century when it was utilized by Clement of Alexandria.
The original language of this gospel was probably Hebrew or Aramaic, reflecting its origin among Jewish Christians. Later translations into Greek and Latin evidently circulated as well. As for authorship, the church fathers who mentioned this gospel do not provide any names of who wrote it.
Scholars have speculated the Gospel of the Hebrews was composed by one of the Jewish-Christian groups that valued family ties between Jesus and his earliest disciples. The emphasis on James the Just potentially points to the Ebionites, one of these groups known for exalting Jesus’ family. But other Jewish-Christian groups such as the Nazarenes are also plausible. In the end, the authorship remains uncertain.
Relationship to Canonical Matthew
There are notable similarities between fragments of the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of Matthew. Both begin with the baptism of Jesus, contain the Beatitudes, and have Jesus speak of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. Yet there are also significant differences in wording and content.
Most scholars conclude that the Gospel of the Hebrews is related to but not dependent on Matthew. The predominant theory is that both texts drew independently from a common stream of early oral and written Jesus tradition circulated in Jewish-Christian circles. In particular, an early collection of sayings known as the Q source may lie behind material present in both texts.
By this hypothesis, the Gospel of the Hebrews represents an independent literary work that taps into early Christian gospel strands parallel to the sources underlying canonical Matthew. If more of the Gospel of the Hebrews had survived, it would provide a fascinating comparative case study for the formation of the Synoptic Gospels.
Adoptionist Christology
Based on the extant fragments, it appears the Gospel of the Hebrews contained a Christology in line with early Jewish-Christian adoptionism. This view held that Jesus was a pre-existent heavenly being who became the Son of God at his baptism when the Spirit descended upon him.
We see hints of this adoptionist perspective in passages highlighting Jesus’ baptism as the moment of conferring sonship. The Epistle to the Hebrews similarly depicts Christ as appointed and perfected through suffering. This may represent an early Jewish-Christian Christology subsequently declared heretical as mainline views developed.
The Gospel of the Hebrews offers intriguing insight into how the earliest Jewish believers told the story of Jesus and interpreted his relationship to God, the Spirit, and humanity. Even in its fragmentary form, it highlights the Christological diversity that was muted and erased as the Orthodox position solidified and became canon.
Elevation of James the Just
Several Church Fathers state that the Gospel of the Hebrews narrated the risen Jesus appearing first to James the Just rather than to his disciples. James was the brother of Jesus mentioned prominently throughout the New Testament and held in high regard by the Jewish-Christian community.
Paul refers to James as one of the pillar apostles in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9). The historian Hegesippus records that James was selected as the leader of the Jerusalem church. The Gospel of the Hebrews seems to highlight James as the successor to Jesus, perhaps reflecting the Ebionite perspective.
This alternative resurrection tradition is one indication that the Gospel of the Hebrews represented an independent literary work rather than merely an expansion of Matthew. It illustrates the diversity of early Jesus traditions that existed alongside the texts that eventually became orthodox.
Sayings About Community and Ethics
Although narrative fragments are few, several striking sayings attributed to Jesus appear uniquely in the Gospel of the Hebrews. These include provocative teachings on peacemaking, contemplation, fraternal love, forgiving others, and care for the poor.
These sayings likely reflect the communal ethics practiced by the Jewish Christians who used this gospel. They emphasize loving one’s neighbor, pursuing justice, embracing poverty, and welcoming back those who have sinned and repented.
While these sayings echo canonical materials to some degree, their literary formulation seems distinctive to the Gospel of the Hebrews. They offer intriguing evidence of the instruction and exhortation provided by extra-canonical Jesus traditions.
Personification of the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ Mother
One of the most striking features of the Gospel of the Hebrews is its personification of the Holy Spirit as the mother of Jesus. The saying that depicts the Spirit taking Jesus by the hair to the mountain of transfiguration illustrates this maternal imagery.
While the canonical gospels refer to the Spirit descending on Jesus at baptism, only the Gospel of the Hebrews identifies the Spirit as Jesus’ mother. This portrayal may draw from Old Testament depictions of Wisdom as a feminine divine personality.
The attribution of maternity to the Spirit found in the Gospel of the Hebrews does not appear to imply that Jesus was literally begotten by the Spirit in a virgin birth. Rather, it reflects poetic imagery expressing the intimate relationship between Jesus and the Spirit as conveyed by some early Jewish Christians.
This correlation of the Spirit and Jesus provides another example of how the Gospel of the Hebrews represents an unorthodox Christology that interacts with but diverges from what became the canonical perspective.
Lack of an Infancy Narrative
The canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke contain expansive infancy narratives covering the miraculous conception, birth, and childhood events of Jesus. By contrast, the early Christian scholar Origen notes that the Gospel of the Hebrews lacked any nativity account.
Instead, it opened abruptly with the story of John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River. This absence of birth stories suggests the Gospel of the Hebrews had no concept of a virgin birth or pre-existent heavenly Christ.
Rather, it likely contained an adoptionist perspective focused on the bestowal of divine sonship on the human Jesus at his baptism when the Spirit descended. The lack of an infancy narrative represents another stark divergence from the canonical Gospel of Matthew.
If the original version had contained miraculous conception accounts, it is highly unlikely they would have been omitted in subsequent versions. This strongly indicates they were simply not present in the earliest editions used by Jewish Christians.
An Important Non-Canonical Gospel
Although it has perished except for fragments, the Gospel of the Hebrews provides a crucial window into early Jewish Christianity. It demonstrates that diverse Jesus traditions circulated in tandem with the texts that became part of the orthodox canon.
This gospel combined familiar elements also present in the Synoptics with novel sayings and traditions unique to its communal context. In its themes and content, it represents a distinctive voice from the diversity of early Christianity that was eventually suppressed.
The Gospel of the Hebrews illustrates that the triumph of orthodoxy was far from inevitable or obvious in the volatile religious landscape of the 2nd century. As one of several Jewish-Christian gospels, it poses intriguing questions about how the genre of gospel writing developed in multiple early Christian movements.
While the few fragments may lack narrative coherence, they are a tantalizing clue that the sources underlying the New Testament were once far more varied and fluid. The Gospel of the Hebrews demonstrates that the textual history of the gospels and Jewish Christianity was remarkably rich and complex.
