The Gospel of the Nazarenes (also Nazareans, Nazaraeans, Nazoreans, or Nazoraeans) is the traditional but hypothetical name given by some scholars to distinguish some of the references to, or citations of, non-canonical Jewish–Christian gospels extant in patristic writings from other citations believed to derive from different Gospels.
Collation into Gospel of the Nazarenes
Due to contradictions in the account of the baptism of Jesus, and other reasons, most scholars in the 20th century consider that the Gospel of the Nazarenes is distinct from the Gospel of the Hebrews and Gospel of the Ebionites, even though Jerome linked the Nazarenes to the Ebionites in their shared use of the Gospel of the Hebrews.The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, F.L. Cross, E.A. Livingston (eds), Oxford University Press, 1989 p. 439.Craig A. Evans Ancient texts for New Testament studies: a guide to the background literature , 2005 "The Jewish Gospels. With one or two notable dissenters, most scholars in the last century have followed Philipp Vielhauer and Georg Strecker (in Hennecke and Schneemelcher NTApoc), and more recently A.F.J. Klijn (1992), in extrapolating from the church fathers three distinct extracanonical Jewish gospels: the Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Gospel of the Ebionites, and the Gospel of the Hebrews. A recent study by Peter Lebrecht Schmidt (1998), however, has called this near consensus into question. Critically assessing the discussion from Schmidtke to Klijn, Schmidt thinks that originally there was only one Jewish gospel, probably written in Aramaic about 100 CE, called the "Gospel according to the Hebrews," which was subsequently... " cf. Hans-Josef Klauck Apocryphal gospels: an introduction 2003 p37
Text editions of Gospel of the Nazarenes The current standard critical edition of the text is found in Wilhelm Schneemelcher's New Testament Apocrypha, where 36 verses, GN 1 to GN 36, are collated.Vielhauer and Strecker Gospel of the Nazaraeans in Schneemelcher NTA p.160-174 Fragments 1 to 36 GN 1 to GN 23 are mainly from Jerome, GN 24 to GN 36 are from medieval sources. This classification is now traditional,David Edward Aune The Westminster dictionary of New Testament and early Christian Literature and Rhetoric. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003 p201 "Schneemelcher has reiterated the traditional classification of the various types of apocryphal gospels into three." though Craig A. Evans (2005) suggests that "If we have little confidence in the traditional identification of the three Jewish gospels (Nazarenes, Ebionites, and Hebrews), then perhaps we should work with the sources we have: (1) the Jewish gospel known to Origen; (2) the Jewish gospel known to Epiphanius; and (3) the Jewish gospel known to Jerome.Craig A. Evans Ancient texts for New Testament studies: a guide to the background literature 2005
The name Gospel of the Nazarenes The name Gospel of the Nazarenes was first used in Latin by Paschasius Radbertus (790–865), and around the same time by Haimo, though it is a natural progression from what Jerome writes. The descriptions and ablative , etc. become commonplace in later discussion.e.g. Johann H. Majus, Repetitum examen historiae criticae textus Novi Testamenti a PR Simonio, 1699
The hypothetical name refers to a possible identification with the Nazarene community of Roman period Palestine.The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston (eds), Oxford University Press, 1989 p. 626. It is a hypothetical gospel, which may or may not be the same as, or derived from, the Gospel of the Hebrews or the canonical Gospel of Matthew.Edwards, J.R. 2009, The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition, Wm. B. Eerdmans, pp. 120–25 The title Gospel of the Nazarenes is a neologism as it was not mentioned in the Catalogues of the Early Church nor by any of the Church Fathers.F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1989, Oxford University Press, p. 626. Today, all that remains of its original text are notations, quotations, and commentaries from various Church Fathers including Hegesippus, Origen, Eusebius and Jerome.
The Gospel of the Nazarenes has been the subject of many critical discussions and surmises throughout the course of the last century. Recent discussions in a growing body of literature have thrown considerable light upon the problems connected with this gospel. Its sole literary witnesses are brief citations found in patristic literature and quotations by the Church Fathers.Jerome, Commentary on Micah, 7. This bears great significance because higher criticism argues that the canonical Gospel of Matthew is not a literal reproduction of Matthew's original autograph, but was rather the production of an unknown redactor, composed in Greek posthumous to Matthew.The Interpreters Bible, Vol. VII, Abington Press, New York, 1951, pp. 64–66. This aligns with Jerome's assessment, in which he stated, "Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetime publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek, though by what author is uncertain."Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men, Chapter 3. (see Two-source hypothesis, Four-document hypothesis, and Hebrew Gospel hypothesis).
Nazarenes
The term Nazarene was applied to Jesus of Nazareth (Gospel of Matthew 2:23). Mention of a "sect of the Nazarenes" (plural) occurs first with Tertullus (Acts 24:5). After Tertullus the name does not appear again, apart from an unclear reference in Eusebius' Onomasticon, until a similar name, "Nazoreans", is distinguished by Epiphanius in his Panarion in the 4th century.Lawrence H. Schiffman, James C. VanderKam Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls: N-Z Nazarenes – 2000 – 1132 "... occurs only once in the post-New Testament Greek literature between Acts and Epiphanius, in Eusebius's Onomasticon, though it remains doubtful whether the term here concerns Nazoreans (rather than Christians in general)."
It was the term used to identify the predominantly Jewish sect that believed Jesus was the Messiah and would later be known as Christians.F.L. Cross & E.A. Livingston, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1989. p 957 & 722.
By the 4th century, Nazarenes are generally accepted as being the first Christians that adhered to the Mosaic law and who were led by James the Just, the brother of Jesus. He led the Church from Jerusalem and according to 1 Corinthians (15:7) had a special appearance of the resurrected Jesus, who appeared only "then to all the apostles".The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston (editors), Oxford University Press, 1989. p 957 & 722.
Primary sources Concerning its origin, Jerome relates that the Nazarenes believed that the Hebrew Gospel he received while at Chalcis was written by Matthew the Evangelist. In his work On Illustrious Men, Jerome explains that Matthew, also called Levi, composed a gospel of Christ, which was first published in Judea in Hebrew script for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed (On Illustrious Men, 2). Meanwhile, in his Commentary on Matthew, Jerome refers to the Gospel of the Nazarenes and the Gospel of the Hebrews.
Epiphanius is of the same opinion; he states in his Panarion that Matthew alone expounded and declared the gospel in Hebrew among the New Testament writers: "For in truth, Matthew alone of the New Testament writers expounded and declared the Gospel in Hebrew using Hebrew script."Panarion 30.3.7.
Origen adds to this by stating that, among the four gospels, Matthew, the one-time tax collector who later became an apostle of Jesus Christ, first composed the gospel for the converts from Judaism, published in the Hebrew language.Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, 6.25.
Scholarly positions There exist two views concerning the relationship of the surviving citations from the "Gospel of the Nazarenes":
Gospel of the Nazarenes dependent on Canonical Matthew Philipp Vielhauer writes of the Greek/Latin fragments collected as the Gospel of the Nazarenes that "Its literary character shows the GN secondary as compared with the canonical Mt; again, from the point of view of form-criticism and the history of tradition, as well as from that of language, it presents no proto-Matthew but a development of the Greek Gospel of Matthew (against Waitz). 'It is scarcely to be assumed that in it we are dealing with an independent development of older Aramaic traditions; this assumption is already prohibited by the close relationship with Mt.Wilhelm Schneemelcher, transl. Robert McLachlan Wilson, New Testament Apocrypha: Gospels and related writings 1991 p. 159. Likewise, as regards the Syriac fragments, Vielhauer writes "the Aramaic (Syriac) GN cannot be explained as a retroversion of the Greek Mt; the novelistic expansions, new formations, abbreviations and corrections forbid that. In literary terms the GN may best be characterised as a targum-like rendering of the canonical Matthew."Vielhauer, Geschichte der urchristlichen Literatur (Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1975) p652 From this view the GN fragments are linked to the canonical version of Matthew, with minor differences. For example, GN replaces "daily bread" with "bread for tomorrow" in the Lord's Prayer (GN 5), states that the man whose hand was withered (GN 10, compare ) was a stonemason, and narrates there having been two rich men addressed by Jesus in instead of one (GN 16).
Canonical Matthew is dependent on or a translation of the Gospel of Nazarenes James R. Edwards (2009) argues that the canonical Matthew is based on a Hebrew original, and that the citations of the Gospel of the Nazarenes are part of that original.James R. Edwards, The Hebrew Gospel & the Development of the Synoptic Tradition, © 2009, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Edwards' view is predated by that of Edward Nicholson (1879), Bodley's Librarian. His conclusions were as follows: "We find that there existed among the Nazarenes and Ebionites a Gospel commonly called the Gospel according to the Hebrews, written in Aramaic, but with Hebrew characters. Its authorship was attributed by some to the Apostles in general, but by very many or most—including clearly the Nazarenes and Ebionites themselves—to Matthew."The Gospel According to the Hebrews, Edward Byron Nicholson, C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1879. p.26 "The Fathers of the Church, while the Gospel according to the Hebrews was yet extant in its entirety, referred to it always with respect, often with reverence: some of them unhesitatingly accepted it as being what tradition affirmed it to be—the work of Matthew—and even those who have not put on record their expression of this opinion have not questioned it. Is such an attitude consistent with the supposition that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was a work of heretical tendencies? This applies with tenfold force to Jerome. After copying it, would he, if he had seen heresy in it, have translated it for public dissemination into both Greek and Latin, and have continued to favor the tradition of its Matthaean authorship? And Jerome, be it observed, not only quotes all three of these passages without disapprobation; he actually quotes two of them (Fr. 6 and Fr. 8) with approval."The Gospel According to the Hebrews, Edward Byron Nicholson, C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1879. p.82 Nicholson's position that The Gospel of the Hebrews was the true Gospel of Matthew is still the subject of heated debate.