Is this Gospel words spoken by Jesus?
I must admit that after reading a good portion of the “Gospel of the Nazirenes” — or the “Gospel of the Holy Twelve”, as it is also called — I kind of thought that it was going to be a hoax or another invention of a cult. Having been exposed to so many forgeries, fakes and fabrications I just about passed this one off as another. But I decided to read the whole thing anyway, just so I could say that I had read it. The strange thing is that as I was reading I had the feeling that something really rang true about it. There were certain passages that I just couldn’t see someone making them up.
However, what was especially hard for me to get around was the fact that there were so many verses that sounded word for word as copied from the King James Version of the bible. Either they copied passages out of the Bible, or those passages were still there unchanged and so the editors just copied the parts that were already translated from the New Testament.
Either way it was very impressive, since some verses that were only discovered many years later in other places were in this gospel. Because of this, much of the gospel seemed legitimate.
There were just a lot of other things that just seemed logical that Jesus would have said.
For example, being kind to animals. Just one’s conscience says that it’s right. And the fact that Jesus said that he came to put an end to animal sacrifice. It’s not surprising that Jesus would teach such things. In fact, the church fathers have revealed many of the things that were in Matthew’s gospel, so it’s not surprising to read those things there. However, in the teachings that may have offended the Emperor or went against church dogmas seemed to be absent in the Four Gospels of the New Testament.
Another thing that was intriguing was the fact that I kept coming across phrases that I had read in the epistles of Paul and of some of the Apostles of Jesus. The gospel of the Hebrews was around at that time and if they had read it, for sure Jesus’ words in the gospel of the Hebrews would have influenced their writings and they would even have quoted from it just as they had quoted from Old Testament Scriptures.
In the Gospel of the Nazarenes, there were sections there that seemed to fill in some of the gaps that were in the canonized version.
Some things that were impossible to understand in the New Testament gospels without guessing or interpreting became clearer in the gospel of the Nazarenes. Things just seemed to be explained better and more thoroughly.
What I think may have occurred with the word for word occurrences was that the translator found passages in the original Gospel of the Nazirenes that he was familiar with in the canonized version and copied them from the King James Version to make his job easier and also so that the reader would more easily recognize and relate to in the New Testament. Then all the translator did was translate in the portions that were not in the canonized bible.
At any rate, even though the editors or translators added in some of their own ideas, all of the teachings that we know were in the Gospel of the Hebrews from what we have in the writings of the church fathers are in the Gospel of the Nazirenes. And it’s highly likely that all of Matthew’s Gospel of the Hebrews is contained therein.
The most convincing part though, was the fact that there are passages in the gospel of the Nazirenes that have a very close resemblance to passages in the gospel of Thomas.
Ouseley’s book was published in 1892, but it was only in 1945 that the Gospel of Thomas was found. There is no way that he could have quoted portions of the gospel of Thomas since it was not even in existence yet for him to see. The following are a few passages that are found in both gospels:
| Gospel of the Hebrews | Gospel of the Nazirenes |
|---|---|
| “If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the Kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father.” (Saying 27, Gospel of Thomas, 1897) | “And I say unto you, Except ye fast from the world and its evil ways, ye shall in no wise find the Kingdom; and except ye keep the Sabbath and cease your haste to gather riches, ye shall not see the Father-Mother in heaven.” (Lection XXVI, Gospel of the Holy Twelve) |
| “I took my stand in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I found them all drunk yet none of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity because they are blind in their hearts and do not see.” (Saying 28, Gospel of Thomas, 1945) | “And Jesus said, I stood in the midst of the world, and in the flesh was I seen and heard, and I found all men glutted with their own pleasures, and drunk with their own follies, and none found I hungry or athirst for the wisdom which is of God. My soul grieveth over the sons and daughters of men because they are blind in their heart, and in their soul are they deaf and hear not my voice.” (Lection LXXXVIII, Gospel of the Holy Twelve) |
| “Blessings on the person who has suffered and found life.” (Saying 58, Gospel of Thomas, 1945) | “And he said unto them, Blessed are they who suffer many experiences, for they shall be made perfect through suffering.” (Lection XXXVII, Gospel of the Holy Twelve) |
| (22) Jesus saw children who were being suckled. He said to his disciples: These children who are being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom. They said to Him: Shall we then, being children, enter the Kingdom? Jesus said to them: When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female not be female, when you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image then shall you enter the Kingdom. | As it is above, so it is below. As it is within, so it is without. As on the right hand, so on the left. As it is before, so it is behind. As with the great so with the small. As with the male, so with the female. When these things shall be seen, then ye shall see the kingdom of God. 10. For in me there is neither Male nor Female, but both are One in the All perfect. The woman is not without the man, nor is the man without the woman. (Section LII, Gospel of the Holy Twelve) |
| (106) Jesus said: When you make the two one, you shall become sons of Man, and when you say: “Mountain, be moved”, it will be moved. | And one said unto him, Master, when shall the kingdom come? And he answered and said, When that which is without shall be as that which is within, and that which is within shall be as that which is without, and, the male with the female, neither male nor female, but the two in One. They who have ears to hear, let them hear. (Section LXVI, Gospel of the Holy Twelve 13) |
None of these teachings of Jesus that appear in the Gospel of the Hebrews appear in the Greek gospels of the Bible. There must have been certain passages spoken by Jesus that the Church didn’t like for various reasons. But ALL of theses passages were words definitely spoken by Jesus. The following are passages that are found both in the Gospel of the Nazirenes and the Gospel of the Hebrews:
| Gospel of the Hebrews | Gospel of the Nazirenes |
|---|---|
| But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him: How can you say: I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And behold, many of your brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, and nothing at all goes out of it unto them. | And the Lord said unto him, How sayest thou that thou hast performed the Law and the prophets? Behold many of thy brethren are clad with filthy rags, dying from hunger and thy house is full of much goods, and there goeth from it nought unto them. (Section 14:12) |
| And Jesus indeed says: On account of the sick I was sick and on account of the hungry I was hungry and on account of the thirsty I was thirsty. | and seeing the people come unto him, Jesus, said unto his disciples, Because of the sick I am sick; because of the hungry I am hungry; because of the thirsty I am athirst.(Lection XXI:7) |
| “When you have seen your brother, you have seen the Lord.” | And one said, “Show us the Father, show us the Mother, and we will believe you.” And He answered saying, “If you have seen your brother and felt his love, you have seen the Father; if you have seen your sister and felt her love, you have seen the Mother.” (50:7) |
| “I was a mason, earning a living with my hands. I beg you, Jesus, restore my health to me, so that I need not beg for my food in shame.” | I was a mason seeking sustenance by my hands, I beseech thee restore to me my health that I may not beg for food with shame. And Jesus healed him, saying There is a house made without hands, seek that thou mayest dwell therein. (Lection XIX:10) |
This ancient manuscript claims in no uncertain terms to be the same work composed by the 12 apostles, and, in fact, it makes an intriguing and compelling case for being just that. Its antiquity seems beyond question, as this 19th century text contains words, phrases, and concepts identical to those found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Gnostic Gospels of Nag Hammadi, which were only unearthed in the 1940’s. The text therefore cannot, as these connections prove, be anything but authentic. (“The Gospel of The Holy Twelve”)
Next: Reincarnation | What is Salvation All About?