The Ebionites Series

The Ebionites

The Ebionites were early followers of Jesus who believed He was the Messiah the Jewish people had expected to come. Ebionites (Greek: Ebionaioi, derived from a Hebrew word meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect who were vegetarians, viewed poverty as holy, believed in ritual cleansing, and rejected animal sacrifices.

What did the Ebionites believe?

The Ebionites existed during the early centuries of the Common Era and believed Jesus became the Messiah because he obeyed the Jewish Law. They believed in one God and taught that Jesus was the Messiah and was the true "prophet" mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15 - a Jewish Christian sect who viewed poverty as holy believed in ritual washings, rejected animal sacrifices and the Virgin Birth of Jesus, instead holding that he was the natural son of Joseph and Mary.

How many gospels were used by the Ebionites?

The Ebionite gospel is one example of a type of gospel harmony that used the Gospel of Matthew as a base text but did not include the Gospel of John; it is believed to pre-date Tatian's Diatessaron - which combined all four official gospels into a single narrative.

The Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name scholars give to a fictional gospel existing only as seven brief quotations in a heresiology (1. the study of heresies; 2. a treatise on heresies.) known as the Panarion, by Epiphanius of Salamis; he misidentified it as the "Hebrew" gospel, believing it to be a truncated and modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. The quotations were embedded in a *polemic to point out inconsistencies in the beliefs and practices of a Jewish Christian sect known as the Ebionites relative to Nicene orthodoxy.

*polemic - 1a: an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another b: the art or practice of disputation or controversy —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction 2: an aggressive controversialist: DISPUTANT

The surviving fragments derived from a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels, composed in Greek with various expansions and abridgments reflecting the writer's theology. Distinctive features include the absence of the virgin birth and the genealogy of Jesus; an Adoptions Christology, in which Jesus is chosen to be God's Son at the time of his Baptism; the abolition of the Jewish sacrifices by Jesus; and advocacy of vegetarianism. Although the gospel was said to be used by "Ebionites" during the early church, the identity of the group or groups that used it remains a matter of conjecture.

The Gospel of the Ebionites is one of several Jewish–Christian gospels, Hebrews, and the Nazarenes Gospel; all survive only as fragments in quotations of the early Church Fathers. Due to their fragmentary state, the relationships between the Jewish–Christian gospels and a hypothetical original Hebrew Gospel are uncertain. They have been a subject of intensive scholarly investigation. The Ebionite gospel has been recognized as distinct from the others, and it has been identified more closely with the lost Gospel of the Twelve. It shows no dependence on the Gospel of John and is similar to the harmonized gospel sayings based on the *Synoptic Gospels used by Justin Martyr. There is a similarity between the gospel and a source document contained within the Clementine Recognitions, conventionally referred to by scholars as to the Ascents of James, concerning the command to abolish the Jewish sacrifices.

*Synoptic - The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct.

Epiphanius is believed to have possessed a gospel that he attributed to the Ebionites when he was bishop of Salamis, Cyprus. His citations are often contradictory and thought to be based partly on his conjecture. He alone among the Church Fathers identifies Cyprus as one of the "roots" of the Ebionites. The gospel survives only in seven brief quotations by Epiphanius in Chapter 30 of his heresiology, the Panarion, or "Medicine Chest," as a polemic against the Ebionites. The various, sometimes conflicting, sources of information were combined to point out inconsistencies in Ebionite beliefs and practices relative to Nicene orthodoxy, possibly to serve, indirectly, as a polemic against the Arians of his time.

Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed, also called the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed, is a statement of the orthodox faith of the early Christian church in opposition to certain heresies, especially Arianism. These heresies, which disturbed the church during the fourth century, concerned the doctrine of the trinity and of the person of Christ.

We believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.