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I write these texts considering how I believe the “proto-orthodox or canonical” would have understood or interpreted such a book – literally and beyond that poetically. This text is (a lightly glossed Gnostic) but Christian text, the Gospel of the Hebrews (alongside the proto-OT and NT).
Once upon a time, for a while, the “proto-orthodox/canonical, proto-subordinationist, and proto-gnostic Christians” lived next to & with each other in peace.
Copyright ⓒ 2023 James Brantingham PhD (September 1, 2023)
A Few Examples from the complete Gospel of the Hebrews
Gospel of the Hebrews
“A Rediscovered Treasure of Early Hebrew Christianity and Gnosticism Including extant text From the “Gospel of the Hebrews” and infrastructure drawn from a “Hebrew Gospel of Matthew”
One of the first ‘Bishops’ of ‘the Way‘ (an early follower of Moschiach Yeshua) was Papias. Part of the first generation of Christians after the apostles, ‘Bishop Papias’ sat at the feet of the Apostle John. Bishop of Hierapolis (c. 60 – c.130 AD), Papias reported that Matthew first wrote his Gospel in Hebrew (for Jewish-Christians). This report and its truth or falsity is debated by modern scholars. Eusebius, the first (proto-orthodox) Church historian, recounted it around 312–324 CE, just before the Official Council of Nicaea met (in 325 CE). Whether a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (HGMatthew) existed has long been doubted. Is Eusebius’ report accurate; did Papias tell the truth? Was it in Hebrew or actually Aramaic? Or, was it taken from the later ‘Greek’ Gospel of Matthew (GGMatthew) and translated into Hebrew? This is not a settled issue.
Other examples from within the text
…13.2 Lo, Miriam, mother of the Messiah (blessed with sanctification is decreed sinless) and pure into the Age! 13.3 Mary is (according to rights) ‘was always a pleasant, grace filled, innocent Israeli maiden’. And she, Yosef’s wife, YHWH, declares (by revelation) sinless into the Age. Mary will be a mother to all of the followers of HaMaschiach Yeshua (forever and ever)!” Moshiach and his Disciples (and the angels of Elohim) protect her! Then God the Father spoke clearly. So that all could hear Him, the chosen people (and the disciples of the Baptist). And warned them, “See him, Yeshua is my Son!” Look up and see him, for your Moshiach is with you! (Mss GHebrews; Toledot Yeshu. GThom, The Mandaean Book of John)…
Chapter 3 Prophet Navi,’ Yôḥānān
…3.0 For during his Baptism by the Navi’ Yôḥānān, Yeshua’s momentary concerns passed, and he allowed the Baptism (as a lesson and gift to all humanity.) Afterward, Yôḥānān said to him, ‘Thou art ‘the Logos, and the living Word, our ‘HaMaschiach,’ ‘and (truly) the One to Come!’ ‘Yeshua, the Lamb of God thus, ’emptied himself’ of the fullness; (of the highest heaven and God) and entered our bodily prison which lacks.’ Only in this way could Yeshu incarnate and become the ‘Word, Wisdom and the Logos’ and the Son of God and Man (mss GHebrews, GTHom). Behold he shall reign for eternity a servant to all. But Yeshua, a human being (must suffer) corruptible matter and flesh and be subjected ‘manifestly’ to temptation, even to sin. He must be tempted to be impure, even by fleshly desire, and wickedness, yet, tempted, he did not do it and sinned not! Behold the Son who lived with us and knows our humanity (fully) knows our struggles!”
…13.5 Despite this, Yeshua asked his mother, Mary, (before being baptized), ‘What sin must I repent of?’ And she said, “It is written, you would ask, ‘What sin did I do that I must be baptized by Yôḥānān the Immerser and turn toward the Light?” (Ms SRevJohn)
…13.12 And Mary (wife of Yosef), Mother of Elohim’s Anointed, finally sees her son the Savior and Redeemer, for this world and aeon! (Mss GEbionites, GPhil, the SRevJohn, GHebrews).
The Messiah
…14 So the Spirit of prophecy (from YHWH, God the Father) made John, and everyone look up, and they realized that ‘He, Yeshua, the Holy One of God and the Lamb’ (HaMaschiach) the Messiah stood next to the Immerser! Though it availed him nothing, Yôḥānān protested, ‘Yeshua, teacher baptize me, ‘I am only a man (and a sinner)!
…15 Yeshua said, ‘Suffer it and let it go, John; only then will humanity see and understand this sacrament.’ For everything I do, I do to accomplish righteousness. As written, 15.1 ‘He that seeks must keep seeking until he finds, and when he finds it, he will know, and when he knows that, he will know peace.’ So Yeshua was baptized, and all saw a glorious effulgent, brightly shining, and radiant light on (from the Sun) upon the water, and some spoke up, “its Holy fire upon the water then looking up they saw a white dove descending upon Yeshua! “God is consecrating everything one person remarked…
…16.3 Nearby Scholars, Sadducees, and Pharisees questioning him immediately asked him again, “Teacher, give us another sign.” And he answered them, “You read the face of Heaven and the Aeon of earth, but deny I spoke openly at the Temple and that you (and anyone) could hear my Speak, and thus about the Logos (its hidden message and divine knowledge)! Thus you cry out, even at this hour, that you need another miracle!” 16.0 ‘I did not come to win you but to gather up those humble who will listen, the ‘good grain and put it into the granary.’ ‘But I will burn up and throw away those take, hate, despise and help not those in need – this is ‘useless refuse and chaff for the fire!
…17.3 ‘Listen! Amen, Amen, I say,’ “Ignorance is slavery. Knowledge is freedom!”
17.5 YHWH says instead of consuming another animal by fire (to appease Him), do what He really wants — act justly, be loving, kind, and in purity, give to those in need, and by the grace of God help others! Help them see that God is in Thee and that my Son is in Me. Yeshua then solemnly said, “Listen, I Am the One to Come, and this is the final sacrifice you seek.” “Learn my teaching, and help those who seek it to find it (so they achieve God’s Sacred and Secret Salvation) and know peace!” \
Chapter 16 Feeding Five Thousand
13 Yeshua went out unto the Land of Syria (that is, Caesarea) to the land of Philippi. He asked his disciples, What do people say about the Son of Man? 14 They answered, ‘Some say you are the resurrected Yochanan the Baptist, or Elijah, Jeremiah, or others from among the prophets. 15 Yeshua then asks his disciples, Who do you say I am? Peter, Simon bar Jonah (ms GThom,
“GEbionites) said, Lord, you are like a righteous angel. So then, Yeshua asked Matthew (Levi), to whom do you compare me? Lord, you are like a wise philosopher who understands the people’s hearts, minds (and souls). 16 But Thomas hesitated and haltingly replied, ‘Rabbi, my mouth and the words in my mind and heart make me incapable of speaking out loud! For, Savior, thou art beyond human understanding; Lo, I am not fit to confess who you are! 16.1 ‘Yes, Lord, ‘ Peter called out, thou art ‘God of God!’ But Yeshua stopped. And first, stood before Thomas, looked deeply into his eyes, and said, 17 “Brother, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but it has come from my Father in heaven!” ‘For, Thomas hath drunk the bubbling spring of the Word and Wisdom from my mouth. Lo, thou art filled up by, and intoxicated with this ‘Transcendent Knowledge, of the Way and have found Salvation!’
17.1 Just then, he took Thomas aside (from all the others) and said in Hebrew to him: Three words: (‘AHYH ASHR AHYH,’ or ‘I am what I am’) that is, ‘One with YHWH, God,’ and ‘God, YHWH is One with me!’ Yet despite everything Thomas had heard and had seen, it still disturbed and offended his Jewish sensibilities. So when Thomas came to the other disciples, they saw he was upset, ‘What did Yeshua say to you, Thomas?’ 18 But first Peter replied: “He is the Christ, the Son of the living God!” And at that moment, Yeshua entered and intervened and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, Peter, ‘yes!’ ‘And with this Knowledge, and ‘on this rock’ I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.’ 19 “I give you the keys to the Kingdom, and whatever you prohibit on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you set free on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he instructed his disciples “not to tell anyone that He was ‘the Anointed.'”21 From then on, Yeshua began to make it clear to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
Yeshua looked at Peter, who had told him he did not have to undergo execution, and cried out toward him, “Samael, Saklas, ‘O Yetzer Hara,’ “get thee behind me, Devil… for my instinct is to flee and thus do evil; for Cephas, the Holy One has circumcised my heart, and I must obey him to the end. 24 Then Yeshua said to his disciples: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his torture stake, and follow me. 25 Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? What Good has this world’s corrupt ‘materialistic, fleshly and worldly things” been if it causes his soul to be judged worthy to suffer (ages and ages) in Hell?
Copyright ⓒ 2023 James Brantingham PhD
A ‘taste’ of the Gospel of the Hebrews.
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For all references in the Gospel of the Hebrews, you must have/buy the book.
References:
Bartholomew the Apostle. (2023, October 22). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_the_Apostle
Blizzard, Roy B. (2013) Mishnah and the Words of Jesus. Copyright © 2013. by Bible Scholars. Austin, Texas. Kindle Edition.
Blizzard, Roy. (2022) Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus. https://www.biblescholars.org/. (Accessed 3 7 2022)
Brantingham, James. © (2021) Holy Wisdom and the Logos of God. The Four Lost Apocryphal Christian Gospels: The Gospel of Truth. The Gospel of Philip. The Gospel of Thomas & The Gospel of Mary With the Secret Revelation of John. Pub. Ind. Apple Books. AmazonKindle. ISBN: 9798528366678 ASIN: B083H5X6T9.
Brantingham, James. © (2023) A Gospel of the Hebrews: The Untold Gospel: Matthew’s Lost Hebrew Manuscript and Its Legacy. Kindle Edition. ASIN: B0CGYCSHP9
Butler, Alban; Burns, Paul (1998). Butler’s Lives of the Saints: August. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-86012-257-9. p 232.
Catechetical School of Alexandria. (2023, March 17). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechetical_School_of_Alexandria
Dunn, James D. G. (1998) The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids: Michigan/ Cambridge, U. K. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.
Dunn, James D. G. (1990) Jesus, Paul and the Law. Grand Rapids: Michigan/ Cambridge, U. K. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.
Eusebius Chronicles (2016). In, Schaff, Philip., Ed. The Complete Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Collection of Early Church Fathers: Cross-Linked to the Bible. Toronto, Canada.
Flusser, David., Notley, R. Steven. (1997) Jesus. Hebrew University Press. Jerusalem
Gelasian Decree. (2023, August 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelasian_Decree (probably of Gnostic or Manichaean origin).
Kochi. (2023, October 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kochi
K. K. Kusuman (1987). A History of Trade & Commerce in Travancore. Mittal Publications. pp. 1–2.
Leipzig, 1912: FC Burkitt in Journal of Theological Studies 14 (1913) pp. 469–471. (Review of Ernst von Dobschütz, Das Decretum Gelasianum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis in kritischem Text Leipzig, 1912). https://www.tertullian.org/articles/burkitt_gelasianum.htm.
Metropolis of Ephesus. (2022, December 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_of_Ephesus
Shoemaker, Stephen J. (2022). Creating the Qur’ran: a historical-critical study. University of California Press. Oakland.
Vander Laan, Ray. (2023).That the world may know. https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/rabbi-and-talmidim (accessed 10 30 2023)
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