Scholarly Reflections
Pick, Bernhard. "Chapter One: The Gospel according to the Hebrews." Paralipomena: Remains of Gospels and Sayings of Christ. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company, 1908, 1-14.
The Gospel according to the Hebrews was known in the patristic period to have been written by the Ebionites, who rejected Paul and all else which seemed to depart from the Law. Pick here cites Irenaeus and Eusebius (Pick 1908, 1-2). The remains are quiet fragmentary in nature, preserved in brief quotes, mostly commenting on Matthew's Gospel. The work is quoted fairly significantly by Jerome. This gospel apparently quoted the Old Testament not through the mediation of the Septuagint, but by using a Hebrew text (Pick 1908, 3). References to the Holy Spirit are made in the feminine gender, consistent with Hebrew vocabulary and not with Greek, which uses a neuter. This leads to some idea that the Holy Spirit is a mother figure (Pick 1908, 4). Other notes are based on places where the Gospel of the Hebrews narrates the same situation as does Matthew's Gospel, but differs in some details such as a place name or the identity of a person used in an episode. Of some interest is an account of Jesus' post-resurrection appearance to his half brother James, in which he encourages him to eat and drink (Pick 1908, 11-12). The episode is not found in the canonical gospels but is hinted at in 1 Corinthians 15:7. The story was later used by a number of Christian authors. Papias notes that the woman accused of adultery (John 7:53-8:11) appears in the Gospel of the Hebrews (Pick 1908, 13).