jewish-christian gospels recovered The Nazarenes obviously found Jesus’ life and Paul’s mission predicted
in Isaiah. Isaiah had also correctly predicted the actions and destiny of
their enemies. But that was not all. The Nazarenes had also compiled a
collection of passages from the Gospel of Matthew which showed that
everything the Scriptures had predicted about Jesus was indeed fulfilled
in the course of his life.
The vigor with which the Nazarenes attacked the rabbis very much
gives the impression of a struggle over a common Jewish heritage. The
Nazarenes were so closely tied with their Jewish compatriots that the
teaching of the rabbis could not simply be ignored. Instead, much effort
was put into finding evidence in the Scriptures—we know of Isaiah and
Matthew expositions—which would put their opponents in a bad light
and justify the Nazarenes’ own position. On the other hand, as regards the
terms and consequences of being either inside or outside the Nazarene
group, it seems that the Nazarenes possessed a clear Christian identity:
Jews can be saved only by becoming Christians.^78 Thus, although the
Nazarenes overall religious profile was clearly more on the Christian side,
it was accompanied by such pronounced Jewish elements that to describe
it simply as Christian without any further qualification would certainly
give an oversimplified picture of their position and the strong bonds with
which they were tied to their Jewish heritage.
The discussion about the Nazarenes’Commentary on Isaiah(see Chap-
ter ..) and the gospel that they used has not revealed anything to sup-
port the view that the Nazarenes were a separate heretical sect, wander-
ing somewhere in the no man’s land between Judaism and Christianity.
The Christians from whom Jerome received these writings had devel-
oped a clear Christian identity which, nevertheless, also included some
strong Jewish elements. Perhaps “Nazarene Christians” would be a suit-
able name for these people—“Nazarene” referring to the strong Jewish
elements in their identity and “Christians” highlighting the fact that they
were not a separate sect but sided with the formative Christianity.
The “Gospel of the Nazarenes” as it is reconstructed in the GH is pure
fiction. Needless to say, a heresy that did not exist did not need a gospel
of its own.
(^78) Jerome,Comm. Isa. .– (Trans. Klijn & Reinink , –): “O sons of Israel
who deny the Son of God with the most vicious opinion, turn to him and his apostles. If
you will do this, you will reject all idols which to you were a cause of sin in the past and
the devil will fall before you, not because of your powers but because of the compassion
of God. And his young men, who a certain time earlier fought for him, will be tributaries
of the Church and any of its power and stone will pass.. .”.