patristic testimonies reconsidered The Nazarenes’ Use of the Scriptures
Because Jewish Christians were generally thought to be competent in the
Hebrew language^62 and obedient to Jewish law, there is no need to assume
that Epiphanius must have used a source where it was stated that the
Nazarenes used both the New and the Old Testament. On the contrary,
the context where Epiphanius presents this information indicates that
the reference to the Nazarenes’ use of the scriptures only serves to
exemplify his accusation that Nazarenes are “complete” Jews. Unlike the
representatives of the Jewish sects that Epiphanius has discussed in the
beginning of his work, the Nazarenes did not repudiate any parts of the
Old Testament but were representatives of “orthodox” Judaism since they
accepted the law, the prophets and the Writings. In Epiphanius’ view, the
Nazarenes were blameless as regards Judaism—except for their belief in
Christ.
The Nazarenes’ use of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew is referred
to at the very end ofPanarion, as if it were a sort of appendix to
the discussion. Obviously, Epiphanius has added this note in view of his
following treatment of the Ebionites.
In the next chapter of his heresiology (Pan. ), Epiphanius presents
several quotations from a gospel that was used by the Ebionites say-
ing that the Ebionites call their writing the “Gospel according to the
Hebrews.” Epiphanius admits that Matthew, indeed, wrote his gospel in
Hebrew (Pan. ..). However, it is clear that the gospel used by the
Ebionites was a Greek document since the quotations that Epiphanius
presents are in Greek and they include wordplays that are understandable
only in Greek.^63 According to Epiphanius, the gospel that the Ebionites
used was “corrupt and mutilated” (Pan. ..) and a quotation from
the beginning of their gospel shows that it opened with the description
of the baptism of John. Thus, it did not include the birth narratives (Pan.
.., ..).
With this kind of evidence about the writings of the Ebionites in his
hands, Epiphanius must have been faced with the dilemma of how to
explain the information he found in his sources which stated that the
Ebionites used only Matthew’s Gospel (Irenaeus,Haer. ..) or the
“Gospel according to the Hebrews” (Eusebius,Hist. eccl. ..). An easy
(^62) See Eusebius,Hist. eccl. .., ..–, ...
(^63) For instance, the Ebionites, who were vegetarians, had introduced changes to John
the Baptist’s diet by replacing locusts with honey cakes (see Chapter ..).