An Historical Account ofJesus 47among whom Paul is deceived. But we, as much as 1
have written, that preach we to those who fear God, that
theymaybe savedin theLastDayofGod's Judgement.
Amen. (The Gospel of Barnabas: 221-222).Although- as is the case with all of the Gospels- it is impossible to
verify the contents of the Gospel ofBarnabas withcomplete certainty,
in the absence of an early, original, authentic manuscript, ms ac
count ofwhat happened doesmake sense, and it doesexpIain why
there is such confusion surrounding the events which took place
at the time of the arrest and the crucifixion, and it does explain
why sorne accounts, written by people who were not present at
those events, support the mistaken belief that it was Jesus who
was crucified. Perhaps most significantly, it does not contradict the
account given in the Qur'an, whichis the only totally reliable state
ment conceming this matter in existence today.
There are also several historical sources other than the Bible and
the Qur'an which confirm that many of the early Christians did
not believe that Jesus died on the cross, although not everyone is
in complete agreement as to whether it was [esus's would-be be
trayer who was the one crucified. The Cerinthians and later the
Basilidians, for example, who were among the first of the early
Christian communities, denied that Jesus was crucified, but be
lieved that it was Simon of Cyrene who was crucified instead.
Cerinthus, a contemporary of Peter, Paul and John, also denied the
resurrection of Jesus. The Carpocratians, another early Christian
sect, believed that it was not Jesus who was crucified, but one of
his followers who very dosely resembled him. Plotinus, who lived
in the fourth century, tells us that he had read a book called The
Journeys ofthe Apostles which related the acts of Peter, John, Andrew,
Thomas and Paul. Among other things, it stated thatJesus was not
crucified, but another in ms place, and therefore, he laughed at
those who believed that they had crucified him. 17 Thus, although
it is clear that Jesus was not crucified, sources either differ or are
not specifie as to who was crucified in his place - while others,
sorne two thousand centuries later, find it hard to believe anything:
When one ref1ectsthatthe catalogue of outrage ascribed
to the Roman soldiery, repeats almost verbatim certain
passages of the Olâ Testament ... one begins to suspect
that the entire episode is a sheer invention. lB