032. Chapter 11 - The Youth of Jesus in the Apocryphal Gospels
Chapter 11 - The Youth of Jesus in the Apocryphal Gospels Nature of the Apocryphal Gospels
Apocryphal means “hidden.” There were afloat in the early church a number of so-called Gospels of uncertain origin. Some of them claimed to be inspired, using the name of an apostle as author, imitating the language and style of the New Testament writers. They attempted to give additional material which, on examination, turns out to be “harmless and ingenious fictions, intended either to gratify the fancy or to silence the enemies of Christianity.” Some books expounding heretical ideas are included in this group. The Dominican Fathers, Richard and Giroud (Bibliotheque Sacre), refer to the Apocryphal Gospels as “those which are not publicly read, although they may be read with edification in private.” While these Apocryphal Gospels were frowned upon by early Christian writers (the Apostolic Constitutions refers to them as “poisonous apocryphal books”), the ignorant masses enjoyed them immensely and Catholic writers adopted and revised them so that they grew into the “Golden Legend” of the thirteenth century which was translated into all the languages of Europe.
Summary of the Documents The Apocryphal Gospels are known through the decree of Pope Gelasius, quotations in early Christian literature, and extant MSS. A list of the principal Apocryphal Gospels is as follows:
Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. (Found in the works of Jerome a.d. 420. Probably written in second century. The basis of the “Golden Legend.” Contains eight chapters. Exalts Mary. Used by early heretics to prove that Jesus was not the Son of God before His baptism. Cf. citations in the chapter on Mary.) The Gospel of the Infancy. (Arabic and Latin Versions published by Sike 1697. Oldest extant MS dates 1299. Used by Gnostics in second century. It has twenty-two chapters. Mohammed seems to have used this Gospel and copied some of its legends. Extensive citations below.)
Gospel of Thomas. (Probably written by Gnostic. Published by Cotelerius. Contains four chapters. Gives legends concerning the infancy of Jesus.)
History of Joseph the Carpenter. (First mentioned in sixteenth century by Isolanis. Translation in Arabic now preserved in East.) The Protevangelium of James. (MS in Greek. Quoted by Tertullian, Origen, and many others. MS brought from the East and published in 1552 by Postellus. Contains sixteen chapters. Cf. citations in the chapter on Mary.)
Gospel of Marcion. (The heretic Marcion cut up the Gospel of Luke to suit his fancy and published it. Hahn has reconstructed this Gospel from quotations in Tertullian and Epiphanius.) The Gospel of Nicodemus or the Acts of Pilate. (Published by Grynaeus. Probably written in third century. Romance founded on New Testament account of death and resurrection of Christ.) The Greek Gospel of St. John. (MS of thirteenth century.) The Gospel of the Egyptians. (Written very early. Frequently quoted by writers of third century.)
Epistles of Christ and Abgarus. (Preserved by Eusebius. Purports to be brief letter from Abgarus, King of Edessa, to Jesus during His ministry and reply by Jesus. Popular among the common people of England as late as nineteenth century.)
All of this apocryphal material has been collected in a single volume by M. R. James (The Apocryphal New Testament — Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1924). The Gospel of the Infancy In order to give an idea of the character of stories told in these Apocryphal Gospels, the following summary is offered of the records given in The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ. The author pretends to have his information from Caiaphas, the High Priest. As Joseph and Mary are going to Bethlehem to be taxed they stop outside the town in a cave. Joseph goes in search of a Hebrew woman to act as midwife, but returns to find the cave filled with great lights and the Infant in the arms of His mother. The old Hebrew woman is cured by touching the Child. The shepherds come and make a fire ready for the family. The heavenly hosts appear and sing. As an Infant in the cradle, Jesus informs Mary that He is the Son of God. The Wisemen preserve one of His swaddling clothes which proves indestructible. When Jesus is presented in the temple, He shines like a pillar of light and the angels stand around adoring Him. When the family flees to Egypt, they stop in a city, a great idol falls from its pedestal, and the son of the priest is healed of infirmity. They flee to the haunts of robbers who are frightened away by a miraculous noise. Water is supplied by springs bursting forth. All sorts of cures are performed by the afflicted touching the Child, His clothing, or by being sprinkled with the water in which He has been bathed. A young man who had been bewitched and turned into a mule is miraculously cured by the Infant’s being placed upon his back, and is married to a girl who had just been cured of leprosy. Joseph and Mary pass through a country infested by robbers. Titus, a humane thief, offers Dumachus, his comrade, forty goats to let Joseph and Mary pass without giving the alarm. The Infant prophesies that the two thieves shall be crucified and that Titus shall go before Him into Paradise. Jesus works miracles in Memphis and they return to Nazareth. Here Jesus and other boys play together and make clay figures of animals. Jesus causes them to walk and also makes clay birds which He causes to fly, eat, and drink. He goes to a dyer’s shop and throws all the clothes into the furnace, but brings them forth again unharmed and miraculously dyed. The king of Jerusalem gives Joseph an order for a throne. Joseph works on it for two years in the king’s palace and makes it two spans too short. Jesus lengthens it by a miracle. He miraculously widens or contracts the gates, milk pails, or boxes not properly made by Joseph.
It is useless to record the many malicious deeds which are attributed to Him in these Apocryphal Gospels. He is even represented as striking dead, children who run against Him or who annoy Him while at play. The scene in the temple when Jesus was twelve years old is recorded with many elaborations, and here the author ceases his inventions with the statement: “Now from this time Jesus began to conceal His miracles and secret works and gave Himself to the study of law, till He arrived at the end of His thirtieth year.” Then the book abruptly ends with a reference to the baptism of Jesus. This probably means merely that the author’s imagination was exhausted and he had to quit. Their Origin
Such accounts bear their refutation on their own face to those acquainted with the New Testament. The writers took the materials of the New Testament and developed them with an imagination that is often coarse and perverted. It is hard to understand how any Christian could write such stories about Jesus’ slaying children right and left in His youth. The astounding differences between these stories and the beautiful and reserved accounts of the New Testament offer striking evidence of the divine inspiration of the latter. The romantic inventors who wrote the Apocryphal Gospels did not even take the time to read their New Testament with any care. For instance, the infant Jesus is represented as saying the robber Titus should go before Him into Paradise, whereas Jesus died before the robbers and their legs had to be broken to hasten their lingering death (John 19:32, John 19:33).
Critical Estimate
It may be possible that popular tradition should have handed down some information about the life of Jesus not included in the Gospels, but it is impossible to disentangle “the two grains of wheat from the two bushels of chaff” in the Apocryphal Gospels. The sayings of Jesus reported in all extant ancient literature outside of the New Testament have been carefully collected by Resch. Prof. J. H. Ropes of Harvard has given the entire collection a searching examination in his monograph Die Sprueche Jesu. He came to the conclusion that there is no extant saying of Jesus which is not recorded in the Bible or which did not take its rise from the Bible.