The Lost Gospels

Within the first 400 years of Christianity there were in existence more than 20 gospels, 15 apocalypses and nearly 50 other texts about Jesus. In some of these texts Jesus didn't die, he took revenge on his enemies, was not human at all, was not god at all and was a wise teacher instead of a miracle worker. The Gospel of Tomas is attributed to Doubting Tomas, has been discovered in its entirety and contains what is claimed to be direct quotes from Jesus yet it has been left out of the Bible. The Gospel of Peter, Jesus' favorite disciple, say's Jesus was silent on the cross and did not feel any pain for he only appeared to be human yet this Gospel was also left out of the Bible. Only a select few of the written gospels made it into the Bible, only those that told their followers what the early Roman Church wanted their followers to hear. The rest are hidden away in the Apocrypha, named after the Greek word meaning "those having been hidden away.”

Lost Gospels Referred to in the Bible Many of the scriptural text that didn’t get voted into the Bible along with the scriptural texts that were removed from the Bible during a canonization can be found in the Apocrypha. The name comes from the Greek word meaning “those having been hidden away.” Some of these books however are still mentioned in the current version of the Bible as shown below. Book Bible Verse Book of Jasher Joshua 10:13 2 Samuel 1:18 Book of the Acts of Solomon 1 Kings 11:41 Book of Samuel the Seer 1 Chronicles 29:29 Book of Gad the Seer 1 Chronicles 29:29 Book of Nathan the Prophet 1 Chronicles 29:29 2 Chronicles 9:29 Prophecy of Ahijah 2 Chronicles 9:29 2 Chronicles 13:22 Visions of Iddo the Seer 2 Chronicles 9:29 2 Chronicles 12:15 2 Chronicles 13:22 Book of Shemaiah 2 Chronicles 12:15 Book of Jehu 2 Chronicles 35:25 Sayings of the Seers 2 Chronicles 33:19 Lament for Josiah 2 Chronicles 35:25 Paul’s epistle to Corinthians before our "1 Corinthians" Corinthians 5:9 Paul’s epistle to Church at Laodicea Colossians 4:16

Once Rejected & Now Accepted The Bible has been canonized many times throughout history. Here are some books that were once accepted into the Bible then later rejected and vice versa. Once rejected but are now accepted Once accepted but are now rejected Hebrews Shepherd of Hermas James Epistle of Barnabas 1 Peter 1 Clement 2 Peter 2 Clement 2 John Paul’s Epistle to Laodiceans 3 John Apostolic Constitutions Jude Revelation Some other scriptural texts that are left out of the current Bible include the Book of the Wars of the Lord, Book of the Covenant, Acts of Uzziah, Acts of Pilate, Acts of Andrew, Acts of Mary, Acts of Paul, Acts of Thecla, Three Thousand Proverbs of Solomon, A Thousand and Five Songs of Solomon, Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, Book of Enoch, Gospels according to Thomas, Jade, James, Peter, and the Gospel of the Hebrews, of the Egyptians, of Perfection, of Judas, of Thaddeus, of the Infancy, of the Preaching of Peter, of the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Pastor of Hermas, the Revelation of Peter, the Revelation of Paul, the Epistle of Clement, the Epistle of Ignatius, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Nicodemus and of Marcion.

Changes to Scriptures

Before the texts were declared sacred, they were fair game for revision. It’s important to remember that the Bible is not based on a translation from the original scriptures but rather from copies of a copy of a copy of a copy, etc. We don’t have the original scriptures but today we have many copies of the scriptures from different time periods. Because of this we can literally see when changes were made and exactly how different the scriptures in the Bible are from that of the oldest copies.

Who Killed Goliath? Did you know that Elhanan already killed Goliath before David did? The story in 2nd Samuel 21:19 crediting Elhanan with the kill was writing before 1st Samuel 17 which credits David. English versions of 2nd Samuel says Elhanan slew “the brother of” Goliath but those words do not appear in the original Hebrew texts. The story was later applied to David to make him look like a hero and the words “the brother of” were later added to cover up the contradiction. Ascension to Heaven The ascension of Jesus up to Heaven does not actually appear in the original forms of any of the gospels. It was not until 200 years after the supposed event took place that the ascension was added to later copies of Mark and Luke. Mark originally ends with the discovery of an empty tomb [1]. Mathew and John remain to have no mention of the ascension into heaven.

Adulteress In John 7:53-8:12, one of the best-known biblical stories, the Pharisees present Jesus with an adulteress to see if he will follow the old laws laid out by God and have her stoned or show her mercy. Jesus responds to this test by saying, “Let the one who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at here.” As it turns out though, this story was not originally in the Gospel of John or any of the other original Gospels. It is not found in any of the earliest surviving manuscripts, it is not in the two 3rd century papyrus witnesses to John (P66 and P75) nor is it in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus or Codex Vaticanus. The writing style is also very different from what is found in the rest of John and includes a large number of words and phrases that are alien to the gospel. The story was actually added and snuck into the Bible some time during the late 4th century or early 5th century to make Jesus and the Bible appear more appealing.

Here are some of the other verses in the New Testament
that were not originally part of the Bible but rather added by later scribes.
They are often found in late medieval manuscripts of the New Testament.