Trivia Question--Religious

[Gregory Matthews]

In this thread, I intend to ask a trivia question that is religious in its foundation.

This 1st post will give some background of my question.  My 2nd post will ask the question itself.  My 3rd post will give information regarding a citation for my question.

As stated in the OP, this post will give you background for the question that I will ask in post # 2.

The individual books that make up what Christians today call the Canon of scripture (This means authoritative Scripture.) grew out of a much larger group of writings that were considered to be authoritative by some.  These works are generally classified into two groups:  The  Apocrypha (Writings which are believed to be false.) and the Pseudepigrapha (Writings which are attributed falsely to an author who did not write them.).  These are then broken down into multiple groups.  There are some differences between Catholics and Protestants as to their classification and Catholics and some Protestants have a classification called the deuterocanonicals (Books which have some spiritual value but a bit lower than the canonical books.). 

Even if these books are not considered to be authoritative, they may have value.  That value may lie in their representation of the culture and history of the time.   It may lie in value as to the religious beliefs and practices of their time.

E.G  1st Maccabees (also Machaabees) is considered to be the best history that we have for the period of time in which it was written.  2nd Maccabees is also considered to be of historical value.  3rd and 4th Maccabees are considered to have limited value and are not included in the deuterocanonicals.   

[Gregory Matthews]

As stated above, this post is a trivia question for you to consider and to which you may respond.

Which of the following doctrines are thought to be taught by The Gospel of the Hebrews?

`1)  In the incarnation of Christ, Jesus was placed under the care of a heavenly power named Michael.

2)  Michael was actually the Holy Spirit.

3)  Mary was actually the incarnate Holy Spirit.

4)  Matthias, who replaced Judas is actually Levi by another name.

5)  James was actually the 1st person to see the risen Christ, not Peter and not Mary of Magdala.

6)  James first saw the risen Christ at a special Communion service with only he and the risen Christ present.

So, which of the above are actually the teaching of the book that I mention?

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

As stated in the OP, this post will give you background for the question that I ask in post # 2.

The source for my question in # 2 comes from a set of what are believed to be four (4) writings called The Gospel of the Hebrews.  [NOTE:  This is not the NT book of Hebrews.]  No MSS of this work exists.  Everything that we know about it comes from citations in other works.  The citations upon which I base my question include Cyril, Jerome, Origen, Didymus, and Clement of Alexandria.  These people lived in the 2nd through 5th centuries. 

 

 

In general, the material for my question has been taken from: 

Robert J. Miller, Editor.  The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version.  Harper Collins, 1994, Pages 424 - 434. 

 

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

The correct answer to the question is:  All six (6) of the listed doctrines are taught by The Gospel of the Hebrews.

NOTE:  I asked the question   in an attempt to give you all a better understanding why such writings, are not considered to be part of the canon of Scripture.  They conflict with what is commonly understood to be the Bible.