Early Hebrew Christian Resources List

Because we were all born in a CULTure that spreads lies like wildfire, we need to do our own studies. On this page, you’ll find various resources so you can study like the Bereans did and see if these things be so. Always remember we’re not reading what the authors wrote, things may have been added to or taken away, but at the very least we’re reading through the translator’s choice in words. Often times the translators of texts will choose translations based on their own doctrinal beliefs, this is often seen with the word “eternal” coming from the word for “an age” and the word “punishment” coming from the word “chastisement”. The bible is full of these translation issues, so it’s likely these works are also. Always pray for guidance from our heavenly Father to the truth. Ask and ye shall receive.

Nazarene Acts of the Apostles

The Nazarene Acts of the Apostles is also known as the Recognitions of Clement. This is so-named because the bible’s book “Acts of the Apostles” really, for the most part, just follows Paul. not the rest of the apostles. The Nazarene Acts of the Apostles follows the apostle Peter (Kefa in Hebrew). By reading this, you can get a better understanding of what Peter was up to while Paul was doing his thing. For a long time we only had one side of the story, now we have two. The “True Name Version” is a 321 page PDF. If you would like to, you may check out a different translation online. The True Name Translation is translated from the Latin version, with things like “the LORD” being translated into YHWH. Besides the Latin version, there is a Syriac version also.

In this book we see Peter expounding truth after truth and debating Simon the Magician, all the while trying to lead Clement into the ways of the Essenes. He discusses the need for baptism, and the need to stop eating meat (or else you get demons). It’s a fascinating read.

Clementine Homilies

The Clementine Homilies was likely written by the same person who wrote The Nazarene Acts of the Apostles AKA the Recognitions of Clement. Clement was supposed to have been Peter/Kefa’s scribe writing back to James the Just (Jesus’s brother), and so this is a slightly different version of what’s in the Nazarene Acts. They have almost exact parts, but sometimes something from the Nazarene Acts won’t be in this version and sometimes things in this version are not in the Nazarene Acts. They’re both worth reading.

In this book we see Peter debating Simon the Magician, all the while trying to lead Clement into the ways of the Essenes. He discusses the need for baptism, and the need to stop eating meat (or else you get demons). If you’re interested in the story of the fall of the angels, Clementine Homilies 8 discusses this in greater detail. It shares some great insight into the fact that demons only have power over you if you give them the chance to have power. When you stop sinning, (as Yehoshua taught us to do) the demons have to flee from you.

The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: A Treatise Against Eighty Sects

Epiphanius was a Catholic who wanted to denounce those who believed different than the Catholic school of thought as “heretics”. So this work is basically a hostile-witness take on the early followers of Yehoshua. He basically lists off things they believe, says they’re wrong, and tries to prove that. But since the documents from the early followers (Essenes/Ebionites/Nazarenes etc.) have been damaged, or outright lost, we don’t have many documents that say what they truly believed, so this gives an insight into what their beliefs were. They believed that they should not eat meat, and that Yehoshua came to do away with the sacrifices. He writes:

16:5 As their so-called Gospel says, ‘I came to abolish the sacrifices, and if ye cease not from sacrifice, wrath will not cease from you.’

Remember when reading that he will try to twist what they believe into sounding crazy because it is not the Catholic doctrine of the time. Read through the sections on the Ebionites, Essenes, Ossaeans, Nazoraeans, and Nasaraeans. They all seem to be the same group, or very closely related.

The Bread of Life, Not the Flesh of Death

I know that some may think this is blasphemous, or crazy. But this is the result of a lot of bible study. If you read through these bible verses presented in the PDF, you will see that YHWH never asked for sacrifices. When Moses was on the mountain with YHWH getting the 10 commandments from Him, the Israelites slid back into pagan ways and started sacrificing to Moloch/Ba’al. They most likely sacrificed animals and children to the golden calf. When it speaks about them “rising up to play” this seems to be a reference to them having orgies which is why we find out they were naked (Exodus 32:25). The reason they were making so much noise (Exodus 32:17-18) was most likely to drown out the screams from the children being burned in the fire.

Corruption of Scriptures Information

The early followers of Yehoshua believed the scriptures had been corrupted (this is one of the things they said Yehoshua taught them), and now we know that they were likely right because today we see even the academic community agrees. The Documentary Hypothesis claims that the Pentateuch is a composite of four separate, complete, and coherent documents. Those documents are: J — the Yahwist. J gets its name because it uses the name (Jahwe in German or Jehova) before Israel exists. E — the Elohist. The name is derived from E’s use of Elohim (Hebrew for “God”) rather than YHWH in the early period. E reserves the name Yahweh for the time from Moses on (see Exodus 3:13-15). P — the Priestly source. P is especially concerned with stories and laws relevant for priests. Like E, it reserves the name YHWH for for the period from Moses on (see Exodus 6:3). D is essentially the book of Deuteronomy. It is not mingled with J, E and P. J, E and P are either placed end-to-end or intertwined (as in the flood narrative) throughout the first four books of the Bible.

This is important because this can explain why the bible contradicts with YHWH saying He never asked for sacrifices when they came out of Egypt (Jeremiah 7:22), but we see texts saying that He did ask for sacrifices in the priestly documents. It may be that the priestly documents were added later to prove the priests had a right to do what they do.

Gospel of the Ebionites

This site collected the excerpts from the Ebionites Gospel that was quoted in the Panarion.

The Didache

This document was supposedly used in the apostolic age to share with new converts. It covers things like how to act, what not to do, how to get baptized and more. There’s some debate about how much was originally here.

From Wikipedia,: “The Didache is considered part of the group of second-generation Christian writings known as the Apostolic Fathers. The work was considered by some Church Fathers to be a part of the New Testament, while being rejected by others as spurious or non-canonical, In the end, it was not accepted into the New Testament canon. However, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church “broader canon” includes the Didascalia, a work which draws on the Didache. Lost for centuries, a Greek manuscript of the Didache was rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in the Codex Hierosolymitanus. A Latin version of the first five chapters was discovered in 1900 by J. Schlecht….The Didache may have been compiled in its present form as late as 150, although a date closer to the end of the first century seems more probable to many. It is an anonymous work, a pastoral manual that Aaron Milavec states ‘reveals more about how Jewish-Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism for gentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures.’ The Two Ways section is likely based on an earlier Jewish source. The community that produced the Didache could have been based in Syria.”

Due to the early followers of Yehoshua rejecting the trinity or any idea that YHWH had been divided into two or three, the references to 3 when baptizing may have been additions. The earlier work (in the 5 chapters) is probably the most reliable part of this source.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians. Essays and Translations

by Robert Eisenman

From Barnes and Noble “Included in this volume are Prof. Eisenman’s first two ground-breaking works: Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran and James the Just in Habakkuk Pesher. This volume also contains new translations of three key Qumran Documents: the Habakkuk Pesher, the Damascus Document, and the Community Rule, all almost only available in the sometimes inaccurate and often inconsistent renderings of Consensus ‘Scholars’ missing the electric brilliance of the writers of the Scrolls. Now, for the first time, the reader will have a chance to see the difference between these and a translation that grasps the apocalyptic mindset of the authors of the Scrolls. Not only does this book challenge preconceptions, it sets forth the detailed arguments necessary to connect “the Righteous Teacher” at Qumran to “the First Christians” and even the family of Jesus itself. In so doing, it connects the ideological adversary of this Teacher, “the Spouter of Lying” – in some cases even denoted “the Joker” – with Paul.”

The Book of Enoch

The book of Enoch speaks further on the angels that fell and what they taught after the fall. He also has had dream/visions that might become clearer in these days of the Apocalypse/Revelation.

Exhortation from the Damascus Document

This is a translation of a bit from the Damascus Document. It’s said the “man of mockery” may be Paul.

The Apocalypse of James I & II

There is a great deal of interest in this early text, since James (Ya’akov) was the successor to the Nazorean Movement in Jerusalem, and early historians mention a book, the Anabathmoi Iakobou (Ascents of James) that has been lost. The Ascents are described as James teaching from various steps of the Temple or some other place – ascending up the steps as his teaching became higher and higher. This text features that theme. These Apocalypses turned up at Nag Hammadi in Egypt, the nation that may have been the origin of the Joseph–to-James family. Of note is the inclusion of certain women as pillars, the mention of Addai (Thaddeus, Theuda) the brother of James, and the casting of James from the parapet of the temple by the priests, a historic event described by Hegesippus and Clement. Interpreted by Dr. Gush Patel and © February 2007, April 10, 2008 by Jackson Snyder, all rights reserved.

Community Rule (“Charter of a Jewish Sectarian Association”)

Rules for a community concerning how to initiate people into the group, baptism, and more.

The Habakkuk Pesher, 1QpHAB Eisenman Translation

The Habakkuk Commentary from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Epistle of Barnabas to the Children of Love & Peace

A true name translation with notes. From wiki:

“The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament. It is traditionally ascribed to Barnabas who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, although some ascribe it to another Apostolic Father of the same name, Barnabas of Alexandria, or simply attribute it to an unknown early Christian teacher. A form of the Epistle 850 lines long is noted in the Latin list of canonical works in the 6th century Codex Claromontanus. It is distinct from the Gospel of Barnabas.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_of_Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas to the Children of Love & Peace (Free PDF)