Gospel of Peter
Date of composition
- Probably in the mid- to late 100s, since Serapion of Antioch (d. 211) mentioned it.
Biography of Jesus?
- Begins with Jesus on trial and ends with Jesus being crucified.
Type of Apocrypha (heretical or in error (made up))
- Error and possibly heretical.
- Serapion claimed it came from the "Docetae," who believed in Gnosticism and taught that Jesus was not physical but a spirit that seemed physical.
Length
- 8 double-spaced pages.
- The beginning and end are missing.
Summary
- See biography above and noteworthy below. The book correctly borrows from the four Gospels in many places, but it includes Docetic teachings and many created stories.
Noteworthy from the book
- Herod Antipas, not Pilate, controlled the trial of Jesus.
- Because one thief spoke kindly about Jesus while on the cross, the Romans did not break his legs so that he would suffer longer.
- Jesus cried out on the cross, "My power, you have forsaken me" instead of, "Father, why do you forsake me?"
- It suggested that Jesus felt no pain on the cross. (This is a Docetic belief. Docetism taught that Jesus was not physical but a spirit, and spirits cannot feel pain.)
- The writing carefully avoids saying that Jesus died. Instead, it states that he was "taken up."
- After the sky darkened and the earth shook, some Jewish leaders realized they had made a mistake.
- After Jesus's body was buried, the Jewish leaders began to search for the Apostles, partly because a rumor circulated that the Apostles wanted to set fire to the Temple.
- After Jesus's tomb was sealed and guards were posted around it, many people from Jerusalem came out to see the spectacle.
- During the night, the guards heard a loud voice from heaven, saw heaven open, and two men descended. The stone rolled away by itself. The two men entered the tomb and came out, helping a third man walk. A cross followed them, a voice from heaven spoke, and the cross answered, "Yes."
- Peter is mentioned only once at the end, where he says that he, Andrew, and Matthew went fishing.