Fake News Identified Quickly by the Early Church: The Gnostic Gospels

Conspiracy theories have run rampant throughout history. When men do not want to believe the truth, speculation runs wild. Today, for instance, some claim the earth is flat despite the obvious fact that it is round. Yes, in 2025, this is a conversation. Some people will force foolishness even when the square peg does not fit into the round hole.

Likewise, the Word of God has been targeted by absurdity from false prophets, mystics, Satanists, atheists, and the like. Biblical criticism has its own brand of flat earthers. Conspiracies abound in offering alternatives to identified God-breathed Scripture. This also has driven fables via apocryphal gospels, specifically of the “gnostic” persuasion.  However, history shows that these fakes were rejected quickly and absolutely by the early Church. Christ's people were not buying it 2,000 years ago.

Of no surprise, many apocryphal gospels existed at one time or another. The ancient Greek word apocrypha means “hidden things.” A few of these gospels floated around during the early centuries of the Church. Some of the gospels were identified as gnostic or gospels that at least have gnostic leanings. Gnosticism was likely influenced by Docetism, a heresy that taught that Jesus was divine but not human. Asceticism (the extremes of self-denial and austere lifestyle), matter-spirit dualism, and the emphasis on secret knowledge as a path to salvation all seem to be part of the Gnostic gospels' make-up.{1}

Perhaps the gospels of Thomas and Peter are the best-known Gnostic gospels. Thomas contains one hundred fourteen so-called sayings of Jesus, many of which are cryptic. An infamous line states, “Jesus said…For every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Beyond Thomas is the gospel of Peter, which is a narrative style mainly focused on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. It borrows from the real canon and includes embellishments such as a “giant” Jesus who exits the tomb. These gospels were not identified as canonical material because they do not represent authentic, original Christianity.{2}

Furthermore, they do not possess the intertextuality of God’s canon. They were never considered a part of God’s word by early church fathers or true early Christians. The identity of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) was often and intensely articulated by the early Church fathers and historians. Not only did many proactively proclaim the four Gospels, but they also rebuked false gospels.

For example, Cyril of Jerusalem, a theologian of the fourth century, stated,

“Then of the New Testament, there are four Gospels only, for the rest have false titles and are mischievous.”{3}

Likewise, Eusebius of Caesarea, known as “the father of church history,” wrote a comprehensive record of the early church. Even though his theology was problematic, his understanding of basic tenets and referral to primary sources is invaluable. In The Ecclesiastical History, he wrote,

"But we have nevertheless felt compelled to give a catalog of these also, distinguishing those works which according to ecclesiastical tradition are true and genuine and commonly accepted, from those others which, although not canonical but disputed, are yet at the same time known to most ecclesiastical writers—we have felt compelled to give this catalog in order that we might be able to know both these works and those that are cited by the heretics under the name of the apostles, including, for instance, such books as the Gospels of Peter, of Thomas, of Matthias, or of any others besides them, and the Acts of Andrew and John and the other apostles, which no one belonging to the succession of ecclesiastical writers has deemed worthy of mention in his writings. And further, the character of the style is at variance with apostolic usage, and both the thoughts and the purpose of the things that are related in them are so completely out of accord with true orthodoxy that they clearly show themselves to be the fictions of heretics. They are not to be placed even among the rejected writings, but are all of them to be cast aside as absurd and impious.”{4}

Like the recorded comments of Eusebius, Augustine proclaimed the four true Gospels. In On Christian Doctrine, he identified the entire New Testament canon during the fourth century. He wrote,

“That of the New Testament, again, is contained within the following:—Four books of the Gospel, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John; fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul—one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Colossians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews: two of Peter; three of John; one of Jude; and one of James; one book of the Acts of the Apostles; and one of the Revelation of John.”{5}

These examples provide a glimpse of antiquity’s documented view of the actual Gospels and the frauds. In short, the Gnostic gospels were never taken seriously. But like discussions about flat earth, they bring folly to the world's conversations.

{1]. Kruger, Michael J. Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the

New Testament Books (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, Cop, 2012), 277-279.

{2}. Komaszewski, Ed. J, Sawyer, James M., and Wallace Daniel B. Reinventing Jesus

(Grand MI; Kregel Publications 2006), 158.

{3}. Cyril of Jerusalem, The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. (Veritatis

Splendor Publications 2014), 232. Kindle.

{4}. Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History (OK Publishing, 2019), 535-536. Kindle.

{5}. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine. Translated by J.F. Shaw (Afterna Press, 2014),

Chapter 8. 44. Kindle.

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Galatians 1:6-9

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

1 John 4:1-6

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.