Eusebius[13] mentions a certain number of works attributed to the Apostle Peter: the first Epistle, generally acknowledged as genuine, “but that which is called the second,” he says, “we have not understood to be incorporated with the testament” (ἐνδιάθηκον). The other works are, the “Acts of Peter,” the “Gospel according to Peter,” the “Preaching of Peter,” and the “Apocalypse of Peter,” the last being doubtless the work of which a fragment has now been discovered in the little volume which contains the fragment of the Gospel which we are considering. Of these Eusebius says that he does not know of their being handed [pg 016] down as Catholic, or universally received by the Church.
The “Gospel according to Peter” is directly referred to by Origen in his Commentary on Matthew. He says: “Some say, with regard to the brethren of Jesus, from a tradition in the Gospel entitled according to Peter, or of the Book of James, that they were sons of Joseph by a former wife.”[14] Although this statement does not in itself necessarily favour Docetic views, it is quite intelligible that it might be used in support of them and, therefore, might have been one of the passages which excited the suspicion of Serapion, more especially as a clear statement of this family relationship is not to be found in the canonical Gospels. The part of the Gospel referred to by Origen is not, unfortunately, contained in the fragment, and consequently cannot be verified, but it is quite in accordance with its general spirit, and at least we have here a distinct mention of the Gospel without any expression of unfavourable opinion. What is more important still is the fact that Origen certainly made use of the Gospel, amongst others, himself.[15]
Jerome[16] likewise refers to it, after repeating the tradition that the Gospel was said to be Peter's, which Mark composed, who was his hearer and interpreter; and to the works ascribed to Peter, which Eusebius enumerates, he adds another—the “Judgment of Peter,” of which little or nothing is known.
Theodoret says that the Nazarenes made use of the Gospel according to Peter.[17] Zahn and some [pg 017] others[18] argue against the correctness of this statement; but reasoning of this kind, based upon supposed differences of views, is not very convincing, when we consider that inferences to be drawn from peculiarities in the narrative in this Gospel are neither so distinct, nor so inevitable, as to be forced upon a simple and uncritical community, and probably that the anti-Judaistic tendency of the whole, the strongest characteristic of the composition, secured its acceptance, and diverted attention from any less marked tendencies.
A number of passages have been pointed out in the Didascalia and Apostolical Constitutions, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, Dionysius of Alexandria, and other ancient writers, showing the use of this Gospel according to Peter;[19] but into these later testimonies it is not necessary for us at present to go. That the work long continued to exercise considerable influence can scarcely be doubted. It is to the earlier history of the Gospel and its use in the second century that we must rather turn our attention.
A probable reference to the Gospel of Peter in Polycarp's “Epistle to the Corinthians” has been pointed out by Mr. F. C. Conybeare.[20] The writer speaks of “the testimony of the cross” (τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ σταυροῦ), an expression which has puzzled critics a good deal. No passage in our Gospels has hitherto explained it, but if it be referred to the answer made by the cross, in our fragment, to the question from Heaven: “Hast thou preached to them that are sleeping? And an [pg 018] answer came from the cross, ‘Yea,’ ” it becomes at once intelligible. Mr. Taylor[21] suggests the question whether “the word of the cross” (ὁ λόγος τοῦ σταυροῦ) in 1 Cor. i. 18 is not also connected with the same tradition of the speaking cross and, as Mr. Conybeare points out, the context favours the idea, although he himself is not inclined to admit the interpretation. The words of Paul are worth quoting:
For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us which are being saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent will I reject;”
and so on. But although he cannot agree in the suggestion that Paul refers to this tradition, because, he says, “Such a view seems to me to be too bold and innovating in its character,” Mr. Conybeare goes on to suggest that the incident in Peter, with this reply to the voice from heaven, may be
one of the “three mysteries of crying” referred to by Ignatius, ad Eph. xix. “Ritschl and Lipsius,” says Lightfoot, ad locum “agree that two of the three were, (1) the voice at the baptism, (2) the voice at the transfiguration. For the third ... Ritschl supposes that Ignatius used some other Gospel containing a third proclamation similar to the two others.” The Peter Gospel seems here to supply just what is wanted.[22]
These suggestions are quoted here, in dealing with Polycarp, to show that the supposition that he refers to the answer of the cross in the Gospel of Peter is not without support in other early writings. When it is remembered that the doctrine of a descent into Hell has a place in the Creed of Christendom, it is not surprising that it should be dwelt on in early writings, and that a Gospel which proclaims it by a voice from [pg 019] Heaven, coupled with a miraculous testimony from the cross, should be referred to. Of course it is impossible, in the absence of any explicit declaration, to establish by the passage we are discussing that the Gospel according to Peter was used by Polycarp, but there is some probability of it at least, since no other Gospel contains the episode to which the writer seems to refer.