Epistle of the Apostles

Contents

Reading pages: 1–27 · 28–49 · 50–51

1. 1The apostles introduce the book Christ revealed to them, written against the false apostles Simon and Cerinthus so that the churches may hold fast to the gospel.
2. 2Eleven apostles, among them Peter and Cephas as two persons, address the churches of the four quarters of the world.
3. 3The apostles confess Jesus Christ as God, the Son of God, the Creator enthroned at the Father's right hand, who became flesh of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
4. 4The apostles recount that the child Jesus, sent to school, asked his teacher first to explain Beta.
5. 5The apostles list Christ's miracles, from Cana to the feeding of the five thousand, and read the five loaves as the five articles of the faith.
6. 6The apostles say they pass on what the Lord revealed and taught them.
7. 7The apostles warn that Cerinthus and Simon, enemies of Christ, are going through the world leading believers astray.
8. 8The apostles say they have not held back their witness to what the Lord did.
9. 9The apostles testify that Christ was crucified under Pilate and buried, and that three women found his tomb empty.
10. 10The risen Lord appears to the women and sends them to the apostles, who twice refuse to believe them.
11. 11The risen Lord comes to the doubting apostles and invites Peter, Thomas, and Andrew to test that he is no ghost.
12. 12The apostles touch the risen Christ, are convinced that he rose in the flesh, and he promises to reveal to them the things of heaven and their resurrection.
13. 13Christ tells how he came down from the Father through the heavens, appearing to the angels as one of them.
14. 14Christ says that he himself, in Gabriel's form, announced his birth to Mary and then entered her and became flesh.
15. 15Christ commands the apostles to keep the memorial of his death at the Passover and foretells an apostle's imprisonment and release by an angel during the feast.
16. 16Christ tells the apostles that he will return shining like the rising sun, borne on the clouds with his cross before him, to judge the living and the dead.
17. 17Christ gives the time of the coming, and explains that he is wholly in the Father and the Father in him.
18. 18Christ gives the apostles a new commandment to love and obey one another, to love their enemies, and to do to no one what they would not have done to them.
19. 19Christ promises the apostles a rest without food, grief, or decay, and says he put on their flesh and rose in it, as David foretold.
20. 20The apostles ask leave to put a further question, and Christ gladly grants it.
21. 21Christ promises that the apostles will rise in the flesh as he did, and says he has received from the Father all authority to bring the lost into light, life, and freedom.
22. 22The apostles ask whether the flesh will be judged with the soul and spirit, and Christ rebukes their questioning.
23. 23The apostles explain that they must ask because they are commanded to teach others.
24. 24Christ affirms that every body will rise with its soul and spirit, rebukes the apostles' doubt, and bids them keep his commandments on the narrow way.
25. 25Christ welcomes the apostles' questions and teaches that the flesh, which perishes, will rise and be healed.
26. 26Christ teaches that flesh and soul will rise together to be judged according to their deeds, without favour to rich or poor, and that those who love him will have rest in his Father's kingdom.
27. 27Christ tells how he went down to the patriarchs and prophets and gave them the baptism of life, and warns that faith without keeping his commandment is of no use.
28. 28Christ promises that the apostles and all who believe through them will be children of light, freed from punishment and lifted into the place the Father has prepared.
29. 29Christ foretells false teachers and their judgment, and blesses those who believe without having seen him.
30. 30Christ sends the apostles to Israel and the Gentiles in every quarter of the world, promising them his peace, his spirit, and his power.
31. 31Christ foretells the call of Saul, called Paul, his preaching to the nations, and his sufferings, and charges the apostles to teach him.
32. 32Christ answers that, as fruits differ by nature, so do the rewards, yet promises the same hope to those who believe through the apostles.
33. 33Christ foretells that Saul will come from Cilicia to Damascus to destroy the church, and that he will turn him from his purpose by speaking to him from heaven.
34. 34Christ describes the signs before the end: portents in the sky, fire from heaven, earthquake, drought, plague, and the breakdown of kinship.
35. 35Christ foretells the Father's anger at the wickedness of the last days and applies David's prophecies to the deceivers of the world.
36. 36Christ teaches that the sufferings of the last days test the faith of the elect, and that believers who act like sinners are as if they had not believed.
37. 37Christ foretells wars, upheavals, and persecution in the last days, and false teachers within the church who serve wealth and favour.
38. 38Christ blesses those who rebuke sinners without partiality and endure poverty and persecution, and pronounces woe on those who scorn them.
39. 39Christ teaches that, as Adam was free to choose the light, every man has the power to believe and live, and that the Word became flesh so that those who keep his commandments may be saved.
40. 40Christ commends the apostles' grief for sinners and says he hears the prayers of the righteous on their behalf.
41. 41Christ tells the apostles that, though only the heavenly Father is to be called father and master, through him they will become fathers and teachers to those who believe.
42. 42Christ explains that the apostles will be fathers because they bring people to baptism and forgiveness, and teachers because they hand on his word and correct without partiality.
43. 43Christ interprets the parable of the ten virgins: the wise are faith, love, joy, peace, and hope; the foolish, virtues that slept in believers who did not keep his commandments.
44. 44Christ warns that those whose virtues slept remain outside the fold, prey to the wolf and to long torment.
45. 45The apostles ask mercy for the five foolish virgins, and Christ answers that this rests with the Father, with whom he agrees.
46. 46Christ bids the apostles preach without fear of the rich, and says that one who is not rich but gives to the needy will be called a benefactor.
47. 47Christ commands that a sinning neighbour be rebuked, warns that flatterers and the flattered alike will be punished, and promises impartial judgment.
48. 48Christ gives the rule for correcting a brother who sins: alone, then before two or three, and finally treating him as an outsider.
49. 49Christ forbids believing or spreading slander against a brother, and speaks of the judgment that will separate grain from chaff.
50. 50Christ foretells that those who rebuke sinners will be hated and counted with the martyrs, and pronounces woe on false teachers who falsify his word and on those who follow them.
51. 51Christ announces his departure, and amid thunder and earthquake a bright cloud carries him up while angels praise him, and his voice bids the apostles go in peace.