List of Gospels explained

A gospel (a contraction of Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: god spel, meaning 'good news/glad tidings', comparable to Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: εὐαγγέλιον,) is a written record of the teachings of Jesus, usually in the form of an account of his life and career. The term originally meant the Christian message itself, but came to be used for the books in which the message was set out in the 2nd century.

Gospels are a genre of ancient biography in Early Christian literature. The New Testament has four canonical gospels, which are accepted as the only authentic scripture by the great majority of Christians, but many others exist, or used to exist, and are called either New Testament apocrypha or pseudepigrapha. Some of these have left considerable traces on Christian traditions, including many forms of iconography.

Canonical gospels

See main article: article.

Synoptic gospels:
Longer ending of Mark (see also the Freer Logion)
Gospel of John

Hypothesized sources of the synoptic gospels

See main article: Two-source hypothesis and Four-document hypothesis.

Q source – Q is material common to Matthew and Luke, but not found in Mark
M source – M is material unique to Matthew
L source – L is material unique to Luke

Hypothesized sources of the Gospel of John

Signs Gospel – narrative of the Seven Signs
Discourses Gospel – source of the discourse material

Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha

See main article: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.

Gnostic gospels

See main article: Gnostic Gospels.

Gospel of Thomas – The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is a non-canonical sayings gospel.
Gospel of Marcion – 2nd century, potentially an edited version of the Gospel of Luke (see: Marcionism)
Gospel of Basilides – composed in Egypt around 120 to 140 AD, thought to be a Gnostic gospel harmony of the canonical gospels
Gospel of Truth (Valentinian) – mid-2nd century, departed from earlier Gnostic works by admitting and defending the physicality of Christ and his resurrection
Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms – mid-2nd century, thought to be a Gnostic cosmology, most likely in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples
Gospel of Mary – 2nd century Gnostic text
Gospel of Judas – 2nd century, documents Gnostic teachings in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and Judas
Greek Gospel of the Egyptians – second quarter of the 2nd century
Gospel of Philip – 3rd-century non-canonical sayings gospel
Gospel of the Twelve Apostles – a Syriac language gospel titled the Gospel of the Twelve, this work is shorter than the regular gospels and seems to be different from the lost Gospel of the Twelve.^[1]
Gospel of Perfection – 4th century, an Ophite poem that is only mentioned once by a single patristic source, Epiphanius,^[2] and is referred to once in the 6th century Syriac Infancy Gospel
Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians – also called Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit

Jewish-Christian gospels

See main article: Jewish-Christian gospels.

Infancy gospels

Armenian Infancy Gospel^[3]
Protoevangelium of James
Latin: [[Libellus de Nativitate Sanctae Mariae]] (Gospel of the Nativity of Mary)
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
History of Joseph the Carpenter
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Latin Infancy Gospel (also known as the "J Composition")^[4]
Syriac Infancy Gospel

Other gospels

Gospel of the Lots of Mary (Coptic collection of 37 oracles; around 500 AD)^[5]

Partially preserved gospels

Gospel of Peter

Fragmentary preserved gospels

Fragmentary gospels are those preserved from primary sources.

Gospel of Eve – mentioned only once by Epiphanius around 400 AD, who preserves a single brief passage in quotation
Gospel of Mani – 3rd century – attributed to the Persian Mani, the founder of Manichaeism
Gospel of the Saviour (also known as the Unknown Berlin gospel) – highly fragmentary 6th century manuscript based on a late 2nd or early 3rd century original, a dialogue rather than a narrative, heavily Gnostic in character in that salvation is dependent upon possessing secret knowledge
Coptic Gospel of the Twelve – late 2nd century Coptic language work – although often equated with the Gospel of the Ebionites, it appears to be an attempt to retell the Gospel of John in the pattern of the Synoptics; it quotes extensively from the Gospel of John.

Reconstructed gospels

Reconstructed gospels are those preserved from secondary sources and commentaries.

Secret Gospel of Mark – suspect: the single source mentioning it is considered by many to be a modern forgery, and it was lost before it could be independently authenticated.
Gospel of Matthias – a lost text from the New Testament apocrypha. The content has been surmised from descriptions in works by church fathers.

Lost gospels

Gospel of Cerinthus – around 90–120 AD – according to Epiphanius,^[6] this is a Jewish gospel identical to the Gospel of the Ebionites, and apparently, a truncated version of the Gospel of Matthew according to the Hebrews.
Gospel of Apelles – mid- to late 2nd century, a further edited version of Marcion's edited version of Luke
Gospel of Valentinus
Gospel of the Encratites
Gospel of Andrew – mentioned by only two 5th century sources (Augustine and Pope Innocent I) who list it as apocryphal
Gospel of Barnabas – this work is mentioned only once, in the 5th century Decree of Gelasius, which lists it as apocryphal.
Gospel of Bartholomew – mentioned by only two 5th century sources, which list it as apocryphal.
Gospel of Hesychius – mentioned only by Jerome and the Decree of Gelasius that list it as apocryphal.
Gospel of Lucius – mentioned only by Jerome and the Decree of Gelasius that list it as apocryphal.
Gospel of Merinthus – mentioned only by Epiphanius; probably the Gospel of Cerinthus, and the confusion due to a scribal error.
An unknown number of other Gnostic gospels not cited by name.
Gospel of the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets^[7]
Memoirs of the Apostles – lost narrative of the life of Jesus, mentioned by Justin Martyr, the passages quoted by Justin may have originated from a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels composed by Justin or his school.

Fragments of possibly unknown or lost (or existing) gospels