Biblical Scholars Find Copy of Jesus’ Secret Revelations to His Brother James

Biblical scholars from the University of Texas at Austin have found the first-known original Greek copy of a heretical Christian writing describing Jesus’ secret teachings to his brother James.

Professor Smith (left) and Professor Landau take a closer look at the Greek fragment identified as the First Apocalypse of James. Image credit: Geoffrey Smith, University of Texas at Austin.

To date, only a small number of texts from the Nag Hammadi library have been found in Greek, their original language of composition.

But earlier this year, Professor Geoffrey Smith and Professor Brent Landau from the University of Texas at Austin added to the list with their discovery of several 5th/6th-century Greek fragments of the First Apocalypse of James, which was thought to have been preserved only in its Coptic translations until now.

“To say that we were excited once we realized what we’d found is an understatement,” Professor Smith said.

“We never suspected that Greek fragments of the First Apocalypse of James survived from antiquity. But there they were, right in front of us.”

The ancient narrative describes the secret teachings of Jesus to his brother James, in which Jesus reveals information about the heavenly realm and future events, including James’ inevitable death.

“The text supplements the Biblical account of Jesus’ life and ministry by allowing us access to conversations that purportedly took place between Jesus and his brother, James — secret teachings that allowed James to be a good teacher after Jesus’ death,” Professor Smith.

“Such apocryphal writings would have fallen outside the canonical boundaries set by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his ‘Easter letter of 367’ that defined the 27-book New Testament: ‘No one may add to them, and nothing may be taken away from them’.”

With its neat, uniform handwriting and words separated into syllables, the original manuscript was probably a teacher’s model used to help students learn to read and write.

“The scribe has divided most of the text into syllables by using mid-dots,” Professor Landau said.

“Such divisions are very uncommon in ancient manuscripts, but they do show up frequently in manuscripts that were used in educational contexts.”

“The teacher who produced this manuscript must have had a particular affinity for the text.”

“It does not appear to be a brief excerpt from the text, as was common in school exercises, but rather a complete copy of this forbidden ancient writing.”

A paper describing the discovery will appear in the journal Classical Review.