Mainly from Jerome, then, we learn that the views of the Nazarenes on the three important points (bindingiiess of the Law, Christology, authority of St. Paul) were as follows :
(a) As to the Law, they held that it was binding on themselves, and continued to observe it. They seem, however, to have distinguished the Mosaic Law from the ordinances of the liabbis, and to haverejected the latter (so Kurtz, Hist, of Christian Church, Eng. tr., 1860, vol. i. § 48, 1). They did not regard the Law as binding on Gentile Chris- tians, and did not decline fellowship with them. They honoured the Prophets highly.
(b) As to Christ, they acknowledged His Messiahship and Divinity. They termed Him the First-born of the Holy Spirit from His birth. At His baptism the whole fount of the Hoi}' Spirit [ovinis fons Spiritus Sancti) descended on Him. They accepted the Virgin-birth. They looked for His millennial reign on earth. They mourned the unbelief of their Jewish brethren, and prayed for their conversion.
(c) They bore no antipathy to St. Paul, and accepted his Epistles. They used a Gospel ac- cording to Matthew in Hebrew (see below). We shall comment on these views below, in connexion with those of the Ebionites proper.
6. Ebionites proper. — In strong contrast to the Nazarenes stand the Ebionites proper, regarding whom our information is fuller and clearer. Our main authorities are Irenaeus [adv. Hcer. I. xxvi., III. XV., V. iii.), Hipjwlytus [Hcer. vii. 22, x. 18), Epiphanius [Hcer. xxx.), and TertuJlian {de Prcescr. Hcer. xxxiii. ). Eusebius {HE iii. 27) and Theodoret (Hcer. Fab. ii. 2) may also be mentioned. In the main these give a consistent account, which may be summarized as follows :
(a) The Ebionites not only continued to observe the Law themselves, but held its obser\'ances as absolutely necessary for salvation and binding on all, and refused fellowship with all who did not comply with it.
[b) As to Ciirist, their views were Cerinthian (see art. Ceeixthus). Jesus is the Messiah, yet a mere man, born by natural generation to Joseph and Mary. On His bapttism, a higher Spirit united itself with Him, and so He became the Messiah. He became Christ, they further taught, by per-
fectly fulfilling the Law ; and by perfectly ful- filling it they too could become Christs (Hippol. Fhil. vii. 22). They agreed with the Nazarenes in expecting a millennial reign on earth. In their view, this was to be Christ's compensation for His death, which was an otlence to them.
(c) The Ebionites denounced St. Paul as a heretic, circulated foolish stories to his discredit, ami re- jected all his Epistles as unauthoritative. They agreed with the Nazarenes in accepjting a Hebrew gospel, and in addition had certain spurious writ- ings which bore the names of apostles — James, Matthew, and John (Epiphan. Hcer. xxx. 23). This Hebrew gospel used by Nazarenes and Ebionites was in all probability the Gospel accord- ing to the Hebrews, of which only fragments have survived. With this work we are not here con- cerned. It is in place to say that most likely it was a Nazarene pji'oduction. In ancient writers it is sometimes attributed to the twelve apostles, more often to Matthew. The Ebionite version was accommodated to their peculiar views by both muti- lation and interpolation ; thus it omitted the first two chapters, and began the life of Jesus with the baptism. For full treatment of this subject see E. B. Nicholson, The Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1879.
From the information at our disposal we cannot say how rapidly Ebionism developed, nor estimate the position it had reached by the close of the 1st century. No doubt all the essential elements were active before then. In the NT itself we see the process well begain. Dating from the Council of Jerusalem (Ac 15), we can see not only the possi- bilitj- but the actuality of the rise of three distinct groups of Jewish Christians : (a) those who em- braced Christianity in all its fullness, and developed with it ; (6) those who accepted the indefinite com- promise represented in the finding of the Council, and did not advance beyond it, which is essenti- ally the position of the Nazarenes; (c) those who did not agree with the finding, and continued to protest against it, which is . the starting-point of the Ebionites proper. We see them carrying on an active propaganda against the liberal school whose leader was St. Paul. The Epistle to the Galatians [q.v.) is St. Paul's polemic against them. In Corinth, too, they have been active (2 Co 10-13). After the Fall of Jerusalem, just as Judaism became more intolerant and more exclusive, so we may suppose this judaizing sect followed suit, and, retiring more and more from fellowship with the Church at large, and seeking to strengthen theu own position, they by degrees formiilated the system we have described.
In brief, then, while the Nazarenes are only Christians of a stunted gi'owth, the Ebionites proper are heretics holding a system that is false to the real spirit of Christianity. While the Nazarenes are Judaistic, the Ebionites are Juda- izers. Neither Nazarenes nor Ebionites seem to have been of great influence. The latter were the more wide-spread, and, we may suppose, the more numerous. While the Nazarenes Mere practically confined to Palestine and Syria, Ebionites seem to have been found in Asia Minor, Cyprus, and as far west as Kome.