The Gospels in Four Part Harmony | Page 4

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Copyright 2001 by J. Clontz
The Gospels in Four Part Harmony
By J. Clontz

Copyright 2001 by J. Clontz All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any

information storage and retrieval system without written permission of
the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Foreword
This book is based on an ancient manuscript known as MS Pepys 2498
of which one copy is known to exist and is kept at Cambridge
University Library in England. The original source of MS Pepys 2498
(referred to as the Pepys Gospel or the Pepys Gospel Harmony) is
unknown but some scholars have theorized that it may be as old as
Christianity itself.
One of the more interesting conclusions concerning Jesus based on the
Pepys Gospel Harmony (PGH) sequence is that Jesus was a North
Palestinian Essene associated with the Damascus Covenant found at
Qumran in Palestine and Genizah in Egypt. Furthermore, it has been
proposed that Jesus held the office of Messiah defined in the Damascus
Covenant and His goal as well as that of the other Damascus Covenant
Essenes was to convert the Pharisaical Jews of Judea which they
viewed as the lost sheep of Israel to the Essene sect of Judaism. The
sequence of events in the gospels as depicted in the PGH shows John
the Baptist and Jesus converting Judean Jews through baptism in the
wilderness of Judea. Jesus has an altercation at the temple in Jerusalem
and John is arrested. After John's arrest, Jesus heads north all the way
to Capernaum where he gathers followers numbering in the thousands.
After John's death, Jesus makes a final journey to Jerusalem and once
more he and his followers from Northern Palestine convert Judean Jews.
The Pharisaical leaders of the Judean Jews plot to kill Jesus and put an
end to His teaching. Thus, the PGH sequence of the canonical gospels
depicts what some scholars believe to have been a sectarian struggle
between the Essenes who adhered to the Damascus Covenant in
Northern Palestine and the Pharisaical Jews in Judea for religious
leadership of all Israelites. The Pharisaical Jews in Judea were looking
for a Messiah to vanquish their enemies, Rome and the Herodians, and
therefore rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Whereas, the Essenes were
looking for a Messiah to vanquish their enemies, death, poverty,
disease and infirmity, and therefore hailed Jesus as their Messiah.
Below are some important academic notes concerning the PGH
sequence of the gospels:

The PGH mentions the city of Gerasa which was an ancient city in
Palestine which was destroyed by the 10th Roman legion Firensis in
AD 70. Only the very oldest existing manuscripts of the canonical
gospels mention the city of Gerasa while later manuscripts refer to the
area as the land of the Gerasenes. Thus the author of the original source
of the PGH may have lived prior to AD 70.
The sequence of the PGH also parallels many aspects of the theoretical
"Q" text. The Greek texts of Matthew and Luke in some areas are letter
for letter matches which have led some scholars to theorize that at one
time a single text "Q" was formed from an early form of Matthew and
of Luke and then later portions of our modern forms of Matthew and
Luke were copied from this single gospel text. Additionally, in the
modern text of Luke the "Parable of the Lamp" occurs in both
Chapter 8
and
Chapter 11.
It has been theorized that an early text that contained Luke had only
one "Parable of the Lamp" and that the parable was either cut in half or
duplicated in our modern texts. The PGH sequence combines portions
of Luke Ch. 8 and 11 and only has a single account of the "Parable of
the Lamp" just as some scholars have theorized would've existed in the
single gospel forerunner of the modern text of Luke.
Scholars have also theorized that the "Q" text would've been
constructed into categories and composed of lists such as a list of
parables. This idea was formulated in part based on the gospel of
Thomas found at Nag Hammadi. The PGH does form the gospel
account into categories or groupings and there are two major groupings
of parables in its sequence just as theorized for the "Q" text.
The event sequence of the PGH also enhances the account of the four
gospels. The sequence produces cause and effect relationships between
events and the interactions of various individuals with each other and
with Jesus. For instance, The PGH sequence contains both Mary
Magdalene's conversion and subsequent discipleship (this is in the
modern gospel texts but