Gospel of the Ebionites sequence of four fragments arranged in the order of Vielhauer & Strecker from the beginning of the gospel are as follows: The three quotations by Epiphanius in "Panarion" 30.13.6, 4, and 7, respectively, form the opening of the gospel narrative, including the mission of John the Baptist, his appearance and diet, and the baptism of Jesus by John. The beginning of the gospel (13.6) has parallels to the Gospel of Luke but in abbreviated form. The text shows a familiarity with the infancy narrative of Luke 1:5 despite lacking a birth narrative of its own. Quoting from the text regarding
Gospel of Peter as the text that was discovered in modern times.<ref name="e/p 371">Ehrman and Pleše 2011, p. 371.</ref> The Rhossus community had already been using it in their liturgy. John Dominic Crossan disagrees with most Biblical scholarship. Calling this gospel the "cross gospel", Crossan believes that this Gospel was written before the synoptic gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, and considers Peter to be a forerunner to those gospels. Crossan's view is not accepted by other Biblical scholars. Later Western references, which condemn the work, such as Jerome and "Decretum Gelasianum", traditionally connected to Pope Gelasius I, are apparently based upon the