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
The Gospel According to Spiritism forward to basing his teachings in solid biblical knowledge, as well as the messages he received from his guiding spirits. Therefore, the first part of the "Gospel According to Spiritism" is dedicated to a series of observations and clarifications intended to situate its arguments and doctrine so that those more familiar with exegesis would find their way throughout it more easily. The first item of the introduction argues that the currently existing translations of the Gospels were imperfect and were effectively unintelligible without proper relation to scholarly research about the culture and the customs of the peoples of the Middle-East.