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
Historical reliability of the Gospels had been added to the original gospel. Both Luke and Matthew date Jesus' birth to within the rule of King Herod the Great, who died in 4BC. However the Gospel of Luke also dates the birth ten years after Herod's death, during the census of Quirinius in 6 AD described by the historian Josephus. Raymond E. Brown notes that "most critical scholars acknowledge a confusion and misdating on Luke's part." Some conservative Christian biblical scholars and commentators still believe the two accounts can be harmonised, arguing that the text in Luke can be read as "registration before Quirinius was governor