A clear, honest introduction to the Gospel of Nicodemus — the late-antique work also known as the Acts of Pilate. It falls into two halves: a dramatised courtroom account of the trial of Jesus before Pilate, and the Descensus, the famous 'Harrowing of Hell' in which Christ breaks the gates of Hades and leads Adam out. This free guide gives its date, its sources, the doctrines it shaped in medieval art and drama, and the reasons it was never received as Scripture.
The Gospel of Nicodemus is a Christian narrative that survives in Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian and Old Slavonic, in versions that differ from one another considerably. The earliest layer, the Acts of Pilate, was probably composed in Greek in the fourth century, although parts of the tradition are quoted earlier: Justin Martyr in the second century appeals to 'the Acts of Pontius Pilate' as though such a record existed. The second half, the Descensus ad Inferos, is a later addition, joined to the first in the Latin tradition. The whole work is presented as an official memorandum translated from Hebrew by a certain Ananias, and attributed to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to Jesus by night in John 3 and helped bury him in John 19. Nothing in the text or in the manuscript history supports that attribution; the ascription is an honorific device, exactly as with the Gospel of Peter and the Gospel of Thomas.
The first half reads like a court transcript. Jesus is brought before Pilate and, as he enters, the imperial standards carried by the soldiers bow of their own accord — a scene invented to answer the sneer that a crucified man could not be Lord. Named Jewish witnesses then step forward for the defence: Nicodemus himself, the paralytic healed at Bethesda, the man born blind of John 9, Veronica (identified with the woman with the issue of blood), and others who testify to healings recorded in the canonical Gospels. Pilate is portrayed as reluctant, sympathetic, and largely blameless, a tendency that grows through the whole apocryphal tradition and eventually makes Pilate a saint in the Ethiopian and Coptic calendars. The narrative then follows the crucifixion, the burial, and the report of the guard, expanding the canonical accounts with dialogue and detail rather than contradicting them outright.
The Descensus is the more famous half. Two sons of Simeon — Karinus and Leucius — are said to have risen at the resurrection (an expansion of Matthew 27:52–53) and are asked to write down what they saw in the place of the dead. They describe the patriarchs and prophets waiting in darkness; John the Baptist arriving to announce that the Lord is coming; a great voice crying 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates' from Psalm 24; Hades and Satan arguing in terror; and Christ shattering the bronze gates, binding Satan, and leading Adam and the saints out by the hand to paradise, where they meet Enoch, Elijah, and the thief from the cross. It is powerful writing, and it is the single largest source for the image of the Harrowing of Hell in Eastern iconography, in the English mystery plays, and in medieval poetry. The doctrine it dramatises — that Christ descended to the dead — is drawn from 1 Peter 3:19 and Ephesians 4:8–9, but the scene itself is imaginative expansion, not revelation.
Three reasons, and none of them is a conspiracy. First, date: the work is centuries too late to carry apostolic testimony, and no first- or second-century writer treats it as Scripture. Second, authorship: it claims a source it cannot substantiate, and the Ananias frame is a literary convention. Third, character: it fills the silences of the Gospels with named legends — the bowing standards, the sons of Simeon, the dialogue between Satan and Hades — which is the mark of devotional storytelling rather than eyewitness record. The church's reticence here is a mark of care, not of censorship. What the Gospel of Nicodemus preserves is worth knowing as history: it shows what fourth- and fifth-century Christians loved, feared, and imagined about the three days between the cross and the empty tomb. For what actually happened, read Matthew 27–28, Mark 15–16, Luke 23–24, and John 19–20.
No. It is in no canon — not Protestant, not Catholic, not Orthodox, not Ethiopian. It is a fourth-century (or later) Christian narrative, valued in the Middle Ages for devotion and drama but never received as Scripture.
The Acts of Pilate is the first half of the Gospel of Nicodemus — the trial narrative. The second half, the Descensus or Harrowing of Hell, was joined to it later. Manuscripts use both titles, sometimes for the trial section alone.
The author is unknown. The text claims to be a Hebrew record by Nicodemus translated by Ananias, but the language, theology, and manuscript history all point to an anonymous Greek-speaking Christian writing no earlier than the fourth century.
The belief that between his death and resurrection Christ descended to the place of the dead and released the righteous who had died before him. Scripture touches on the descent in 1 Peter 3:18–19 and Ephesians 4:8–9; the dramatic scene with the shattered gates comes from the Gospel of Nicodemus, not the Bible.
The Apostles' Creed says 'he descended into hell,' and the phrase rests on 1 Peter 3:19 and Ephesians 4:9. The Bible gives no narrative of what happened there. Christians differ in good faith on how to read those verses.
Yes. Nicodemus appears three times in John's Gospel — the night conversation in John 3, the defence of Jesus before the council in John 7:50–51, and the burial in John 19:39, where he brings a hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes. None of the Gospels connects him with writing anything.
The Acts of Pilate belongs to a family of writings produced in a Roman world where Christians were arguing that their Lord had been unjustly condemned. Shifting blame away from the Roman governor served that argument, and later Egyptian churches went further still and venerated Pilate as a saint. The canonical Gospels are more balanced: Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and condemned him anyway.
Yes. This guide is an original Bible Sundays work, free to print, copy, and share for personal, ministry, or classroom use. No email, sign-up, or attribution fee required.
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