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When it was first recovered from a manuscript in 1886, the Gospel of Peter was the first non-canonical (" heretical") gospel to have been rediscovered, preserved in the dry sand of Egypt. To date it is one of four extracanonical narrative gospels, which exist only in fragmentary form: this Gospel of Peter, the Egerton Gospel, and the very fragmentary Oxyrhynchus Gospels 840 and 1224.

While scholars debate as to whether this text is dependent upon the canonical gospels or to what extent it contains an independent witness of the earliest Christian traditions, they generally agree on a date between 150 and 250 CE, for it was condemned by Serapion upon inspection at Rhossos, where the community was using it in liturgy. Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome also refer to the Gospel of Peter. Like the canonic gospels, it is epigraphical; in other words, it bears the name of a supposed author who did not actually compose the text. This was a common Jewish and Christian convention for lending weight to a text. Thus, though the writer identifies himself as Simon Peter in the first person singular, this is impossible. But this gospel may be the oldest extant writing produced and circulated under the authority of the apostle Peter.

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Some characteristics of Peter suggest a place early in an oral tradition. The developed apologetic technique typical of the final edition of the Gospel of MatthewThe Gospel of Matthew is one of the four Gospels of the New Testament. The gospels are traditionally printed with Matthew first, followed in order by Mark, Luke and John. Synopsis The book is divided into four parts: # Containing the genealogy, the birth, and of Justin MartyrSaint Justin Martyr (c. 100/ 114 c. 162/ 168) was an early Christian apologist. Most of what is known about the life of Justin Martyr comes from his own writings. He was born at Flavia Neapolis (in Old Testament times Shechem, now Nablus) in Palestine., which seeks to demonstrate a correspondence between prophetic predictions in the TanakhTanakh [] (also spelt Tanach or Tenach is an acronym for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible, based upon the initial Hebrew letters of each part: Torah [] ("The Law"; also: Teaching or Instruction , Chumash [] ("The five", also Pentateuch or The five book and their detailed fulfillments in the fate of Jesus, is quite lacking.

The author may have written independently of the synoptic Gospels, (the conclusion reached by Ron Cameron and others); he may have, directly or indirectly used the Q Gospel, a source also employed by Luke and Matthew, but applying to his borrowings a theology that was later unacceptable to the developing mainstream Christianity. Or, as Raymond Brown and other scholars find, he may have been acquainted with the synoptic gospels and even the Gospel of JohnThe Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the usual sequence of the canon as printed in the New Testament, and most agree it was the fourth to be written. Like the other three gospels, it contains an account of the life of Jesus. The Gospel of John is th. Eusebius wrote that Serapion of Antioch found no objections to the gospel being used in the churches of Western Syria (e.g. by the community at Rhossus), but feared that it might promote docetic christology. Certainly the text avers that Christ on the cross "remained silent, as though he felt no pain" and his death is paraphrased as a direct assumptionAn assumption is a proposition that is assumed, i. treated within the context of a discussion as if it were known. The mortgage transfer from the seller to the buyer. See also Assumption of Mary for an account of the religious dogma known by that name..